Two University of Adelaide projects using nanotechnology have received funding in the latest round of Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Early-to-Mid Career Researchers funding.
Associate Professor Jiawen Li, School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering and Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing (IPAS), and Dr Yannan Yang, South Australian Immunogenomics Cancer Institute (SAiGENCI), will share in $5 million for their research into cardiovascular risk and brain cancer, respectively.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Anton Middelberg, University of Adelaide, congratulated Associate Professor Li and Dr Yang on their achievements.
"The University of Adelaide is proud of the outstanding research Associate Professor Li and Dr Yang are carrying out," said Professor Middelberg.
"The University has a strong history of working across Faculties to deliver health-focused research of immense benefit to the community, both locally and internationally, and these projects will contribute to that effort."
Associate Professor Li was granted $4,239,608 for her research into using nanotechnology to transform clinical cardiology.
"Heart attacks are the leading cause of death worldwide and older patients are the largest group of people dying from cardiovascular disease," said Associate Professor Li.
"However, traditional practice guidelines are often not well-suited for them, and a more personalised approach is needed.
"By collaborating with University of Sydney, University of Stuttgart, Royal Adelaide Hospital, South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) and Health Translation SA teams, we have developed two nano-tools to identify those who are at high risk of a heart attack.
"The combination of these nano-tools, as they mature through this proposed project via the strong support of patients with lived experience and Australian companies like Maptek Pty Ltd and BioFabrix Pty Ltd, will help enable personalised treatment plans for older patients."
Dr Yang received $843,021 for a preclinical study that will use nanorobotics vaccine-boosted CAR-T immunotherapy to treat a form of incurable brain cancer.
"Diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) is a highly aggressive brain cancer," said Dr Yang.
"CAR-T immunotherapy that alters T cells to target tumours is effective for certain cancers but it is yet to be applicable for solid tumours like DIPG.
"We have developed a nanorobot-based vaccines technology to improve the T cell response for solid tumours, and this research will allow us to develop and validate our findings in this space."
