The $100,000 yearly commitment from JG King will fund an ongoing senior research position in Ballarat.

"We are blown away by the generosity of John King and the whole team here," FECRI honorary director Professor George Kannourakis said.

"Without this support, we can not achieve the research that we need to do," he said.

The pledge will be called the JG King Cancer Research Fellowship and Professor Kannourakis said it could not have come at a better time.

"There is a scientist who wants to come and join us here and has been knocking on my door but I did not have the funding," he said.

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"Now we can suggest they come."

They will join 15 scientists and five PhD students currently in the lab.

Professor Kannourakis said it was lovely to see how many people are willing to move to Ballarat to continue their research.

"It is one of the interesting things about having this high level of research happening in the regional areas, people from Melbourne didn't want to come before to work here but now they do," he said.

"It is important to lead the way because once we show that a regional cancer research institute can do work just like the major metropolitan places, a lot of other places will start to arise elsewhere."

JG King chairman John King Snr said they had been supporters of FECRI for a while but wanted to make a formal commitment.

"This gives them some certainty of some cash flow," Mr King said.

"This is not just for this year, this is for years to come.

"We hope in the future, we can make it even more significant.

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"This is the only cancer research center in regional Australia, it is unique and Ballarat should be very proud of it."

Professor Kannourakis' research centres around 'barcode proteins' that present in aggressive cancers.

They are looking to find a mixture of antibodies that match up with the barcode proteins.

Eventually they aim to have "individualised immune therapy" for a variety of different cancers.

"So one of the things that I'm trying to do is find somebody who will work on delivery systems of antibodies to tumours," Professor Kannourakis said.

He said the fellowship recipient will work in this area, pushing the research forward.

"We are one step ahead now and we are thinking about how we are going to produce antibodies to these barcodes," Professor Kannourakis said.

"I am obviously very passionate about fulfilling Fiona Elsey's wish about having an internationally recognised Cancer Research Institute in Ballarat, which has already happened.

"The second part of her wish was to make a fantastic discovery. And I think we are well on the way to that."

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