Children cancer research gets cash boost

Australian children battling a variety of cancers will soon have greater access to clinical trials, with the federal government stumping up almost $10 million for research.

A precision medicine program will get half of the money, to create a bank of living children's brain tumours and solid cancers.

The stash will include lab-grown mini-tumours, which can replicate a patient's original tumour to help provide them with personalised treatment.

A group of 150 children will also have their brain and central nervous system tumours analysed through the program, to identify the best treatment for them.

A spate of research projects will get the remainder of the government's $9.6 million in funding, including $180,000 for clinical trials facilitating the transport of stem cells from a sick child's parent to the child.

Better understanding relapses will be the goal of another project receiving $1.2 million.

In an effort to keep more cancer researchers in Australia, $1.2 million will also be spent on offering two-year clinical research fellowships.

The money will be managed by the Children's Cancer Foundation by the government's Medical Research Future Fund.