Sarcoma Awareness Month: Our impact, our projects and our focus for the future

The other sarcoma-studying Col Reynolds Fellow, The Children’s Medical Research Institute’s Dr Noa Lamm-Shalem, is investigating how to inhibit the AKT gene from interfering with cancer treatments, which often makes chemotherapy and radiation less effective.  

If successful, Dr Lamm-Shalem will have ensured cancer cells are more responsive to therapy – helping to significantly improve survival rates. 

Tragically losing her mother and grandmother to breast cancer, Dr Lamm-Shalem's motivation for research is clear, but her decision to particularly focus on sarcoma was due to the devastating effects the insidious disease can have on young lives, especially when treatment resistance builds up in the body.  

She believes the importance of commemorative periods like Sarcoma Awareness Month are essential for raising public awareness, honouring those affected, and driving momentum for research. 

 “Sarcoma Awareness Month plays a crucial role in bringing much-needed visibility to a rare and often overlooked group of cancers,” she says. 

“These moments are essential, not just for patients and families to feel seen and supported, but also for driving community engagement, funding, and scientific interest. Awareness leads to advocacy, and advocacy leads to investment in research, early detection, and better treatment options.  

“For researchers like me, it’s an opportunity to connect with the public, share what we’re working on, and underscore the urgent need for breakthroughs in these difficult-to-treat cancers.  

Dr Lamm-Shalem says her project is progressing well, already uncovering insights into how the nuclear F-actin within the nucleus of a sarcoma cell and AKT activation work together to resist chemotherapy, in which promyelocytic leukaemia (PML) nuclear bodies play a crucial role.  

She says these results are promising for not only osteosarcoma patients, but other sufferers of AKT-driven childhood cancers such as neuroblastoma, acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and high-grade gliomas. 

With an eye on the future, Noa is intent on inhibiting the work of AKT in developing tumours. Collaboration with industry partners will assist in developing therapies that could one day become clinical standards, with Noa currently expanding her team’s lab capabilities that could ensure results come quicker than currently anticipated. 

“To every donor supporting The Kids’ Cancer Project and sarcoma research, thank you. 

“You’re not just funding a lab – you’re fuelling hope for kids and families who desperately need better answers. 

“Your generosity makes our work possible. Your support allows us to ask bold questions, pursue high-risk, high-reward ideas, and develop therapies that could transform the outlook for children facing cancer.  

“Research is a long journey, but with your help, we're making strides every day."