Overcoming the greatest barrier to brain cancer treatment
3 min read 07 September 2026
For many brain cancers, one of the greatest challenges is simply getting treatment where it needs to go. At Peter Mac, Professor Ben Hogan and his team are researching new ways to help therapies cross the blood–brain barrier – opening up new possibilities for people with brain cancer.
One of cancer’s most challenging barriers
For some brain cancers, the problem is not only finding a treatment that works. It is getting that treatment into the brain at all.
That is because the brain is protected by the blood–brain barrier – a natural filter that shields it from harmful substances in the bloodstream. Its job is essential. But when researchers are trying to deliver cancer drugs into the brain, that same protection can work against them.
Many treatments that are effective elsewhere in the body struggle to reach tumours in the brain.
"For lots of different types of brain cancer where the blood–brain barrier is intact, it's a major hurdle to getting drugs in delivering them to the brain. If we could safely open that barrier, it would hugely improve outcomes." – Professor Ben Hogan
Professor Ben Hogan and his team are researching new ways to help treatments reach cancer in the brain.
Why this matters so much
Treatment for some brain cancers has barely changed in decades. Survival rates have remained stubbornly low. For people whose cancer has spread to the brain, the blood–brain barrier means options narrow fast.
This is where the science becomes deeply human. When cancer reaches the brain, the blood–brain barrier can stand between a patient and the treatment they urgently need. Research that finds safe new ways through could open up entirely different possibilities for families facing that reality.
Looking for a way through
Professor Hogan’s lab is focused on understanding the blood–brain barrier more deeply, and finding clever new ways to help therapies cross it.
The aim is not to weaken the brain’s natural defences indiscriminately. It is to understand them well enough to identify safe, targeted ways to let treatment molecules through when they are needed most.
Professor Hogan at Peter Mac labs
“We want to make a breakthrough, to discover a drug or a gene target that can be used to safely open up the blood–brain barrier. That's what we would love to find.” – Professor Hogan
Where breakthroughs begin
For many people facing brain cancer, the blood–brain barrier is a major obstacle standing in the way of better treatment. Professor Hogan and his team are working to change that.
If they can find safe new ways through, the impact could be profound: more possibilities for researchers, more options for clinicians, and more hope for people facing some of the hardest-to-treat cancers.
That is what makes this work so important.
Because every breakthrough begins with a difficult question. And for people with brain cancer, the answer could change everything.
“Your gift allows us to do bolder research, which is usually where the biggest breakthroughs come from. Thank you.” – Professor Ben Hogan
Donate now
Please support cancer research at Peter Mac. Your donation will help accelerate bold work towards better treatment options for people facing brain cancer.
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