AusHealth, 65 Hardys Road Underdale, Adelaide (2026)

17/02/2026

The next generation of cancer therapy: how Deflexifol could replace a generations-old cancer drug to offer fresh hope to cancer patients

Australian biotech company FivepHusion has developed a breakthrough drug that brings two cancer-killing drugs together for improved tolerability, higher dosing potential and enhanced anti-cancer activity. With AusHealth’s support, a phase II trial could make Deflexifol the first drug therapy for paediatric ependymoma and redefine standard care for millions of other cancer patients. More amazing, it could be approved within just four years...

For more than 60 years, one of the most widely used cancer drugs in the world has remained fundamentally unchanged.

5-fluorouracil – known simply as 5-FU – was first launched in 1962, well before colour TV came to Australia. Today, it is still the standard treatment for a wide range of solid tumours, including colorectal, gastric, pancreatic, head and neck and some breast cancers.

In the 1990s, a second drug, leucovorin (LV), was added to clinical practice after oncologists discovered it dramatically boosted 5-FU’s cancer-killing power. Together, the drugs were synergistic and the science was clear: in the fight against cancer, one plus one could equal three.

There was a problem, however. When administered at the same time, 5-FU and leucovorin formed crystals that blocked the central venous catheters used to deliver chemotherapy. These catheters are surgically implanted and essential for patients receiving frequent treatment.

To this day, to overcome the risk of blockage of a patient’s catheter, oncologists are forced to give the drugs sequentially. This however is a poor compromise: when the drugs are no longer optimally co-exposed in the body, the synergy is largely lost.

“Instead of ‘one plus one equals three’, treatment has become closer to ‘one plus one equals only one’, with little benefit provided by the leucovorin,” says Dr Christian Toouli.

Dr Toouli is the CEO and Managing Director of FivepHusion, which was founded by oncologists to solve this decades-old conundrum in the treatment of cancer.

Working with researchers at the University of Wollongong, the team discovered a way these two drugs could finally be delivered together, safely, the way they were always intended to be.

Read the full article here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/next-generation-cancer-therapy-how-deflexifol-could-iwdoc/

15/02/2026

AusHealth is proud to launch AusHealth Helping Hands – gloves that protect you today while investing in a healthier tomorrow!

Helping Hands are made exclusively for AusHealth, one of Australia's largest self-funded medical research charities. And after 40 years of supporting lab workers across Australia, we know what makes a great disposable glove!

AusHealth Helping Hands meet international standards for medical use:

* Made with 100% nitrile to be stronger, longer lasting and safer
* Tested against fentanyl, cytotoxins and chemotherapy drugs
* Dispensed via a unique ‘Saveasy’ panel to reduce spillage and waste
* Layered in the box, not squashed in, rendering gloves softer (easier to put on) and ensuring only one glove comes out at a time
* Sold in boxes of 200, meaning less frequent replacement and more efficient storage
* Boxes are sized to fit in existing wall dispensers.

We also understand the business of healthcare procurement, which is why AusHealth Helping Hands have been priced to be extremely competitive.

Of course, the larger the order, the bigger the discount.

All proceeds from every box of AusHealth Helping Hands goes to support medical research, including projects seeking treatments for cancer, diabetes and drug-resistant infection.

“This initiative is as simple as it is exciting!” says AusHealth CEO Justin Coombs.

“Across the country, clinics and laboratories use hundreds of millions of nitrile gloves every year. That’s why we’ve made AusHealth Helping Hands to be the perfect glove at a truly competitive price – if we can persuade those clinics and labs to get behind Helping Hands, we’ll be able to generate millions of dollars of research funding.

“Like all the best ideas, it’s a win for everyone.”

Fully compliant for use in medical, research and food-handling workplaces, AusHealth Helping Hands will be available for delivery from late March.

