Dr Akshata Anchan is forging a successful career unravelling how cancers spread into the brain. With a decade of brain cancer research under her belt already, she’s now positioned to take the next step in her research career thanks to the Cancer Research Trust’s prestigious John Gavin Postdoctoral Fellowship. 

Dr Anchan’s research looks at the blood vessels in the brain that are designed to be leak-proof to keep the brain safe. But cancer cells can force their way through the walls of the blood vessels in the brain and in the brain, there are limited treatment options. 

Dr Anchan’s work is looking specifically at melanomas, which produce microscopic ‘stress balls’ that are packed with an arsenal of tools to help the cancer push through the blood vessel walls and into the brain. 

To help Dr Anchan discover how cancer cells are getting into the brain, she has acquired a world-first model that mimics the blood vessels of the brain. She has the tools to measure in real-time exactly how cancer cells behave in blood vessels that should be leak-proof - so she can discover how cancers are forcing their way through. 

Discoveries can take decades – with your help we can see it through 

Dr Anchan’s work builds on more than ten years of research experience in this area. She has a unique set of skills and collaborations that equip her to work in this highly specialised area. 

“It’s really important to me to see this through. Once we know how cancer cells breach the blood brain barrier, we can look to develop drugs to stop it happening." says Akshata

Dr Anchan's determination to understand these 'stress balls' may help identify which patients are at high risk of cancer spreading to their brain, so they can be treated more intensively to prevent this happening.

Thanks to your support, Cancer Research Trust is helping Dr Anchan keep up the momentum in this vital research and establish her own research lab at the University of Auckland.