Pictured here is Dr Steven Lane, Head of Cancer Program QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, receiving a donation of $35,000 from Lara Chapman and the MPN AA.

The money is being used to further understand the mechanisms of how MPNs turn into leukaemia. The research is underway in Brisbane and will generate important preliminary data that helps explain molecular events that drive the transformation from MPN to AML. Ultimately, uncovering molecular targets will inform the development of targeted therapeutic approaches for treatment of transformed MPN, a highly chemo-refractory disease associated with extremely poor prognosis in patients.

On behalf of Dr Lane and the MPN AA, sincere thanks to all the donors who have made possible this valuable contribution to MPN research. The cheque for $35,000 is a result of various fundraising activities since the inception of the MPN Fund in 2014 and the first online MPN Art Exhibition in 2017.

Lara has announced this was her last official duty with MPN AA. She has said “I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every donor, supporter and the people that I have worked with over the last seven years:-  MPN advocates worldwide, MPN AA colleagues past and present, Leukaemia Foundation, MPN Research Foundation, University of Queensland Diamantina Institute, MPN Advocacy & Education International, haematologists, friends and family members, for your support in believing in the idea of establishing the MPN Fund and MPN Alliance Australia to benefit the MPN community. I am proud of the platform that has been created to increase awareness, the useful resources available on the MPN AA website and importantly the valuable contribution to MPN research.”

We wholeheartedly wish Lara all the best in her future endeavours, including her wonderful painting. We salute Lara for her determination and for all the hours of work she spent in establishing MPN AA, as well as her fundraising efforts. She leaves a lasting legacy.