Her team discovered a specific sub-type of the dendritic cell that was particularly good at fighting cancer. This allowed the researchers to manufacture a vaccine rather than taking blood from a patient—a process that involved extracting patients’ blood, tinkering around with their immune cells, and putting them back in.
“Everyone has this specific sub-type of dendritic cell, but they’re hard to come by. Now that we’ve identified these cells that generate an anti-cancer immune response, we’re able to manufacture a vaccine synthetically rather than taking blood from a patient.”
If successful, this research would make cancer treatment easier on patients and also more affordable. The leading science publication Nature Medicine has heralded Associate Professor Radford’s discovery as ‘finding a needle in a haystack’.
Associate Professor Radford’s team are now collaborating with the Monash University in Melbourne to create a prototype vaccine. They hope it will be ready for a Phase 1 Clinical Trial in the next three years.
Community support has been vital to helping Associate Professor Radford continue her work, and she is grateful to any person who has the long-term vision to make an investment in medical research. A desire to make a difference in people’s lives is what continues to motivate her.
“Cancer is ‘the big unsolved problem’ and I just hope I can complete a small part of the puzzle and contribute in some way to understanding cancer so we can better treat it.”
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