Inherently curious with OCRF-funded researcher Dr Maree Bilandzic

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The seat beside a hospital bed often holds someone who wishes they could change what is happening to a loved one. It’s rare that they can. Yet, every day through her research, Dr Maree Bilandzic does just that for the loved ones of others through her unwavering dedication to ovarian cancer research.

“I always loved science, because science is something that never has a defined answer,” says Dr Maree Bilandzic, a research scientist at the Hudson Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne. “You can always keep learning.” 

And when it comes to cancer, there is still so much to learn.  

Dr Bilandzic first started asking questions about cancer when she was studying biomedical science at Deakin University in her early 20s. Her grandfather had been diagnosed with late-stage cancer, but her migrant grandparents were finding it challenging to navigate and understand the healthcare system. So, Dr Bilandzic became their interpreter and guide, and through that experience she came to realise how far science had to go in diagnosing, managing and treating cancer. “Being there with them and realising it was a helpless situation – there were no treatments that were going to cure him – and I thought, ‘Why can't cancer be a manageable disease?’,” she says. 

Dr Maree Bilandzic

Dr Bilandzic also has an interest in women’s health. She found that while there were many opportunities for research in breast cancer, ovarian cancer was relatively neglected. She initially took up a research position at the Hudson Institute of Medical Research, looking at a rare subtype of ovarian cancer called granulosa cell tumours.  

Now Dr Bilandzic’s focus is on leader cells. In ovarian cancer, these are a type of tumour cell that can make up less than 10 per cent of a tumour. Although a small percentage, they have a substantial impact on cancer severity because they can survive conventional forms of treatment, then go on to multiply and spread new treatment-resistant tumours throughout the peritoneal cavity.  

Instead of trying to develop an entirely new treatment to target these cells, Dr Bilandzic and colleagues have been funded by the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation to screen large numbers of already approved drugs to see if they might work to target leader cells. Already, the team has identified several possible therapeutic targets in leader cells, and some existing drugs that hit those targets. They’ve done proof-of-principle studies in animal models, and the next step is clinical trials in humans. 

Dr Bilandzic supporting the 2023 White Shirt Campaign

Dr Bilandzic also spends a lot of time working to increase awareness of the disease among the general population, in particular, through the annual White Shirt Campaign in partnership between Australian fashion brand Witchery and the OCRF. Having spoken at countless fundraising events, functions, in media interviews and in campaigns, Maree's passion for ovarian cancer awareness and advocacy is palpable. Maree’s commitment to change in ovarian cancer well extends beyond the laboratory, having reached thousands of women and men across the nation in her continuous plight to increase awareness and funding for researchers, like herself. 

While ovarian cancer research still has a long way to go, Dr Bilandzic looks to other cancer research progress as cause for hope for ovarian cancer patients and their families. “Have a look at what we as a community and as researchers have been able to shift with breast cancer – why can’t we do that with ovarian cancer?” 

Dr Maree Bilandzic is an esteemed scientific researcher at Melbourne's Hudson Institute of Medical Research. Read more about her projects and published works here.

This article has been reviewed and approved by Dr Maree Bilandzic.