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Australian Prostate Cancer Bio Resource (APCB) receives funding from “It’s A Bloke Thing” Foundation and Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia

The Australian Prostate Cancer Bio-Resource (APCB), led by APCRC-Q’s Scientific Director, Distinguished Professor Judith Clements, recently received a $200,000 contribution from the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia (PCFA) and the It's A Bloke Thing Foundation (IABTF).

The Australian Prostate Cancer Bio-Resource (APCB), led by APCRC-Q’s Scientific Director, Distinguished Professor Judith Clements, recently received a $200,000 contribution from the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia (PCFA) and the It's A Bloke Thing Foundation (IABTF).

These funds will assist the APCB as it underpins clinical trials and ongoing research nationally, and is involved in international consortia, such as the PRACTICAL prostate cancer genetic association study.

The biobank, which has four state nodes and is led from Queensland, has collected tissue samples from more than 5,500 men for the past 10 years and has 140,000 samples nationally and 40,000 in Queensland.

“It will be 10 years in October since we started collections and this is an extremely critical phase as we now need to gain more information on these men as to whether their disease has progressed or not. We are extremely grateful for the philanthropic support that comes to us through the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia, who has generously supported us for the past five years,” said Professor Clements, who has been working in prostate cancer research for the past 20 years.

"This funding will assist us in getting the critical information required for an integral part of the overall research into prostate cancer," she added.

PCFA national chairman, Mr Jim Hughes AM, said community support was vital for ongoing prostate cancer research.

"We have some wonderful community-based initiatives that help, like the Toowoomba-based It's A Bloke Thing (IABT) Foundation, which is responsible for half of this $200,000 donation," said Mr Hughes.

Started four years ago by a group a friends, including businessmen John Wagner, Gary Gardner, Mark Crampton and this year's chairman, John Fitzgibbons, the IABT lunch is Australia's most successful daytime fundraising event.

"We are extremely pleased that our event will help beneficiaries like the Australian Prostate Cancer Bio-Resource to continue their research programs," said Mr Fitzgibbons.

"Prostate cancer accounts for 30% of all cancers diagnosed in Australian men every year, and it is the second most common cause of cancer-related death, after lung cancer.”

"It's also not “just an old man's disease” so we need to reach men, particularly at a grassroots level and in rural communities."