For more information, www.aushealth.com.au/helpinghands or contact Adam Shepherd, ashepherd@aushealth.com.au

Pictured: AusHealth toxicologist Dr Natalia Andriguetti

16/12/2025

AusHealth seeded research into childhood brain cancer wins $3m federal grant

At the beginning of 2025, Dr Quenten Schwarz received seed funding of $400,000 from AusHealth and the Vonbri Foundation to investigate the causes of childhood brain cancer. Data from that research has since helped his team secure a substantial $3 million grant from the Federal Government to further investigate causes and therapies for a pernicious form of brain cancer called diffuse midline glioma (DMG).

“People don’t realise that brain cancer is responsible for more deaths of Australian children than any other, including leukemia and heart disease,” says Dr Schwarz of the University of Adelaide.

“DMG is a terrible type of brain cancer and we’ve had no major therapy breakthroughs in 20 years.”

The original AusHealth-supported project saw Dr Schwarz, a neuroscientist at Adelaide University, partner with clinician Marion Mateos at the Children's Cancer Institute in Sydney.

Read the full article here: https://www.aushealth.com.au/aushealth-funded-research-into-childhood-brain-cancer-wins-3m-federal-grant/

15/12/2025

A spoonful of sugarcane by-product helps the medicine go down

Introducing the amazing new fibre that’s healing wounds, delivering nutraceuticals and improving diets – all from an agricultural by-product that’s currently burned…

Three years ago, a nascent company called Nufiba developed a process to turn ‘bagasse’ – the pithy fibre left after juice has been extracted from sugarcane – into a suite of valuable products.

Critical to the process was three proprietary food-safe steps: a cold, water-based sterilant developed to kill bacteria in the mulched bagasse; a mild food-grade chemical process to change the structure of the material and make it more absorptive; and a bespoke milling and drying process.

“We took this by-product – material that's actually burned in the cane fields and sugar mills – and turned it into a fibre with remarkable properties,” says NuFiba CEO, Dr Mike Patane.

“We ended up with a whole plant foodstuff that acts like sponge. In the same way a sponge can suck up a fluid and be squeezed dry, so this fibre can both encapsulate and release nutrition, as well as absorb oils and fats.

Read the full article at https://www.aushealth.com.au/a-spoonful-of-sugarcane-by-product-helps-the-medicine-go-down/

01/12/2025

AusHealth CureCell event sees the awarding of seven $10,000 prizes – and one engagement ring!

Yesterday's AusHealth CureCell Awards ceremony was held in the Kent Town Hotel, Adelaide, where friends, family and academic powerbrokers gathered to celebrate as seven PhD students were each presented with trophies and $10,000.

The awards were created to help PhD students with living costs, and as such the cash prizes can be spent however they like.
Lachlan Staker – the winner of the SMART CRC CureCell Award – went public that he was going to spend his prize (and we think he said part of his prize!) on an engagement ring for his girlfriend, Ellen Solly. When Professor Simon Cool handed over the trophy to Lachlan, he insisted Ellen join them on stage for the presentation!

The winners:

🏆 Matt van der Burg (The University of Queensland): FLVCR2 as a novel gateway for brain therapeutics and glioblastoma treatment
🏆 Cate Cheney (SAHMRI), receiving the Pan Macedonian Federation of SA CureCell Award: Generation of a microbiome-oriented adjuvant therapy for patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia
🏆 Julia Leeflang (University of Adelaide): Engineering next-generation colorectal cancer treatments
🏆 Giáng Tuyết Phạm (Flinders University), receiving the Marine Bioproducts CRC CureCell Award for Marine Medical Biotech: A wound healing hydrogel based on plasma-assisted microalgae extract
🏆 Matteo Pitteri (The Florey Institute): Unlocking brain-penetrating antisense therapies for neurological diseases
🏆 Kelsy Prest (Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre): The clone claw: A novel platform for precise isolation and molecular profiling of rare MRD-resistant clones driving AML relapse
🏆 Lachlan Staker (University of Adelaide) receiving the SMART CRC CureCell Award: Dual action gene editing strategy for treating dominant negative or toxic-gain of function mutations.

