Medicine & Health School of Biomedical Sciences

Centre for Molecular Oncology

The Centre for Molecular Oncology group photo

The Centre for Molecular Oncology, a new research centre established within the School of Biomedical Sciences is dedicated to advancing the understanding and treatment of cancer.  

The Centre for Molecular Oncology applies basic, translational and clinical approaches to understanding cancer biology through patient-centred discovery programs, and uses this information to improve patient outcomes through clinical trials. 
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Current projects

A major program of work within the Centre for Molecular Oncology is the national precision oncology platform called PrOSPeCT, a $190M public:private initiative which seeks to establish precision oncology across Australia. Other areas of focus are large-scale genetic risk cohorts focused on sarcomas and early onset cancers, leading to personalised risk-stratified early detection programs using novel technologies such as whole body MRI and blood-based screening.

Highlighted publications

  1. Ballinger, M.L., Pattnaik, S., Mundra, P., …Thomas, D.M. 2023 Heritable defects in telomere and mitotic function selectively predispose to sarcomas. Science, 379:253-60.  https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abj4784
  2. Cipponi, A., Goode, D.L., Bedo, J., McCabe, M., … Thomas, D.M. 2020 MTOR signaling orchestrates stress-induced mutagenesis, facilitating adaptive evolution in cancer. Science, 368: 1127-31.  https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aau8768
  3. Ballinger, M.L.*, Best, A.*, Mai, P.L., Khincha, P.P., … Thomas, D.M*., Savage, S.A*. 2017 Baseline surveillance in Li-Fraumeni Syndrome using whole body magnetic resonance imaging: A Meta-Analysis. JAMA Oncology, 3: 1634-1639.  * Equal authors  https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaoncology/fullarticle/2646798
  4. Garsed, D.W., Marshall, O.J., Corbin, V.D.A., Hsu, … Thomas, D.M. 2014 The architecture and evolution of cancer neochromosomes. Cancer Cell, 26:653-667.  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25517748/
  5. Thomas, D.M., Henshaw, R., Skubitz, K., Chawla, S., Staddon, A., Roudier, M., Smith, J., Ye, Z., Sohn, W., Dansey, R., Jun, S. 2010 Denosumab in patients with giant-cell tumor of bone: an open-label phase 2 study. Lancet Oncology, 11:275-280. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20149736/

Our experts

David Thomas June 2024
David Thomas
Group Leader, Director
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Mandy Ballinger Centre of Molecular Oncology
Mandy Ballinger
Deputy Director
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CaSP Program

  1. Associate Professor Mandy Ballinger, Deputy Director, Centre for Molecular Oncology, UNSW; Head of Cohorts, Omico Leader, Genetic Cancer Risk Group, Garvan Institute 
  2. Dr Gregory.Gaughran, Clinical Research Fellow
  3. Dr Maya Kansara, Head of Translation Oncology Laboratory

Research Collaborators – Garvan Research Institute

  1. Dr Frank Lin
  2. Dr Subo Thavaneswaran

CaSP Program

  1. Associate Professor Mandy  Ballinger– Group Leader, Head of Cohorts
  2. Dr John Grady - Head of Informatics
  3. Laura Manuel- Senior Program Co-ordinator – Recruitment and Tissue & Laboratory Manager
  4. Dr Beverley Murrow - Senior Program Co-ordinator - Molecular Oncology Board
  5. Dr Christine Napier -  Senior Program National Co-ordinator, Long-term follow-up
  6. Keith Thornton – Senior Program Co-ordinator National Clinical Trial Liaison 
  7. Hayley Barker - Co-ordinator National Data and Research 

Thomas Lab group

  1. Dr Maya Kansara, Head of Translation Oncology Laboratory
  2. Arcadi Cipponi – Senior Research Officer
  3. Erin Heyer - Senior Research Officer
Research Theme

Cancer |