In May, 69 PhD students from across Australia submitted single-page synopses in a bid to win a $10,000 award. Their projects had to be related to cell or biological therapies – and had to demonstrate commercial potential.
Announcing the AusHealth CureCell Award Winners for 2026!
AusHealth CEO Dr Justin Coombs is delighted to announce the winners of the 2026 AusHealth CureCell Awards.
This year, six PhD students from leading Australian universities and research institutes each receive $10,000 to support their living expenses as they pursue breakthroughs in medical science.
The 2026 winners are:
Elisha Hayden (Children's Cancer Institute/UNSW Sydney), Targeting the last checkpoint: a precision strategy to enhance radiotherapy in diffuse midline glioma
Madeleine Lester (The Florey Institute/ University of Melbourne) Crossing the blood-brain barrier: novel antibody therapies for neurodegenerative diseases
Magdalena Nakova (Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre/University of Melbourne) Rewiring T cell memory to defeat cancer
Evan Pappas (Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre/University of Melbourne) Corona-CAR: boosting CAR-T cells against solid tumours using COVID mRNA vaccines
Jaco Van Rooyen (Adelaide University) Targeted fluorescence imaging to improve brain tumour surgery
Rachel Xu (Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre /University of Melbourne) receiving the SMART CRC CureCell Award: A versatile ‘adaptor’ platform unlocking CD19 CAR-T cell therapy for solid cancers
As in previous years, the standard of submissions for the 2026 Awards was exceptionally high, with 69 PhD students applying from 11 national institutions across four states.
Reflecting on this third year of the CureCell Awards, Justin says, “Our judges had some tough decisions to make! The number, range and depth of submissions never fails to inspire me.
"This year we had strong representation in submissions from the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, reflecting their high calibre science around cell therapies.
“Three of our 2026 winners are focusing on cell-based therapies for treating cancer.
As well as encouraging excellence in complex research, the AusHealth CureCell Awards are making PhD students’ lives easier. “While cutting-edge medical research in Australia is outstanding, our PhD students often have to survive on as little as $30,000 a year,” says Justin. “These cash prizes are intended to relieve financial pressures – and as always, award winners can spend their $10,000 on anything they like!”