A world-first trial has received federal funding and within a matter of months, Queensland researchers hope to start investigating the symptom relief medicinal cannabis can provide to cancer patients receiving palliative care.

The trial will test several combinations of medicinal cannabinoids, natural products of the cannabis plant, to see which symptoms can be targeted and which variety of cannabinoids provides the most effective relief for just more than 200 terminally ill south-east Queensland patients.

The Mater Research Institute and University of Queensland are leading a world-first medicinal cannabis trial, set to begin later this year.

Mater Research Institute and University of Queensland researcher Professor Janet Hardy, who is leading the trial, said the four-year funding came from the Medical Research Future Fund, which is designed to support clinical trials for rare diseases and unmet medical needs.

"This is the first trial with a holistic patient approach, trying to address all of the symptoms to see if we can reduce the burden," Professor Hardy said.