A WA researcher has been awarded almost $1 million in funding to investigate tiny lab-grown tumours to help find treatments for liver cancer.

The innovative project involves a small sample of tumour tissue being placed into special growth conditions, allowing the cells to organise themselves into a miniature version of the tumour.

These mini tumours keep many of the features of a patient’s real cancer, including how the cells grow, interact and respond to treatments.

Liver cancer is often diagnosed late, when surgery is no longer an option.

Dr Ben Dwyer, a Senior Research Fellow in the Curtin Medical Research Institute, said they will use these “optimised models” to screen for therapeutic targets to improve current therapies and develop new ones.

The post $1m for mini tumours appeared first on Pharmacy Daily.