The progress you enable

Accelerating brilliant Australian cancer research

Thanks to ACRF’s supporters, we launched five new research centres across Australia in 2025 and were able to provide grant funding to four groundbreaking research initiatives that we believe will have the biggest impact on cancer research.  

These programs will ultimately save lives and improve the quality of life for people being treated for this devastating disease.  

Download our 2025 Impact Report to learn more about how ACRF is progressing Australian research.  

Download our 2025 Impact Report here

Four high-impact research programs funded in three states

ACRF Centre for High-Risk Breast Cancer

Revolutionising prediction for high-risk breast cancer, enabling earlier intervention and potential cure.

ACRF funding will provide a world leading magnetic resonance (MR) scanner that can detect concerning or worrying chemical changes in breast or ovarian tissue years before cancer appears.

For the thousands of Australian women at high genetic risk of breast cancer, this breakthrough technology has the potential to act as a real-time risk predictor. 

ACRF Single Cell Cancer Proteomics Laboratory

Unlocking unprecedented insights into how individual cells behave and respond to treatment, to improve personalised treatments across Australia and globally. 

This will be Australia’s first dedicated single-cell cancer proteomics laboratory.

ACRF BRAIINSTORM Program

Fast-tracking the development of more effective treatments for aggressive and lethal brain cancers, in children and adults. From discovery to first-time-in-human clinical trials, the centre could improve patient outcomes for this notoriously difficult-to-treat cancer. 

The ACRF Centre for Mass spectrometry Analysis of Tumour Response In compleX microenvironments (ACRF MATRIX)

Whilst most cancer research focuses on tumour cells themselves, this centre is investigating the ‘neighbourhood’ the cancer cells live in. 

This will revolutionise our ability to investigate why some cancers resist treatment and spread to other organs.

"While I dream of a world without cancer, the more realistic destination is one where all cancers are predicted, diagnosed early, treated in more humane ways and prevented where at all possible.  An ambitious goal, I know, but one I feel secure in backing, because of the high calibre of groundbreaking research we at Australian Cancer Research Foundation are proud to support."
- Kerry Styrdom, ACRF CEO

Speeding up discoveries to give people more time

Powering up world-class labs across Australia

The ACRF Centre for Advanced Cancer Modelling

Opened at Macquarie University in New South Wales on 28 March 2025, thanks to a $2 million grant made possible by ACRF supporters. The centre will test potential cancer treatments to help doctors quickly and more effectively select the best therapy options for their patients. They will also gain a deeper understanding of treatment resistance in melanoma and how the body’s immune system remembers and responds to cancer. This is possible because of ACRF-funded equipment, including a special 3D printer that prints lab-grown cancer cells to create 3D models of cancer.

The ACRF Centre for Precision Medicine

Officially launched at the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute in Victoria on 23 July 2025. It was established with a $2.1 million grant from ACRF awarded in 2022. This cutting-edge centre will use a ‘theranostic’ approach to provide new treatment options for ovarian and other cancers, by combining advanced imaging and targeted treatment with radioisotopes—special radioactive substances that help detect and treat tumours.

ACRF Centre for Optimised Cancer Therapy

Opened at QIMR Berghofer in Queensland on 5 August 2025, thanks to a $2 million grant from ACRF. The Centre integrates the latest advances in genomics and technology to understand how cancerous tumours respond to treatment. ACRF’s funding has provided researchers and clinicians with cutting-edge equipment to develop the technology for future clinical tests, ultimately delivering a “bench to bedside” precision medicine approach for deadly colorectal cancer.

ACRF Centre for Advanced Imaging-Guided Therapeutics

Thanks to an ACRF major grant award of $9 million, Peter Mac installed a world-first GE HealthCare total body PET/CT scanner to advance precision medicine. This new technology enables researchers to track how new diagnostic agents target tumours, visualise immune system responses, and monitor cell therapies in real time, accelerating the development of next-generation scans and targeted treatments that will detect cancers earlier and predict patient responses more accurately.

ACRF Centre for Cellular Imaging of Precision Immunotherapy

Thanks to $3 million from ACRF donors, this new centre based at Peter Mac in Victoria will apply cutting-edge imaging technologies to help unlock the full potential of immunotherapy-which uses a person’s immune system to fight cancer. This world-class facility will focus initially on common cancers like blood, breast, prostate, lung and skin cancer and aims to uncover why treatments fail. It will develop better ways to predict and boost patient responses, making it a global leader in fighting cancer resistance with clear, innovative approaches.

Looking forward...

Thanks to the generous support of our donors, ACRF has built real momentum through transformative funding of cutting-edge equipment. 

We will continue to push forward personalised treatments that reduce side-effects, improve the way we seek out and discover cancers earlier, and advance innovative methods for the prevention, detection and treatment of ALL cancer types. 

With your help, we can propel the best and boldest Australian research to even greater heights—so that the terrible impact of cancer on our lives is no longer felt.

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You are the driving force behind ACRF’s impact. Thank you.

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