In the past year, demand for outpatient cancer services − that is treatments not requiring an overnight stay in hospital − in south west Sydney rose by up to 10 per cent. Our population in this part of Sydney is among the fastest-growing in the country and as population grows, the incidence of cancer in its many forms also escalates.

Across Australia, the number of cancer patients in Australia grows by approximately 3 per cent a year. That's 5,000 new cases each year, about half of which require radiation treatment. In 2015, more than 131,000 cancer patients presented for treatment in south-western Sydney. More than half of this number (51 per cent) needed treatment for tumours, including radiation and surgery.

Right here in Liverpool, we're building what will become the most advanced radiotherapy treatment tool in the world − and for the first time, we're inviting the people of Western Sydney to come and see it.

Anyone familiar with the work we do at the Ingham Institute would have heard us talk about the MRI-Linac. We're in the business of fighting disease, and the MRI-Linac will, once it's completed, be one of the world's most advanced tools for attacking cancer.

We're designing and building the MRI-Linac so that we can offer these patients image guided radiation therapy − or in other words, radiation that can much more accurately track and target tumours using MRI as the patient is being treated, something that cannot be done today. As a result, we will also be able to offer more powerful radiation treatment while at the same time, avoid the risk of damaging healthy tissue.

Liverpool is one of only four research institutions in the world, and the only one is Australia that is building an MRI-Linac machine, and we believe our design is unique compared to other models currently under development. Working with South West Sydney’s Cancer Therapy Centres and specialists from Sydney, Wollongong, Queensland, Stanford, Western Sydney and NSW Universities, our researchers are essentially inventing new technological solutions to improve the effectiveness of radiation therapy for cancer patients.

We've reached a point where we can not only demonstrate the technology works, but explore how it will one day revolutionise the way we treat cancerous tumours here and around the world. We are inviting our neighbours in Western Sydney to experience history in the making and book a tour of the MRI-Linac while it is still under construction.

Guided tours are free and can be arranged by calling the Ingham Institute on 1800 66 55 41. On a tour you will be able to step inside the bunker housing our MRI Linac prototype and see close-up what the future of cancer therapy looks like.

The MRI-Linac is just one of the dozens of research and development projects we have underway at Ingham Institute, developing new ways to improve human health and save lives. We encourage anyone who's interested in the work we do and its potential, to come and take a look.

To register for the MRI-Linac tour, call 1800 66 55 41. Visit www.inghaminstitute.org.au for more on Ingham Institute's medical research.