The National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF) has announced a landmark $25 million investment – the largest in its history – awarding its first Collaborative Research Accelerator (CRA) Grant to an exceptional local and international collaboration led by Associate Professor Christine Chaffer at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research. The Garvan Institute will drive a research program called ‘AllClear’ focused on stopping breast cancer recurrence, with the long-term goal to halve deaths from breast cancer.
Adjunct Professor Helen Zorbas AO, Chair of NBCF said: “This Collaborative Research Accelerator Grant is a bold and strategic investment in breast cancer research – international in scope and transformational in impact. As Chair, I’m proud of the National Breast Cancer Foundation’s leadership in funding this pioneering grant under its Pink Horizon Research Strategy. It reflects our commitment to driving innovation, fostering collaboration, and accelerating progress toward our vision of Zero Deaths from breast cancer. This is more than funding – it’s a strategic catalyst for change, a powerful demonstration of Australia’s research leadership, and a vital step toward saving lives.”
Dr Cleola Anderiesz, CEO of NBCF said: “This inaugural Collaborative Research Accelerator Grant represents a significant leap forward in breast cancer research. By bringing together the brightest minds from Australia and around the world, we’re tackling one of the greatest challenges – stopping breast cancer recurrence. This $25 million investment is a strategic enabler of long-term research, high-impact research. It empowers collaboration at scale, drives innovation, and accelerates progress toward the National Breast Cancer Foundation’s vision of Zero Deaths from breast cancer.”
Each year, more than 21,000 people will be diagnosed with breast cancer and around 3,300 Australians still die from the disease. For some of these people, breast cancer cells can hide quietly in the body, most commonly in the bone, reappearing years or even decades later. Around 15% of people will experience a recurrence of their breast cancer within 10 years, and this return can be life threatening.
The AllClear team will study these cancer cells in the bone to understand how they hide, how they are different to cells in the primary tumour and why current treatments may fail. Through an extensive clinical network, and harnessing advanced technologies, including machine learning, molecular profiling and biomarker discovery, the AllClear program aims to better predict cancer recurrence, develop new therapies, and fast-track the testing of these therapies through cutting-edge clinical trials.
Associate Professor Christine Chaffer, Co-Director of the Cancer Plasticity and Dormancy Program and AllClear lead at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research said: “Our long-term goal is to reduce breast cancer deaths by half, by tackling one of the most complex and urgent challenges in the field – preventing breast cancer from returning. AllClear brings unprecedented collaboration to identify these ‘seeds’ of relapse early. This will allow us to develop the world’s first and largest biobank of primary breast tumours paired with corresponding bone samples, collected at multiple stages throughout the course of the disease. This research will let us develop tools to predict who is most at risk of relapse, and develop targeted therapies to eliminate these seeds of relapse, before they reawaken and cause metastatic breast cancer.”
Professor Peter Croucher, Co-Director of the Cancer Plasticity and Dormancy Program and Lab head at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research said: “We have developed a method that allows us – for the first time – to find, isolate and study the rare, dormant cancer cells from the bones of people with breast cancer. Studying these ‘seeds’ of relapse will allow us to understand what is driving recurrence, which could transform how breast cancer is understood and treated and also help us understand other cancers, giving hope to more people.”
AllClear is enabled by Garvan’s strategic collaboration with St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney and UNSW Sydney and is a collaboration of nearly 60 researchers across seven leading research institutes and organisations. This includes Breast Cancer Trials, the University of Sydney, the University of Newcastle, together with world-renowned international partners including Yale and Washington University, and 11 hospitals across NSW. The AllClear research program integrates the voices of people with lived experience of breast cancer, and ensures diverse representation from metropolitan, regional, rural, and multicultural communities.
Professor Benjamin Kile, Executive Director of the Garvan Institute of Medical Research said: “The AllClear program is unique in its size and scale across all elements of the research translation pipeline and represents a true bench-to-bedside research initiative. This landmark investment, the largest grant by the National Breast Cancer Foundation, lays the foundations for a visionary research agenda reflecting the leadership of both research organisations and the strength and tenacity of our exceptional researchers.”
“This support allows us to use the full strength of Garvan’s research from expert knowledge in cancer, genomics, and immunology, enabled by cutting-edge technologies, through to clinical translation. Together, these capabilities will turn discoveries into real-world impact, helping save lives from breast cancer. There’s never been a more exciting time in breast cancer research.”
The CRA Grants will:
- Solve critical questions: Tackle the toughest, unanswered questions hold the key to ending deaths from breast cancer.
- Foster collaboration: Build a dynamic research ecosystem that unites Australian and global experts to pursue integrated long-term, high-impact research to transform outcomes and save lives of those affected by breast cancer.
- Accelerate progress: Drive breast cancer research forward at a pace and scale that matches the urgency of achieving our vision of Zero Deaths from breast cancer.
The CRA provides up to $25 million in funding over five years, with collaborating research organisations contributing 20% co-investment.
To learn more about NBCF’s CRA Grant, visit https://nbcf.org.au/cra. To find ways to support NBCF, visit nbcf.org.au.
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