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By Claire Bowman

How a common backyard daisy is helping to fight cancer 

In a world racing towards the future, the South �Ӱ�ֱ��n immunoGENomics Cancer Institute (SAiGENCI) is re-engineering a millennia-old natural remedy to solve uniquely modern problems. 

The ‘Daisy Project’, led by Professor Christopher Sweeney, is harnessing the power of nature to revolutionise cancer treatment and protect human health in extreme conditions, from high-tech defence scenarios to deep space. 

The project explores the potential of parthenolide – a natural compound extracted from the feverfew daisy, Tanacetum parthenium – to develop life-changing treatments for patients with cancer. Parthenolide, known for its anti-inflammatory properties, is being used to shield healthy human tissues from the damaging effects of radiation and to treat established cancers. 

For SAiGENCI supporter Fiona Hemstock, this project is important on a number of levels, including as a cancer survivor. Through her support, Fiona has provided vital lab equipment in honour of her late uncle, prominent cancer researcher and former �Ӱ�ֱ�� staff member Professor Graham E. Lewis. 

Fiona says it is “breath-taking” to know that she is helping those facing cancer. “When I realised that radiotherapy patients would not have to go through the trauma of the ‘sunburn’ that affects surrounding tissues, I immediately thought of three brave people I know who would have benefited hugely from this new treatment.” 

The SAiGENCI team has shown that parthenolide kills cancer cells and makes other anti-cancer therapies more effective and less toxic to normal cells. Chris Sweeney is inspired by working with nature to harness this promising compound, which can’t yet be synthesised by chemists. “Mother Nature has been able to create parthenolide over many years to help keep the plant, feverfew, healthy and protect it from sunlight damage,” he says. 

As well as the challenges of extracting the parthenolide from the plant, the drug must be formulated in a way that it can be taken as a tablet and absorbed into the blood circulation, to effectively deliver it to the tumours and tissues. 

“This is not a unique problem,” Chris explains. “Many other anti-cancer and heart therapy drugs as well as many antibiotics are from plants or fungi. One of the best local examples is that while Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928, it took Florey’s expertise to make a formulation to give to patients for the first time in 1941. 

“I am hoping more research will be focused on studying the medicinal properties of plants with special attention to working with the Indigenous community to learn from their thousands of years of experience.”

As well as in medical applications, this research could have wide-reaching impacts on the future of radiation safety measures in diverse arenas, including in combat zones and during space travel. In the long term, Chris’s team hopes to see this daisy-derived medicine available in hospitals, nuclear disaster response kits, and spacecraft; anywhere acute radiation poses a risk. 

The dedication of his team and supporters like Fiona continues to be motivational. “Each time I have come up against a major hurdle in how to develop parthenolide into a tablet which can be given to patients, I have been impacted and heartened by the willingness of people to help solve the problems, with the goal of making better cancer therapies,” Chris says. 

The generosity of those who came before us, and their foresight and commitment to education, research and community welfare, continues to shape our �Ӱ�ֱ�� today

Fiona certainly understands the value of world-leading research projects, from personal experience. “I am alive because of medical research,” she says. “I have undergone several illnesses which used to be life-threatening, including cancer and polio, and of course Covid, and I am lucky that some people cared enough to discover and produce effective treatments. 

“The community needs to support accredited medical research so that we all benefit. We all know someone who has suffered from cancer.” 

The Daisy Project represents the best of what multi-disciplinary university research can achieve: innovation that reimagines and builds upon nature and our existing knowledge to create solutions to global challenges. Chris Sweeney highlights the vital role donor 

support plays in early-stage innovation: “Support allows us to advance the development of new ideas, new avenues of research, and fund and seed the critical areas of new science,” he says. 

As the �Ӱ�ֱ��, through SAiGENCI and other research teams, continues to lead this vital work, support from passionate donors like Fiona helps bring globally significant discoveries from the lab to the patient. 

Thanks to our community, the impact of The Daisy Project may one day reach around the world, into space, and far into the future. 

Claire Bowman is an Alumni Relations Officer for the �Ӱ�ֱ��. Main images by Isaac Freeman, photographic editor of Lumen. Image of Daisy Project supporter Fiona Hemstock with researcher Dr Katherine Morel in the SAiGENCI laboratories supplied.