Hunting hidden cells

CAR T-cell therapy has transformed treatment for some blood cancers, but solid tumours like breast and ovarian cancer have proved far harder to crack. So, what if we could build smarter immune cells – ones that sense their surroundings, respond to instructions and carry multiple cancer-fighting tools at once? In this episode, Garvan’s Dr Philipp Rommel explains how he’s engineering programmable immune cells designed to outsmart cancer, and shares his vision for making these next-generation therapies here in Sydney.Support Garvan research: https://www.garvan.org.au/support-us/give-nowSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Autoimmune diseases affect one in eight people, yet many are still treated by suppressing the entire immune system. But what if all of them shared a common root cause – a small number of rogue immune cells that could be identified and removed? In this episode, Garvan's Professor Chris Goodnow explains how he's tracking down these 'rogue clones', and how targeting them could pave the way for more effective treatments for autoimmune diseases.Support Garvan research: https://www.garvan.org.au/support-us/give-nowSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pancreatic cancer can surround itself with dense scar tissue, creating a kind of fortress that makes tumours incredibly difficult to treat. So, how do we find a way through? In this episode, Garvan researcher Dr Brooke Pereira explains the role of this complex tumour environment, and reveals how better understanding it could be the key to uncovering new treatment options.Support Garvan research: https://www.garvan.org.au/support-us/give-nowSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our immune system is like a well-trained security network, constantly scanning the body for threats. So, how is it that some harmful cells manage to slip by unnoticed? In this episode, we speak to computational biologist, Dr Clare Puttick, about how cancer cells can evade detection by disrupting the molecular “flags” that would normally mark them for attack. Her research is uncovering new ways to expose these hidden cells and could offer fresh insights into diseases where the immune system doesn’t behave as expected, including endometriosis.  Support Garvan research: https://www.garvan.org.au/support-us/give-nowSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What if the missing piece in diagnosing, and even treating, a rare disease was hiding in plain sight? For one such condition, mevalonate kinase deficiency, which affects at least one in a million people globally, that piece may now have been uncovered. In this episode, Garvan's Professor Mike Rogers shares insights from more than a decade of research into this condition, and explains how his findings are helping reveal a bigger picture.Support Garvan research: https://www.garvan.org.au/support-us/give-nowSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Immunotherapy has revolutionised the treatment of many blood cancers, harnessing the immune system so our bodies can fight back. But for solid tumours, like pancreatic cancer with a survival rate of just 13%, that breakthrough has remained frustratingly out of reach.  In this episode, we explore why the immune system struggles to attack these tumours and how the physical environment inside cancers can shape the way immune cells behave. We hear from Garvan's Associate Professor Maté Biro, whose research maps how cells move inside of tumours, with the goal of uncovering new strategies to improve cancer treatment.Support Garvan research: https://www.garvan.org.au/support-us/give-nowSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Arthritis affects millions of people, but the underlying causes are still not fully understood. What makes the immune system that normally protects us suddenly attack our joints? And why do arthritis flares seem to arrive without warning? In this episode, we explore how certain immune cells or signals might be responsible for switching inflammation on. We hear from Garvan's Dr Etienne Masle-Farquhar, who is mapping these processes in both rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis, with the goal of predicting flares earlier and guiding more effective treatment.Support Garvan research: https://www.garvan.org.au/support-us/give-nowSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For decades, the fight against cancer has focused on killing the tumour cell. We treated cancer like an isolated entity that needed to be destroyed – but what if we’ve been looking at the wrong target? In this episode, we delve into the critical insight that cancer is not just a rogue cell – it’s an entire ecosystem – and that ecosystem is the key to unlocking a new class of cures. We hear from Garvan's Dr Ankur Sharma, who is using precision technology to dissect how the environment around liver cancers allows them to grow unchecked. The ultimate goal for this research is to develop better diagnostics and treatments for this deadly cancer.Support Garvan research: https://www.garvan.org.au/support-us/give-nowSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Therapies and drugs have evolved enormously in the last 30 years. For example, in cancer, where previously our options were limited to surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, we’re now hearing terms like cancer immunotherapy, targeted therapies and even cancer vaccines. Many of these are biologics. In this episode you’ll hear from Dr Rachel Galimidi who is at the forefront of biologics drug development and is working to make new and better treatments for a range of diseases.Support Garvan research: https://www.garvan.org.au/support-us/give-nowSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the toughest cancers to treat – it’s aggressive, often diagnosed late, and doesn’t respond well to standard therapies. In this episode, we meet Professor Marina Pajic who is working at the cutting-edge of science to transform how we understand and treat this disease.Support Garvan research: https://www.garvan.org.au/support-us/give-nowSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.