Philanthropist Sir Owen Glenn has donated $3 million for research to be led by UNSW academics at the Microbiome Research Centre, based at St George Hospital.
A major liver cancer research program, led by Australia’s first Microbiome Research Centre, has received a $3 million grant from philanthropist Sir Owen Glenn.
The program will study the links between gut health and liver cancer, optimising treatment options and examining the possible impact of the microbiome on the body’s immunotherapy response to cancer.
The Microbiome Research Centre is a collaboration between the St George and Sutherland Medical Research Foundation, UNSW Sydney and the South Eastern Sydney Local Health District.
The MRC is located at UNSW Medicine’s St George & Sutherland Clinical School, based at St George Hospital. Led by UNSW Professor of Medicine Emad El-Omar, the Centre brings together scientists and clinicians on one campus to support research programs to examine the microbiome’s impact on obesity, diabetes, foetal health, allergies and cancer.
“By investing in liver cancer research, I hope we can find better, more effective ways of treating this disease – and preventing it all together,” said Sir Owen, one of New Zealand’s most successful entrepreneurs who has donated millions to charitable causes around the world. Sir Owen was diagnosed with liver cancer in 2012 and has since undergone treatment.