Jem-Bot starts work - Newcastle Herald
New Zealand teenager Jemima Gazley's RUN DIPG donation inspires 'Wish Lab' for cancer researcher Matt Dun's University of Newcastle lab
Article written by Anita Beaumont for the Newcastle Herald. Published on 16 September 2022.
ABOUT a month before New Zealand teenager Jemima Gazley died of DIPG, she decided to donate her brain, and life savings, to the work of Hunter researcher Matt Dun.
Her fundraising page subsequently raised more than $650,000 for RUN DIPG - a Hunter-run charity set up to support Associate Professor Dun's research.
Now, in honour of Jemima's "selfless and generous" donation, the "Wish Lab" will open at the University of Newcastle.
The dedicated robotic facility will help Prof Dun and his team use artificial intelligence and robotics to test different drug combinations for brain tumours, including Diffuse Midline Glioma - DMG, and Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma - DIPG.
These brain tumours are responsible for more deaths in children than any other disease, Prof Dun said
"As a legacy of her contribution, we wanted to build something in her honour," Prof Dun said.
"She wanted to do something significant, so we decided to do something significant. This is in recognition of what Jemima went through and her plea to ensure that her journey, and the lack of hope accompanied by her journey, isn't faced by every kid and every family that go through this."
Since the DIPG diagnosis, and death, of his own daughter Josephine - aged four - Prof Dun said they now understood that no one drug could improve the survival outcomes of children with these diseases. It would require a complex and meticulous treatment regime.
"When Josie failed the recommended treatments three months after they began, we got compassionate access for the use of a combination of two drugs that stabilised her tumour for about two months," he said. "She learned to walk again... she had her one and only dance concert. But the tumour started growing again."
That combination of drugs is now being trialled internationally, and Prof Dun said they hope the artificial intelligence and robotics in the Wish Lab will help them identify the best treatment strategies to "leapfrog" the failure of the past 50 years in outcomes.
The lab's opening comes ahead of the Run for RUN DIPG fundraising event on September 25. The Fernleigh Track event will include marathon, half-marathon and 5km legs, and culminate in family-friendly markets at Liles Oval in Redhead from 8am.
RUN DIPG has begun funding a paediatric brain cancer nurse based out of John Hunter Hospital.
RUN DIPG general manager Troy Bailey said the nurse will help families navigate the hospital system, and will be the first point of contact for families with paediatric brain cancer throughout the region.
