Dr Jason Cain

Over the last 15 years our understanding of the genetic and molecular landscape of DIPG has greatly improved. As a result, great effort has gone into trying to identify potential new therapies using DIPG cell culture models but despite promising results, these treatments have had limited effect on DIPG growth in living models and/or in patient clinical trials. The failure to successfully apply findings from DIPG cells grown in plastic culture dishes in the laboratory could be explained by the likelihood that these cells function differently in culture than in the brain, and therefore respond differently to treatment. Dr Jason Cain and his PhD student, Shaye Game (Elliot Gautsch Scholar) are undertaking novel genetic screens to identify pathways required for DIPG survival in clinically relevant DIPG models that can be targeted using existing drugs that are currently used for other diseases.