One of the key strengths of NCARD is tumour immunology; studying the role of the immune system in the development, progression and treatment of cancer. In fact NCARD originally started as the Tumour Immunology Group (TIG) back in mid-1984. Over the past 3 decades our focus has spread from tumour immunology to include many other aspects of the biology of asbestos related diseases.
Although the group started as the Tumour Immunology Group, the broadening of its research base and the strategic value of being recognised as a Centre of Excellence resulted in the formation of NCARD, an entity which overlaps with TIG but provides different ‘entry points’ for prospective students, collaborators and funding partners.
The tumour immunology theme is central to many NCARD research projects; from emerging and novel therapies such as immune checkpoint blockade and cancer vaccine development, to using systems biology approaches to identify key genes and their biological / immunological pathways impact asbestos related disease.
Some of our current projects involving tumour immunology are listed below.