AusHealth is a self-funded medical research charity based in Adelaide. In 2024, it donated $4.5 million to scientists developing new disease therapies, AI-powered clinical solutions and novel healthcare technologies.
Websites: curecell.org | aushealth.com.au

24/11/2025

AusHealth CureCell Award winner, Julia Leeflang – genetically engineering bacteria to grow inside cancerous tumours and release drugs

In July, 65 PhD students submitted single-page synopses on their research into cell or biological therapies. In this series of posts we talk with the seven award winners about their ground-breaking science, their lives as a researcher and how they’ll spend their $10,000 prize...

Read the full article here:https://www.aushealth.com.au/latest-news/

18/11/2025

AusHealth CureCell Award winner, Cate Cheney – using gut health to unlock the mysteries of leukaemia

In July, 65 PhD students submitted single-page synopses on their research into cell or biological therapies. In this series of posts we talk with the seven award winners about their ground-breaking science, their lives as a researcher and how they’ll spend their $10,000 prize...

Read the full article here: https://www.aushealth.com.au/latest-news/

17/11/2025

CureCell Award winner Matteo Pitteri – developing precision genetic therapies and a ‘Trojan horse’ delivery mechanism to treat motor neuron disease

In July, 65 PhD students submitted single-page synopses on their research into cell or biological therapies. In this series of posts we talk with the seven award winners about their ground-breaking science, their lives as a researcher and how they’ll spend their $10,000 prize…

Read the full article here: https://www.aushealth.com.au/curecell-award-winner-matteo-pitteri-developing-precision-genetic-therapies-and-a-trojan-horse-delivery-mechanism-to-treat-motor-neuron-disease/

10/11/2025

AusHealth CureCell Award winner, Thi Giáng Tuyết Phạm (Snow), Flinders University (sponsored by Marine Bioproducts CRC) – finding better solutions for chronic wound care with a multifunctional hydrogel

In July, 65 PhD students submitted single-page synopses on their research into cell or biological therapies. In this series of posts we talk with the seven award winners about their ground-breaking science, their lives as a researcher and how they’ll spend their $10,000 prize...

Read the full article here: https://www.aushealth.com.au/aushealth-curecell-award-winner-thi-giang-tuyet-pham-snow-finding-better-solutions-for-chronic-wound-care-with-a-multifunctional-hydrogel/

10/11/2025

AusHealth CureCell Award winner, Matthew van der Burg – finding a new way to deliver drugs to the brain

In July, 65 PhD students submitted single-page synopses on their research into cell or biological therapies. In this series of posts we talk with the seven award winners about their ground-breaking science, their lives as a researcher and how they’ll spend their $10,000 prize...

Read the full article here: https://www.aushealth.com.au/aushealth-curecell-award-winner-matt-van-der-burg-the-university-of-queensland-finding-a-new-way-to-deliver-drugs-to-the-brain/

03/11/2025

AusHealth CureCell Award winner, Lachlan Staker – seeking a gene editing therapy for hereditary blindness

In July, 65 PhD students submitted single-page synopses on their research into cell or biological therapies. In this series of posts, we talk with the seven award winners about their ground-breaking science, their lives as a researcher and how they’ll spend their $10,000 prize...

Read more: https://www.aushealth.com.au/aushealth-curecell-award-winner-lachlan-staker-seeking-a-gene-editing-therapy-for-hereditary-blindness/

03/11/2025

AusHealth CureCell Award winner, Kelsy Prest (University of Melbourne) – developing a ‘claw’ to isolate and study blood cancer cells that evade chemo and targeted drugs

In July, 65 PhD students submitted single-page synopses on their research into cell or biological therapies. In this series of posts we talk with the seven award winners about their ground-breaking science, their lives as a researcher and how they’ll spend their $10,000 prize...

Read more here: https://www.aushealth.com.au/aushealth-curecell-award-winner-kelsy-prest-developing-a-claw-to-isolate-and-study-blood-cancer-cells-that-evade-chemo-and-targeted-drugs/

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