The recipients of the Cancer Council ACT’s 2021 Research Grant recipients were announced on 12 May in a reception held at Government House.

Both of this year’s recipients are based at the John Curtin School of Medical Research: Dr Tatiana Soboleva and Dr Anne Steins.

Dr Soboleva will work closely with co-investigator Dr Amee George in a project titled “Epigenetic regulator H2A.B as a novel target for treatment of Hodgkin Lymphoma”, aiming to better understand the molecular mechanisms that drive the development of Hodgkin lymphoma. This project is based on the team’s findings that the DNA-binding protein H2A.B is key in regulating the development of this disease.

Dr Anne Steins and a team of co-investigators from JCSMR and the ANU Medical School (Dr Lex van Loon, Prof Klaus-Martin Schulte, Prof Ross Hannan and Prof Eduardo Eyras) will investigate how cellular stress can lead to the development of cancer. The team aims to understand why in response of stress stimuli, some cancer cells are resistant to dying. Their funded project is titled “Cellular stress as a cause of cancer”.

Both research teams are grateful to the Cancer Council for its support. JCSMR looks forward to the outcomes of their work helping develop new and effective ways of treating a range of cancers in the future.