‘Supercharged period of discovery’: Trio win backing

People affected by type 1 diabetes, cancer and lung disease are set to benefit from more than $6.5 million of funding awarded to three SVI scientists in the latest round of Investigator Grant funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).

The NHMRC has committed more than $422 million to allow 229 researchers across Australia tackle some of the nation’s greatest health challenges.

An Emerging Leadership (EL1) grant to Dr Sarah Henrikus from SVI’s Genome Stability Laboratory will allow her to explore how the cell repairs damage to its DNA, staving off diseases like cancer.

“Ultimately, I aim to use this knowledge to identify new targets to combat rare genetic disorders like Fanconi Anaemia and more common diseases like cancer,” says Sarah.

Computational biologist Associate Professor Davis McCarthy’s grant of $2.8 million will help Davis’ team harness the power of big data to find new solutions for diseases such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and cancers of the colon, blood and breast.

“I am excited for this funding over the next five years to help us build new statistical and artificial intelligence tools that can tackle important questions in multiple diseases, together with our collaborators, both national and international,” says Davis.

SVI Director Professor Tom Kay will use his grant of more than $3 million to find ways to preserve the body’s natural way of making insulin in type 1 diabetes, which affects more than 130,000 Australians.

“Even though type 1 diabetes has been treated with insulin for over 100 years, it is not a cure and the disease remains burdensome. Building on the success of our BANDIT clinical trial, we are working to change the trajectory of the disease so that insulin-producing cells can be preserved,” says Tom.

NHMRC Investigator Grants are awarded to Australia’s highest performing researchers at all career stages. It provides 5-year funding security for high-performing researchers through salary and a substantial research support package.

The Hon Mark Butler MP, Minister for Health and Aged Care said:

“This year’s crop of incredible researchers will further cement Australia’s status as a world leader in health and medical research, and all Australians will benefit from their ingenuity and interest.

“We are fortunate to be living through a supercharged period of discovery and the 229 researcher-driven projects are more proof of that fact.

“The innovation, creativity and dedication of these outstanding investigators will help ensure we have the very best treatments, the very latest understanding, and the most evidence-informed health services.”