Latest News

Melanoma and Morgan Mansell Prize – Young Victorian Melanoma Researcher of the Year (2026): The winner of the 2026 Morgan Mansell Prize for the ‘Young Victorian Melanoma Researcher of the Year’ has just been awarded to Dr Jack Edwards. Dr Edward’s prize-winning research focussed on a revolutionary melanoma treatment called an Immune Checkpoint Blockade. Find out more about his prize winning research.

Latest grants: In 2026, grants made by the Morgan Mansell Fund ticked past $80,000. Thank you to everyone who has helped us help others.

Melanoma and Check4Spots Day (2026): This year’s Check4Spots Day continued to build on previous years as this vital melanoma message reached further and further into the community.  Every 30 January (happy heavenly b’day Morgan) Check4Spots Day is your reminder to grab a partner and check each other for any suspicious looking spots/moles in those hard to see places. We are thrilled that so many melanoma organisations have got on board with their support. Find out more

Melanoma – latest research: In 2026, the MMF continued to support melanoma research being undertaken by Alfred Health/Monash Uni and their work focussing on understanding how melanomas transform from normal melanocytes into cancerous cells by first focusing on how melanocytes respond when they are exposed to sunlight; and how that understanding may result in being able to identify and ultimately inhibit – the molecular triggers that result in melanoma formation.  The results so far have been fascinating – and important! Unexpectedly, not all melanocytes respond to UV in the same way. While some normal melanocytes appear to be inhibited and even killed by UV, meaning these would not be able to form melanomas, others behave quite differently. Indeed, only some melanocytes with very specific molecular features uniquely are able to survive and even multiply after being exposed to UV. These are highly likely to be the seeds from which melanomas form, and their characteristic molecular features suggests that such melanocytes may by specifically inhibited by drugs or creams that suppress their response to UV and thus prevent melanomas forming.  While work in the project is ongoing towards this possibility, the discoveries to date, enabled by the MMF, are currently being assembled into a manuscript for submission to a major international medical science journal.

Multiple Sclerosis – latest research: The Morgan Mansell Fund has now made over $10,000 mark in grants towards MS research, including the fantastic research being undertaken by Prof Helmut Butzkueven’s team at Monash. Their ground breaking research into why MS symptoms decline for most women during pregnancy has far wider implications as it may unlock entirely new ways of treating MS in the general population. Find out more

CTLA4: Morgan’s battle with MS and melanoma was made all the more complicated by a genetic issue called CTLA4 haploinsufficiency. But as was so typical of her, during her darkest days before she passed – she set up a Facebook support group to help support others who were similarly suffering from this rare condition. The Morgan Mansell Fund continues to support research being undertaken to help others suffering from this debilitating disease including the ground breaking research by Monash University where they have developed a new prototype immunosuppressive therapy that improves on CTLA4-Ig/abatacept and its incredible potential clinical utility for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases including MS.

Melanoma fundraising: In 2022, my team recently helped me attempt to fly across Melbourne’s Yarra River in my magnificent homemade flying machine to raise funds for melanoma research. Although I took more of a flop than a flight (and a nice mouthful of murky Chateau de Yarra), we still raised $7000. In another two subsequent attempts since then, our team has raised over another $25,000 for melanoma research.  To donate to the Morgan Mansell Fund – please visit our fund page, and indicate which research project you would like to support.

Thanks everyone for your support and please take care when enjoying a bit of sun.

Julie and Peter Mansell (Morgan’s mum and dad)