Chief Investigator: Miss Mikaela Dell’Oro

Research Areas: Improving children’s mental health and the impact of developmental disorders. Basic Science

Funding Year: 2021

Funding Amount: $96,794

Recipient: University of South Australia

Overview:

Tumours of the central nervous system comprise 20% of all childhood cancers. They are characterized by high incidence of long-term side-effects impacting somatic, neurologic, endocrine, and developmental/cognitive outcomes. With great excitement, proton therapy (PT) is soon to commence in Adelaide; however, questions remain about patient selection and the ability of PT to reduce treatment related side-effects. Our study will perform extensive computational simulations of paediatric brain tumor patients and complications attributable to radiation therapy in order to determine which patients are best suited for PT and to assess risks associated with the treatment.