Archive · 28 Aug 2026
Australian Researchers Challenge Old Assumptions in Brain Tumour Treatment
Australian scientists are studying better ways to treat brain tumours.
Professor Ivan Kempson is leading the project.
The researchers say some treatment ideas come from studies done many decades ago.
They want to use new tools to see exactly how radiation damages DNA.
Radiation should damage tumour cells while protecting healthy brain cells.
The team will also study whether the immune system helps fight brain cancer.
Doctors at the Royal Adelaide Hospital are helping with the research.
Brain cancer has poor survival rates, so researchers say new treatments are urgently needed.
Professor Ivan Kempson is leading a $240,000 Australian project to improve brain tumour treatment.
Researchers are questioning treatment assumptions that largely come from studies conducted in the 1960s and 1970s.
Specialised tools will measure radiation-related DNA damage in tumour and healthy brain cells.
The team will also study how radiation therapy affects the immune system.
Only two in 10 brain cancer patients survive beyond five years, while treatment research receives less than 5 percent of Australia’s cancer research funding.
- Who
- Professor Ivan Kempson and researchers at Adelaide University, working with doctors at the Royal Adelaide Hospital.
- What
- A project examining how radiation therapy damages tumour DNA, protects healthy cells and affects the immune system.
- When
- The articles do not provide a specific date.
- Where
- Australia, including research conducted with the Royal Adelaide Hospital in Adelaide.
- Why
- To make radiation treatment more effective and protect healthy brain tissue amid poor survival rates and limited research funding.
- Project leader
- Professor Ivan Kempson of Adelaide University’s Future Industries Institute
- Funding
- $240,000 from the University of Newcastle
- Research focus
- Radiation-related DNA damage in tumour and healthy cells
- Additional focus
- How radiation therapy influences the human immune system
- Clinical partner
- Royal Adelaide Hospital
- Five-year survival
- Two in 10 brain cancer patients survive beyond five years
- Research funding share
- Brain cancer treatment research receives less than 5 percent of Australia’s cancer research funding