DDF Awards $150,000 Grant to Rao Laboratory
DDF is proud to announce a further $150,000 research grant to support the pioneering work of Professor Sudha Rao and her laboratory at the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute.
On 4th March 2026, the DDF Board — Taylor Bow, Luisa Dwyer and Kevin Dwyer — travelled to Brisbane to formally present the grant to the research team. During the visit, the board had an opportunity to tour the laboratory facilities and were able to observe the team’s cutting-edge research in action.
This latest funding will continue to advance Professor Rao’s ground-breaking non-invasive Liquid Biopsy Digital Pathology Platform— a transformative technology designed to change the way cancer is monitored and treated.
The platform tracks a patient’s cancer cells in real time, providing critical insight into how aggressive the cancer is and whether it is responding to current treatment, enabling oncologists to switch treatments immediately if necessary. Significantly, the Lab can culture a patient’s cancer cells and use the platform to test multiple drug therapy options simultaneously.
This approach has the potential to dramatically improve clinical decision-making by:
Reducing the time required to determine whether a treatment is working.
Allowing oncologists to identify more effective therapies sooner.
Improving the likelihood of successful treatment outcomes for patients.
For the Board, witnessing this process firsthand provided a powerful demonstration of the impact the platform will have for patients facing some of the most challenging cancer diagnoses.
In a world-first, the platform is being tested during the Advanced Breast Cancer-Paxalisib (ABC-Pax) study currently running in several Queensland hospitals. Early feedback from both oncologists and patients has been extremely positive, reinforcing the potential this platform holds for improving cancer care.
This grant brings the Daniela Dwyer Foundation’s total funding for the project to $250,000, reflecting the Foundation’s strong belief that the platform will change the way cancer is monitored and treated once it becomes available as part of standard cancer care.
The Foundation will continue supporting Professor Rao’s platform with the ultimate goal of seeing the platform made available through pathology laboratories across Australia.
This level of support is only possible thanks to the generosity of the Foundation’s donors, partners and supporters. Fundraising initiatives such as last year’s Grey Matter Gala and Canberra race days have played an important role in making this grant possible.
To everyone who has attended an event, made a donation, partnered with the Foundation, or supported our mission in any way — a sincere thank you. Your support is directly helping to accelerate research that could change the future of cancer diagnosis and treatment.
Together, we are helping turn promising science into real hope for patients.