Cherry Wee
‘Advancing Bowel Cancer Therapy: can effective treatment be achieved without Cardiac complications.’
School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, University of Newcastle, NSW
Awarded 2026
Co-funded with Rotary Club of Keilor ‘Judith Annette Thompson’ PhD Scholarship
“ By identifying medicines that protect the heart without reducing the effectiveness of cancer treatment, this research may help patients live longer and experience fewer health problems during and after treatment. ”
Researcher Profile
Cherry Wee has a background in biomedical science, with research experience in cancer biology and cellular research. Through her previous research roles, she has gained experience in laboratory techniques used to study cancer and the biological processes involved in disease process.
She is a PhD candidate in the Newcastle Cardio-Oncology program at the University of Newcastle led by Professor Doan Ngo and Professor Aaron Sverdlov. Her research focuses on protecting heart health in people receiving treatment for colorectal cancer. While cancer treatments are designed to destroy cancer cells, they can sometimes affect the heart and its ability to function properly. Cherry aims to investigate ways to protect the heart while ensuring that cancer treatments remain effective.
Cherry is passionate about research that connects laboratory discoveries with real-world patient care. She hopes her work will contribute to safer cancer treatments, better long-term health, and improved quality of life for cancer patients. In the future, she also hopes to contribute to a deeper understanding of treatment-related cardiovascular complications.
Project Summary
This project aims to find ways to protect the heart during treatment for bowel (colorectal) cancer, so patients can live longer and enjoy a better quality of life.
Although modern cancer treatments have improved survival, some chemotherapy and targeted medicines could unintentionally damage the heart, during treatment or even years after cancer treatment has ended. At present, doctors often only discover these heart problems after they have already developed and there are few proven strategies to protect the heart while keeping cancer treatment effective.
In this project, we will first test common bowel cancer drugs together with potential “heart- protective” medicines in the laboratory, using bowel cancer cells and human heart cells grown in dishes. We will then take the most promising combinations into mouse models of bowel cancer, where we can measure both how well the tumour responds and how well the heart is preserved, using heart scans, blood tests and tissue analysis. Finally, we will study the underlying biological changes in heart and cancer cells to understand exactly how these combinations work.
Supervisors: Professor Doan Ngo, Professor Aaron Sverdlov, Dr Tatt Jhong Haw and Dr Amanda Croft.