Hudson Institute's groundbreaking research into ovarian cancer treatment has been given a significant boost with a $260,000 grant from the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation (OCRF). This funding will support Dr. Maree Bilandzic's innovative project, 'Disrupting Cancer's Safe Zones to Help Treatments Work Better', which aims to tackle the leading cause of mortality in women with high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma: recurrence and resistance.
Dr. Bilandzic's research focuses on the idea that chemotherapy often works well initially but over 80% of patients will experience a relapse due to residual cancer cells hiding in 'safe zones' or niches created by the treatment itself. With this funding, her team will use advanced imaging to map these protective zones and develop a 'Niche Score' (NiScore), a new diagnostic tool to predict a patient's risk of relapse. This approach moves beyond simply tracking the disease to actively dismantling the survival niches that make relapse seem inevitable, offering a powerful new path toward long-term survivorship.
The OCRF's support is particularly meaningful as it comes from the 2026 OCRF Mother's Day Classic Foundation grants, in recognition of the foundation's $1.3 million donation to OCRF last year. Dr. Bilandzic emphasizes the honor of her team being selected as a Mother's Day Classic sponsored project, especially as a research team uniting breast and ovarian cancer expertise. She expresses gratitude for the commitment to understanding recurrence biology and preventing relapse before it becomes clinically overt for every woman facing ovarian cancer.
Hudson Institute's researchers are dedicated to developing an early detection test and discovering better, more effective personalized treatments that will help people survive their diagnosis long term. The Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation (OCRF) tissue bank at Hudson Institute is a vital resource for tackling ovarian cancer, housing more than 2,448 ovarian tissue samples used to advance diagnosis and treatment. Hudson Institute is proud to be among the recipients of funding from the OCRF Mother's Day Classic Foundation grants, highlighting the growing community support for ovarian cancer research and the potential for groundbreaking discoveries in the field.
