Our Vision
With more than 65 academic and clinical faculty, researchers and trainees, APCRC-Q spans the full spectrum of prostate cancer research - including discovery, diagnostic and therapeutic development, and health services - through the dedication and passion of a large, coordinated, multidisciplinary biomedical, clinical and public health research team.
The mission of its dedicated transdisciplinary team is to drive the development and translation of new therapeutics and biomarkers for prostate cancer through integrated and consolidated resources and expertise, national and international partnerships, and leveraged funding.
Strategic Objectives
APCRC-Q’s strategic objectives are to:
- Build research capacity within a highly integrated transdisciplinary setting spanning the laboratory and clinical environment. The framework of this critical mass within our collaborative and translationally-focused environment will facilitate our ability to impact on therapeutic and biomarker development and change practice in prostate cancer care.
- Train the new generation of laboratory and clinical scientists within our large team-based approach to create translational scientists with multiple skills sets to provide innovative advancements in prostate cancer research and care.
- Enrich the Centre's skills and capabilities through a proactive approach to collaboration locally, nationally and internationally. Our commitment to collaboration for translational outcomes will be driven by our leadership of the Prostate Cancer Collaborative Research Alliance and involvement in Movember’s Global Action Plan.
- Engage with industry, biotech and government agencies in the health and innovation sectors to facilitate the translation of our science and clinical research.
- Disseminate our findings by proactively engaging the community sectors for prostate cancer awareness and outreach to prostate cancer consumers.
- Be recognized as a flagship initiative within the Diamantina Health Partners - Queensland's first academic health science centre.
Research Objectives
APCRC-Q's research objectives are to:
- Build upon our expertise in genomics and bioinformatics to comprehensively characterize prostate cancer mechanisms of progression and treatment resistance.
- Establish a multi-factorial metastasis program, including collection of metastatic tissues from patients for creation of new xenograft models, and models of invasion and metastasis linked to advanced pre-clinical and clinical imaging.
- Expand and diversify the Circulating Tumour Cell Facility to a multi-dimensional Liquid Biopsy Facility
- Further develop prostate cancer imaging in pre-clinical and clinical settings using latest advanced in nanotechnologies, MRI, PET, and ultrasound to comprehensively assess localized and metastatic prostate cancer
- Increase clinical studies and formal clinical trials to expand our outreach and input for our Multi Disciplinary Team clinic model for advanced prostate cancer
- Create a health services program that defines the patterns of practice in prostate cancer management across the entire patient journey, assisted by the coordination of the Queensland node of the Australian Prostate Cancer Clinical Registry with a linked health economics model.