# Google.org funds ANU-led chemotherapy resistance research with $2.2 million

Digest AI · Research · published 2026-10-15T17:01:00Z

Canonical: https://digestai.news/story/google-org-funds-anu-led-chemotherapy-resistance-research-with-2-2-mil

## Summary

The Australian National University (ANU) has been selected as a recipient of the Google.org Impact Challenge: AI for Science initiative. The research team, led by Dr Eli Niktab, Principal AI Engineer at ANU's National Centre for Indigenous Genomics, will receive US$2.2 million to develop a Cytotoxic Resistance Atlas — an open molecular map of cancer cell lines that survive chemotherapy. The project uses a two-tiered AI engine to identify genomic mechanisms of drug resistance in tumour samples for clinical use.

Collaborators include The John Curtin School of Medical Research, the University of Kent, Canberra Hospital, PacBio, the Victorian Cancer Biobank, and Australia's National Computational Infrastructure. ANU is one of 17 organisations chosen globally from over 3,000 applicants across 30 countries. The models will be trained on Gadi, Australia's national supercomputer, and all outputs — including the atlas, AI models, and software — will be free for researchers worldwide.

## Key points

- ANU receives US$2.2 million from Google.org for chemotherapy resistance research
- Team led by Dr Eli Niktab is building a Cytotoxic Resistance Atlas using a two-tiered AI engine
- Atlas, AI models, and software will be free to use for all researchers worldwide

## Why it matters

This project aims to replace trial-and-error chemotherapy selection with AI-driven molecular insights, potentially improving treatment precision — especially for underrepresented populations in genomic datasets.

## Sources

1. [AI for science: Google.org funding to support ANU-led chemotherapy resistance cancer research](https://anu.edu.au/news/all-news/ai-for-science-googleorg-funding-to-support-anu-led-chemotherapy-resistance-cancer-research) (anu.edu.au, 2026-10-15)

## Cite

Digest AI, "Google.org funds ANU-led chemotherapy resistance research with $2.2 million", 15 October 2026, https://digestai.news/story/google-org-funds-anu-led-chemotherapy-resistance-research-with-2-2-mil

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