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A $10 million boost to Institute research
October 17th, 2011
Research at SVI has been boosted by almost $10 million in funding announced in the most recent round of the Federal Government’s National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) grants.
The NHMRC’s Project Grants Scheme is the main avenue of support for individuals and small teams of Australian researchers undertaking biomedical, public health and health services research.
The funding, announced on October 17, includes Project Grants worth more than $2.4 million to support cancer research at SVI, $2.3 for type 1 diabetes, more than $1 million for metabolism and a grant of $536,010 to boost Institute research into Alzheimer’s disease.
Dr Tom Brodnicki, head of SVI’s Immunogenetics Laboratory, received two project grants to further his work on how genetic and environmental factors increase the risk of developing autoimmune diseases, such as type 1 diabetes.
Tom says, “These grants focus on identifying the role of two different genes in autoimmune disease and how they affect immune cells important for fighting microbial infections. As up to 10% of the population develop an autoimmune disease, the goal of this research is to identify new mechanisms that can be targeted to regulate the improper immune responses that lead to autoimmune disease in at-risk individuals.”
Cancer research at the institute was boosted by more than $2.4 million, $618,675 of which went to A/Prof Jörg Heierhorst, $1,152,350 to Dr Carl Walkley and $723,675 to SVI’s most recent recruit, Dr Andrew Deans, Head of SVI’s new Genome Stability Unit. Andrew says that his research is aimed at uncovering the mechanisms that govern DNA damage.
“By understanding what goes wrong in certain familial cancers, we hope to find new ways to protect against cancer as well as unlocking new strategies for its treatment” he says.
Grants were also awarded to Professor Michael Parker for his research into Alzheimer’s disease, to Professor Bruce Kemp for two projects investigating the body’s control of energy and a grant each to Professor Tom Kay and A/Prof Helen Thomas, for their work on type 1 diabetes.
SVI Director Tom Kay says, “Applications to the NHMRC undergo a rigorous selection process. Only about 20% of applications submitted nationally are successful, so it is very pleasing to see that 50% of our applications were successful in this round.”
The funding totalled $9,999,959 and included $6,518,858 in project grants, $1,168,584 in infrastructure support and $2,312,517 in fellowship funding.