Timeline

Childhood cancer five-year survival rates now sit at approximately 86% in Australia. The Kids’ Cancer Project is focused on future-proofing childhood cancer research by investing in cutting-edge research projects, such as:

• AI-driven drug discoveries
• Personalised, less toxic treatments based on multi-omics data
• Integration of nanotechnology for precise drug delivery
• Expansion of cancer vaccines for prevention/recurrence reduction
• AI-powered, fully personalised treatment protocols with minimal toxicity
• Bioprinting and lab-grown organoids for drug testing

The Federal Government provides $112 million funding for childhood cancer research, expanding the ZERO program to include adolescents and young adults.
In addition, children who received a ZERO-recommended treatment did significantly better than those who did not.

Australian researchers identify new drug targets for diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), one of the deadliest paediatric brain tumours. The Kids’ Cancer Project has funded multiple DIPG research projects, including Professor Matt Dun at the University of Newcastle, which was the beneficiary of government funding announced in 2025.

Coinciding with its 30th anniversary, The Kids’ Cancer Project announces the inaugural Col Reynolds Fellowships, comprising a cohort of Australia’s most talented up and coming researchers. The announcement comes with a $7.6 million pledge to futureproof childhood cancer, as well as a new research strategy which explores the entire cancer continuum, ensuring kids with cancer survive and thrive.

New CAR T-Cell Therapies for solid tumours enter clinical trials. Over a 14-year period, The Kids’ Cancer Project has invested approximately $4.5 million in CAR T-Cell and gene therapy research.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s Federal government provides $67 million funding for childhood cancer research, further expanding the ZERO program.

Artificial Intelligence makes waves in the Australian cancer research sector for the first time, with AI-driven drug discovery programs launched on the continent, identifying new potential childhood cancer therapies.

The Federal Government establishes Australian Brain Cancer Mission,   with the goal of making transformative improvements to the quality and length of life of people with brain cancer, with the longer-term aim of defeating brain cancer. The Kids’ Cancer Project is named a Funding Partner, contributing $5.3 million over a ten-year period.

The Kids’ Cancer Project establishes its formal partnership with ANZCHOG. The partnership was formed to provide support and infrastructure to facilitate the running of and access to clinical trials for Australian children with cancer.
Celebrating ten years of association in 2025, The Kids’ Cancer Project has contributed over $3.8 million, which has helped to support 15 clinical trials and approximately 375 participants. A national biobank is also created via the partnership.

Australia’s first CAR-T trial for paediatric leukaemia begins at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne. CAR-T cells are genetically modified T cells, designed to recognise and attack cancer cells by binding to a leukaemia cell and activating its immune response, eventually destroying the cancer cell.
Meanwhile, the Zero Childhood Cancer (ZERO) Program is launched in Australia to develop precision medicine approaches for high-risk childhood cancers. Trials begin a year later, made possible by an initial investment of $200,000 from The Kids’ Cancer Project, which allowed ZERO to demonstrate its capabilities to larger funding bodies.

The Kids’ Cancer Project announces a co-funding partnership with Cancer Australia (pdCCRS), with the aim of funding priority research areas for childhood cancer. The partnership sees 19 projects co-funded over nine years, totalling $3.1million.
Co-funding becomes commonplace for The Kids’ Cancer Project in the years that follow, as it allows the dollar to go further, allowing the charity to invest in additional projects.

The Oncology Children’s Foundation formally changes its name to The Kids’ Cancer Project.

The Oncology Children’s Foundation (now known as The Kids’ Cancer Project) announces funding for two CAR T-Cell and gene therapy programs. The world’s first clinical trials of CAR T-Cell therapy for relapsed patients of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia begin a year later.

