DIPG/DMG Research Projects2025-01-15T16:11:25+11:00

DIPG/DMG Research Projects supported by RUN DIPG

When we say we fund research, we mean it. RUN DIPG directly supports groundbreaking projects, cutting-edge equipment, and the brightest scientific minds to drive progress against DIPG/DMG. Money raised helps fuel targeted initiatives designed to uncover better treatments, improve outcomes, and ultimately find a cure. This is how we move closer to making a real difference—by investing in the people, tools, and ideas that give families hope for the future.

Dr Tuan Vo, Dr Zac Germon & Mika Persson standing with the 10x Genomics Chromium, Xenium and Visium package machine.

Investigating combination therapies on an international scale

Developed thanks to RUN DIPG-funded research.

As confronting as a DIPG/DMG diagnosis is, the realisation that there are no recognised treatment options for the condition is truly heartbreaking. Upon diagnosis, families are given the option to undergo radiation therapy (RT) in an attempt to shrink the tumour and reduce symptoms of the disease.

Following a DIPG/DMG diagnosis, families often begin a desperate search for experimental options that may help give their child ‘more time’. This may be in the form of a clinical trial and requires patients meet certain criteria if they are to be eligible to receive the drug being studied. Eligibility criteria exist so that researchers can be sure that any benefit (or harm) observed in the trial can be attributed to the medicine being studied and not individual circumstance (as best as possible).

For many families, finding a clinical trial that their child qualifies for means they must travel overseas, a significant financial, logistical and emotional process. It is for this reason, that one of RUN DIPG’s major goals is to support the opening of ‘Combination Therapy for the Treatment of Diffuse Midline Gliomas’ (nicknamed “DMG-ACT”)– an international, adaptive clinical trial studying combination therapies against DIPG/DMG, with the flexibility of adding or switching the drug of interest based on the latest findings of the field.

Notably, Professsor Matt Dun and the Cancer Signalling Research Group have contributed to much of the groundwork in the development of the DMG-ACT trial protocol. Two drugs to be studied include paxalisib and ONC201, a combination that Josie Dun was the first child to receive worldwide, thanks to the pre-clinical studies Matt and the team worked hard to complete following Josie’s diagnosis.

With 23 collaborating sites expected to participate worldwide, we cannot wait to see DMG-ACT open for local enrolments. Professor Matt Dun and the University of Newcastle team are working with the Australian and New Zealand Children’s Oncology and Haematology Group (ANZCHOG) responsible for coordinating national trials such as these in Australia.

We at RUN DIPG are committed to facilitating the process; it will be thanks to our supporters that Australian families facing DIPG/DMG finally have accessible treatment options, fully back by rigorous scientific method and without the need for international travel.

Currently enrolling in the United States, you can read more about the clinical trial via the Pacific Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Consortium’s website .

Essential Equipment

BRIGHT MINDS

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