CLINICAL RESEARCH FACILITATION

Peter Mac is a driving force in linking patient care with cancer research.

Its unique fabric, which has research embedded and enmeshed within a public hospital dedicated to cancer care, provides the ideal platform to be a world-leading comprehensive cancer centre and excel in translating research findings to the bedside and beyond.

As the only cancer research site embedded in a specialist public cancer hospital in Australia, Peter Mac’s perpetual cancer research cycle (see the image below) is unique in Australia; clinicians take their observations from the clinic and share them with their laboratory colleagues, and in turn, researchers plan their research directions with patients in mind.

Early research in the laboratory

Peter Mac researchers ask a broad range of questions to better understand, and aim to control, the molecular processes behind the onset and progression of cancer, including finding ways to better predict and detect cancer, to give everyone the best chance of effective treatment and lasting immunity.

New therapies through clinical trials

Laboratory researchers forge partnerships with radiation oncologists, imaging specialists, and medical and surgical oncologists, to advance new therapies and new combinations of treatments that have been effective in pre-clinical models to the human setting.

Research in the clinic, at the bedside and beyond

Peter Mac researchers adapt, complement, strengthen and moderate existing treatments to provide maximum effect on cancer while causing minimal harm to healthy tissue, while also improving the holistic patient experience, addressing broader psycho-social needs, and refining pain management and palliative care.

Our cancer research cycle is unique in Australia, and illustrates the diverse range of paths that ideas and discoveries may take at Peter Mac, to the benefit of cancer patients everywhere.

The work of our 520-strong research team includes managing the genetic risk of cancer, detecting cancer earlier through better diagnostic tools, understanding and controlling the molecular causes behind the growth and spread of cancer, developing promising new therapies through trials in the clinic, improving the safety and effectiveness of cancer medicine, surgery and radiation therapy, all while seeking to improving the patient experience and personalise treatment according to the unique profile of every patient and their cancer.

Peter Mac’s research is enabled by expert staff and cutting-edge infrastructure.

The Office of Cancer Research (OCR) is a centralised resource that facilitates research across Peter Mac, making available to all researchers the service/skills required to conduct laboratory, translational and clinical research and to ensure good governance practices are adhered to. The OCR assists with clinical trials supported by industry contracts (including investigator-initiated trials), from contract initiation through to completion of the trial.

The aim of the OCR is to ensure that the following essential building blocks are facilitated when starting a new project, which include but are not limited to:

• facilitate study procurement
• protocol review
• assist with sponsor contract and budget negotiation
• facilitate submission of new research proposals to ethics committees and governance
• assist in closeout of research projects
• provide compliance oversight in the area of sponsor regulations
• offer training and education in research administration and compliance.

Peter Mac promotes and fosters the optimal integrity of its research, which is conducted in accordance with the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research .

For information on the committees, panels and administrative processes surrounding the review and approval of human research at Peter Mac, visit the Ethics Committee Secretariat.

Queries or concerns regarding research conduct at Peter Mac can be sent to researchgovernance@petermac.org.

Dr Carol Ginns

Email: ocr@petermac.org

Ethics and governance

Intellectual property and research contracts