Congratulations to the UQ researchers and their teams who have been successful in securing funding through the Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Projects; Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF): Dementia, Ageing and Aged Care grants; and the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Postgraduate Scholarships, Targeted Call for Research, and Synergy Grant schemes.
The awardees are as follows:
ARC Discovery Projects
- Professor Gabrielle Belz (Frazer Institute) $702,705
This study aims to uncover how lung epithelial cells engage with immune cells and determine their cellular and molecular wiring to ensure homeostatic maintenance and essential repair processes of lung tissues.
- Professor Vicki Clifton (Mater Research Institute – UQ) $478,327
Environmental stressors in mammalian pregnancy often cause inflammation in the mother which has an adverse effect on the fetus and its survival. The current grant aims to examine the mechanism by which stress and inflammation coexist in pregnancy because stress hormones normally exert anti-inflammatory actions.
- Dr Sebastian Furness (SBMS) $483,000
This project aims to develop and apply a completely new method to visualise dynamic changes in protein shape which is not possible with current techniques. This will allow us to provide a new description and understanding of the function of proteins, which is fundamental to all biology.
- Professor Kiarash Khosrotehrani (Frazer Institute), Dr Nathan Palpant (SBMS) $437,280
The endothelium is the main cell type forming blood vessels and spans across multiple cell states from stem/progenitor to a variety of terminally differentiated cells. How each of these cell states are defined at the molecular level is not known preventing the optimal formation and integration of blood vessels in bioengineered tissues.
- Emeritus Professor Jake Najman (SPH), Emeritus Professor Gail Williams (SPH) $775,000
This project aims to improve the quality of the available data and fill major gaps in knowledge about elder abuse in Australia. The study is significant as it aims to generate new knowledge about the perpetrators and victims of abuse and neglect of older women.
- Professor Stefan Thor (SBMS), Professor Michael Piper (SBMS) $532,915
This project aims to investigate the mechanisms controlling anterior expansion of the central nervous system, and will generate new knowledge in the areas of nervous system development and evolution.
NHMRC Synergy Grant
- Associate Professor Coral Gartner (School of Public Health) $5,000,000
This multidisciplinary research program will examine new approaches to minimising smoking in Australia using methods from epidemiology and applied statistics, health policy, law, the social sciences, and economics.
NHMRC - Targeted Call for Research
- Dr Catherin Franklin (Mater Research Institute - UQ) $1,497,939.40
This project aims to improve preventive health outcomes for people with intellectual disability by supporting general practice nurses to do health assessments with their patients with intellectual disability. It will provide access to a specialist intellectual disability nurse, training on conducting a health assessment, intellectual disability health training and access to online resources. This intervention is designed to be able to be rolled out nationwide and will be evaluated using a randomised trial.
NHMRC Postgraduate Scholarship
- Dr Karen Liddle (Faculty of Medicine) - $113,542.50
Precision diagnosis for children with hearing loss: optimising utilisation of imaging and genetic testing
- Dr Natacha Omer (Frazer Institute) - $102,238.25
Natural killer cell immunotherapy in paediatric sarcomas
- Georgia Carstensen (School of Public Health) - $70,495.25
Novel policy approaches to reduce the supply and availability of tobacco products
MRFF – Dementia, Ageing and Aged Care
- Professor Ruth Hubbard (Centre for Health Services Research) $4,993,238.54
This study will compare ways to support older people to participate in frailty programs (e.g. health coach, online portal) to inform national implementation. It will form an Australian Frailty Network to oversee this and ensure all future work is coordinated and informed by the needs of older people, their families and caregivers.