The Oncology Children’s Foundation (now known as The Kids’ Cancer Project) allocates $3.8 million to the Childhood Cancer Cytoskeleton Consortium, or C4 Consortium. Comprising six early and mid-career   researchers  , the consortium was formed to develop new therapies for hard-to-treat and non-responsive relapsed cancers. 
The Oncology Children’s Foundation forms the Research Advisory Committee (RAC), an independent body made up of national and international leaders in the field, including researchers, clinicians, and industry experts. 
The RAC is tasked with reviewing and rating all grant submissions. It has allowed the Oncology Children’s Foundation (now The Kids’ Cancer Project) to ensure equitable funding nationwide, while funding projects with the best chance of improving the lives of kids with cancer. 
Childhood cancer five-year survival rates in Australia climb to roughly 83%.

Australian researchers contribute to studies of high-dose chemotherapy for neuroblastoma, improving survival rates.

Three years after Australian began formal tumour banking initiatives, the Oncology Children’s Foundation (now known as The Kids’ Cancer Project) invests $2.4 million over eight years to fund tumour banking. 
Tissue banking in childhood cancer enables secure storage of samples for future collaborative research, helping scientists better understand cancer biology and develop more effective treatments as new technologies and ideas emerge.

Targeted therapy with imatinib becomes standard care for chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML), revolutionising treatment with fewer side effects. Imatinib targets a fusion protein in a leukaemia cell, stopping cancerous cell growth. It is now the first course of treatment for CML.

Col Reynolds and the Oncology Children’s Foundation (now named as The Kids’ Cancer Project) begins investing in research, with an initial $8 million investment that helps  to seed fund innovative research projects and the development of a Sydney-based gene therapy facility. It is the first time in Australia that a   facility of this kind has been created.

Australia adopts molecular testing for childhood leukaemia, improving treatment precision.
Five-year survival rates for all childhood cancers are now at approximately 80% for Australian kids.

Five-year survival rates for childhood cancer reach 80% in Australia.

The first clinical trials of monoclonal antibody therapies for neuroblastoma begin. These therapies target an antigen within neuroblastoma cells while leaving normal tissues unharmed. They also assist the immune system in identifying and attacking neuroblastoma cells while minimising damage to healthy tissue.

Advanced radiation therapy techniques are adopted in Australian clinics, reducing long-term side effects in childhood brain tumour survivors, including cognitive decline and hormonal imbalances. More precise radiation delivery methods allowed for targeted treatment of tumour tissues while sparing surrounding healthy brain structures, thereby reducing the risk of long-term complications.

Col Reynolds founds the Oncology Children’s Foundation, which is later named to the name still used today, The Kids’ Cancer Project. The OCF was initially focused on cancer care, improving the quality of life of a child while they received therapy.
Five-year survival rates at this time sit at approximately 73%. 
 

The Australian and New Zealand Children's Haematology/Oncology Group (ANZCHOG) was founded allowing children to participate in experimental therapies. The Kids’ Cancer Project and ANZCHOG would later formally join forces in 2016.

Sydney bus driver Col Reynolds takes a wrong turn and ended up adjacent to the Sydney Children’s Hospital in Camperdown. He gave way at a crossing to two young, bald kids with cancer, which prompted him to park the bus and head inside.
It altered the course of his life, and our organisation, forever.

The world begins to collaborate in a bid to cure childhood cancer as Australia joins its counterparts by taking part in global clinical trials – all to improve childhood cancer treatments. Five-year survival rates of childhood cancer in Australia throughout the 1980s sits at approximately 65%.

The Children’s Cancer Institute (CCI) is founded, becoming the country’s first dedicated research institute for childhood cancer. Many CCI researchers and subsequent projects have been funded by The Kids’ Cancer Project.

Australia’s first paediatric oncology unit is established at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital.

Five-year survival rates for childhood cancer sit at 56% in Australia.

Haematologist Dr. E. Donnall Thomas performs the first successful bone marrow transplant (BMT) for a child with cancer in Cooperstown, New York. The child, who was diagnosed with leukaemia, received a transplant with bone marrow from their identical twin. BMT replaces damaged or diseased bone marrow with healthy stem cells, typically donated by a matching donor or family member.