Living biobank boosts research into personalised brain cancer treatments
- 3 min read
A joint Monash Health and Monash University research platform that collects fresh brain tumour tissue straight from the operating theatre has enrolled over 340 patients since launching less than 2 years ago.
The Monash Live-Biobanking (MoLBi) platform provides researchers with access to fresh, living tumour tissue, enabling scientists to study cancer cells in real time rather than relying solely on archived tissue.
Living biobank growth beyond expectations
The platform’s growth has outpaced initial projections.
‘With more than 340 participants, MoLBi is now one of Australia’s fastest growing clinician-embedded live brain tumour biobanking initiatives,’ said Monash Health Consultant Medical Oncologist Dr Gwo Yaw Ho, founder and chair of MoLBi, which he co-founded with Monash Health neurosurgeon Professor Justin Moore.
While brain tumours remain the platform’s primary focus, MoLBi is seeking ethics approval to expand into metastatic brain tumours and other difficult-to-treat solid cancers, with a long-term goal of building a living biobank to support precision oncology research across multiple cancer types.
Beyond brain tumour biobanking, MoLBi has evolved into an integrated precision oncology platform that combines live tissue collection with advanced molecular profiling, laboratory modelling and early-phase clinical trials.
From fresh tissue to new therapies
The fresh tumour samples have allowed researchers to grow patient-derived tumour models in the laboratory, including patient-derived cell cultures, immortalised cell lines, patient-derived xenografts and the innovative Chicken Egg Chorioallantoic Membrane (CAM) model, providing powerful platforms to test potential therapies. These models are helping translate laboratory discoveries into new treatments for brain cancer.
The tissue samples have enabled multiple cutting-edge molecular analyses, including DNA sequencing (genomics), gene expression profiling (transcriptomics), immune system profiling (HLA analysis) and immunopeptidomics, which identifies the protein fragments displayed by tumour cells that can be recognised by the immune system.
Together, these data allow researchers to identify tumour-specific targets unique to each patient’s cancer. These discoveries are fundamental to MoLBi’s long-term vision of developing personalised T-cell receptor (TCR)-T cell therapies, in which a patient’s own immune cells are engineered to recognise and attack their individual tumour.
These laboratory discoveries are being translated through MoLBi’s innovative Phase Zero investigator-initiated clinical trial program, designed to evaluate promising new therapies in patients undergoing brain tumour surgery before larger clinical studies.
Coordination challenges
The platform’s rapid growth has presented challenges, chief among them the logistics of collecting and processing tissue samples in real time.
‘Collecting living tumour tissue in real time requires extraordinary coordination between patients, neurosurgeons, theatre staff, laboratory scientists and research teams,’ said Dr Ho, adding that growth had increased the need for specialised staff, computational support, laboratory infrastructure, and sustainable funding.
But the team’s extraordinary commitment has kept the work moving forward.
Dr Ho says the goal is to transform every donated tumour into knowledge that leads to new diagnostics, personalised immunotherapies, implantable technologies and clinical trials that improve outcomes for patients with brain cancer.
‘This is a highly committed multidisciplinary team who are making a difference in the care of difficult to treat cancers. The cofounders Dr Gwo, Prof Justin Moore and the whole team should be congratulated,’ said Associate Professor Zee Wan Wong, Director of Oncology.
Dr Gwo Yaw Ho and Professor Justin Moore will be speaking more about the MoLBi platform and how it could benefit our patients during Monash Health’s Research and Innovation Week from 7 to 11 September 2026.
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