WA researcher recognised for improving childhood leukaemia outcomes

Associate Professor Laurence Cheung was named Cure Cancer 2026 Researcher of the Year for his research in developing treatments for children with high-risk leukaemia.

Associate Professor Cheung, from Curtin University and The Kids Research Institute Australia, said the award provided a valuable platform to accelerate efforts to develop better treatments for children facing leukaemia.

The annual honour is awarded by Cure Cancer, an Australian charity organisation that funds early-career scientific research across all types of cancer.

Much of A/Prof Cheung's work focuses on patients with limited treatment options or whose cancer has relapsed.

“Childhood leukaemia is one of the great success stories of modern medicine, with most children now surviving," he said.

"But for some children, especially those with high-risk forms of the disease, current treatments are still not enough.

“Our goal is to find safer and more effective treatments for children whose cancer is harder to treat, so more young patients have the chance to recover and live healthy lives."

A/Prof Cheung works to identify novel therapeutic agents and combinations to treat aggressive forms of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, including those with BCR-ABL1 or MLL genetic alterations.

"We work closely with Perth Children's Hospital, we get a sample from patients and we test new therapies on the cells to see whether we can come up with a novel agent that has a better efficacy curing those leukaemia cells. At the same time we are very mindful about the side effects, it's a real balancing act," he told Medical Forum.

A/Prof Cheung's research is also informed by his background as a pharmacist - before pursuing medical research he practised as a pharmacist in hospital and community roles

Alongside his work, he balances teaching duties at Curtin University, assisting the next generation of pharmacists through their qualifications.

Assoc Prof Laurence Cheung receiving his Cure Cancer 2026 Researcher of the Year award.

His research has investigated how the bone marrow environment influences the development, progression, and relapse of childhood leukaemia.

By exploring new therapeutic approaches that target this microenvironment and leveraging drugs such as zoledronic acid, he has been able to enhance treatment effectiveness in childhood leukaemia.

As well as mitigating the long-term side effects of leukaemia therapy, he has worked on methods of preventing infectious complications in children with cancer and on improving the efficacy of immunotherapy on children and babies.

A study he authored, published in HemaSphere earlier in 2026, found that blocking sclerostin (a protein involved in bone regulation) protected bones from damage caused by B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in preclinical models, pointing to a possible new approach for reducing bone damage associated with the disease.

A/Prof Cheung told Medical Forum there was often no time to celebrate achievements in scientific research, with one development leading into yet another stage of work, but he said the accolade was a huge privilege and recognition of the ongoing efforts of not only himself but the team he works with.

"I co-lead the team together with paediatric oncologist and haematologist Rishi Kotecha," he said.

"I think the research base coming from a pharmacy background, together with someone with a medical background, that really works well and we have different expertise to bring to the team.

"We debate things, we look at things differently and that's how we can move things forward.

"At the end of the day we are doing a pre-clinical phase of research, whatever that we do we need to make sure that it aligns with the clinical aspects, so co-leading with Rishi has been a fantastic journey that helps our team to fast track our research and bring it to a level that we can make our research program more sustainable."