"I will be using my name and doing what I can," Lady Potter said. "I am a very old lady and I am not sure how much longer I will be around, for I am 91. I might have four years, I might have ten but I will do my best."

Lady Potter said investing in the regions was very important to her. "The state is getting bigger and bigger and we have to encourage regional expansion," she said.

"This is a wonderful institution and I think it deserves support."

Cancer research also has played an important role in her life.

"I have had a lot of cancer and so I can see we need hope and something to happen," she said.

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"I think you have to learn to cope with it."

Lady Potter said there are always lots of questions you need to think about.

"Am I going to die? What is going to happen to me?" she said.

It takes a little while to sort that kind of thing out in your mind and then you go for it and you do what the doctors tell you."

While visiting FECRI, Lady Potter was given a tour of the facilities and also met with some PhD students.

She said it had been "very interesting" and had given her a lot to think about.

"I have never seen so many machines and each one is more brilliant than the last one," she said.

"They have such a wonderful staff using them which is important."

Honorary director at FECRI George Kannourakis said it was an exciting day for the institute.

"It is an honour for us to have Lady Potter as a patron," he said.

"She has not taken it lightly, she has done her homework and realised this is something she is passionate about.

"I think Fiona Elsey, the teenager the institute is named after, would be really proud."

Professor Kannourakis said having a prominent person as their patron would help the institute gain recognition outside of the Ballarat community.

"It is hard to get funding from the government as you are out of sight, out of mind in the regional areas," he said.

"As much as everyone says they want to support regional areas, the bulk of all research money goes to institutions in the city.

"We are at a stage now that we are doing important immunology research that will hopefully make a difference for all cancer patients."

Professor Kannourakis said the unique research they are doing at the institute is what intrigued Lady Potter.

The group of researchers are working towards "individualised immune therapy" for a variety of different cancers.

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"I hope in five years when people get cancer they will not need radiation or chemotherapy," Professor Kannourakis said.

He said staff are researching the proteins in some aggressive cancers,;what he calls 'barcode proteins'.

They are then able to build a mixture of antibodies to treat the cancer.

"My vision is that all cancers will all start off with a small biopsy which will determine which barcode proteins are there and then we can use a mixture of antibodies," he said.

"That is completely new and it is not being researched in the same way, it is unique for the institute.

"We think the future is bright for treating cancer at an early or late stage."

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