Zero Childhood Cancer
personalised medicine program

Program Leader

The Zero Childhood Cancer Program (ZERO) is Australia’s most comprehensive precision medicine program for children and young people with cancer. Jointly led by Children’s Cancer Institute and Kids Cancer Centre at Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick, it is a true team effort, including all nine of Australia’s children’s hospitals together with 22 national and international research partners.

In 2024, ZERO welcomed its first international participants, with two sites opening in Auckland and Christchurch in New Zealand.

Providing in-depth genomic analysis for each patient, ZERO aims to improve survival, reduce side effects, and advance science’s understanding of childhood cancer for the benefit of all. 

ZERO's journey

ZERO began in 2015 with a pilot study in NSW, during which the platform needed to create a sophisticated and integrated precision medicine pipeline, that was set up and validated.

In 2017, a three-year national clinical trial was launched for children and young people up to 21 years of age with high risk, rare and relapsed cancers – those with a less than 30% chance of survival. The aim of this trial was to test the practicality and impact of providing a comprehensive testing platform (including genomic analysis, and drug screening and drug testing where possible) to identify precision medicine treatments for children and young adults with high-risk cancer.

Patients from all eight of Australia’s children’s hospitals were involved in the trial, which generated some truly remarkable results.

Thanks to $67 million joint funding* from the Federal Government and Minderoo Foundation, ZERO’s genetic testing platform was expanded and at the end of 2023, ZERO became available to all Australian children and young people (0-18 years) diagnosed with cancer, regardless of their chance of survival.

This is the first time that precision medicine has been made available to every child diagnosed with cancer — not just in Australia, but in any country in the world.

In March 2025, the Australian government announced a $112.6 million investment to ensure ZERO would continue to be available to all children with cancer (0-18 years) and to expand the program to be available to young people aged 19 to 25 with paediatric type cancers. The expanded program is expected to support an additional 300 young Australians with cancer each year, totalling approximately 1300 children and young people annually who will have access to ZERO’s comprehensive precision medicine platform.

ZERO's research

Each patient participating in ZERO’s national clinical trial has a sample from their tumour subjected to detailed laboratory analyses, using a wide range of cutting-edge science and technology. This generates data that is not only used to provide potentially actionable recommendations to the child’s treating clinician, but is also used to inform a variety of childhood cancer research projects that will enhance the knowledge pool and the program’s capabilities over time.

ZERO is generating an incredible wealth of research data that is adding enormously to our understanding of childhood cancer and creating a valuable resource for cancer researchers worldwide. In particular, tumour analysis of children taking part in the national clinical trial is leading to exciting revelations about the causes and molecular drivers of cancers in children, which in turn is driving research into potential novel therapies and preventive strategies.

Strategic research imperatives for ZERO include those focusing on liquid biopsy and tumour heterogeneity, strengthening computational biology precision medicine capabilities, immuno-oncology, preclinical modelling, childhood cancer predisposition, and psychosocial and health system aspects of a precision medicine approach.

For more information on the Zero Childhood Cancer program, visit our dedicated website: www.zerochildhoodcancer.org.au

* The Federal Government has contributed nearly $80M to ZERO in total, first supporting the national clinical trial with $20M awarded in 2016, followed by $5M from the Australian Brain Cancer Mission in 2018. In 2020, through the Medical Research Future Fund they awarded $54.8M towards the expansion for ZERO’s genetic testing platform. Minderoo Foundation has contributed $17.2M to ZERO, initially donating $5M towards the costs of the ZERO national clinical trial in 2017, and in 2020 pledged a further $12.2M to support the expansion of the Program through to 2025, resourcing of hospital network sites and support for ZERO’s digital data platforms.

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