Most people don't survive brain cancer. Researchers hope to change that

An Adelaide research project is searching for ways to treat brain cancer while causing minimal harm to healthy tissue and the human immune system. Brain cancer is the leading cause of death among children and its survival rates have remained stagnant for the past three decades. The project's lead researcher, Simran Singh, was diagnosed with a brain tumour at the age of 12 and has undergone multiple surgeries and treatments.

Her tumour returned and spread when she was 17, and she had to travel to Florida for proton beam therapy. The research team aims to improve radiation's effectiveness in killing cancer cells while safeguarding healthy tissue and its impact on the immune system. Adelaide University biophysics professor Ivan Kempson explained that survival rates for brain cancer have been slow to improve over the past few decades, with only 20% of patients surviving beyond five years.

The outcomes are poor, and the research will focus on how radiation interacts with cancer cells and healthy cells at a microscopic level. The team will use specialized tools to measure radiation damage to DNA with unprecedented precision, hoping to unlock new breakthroughs in brain cancer treatment.