Ground-breaking research by RBWH haematologist Steven Lane aims to help patients beat leukaemia.

Ground-breaking research with the potential to change the lives of leukaemia patients has been boosted with a $1.25million fellowship to leading haematologist Steven Lane of the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.

Associate Professor Lane will use his CSL Centenary Fellowship to help patients beat leukaemia by tailoring individual treatments to reduce relapse rates in older patients.

He has developed a method to rapidly profile the genetics of leukaemia types and model them in the lab, allowing him to map the effectiveness of chemotherapy treatments against the genomes of individual cancers.

A/Professor Lane said leukaemia is one of Australia’s deadliest types of cancer and it’s not just one type – it’s hundreds of different types, each with its own genetic fingerprint.

“This variation means some types of leukaemia are treatable, whereas others quickly develop resistance,” A/Professor Lane said.

“Today, 85 per cent of children with leukaemia can be cured, but the outlook for patients over 60 is bleak -only 10 per cent survive beyond one year.”

Associate Professor Lane wants to change that outlook.

Working with his team at QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, he’ll use the Fellowship to identify new drug pathways and explore repurposing existing drugs to target resistant leukaemia types.

Executive Director of Research, Professor Scott Bell, said the Fellowship was well deserved.

“This is brilliant news for Steven. He is one of our stellar researchers and is highly respected by his peers as one of our most innovative haematologists,” Professor Bell said.