Professor Day is the Group Leader of the Sid Faithfull Brain Cancer Laboratory and an internationally recognised expert in brain cancer. He is a Co-Director of the Children’s Brain Cancer Centre, a national initiative to improve outcomes for children with brain cancer.

The focus of his laboratory’s research is to better understand the molecular mechanisms which drive the most common and aggressive forms of adult and paediatric brain cancers. Among Professor Day’s achievements is the characterisation of the receptor EphA3 as a therapeutic target in GBM (Day et al 2013, Cancer Cell, Cit 163). This research has led to clinical testing of a novel EphA3 targeting therapeutic antibody in patients with recurrent brain cancer.

A major achievement has been the development of a brain tumour and cell culture bank at QIMR Berghofer, which has collected >350 tumour specimens to-date. From this resource, more than 60 primary cell lines have been generated which are the basis of his group’s research and collaborative global researchers. Twelve of these models have been characterised in great detail and made publicly available as a resource termed ‘Q-Cell’. These models have been used in numerous studies globally and have been published in over 40 articles to-date. He has more than 1500 career citations and has published over 50 scientific articles directly relating to understanding the biology of brain cancer and defining new therapies to treat these aggressive diseases.

Professor Day is a past ASMR Director and sits on the scientific advisory committee for the Co-Operative Trials Group for Neuro-Oncology (COGNO) and the steering committee for Brain Cancer Biobanking Australian (BCBA) – therefore, ideally placed to translate his findings to clinical trial.

CURRENT AREA OF RESEARCH
Professor Day and his team at the Sid Faithfull Brain Cancer Laboratory study the most common and aggressive form of adult brain cancer, Glioblastoma (GBM) and paediatric brain cancers, Medulloblastoma and Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG). The focus of this research is to better understand the molecular mechanisms which are responsible for the initiation and recurrence of brain cancers. From this work, Professor Day and his team aim to develop and test new and effective therapies to treat these aggressive diseases.

CURRENT PROJECTS
defining Eph receptors as therapeutic targets in brain cancer
defining novel therapies for the treatment of brain cancer
understanding intratumoural heterogeneity and interclonal cooperativity in brain cancer
exploring the use of Antibody Drug Conjugates (ADCs) and organoid cultures in the treatment of brain cancer
brain cancer tissue and culture bank development
developing effective strategies to target multiple GBM cell-states
neo-adjuvant immuno-oncology clinical trial preparation

AWARDS RECOGNITION
2013
Prize (QIMR Berghofer Annual Institute Awards) – Best Postdoctoral Researcher
Prize (Cooperative Trials Group for Neuro-Oncology (COGNO) – Best Poster
2007
Cancer Council Queensland Travel Scholarship
2006
QIMR PhD Performance Scholarship
2004
UQJRS (Mayne Health PhD Scholarship)
2004
QIMR Summer Scholarship