The A$300,000 in funding will help University of Queensland researchers optimise a new gold nanoparticle blood test, which could potentially give oncologists an early and more accurate prognosis.

Evolution group manager for external and indigenous relations Anika McManus said when she heard about the research and the gold nanoparticle technology, she wanted to know more.

"I was immediately excited about this research and particularly hooked by the fact that gold, the commodity we produce, has the potential to help save lives around the world," she said.

Evolution has also offered to provide samples of gold to be used in the fabrication of gold nanoparticles and gold electrodes.

UQ researchers Professor Matt Trau, Dr Abu Sina and Dr Laura Carrascosa recently discovered a unique nano-scaled DNA signature that appeared to be common to all cancers.

When examining patterns of molecules called methyl groups that decorate DNA, they found methyl groups are spread out across the genomes of healthy cells, but in cancer cells they cluster together at very specific locations.

They also discovered when placed in solution, those clusters of methyl groups cause cancer DNA fragments to fold up into three-dimensional nanostructures that stick to gold.

The team developed novel technology to quickly and easily detect cancer by using either gold electrodes or gold nanoparticles that instantly change colour depending on whether or not those 3D nanostructures of cancer DNA are present in a blood or tissue sample.

Trau said the new discovery was a promising start.

"We certainly don't know yet whether this discovery could enable the holy grail for cancer diagnostics, but it looks really interesting as an incredibly simple universal marker of cancer that is easy to detect," he said.

"With the generous donation from Evolution Mining, we will be able to explore the capabilities of this discovery much further."