Eradicating cancer from being a terminal disease to one we can successfully manage and treat is the holy grail of cancer research – and the grand vision of a new Molecular Cancer Pathology Fellow being co-funded by The Hospital Research Foundation Group, thanks to your support of The Longest Table in 2024!
Emerging expertise in ‘genetic profiling’ holds the key to this vision, leading to more personalised and targeted treatments, improved diagnosis, prevention and more.
Dr Alexandra Jolley has taken up the five-year Fellowship in a pioneering partnership between the University of Adelaide, SAiGENCI (South Australian Immunogenomics Cancer Institute), SA Pathology, CALHN (Central Adelaide Local Health Network) and The Hospital Research Foundation Group.
It is one part of an ambitious capacity-building project aimed at delivering a collaborative research and training ecosystem for cancer molecular pathology within the state.
As a pathologist with a strong interest in cancer genetics, as well as degrees in biomedical science and medicine, Dr Jolley is well-equipped to ensure emerging technologies can be translated to South Australian patients sooner.
“I’m really excited to be here to help better direct research,” Dr Jolley said.
“As a pathologist, we work closely with a team of surgeons, oncologists, radiologists, radiation oncologists, medical scientists, nurses and allied health to determine a diagnosis and the best treatment and management for a patient – which is enhanced by the incredible amount of information we can now gain through genetic profiling.”
What is genetic profiling?
Each person’s cancer is different – often with different mutations and chemistry makeup – and tumour genetic profiling now allows clinicians to personalise cancer treatments based on the features of the cancer cells at a molecular level.
This wasn’t available in Australia just 20 years ago – demonstrating the power of medical research.
“For example, we can now do molecular genetics on tumours which gives us more precise diagnoses and indicates whether a cancer is likely to respond to a specific drug, or whether it’s likely to respond to therapies like immunotherapy. That’s called precision medicine, and it’s the biggest area of growth.
“Tumour genetic profiling can also aid in early detection of cancer recurrence and resistance to treatments, helping the medical team get ahead of tumour progression.”
While many scientists are cautious about using the term ‘curing’ cancer, Dr Jolley said there were a number of treatments discovered through medical research that have “turned some cancers into a chronic disease, rather than a terminal disease”.
“We want to progress that and more.”
Cancer prevention
Dr Jolley said prevention was also a huge area of growth, with genetic profiling helping to identify patients who have inherited cancer susceptibility genes.
“This generation is really benefiting from that. If someone has come from a family that has gone through a lot of trauma from multiple generations of early deaths from cancer, they have the option in many instances to access genetic services to see if they have inherited a cancer susceptibility gene,” she said.
“And then they can take more control over it by accessing screening programs, preventative surgeries and so on.”
Improving accurate diagnosis and cancer surveillance is also a key area, with the hope to improve technologies allowing for less invasive procedures.
Translation and training
Ensuring these insights are translated from bench to bedside, as well as training more pathologists in genetics, are some of the additional challenges Dr Jolley is taking on with her broad five-year role.
She is grateful to The Hospital Research Foundation Group’s supporters for make this important Fellowship possible.
“I just want to say a huge thank you. Cancer is something that can affect anyone of any age and any demographic,” she said.
“I think everybody knows someone dear to them who has experienced cancer and we’re going to use this funding to improve cancer detection, treatment and ultimately try to beat cancer.”
