From humble beginnings in Sydney in 2007, the Tour de Cure family has grown to become a national movement of more than 10,000 people, inspiring support across Australia. Through their challenging and inspirational cycling tours and events across Australia, they raise money to fund the boldest research, the most talented scientists and the groundbreaking projects that they believe will have the biggest impact on cancer. Since 2007, they have funded 306 cancer projects, which has lead to 22 significant breakthroughs in cancer research and care.

The Bill Walsh Lab is pleased to announce that our Dr Sarah Hayes has been awarded the 2018 Tour de Cure Scott Canner Early Career Fellowship for her research into developing a new breath test for diagnosing lung cancer. Changes in specific proteins found in exhaled breath of lung cancer patients may be an indication of the underlying cancer, presenting a potential screening technique for early detection of this disease. In this project, we are using cutting-edge mass spectrometry to comprehensively map proteins found in human breath from lung cancer patients to identify these proteins. This is the first time ever that the human lung cancer breath proteome (which we have termed the “breathome”) has been profiled by advanced mass spectrometry.