MEDICAL researchers are optimistic about a new round of tests they plan to perform on brain tumour cells that are being flown to Australia from the United States.
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The work is being done as part of the Benny Wills Brain Tumour Research Program, which was founded by Canberra parents Imogen and Dave Wills.
Their eldest son Ben died in 2009 after suffering diffuse pontine giloma, an inoperable brain stem tumour.
Pediatric oncologist David Ziegler, of the Sydney Children's Hospital, said being able to have the cancer cells to use in a laboratory presented an important development in medical research.
''This cancer occurs in the most critical part of the brain,'' he said.
''We cannot even do a biopsy and that means we have never even had these cells to study in the laboratory, whereas with other cancers we have been able to do that.''
Mr and Mrs Wills hosted the Benny Wills gala dinner in Woden on September 3, raising $50,000 to continue the work of the program.
Dr Ziegler said diffuse pontine giloma was one of the most common types of brain tumour found in children and ''without doubt'' the most aggressive and deadly.
''Over the past 50 years the survival rates for this cancer have remained abysmal,'' he said. ''It's incurable. We are in a dreadful position of having to tell that to parents.''
Dr Ziegler said the research program had the benefit of being able to use robotic technology to perform tests.
''This is a unique program because it's the first time anyone has started doing the research on this type of tumour in Australia,'' he said.
''We will be using a high-throughput drug screen.
''It's the sort of technology where previously we would have had one person testing one by one and that takes years.''
Mrs Wills said the research program had been well supported by the Canberra community and donations had continued to flow in after the gala dinner.
''We would like to send our heartfelt thanks to everyone who donated items or sponsored the dinner and also to everyone who attended,'' she said.
To learn more about the Benny Wills Brain Tumour Research Program visit www.bennywills.org