{"id":3700,"date":"2024-05-02T01:39:12","date_gmt":"2024-05-02T01:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/otagoinnovation.com\/wordpress\/?page_id=3700"},"modified":"2024-10-29T01:07:04","modified_gmt":"2024-10-29T01:07:04","slug":"2024-winner","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/otagoinnovation.com\/wordpress\/funding\/past-winners\/2024-winner\/","title":{"rendered":"2024 Winner"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"container pb-5\">\n<div class=\"row pt-3 pb-4\">\n<div class=\"col col-12 col-md-10 mx-auto text-center col-lg-12\">\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading lh-1 mb-4\"><strong>Proof of Concept 2024 Winner to improve Advanced Melanoma Therapy<\/strong><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col col-12 col-xl-6 order-1 order-xl-0\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">New Zealand has one of the highest melanoma incidence rates in the world with about 13 people being diagnosed every day. Melanoma can progress quickly and spread beyond skin. Then, it can be difficult to treat. Over 300 New Zealanders die of melanoma every year. This year\u2019s Proof of Concept winner discovered molecules that may improve the treatment of advanced melanoma, hopefully reducing fatalities in the future. The winning team receive $100,000 from Otago Innovation towards their research to prove the concept of targeted melanoma therapy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Professor Mark Hampton\u2019s team at the Department of Pathology and Biomedical Science, University of Otago Christchurch is embedded in the Centre for Redox Biology and Medicine. Initially suspecting a botched experiment leading to cell death, the team realised it might have discovered a new mechanism to sensitise treatment-resistant cancer cells to existing therapies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"col col-12 col-xl-6 order-0 order-xl-1 text-center\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"961\" height=\"639\" class=\"img-fluid\"  src=\"https:\/\/otagoinnovation.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/webp-express\/webp-images\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Otago-Innovation-PoC-winner-2024.jpg.webp\" alt=\"Professor Mark Hampton winner of Otago Innovation's 2024 Proof of Concept\" srcset=\"https:\/\/otagoinnovation.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/webp-express\/webp-images\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Otago-Innovation-PoC-winner-2024.jpg.webp 961w, https:\/\/otagoinnovation.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/webp-express\/webp-images\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Otago-Innovation-PoC-winner-2024-300x199.jpg.webp 300w, https:\/\/otagoinnovation.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/webp-express\/webp-images\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Otago-Innovation-PoC-winner-2024-768x511.jpg.webp 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 961px) 100vw, 961px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Professor Mark Hampton winner of Otago Innovation&#8217;s 2024 Proof of Concept <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"row pb-2\">\n<div class=\"col col-12 py-3\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe modified the expression of a protein for fundamental investigations of redox biology in cells. The detrimental effects on cell viability impeded those efforts. But it opened this new line of research!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Melanoma treatment varies depending on the stage of melanoma, where it has spread to, on the specific make-up of the melanoma cells in an individual and on what the clinical team believes will work best for the individual patient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMelanoma is one of many cancers in which targeted therapeutics are used. All have problems of acquired resistance\u201d, says Professor Hampton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whilst the development of immunotherapies for melanoma have increased the five-year survival rate of patients with advanced melanoma from 10% to 50%, most melanoma patients do not respond to immunotherapy such as PD-L1 inhibitors and face difficult times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Targeted drugs can be very helpful in treating advanced melanomas when the cancer cells have certain gene changes. About half of all melanomas have mutations in the <em>BRAF<\/em> gene and the altered BRAF protein helps them grow. Targeted melanoma therapy are drugs targeting BRAF protein (BRAF inhibitors) or the related MEK proteins (MEK inhibitors) alongside others such as CTLA-4 or inhibition of Lymphocyte Activation Gene3 (LAG3).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To overcome resistance, often a combination of drugs with different mechanisms of action or targets is given. As a result, USD3.325 billion are spent annually on immunotherapy (incl. PD-L1 inhibitors), USD1.374 billion on targeted therapy (incl. BRAF inhibitors), and USD0.543 billion on chemotherapy to treat melanoma globally (2023). Despite all progress to date, about 60,000 patients die from melanoma every year worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Otago Innovation\u2019s milestones tranched investment of $100,000 will advance the research team\u2019s planned <em>in vitro<\/em> and <em>in vivo<\/em> experiments. \u201cIn parallel, Otago Innovation will invest into the securing of intellectual property and navigating freedom-to-operate, as well as identifying the best path to market. There is certainly a compelling need for Mark\u2019s research\u201d, says Otago Innovation\u2019s CEO David Christensen.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":2647,"menu_order":8,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3700","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"static_banner":{"banner_headline":"2024 Winner","banner_subhead":"","banner_image":2667,"image_vertical_placement":50,"image_horizontal_placement_":50}},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>2024 Winner - Otago Innovation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Default Page Meta Description\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/otagoinnovation.com\/wordpress\/funding\/past-winners\/2024-winner\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"2024 Winner - 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