Key research projects at Griffith University have received more than $7.8 million in funding from the prestigious National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).
Announced today (November 9)by the Federal Minister for Health, The Honourable Sussan Ley MP, 13 Griffith projects from across the health and medical science fields received grants totalling $7,887,146.00. They were among 836 new research projects sharing in $630million in NHRMC funding.
The Griffith allocation also includes $2 million for a research collaboration between the Institute for Glycomics and the University of Melbourne.
Senior Deputy Vice Chancellor Professor Ned Pankhurst said the funding would strengthen a range of important research projects and confirmed the University’s standing as an institute conducting high quality and also highly relevant research.
“This funding supports both ongoing and newprojectsinthe University,​ across a wide range of health disciplines,” he said.
“However, all the projects are characterised by top quality researchers working in high level ​national andinternational collaborations, the outcomes of which will change lives.”
More than half the funding for Griffith University was awarded to projects within the Institute for Glycomics, withfive research projects and two fellowships securing $4.17 million to explore various bacteria and their infection pathways, and viruses that have long term health impacts such as arthritis.
Institute Director Professor Mark von Itzstein said the project grants cemented the Institute’s reputation as a leading biomedical research facility.
“Our research is a brave new frontier and we are making exciting advances towards the discovery of new drugs, vaccines and diagnostics for significant diseases,” he said.
“We have grown from a handful of researchers to more than 180 of the best from across the world.”
The grants
Professor Claire Rickard
Professor Claire Rickard, Centre for Health Practice Innovation –Peripherally InSerted CEntral catheter Securement: the PISCES Trial– $1,101,717.35
A/Professor Katherine Andrews, and Dr Tina Skinner-Adams, Eskitis Institute for Drug Discovery –Proguanil: Old Drug, New Tricks– $536,516.50
A/Professor Katherine Andrews, and Dr Tina Skinner-Adams, Eskitis Institute for Drug Discovery –New drugs for malaria prevention– $695,557.20
Professor Suresh Mahalingam & Dr Lara Herrero, Institute for Glycomics –Novel Insights into the Pathobiology of Alphavirus Infections– $827,660.00
Professor Mike Jennings & Dr Chris Day, Institute for Glycomics –Glycan-glycan interactions between bacterial pathogens and host cells: A novel mechanism of bacterial adherence, a new opportunity for strategies to treat and prevent disease and a new paradigm in interactions between macromolecules– $1,059,344.00
Dr Kate Seib & Dr Chris Day, Institute for Glycomics –The glycointeractome of pathogenic Neisseria: understanding disease and defining vaccine targets –$431,012.00
Dr Kate Seib & Dr John Atack, Institute for Glycomics –Phasevarion mediated virulence mechanisms of the human pathogensMoraxella catarrhalisand non-typeableHaemophilus influenzae– $626,979.00
Dr Ali Zaid, Institute for Glycomics – Mapping the spatio-temporal dynamics of alphavirus-induced myoskeletal disease – $491,503.00
A/Professor Stuart Kinner, Griffith Institute of Criminology& Professor Adrian Miller, Indigenous Research Unit–Deaths in young people involved in the youth justice system: towards evidence-based prevention– $620,704.80
Professor Nigel McMillan, Molecular Basis of Disease –Aurora A as a novel therapeutic target for HPV-driven cancers –$762,327.50
In addition to the above project grants,Dr Michael Batzloff and Dr Manisha Pandey from the Institute for Glycomicswere awarded a grant in collaboration with A/Prof Andrew Steer (University of Melbourne) and others for Group A streptococcal human challenge study: accelerating vaccine development – $2,000,000
Professor Sally-Ann Poulsen,Eskitis Institute for Drug Discovery (with Prof Gerald Atkins, University of Adelaide) -Osteocyte regulation of bone mass – $837,600
Early Career Fellowships — Peter Doherty Postdoctoral Award
Dr Javier Chen, Institute for Glycomics -Novel insights into the mechanisms of how chikungunya virus causes human disease and discovering new treatment strategies -$314 664
Career Development Fellowships — RD Wright Fellowship
Dr Lara Herrero, Institute for Glycomics -The role of glycans in arboviral disease; from immunomodulation to glycotherapeutic treatment strategies- $419 180
NHMRC TRIP Fellowship
A/Professor Laurie Greilish,Centre for Health Practice Innovation, MHIQ –Implementing delirium prevention in hospitalised older patients using Normalisation Process Theory