Recent Australia Day Honours recipient Professor Graeme Hankey AO was among five researchers at The University of Western Australia who received Federal Government funding for projects to improve health outcome for stroke survivors, reprogram cells, support young people of diverse genders, eliminate rheumatic heart disease and transform the quality of life for children with intellectual disability.
Five leaders and emerging leaders were awarded grants through the National Health and Medical Research Council's 2025 Investigator Grants scheme, which provides five years' salary as well as research support funds.
Professor Hankey, from UWA's Medical School and Perron Institute for Neurological and Translational Science, who was last month recognised with an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO,) will use the funds for clinical trials to address priorities for stroke research.
"Stroke affects 29,000 Australians each year, of whom 7,600 die, and there are 387,000 stroke survivors who are at risk of another stroke.," Professor Hankey said.
"We aim to address the top priorities for stroke research for survivors by testing four new treatments, which aim to protect the brain from damage during an acute stroke, reduce the likelihood of another stroke, and help stroke survivors decide whether it is beneficial to take blood-thinning medicines as a preventative measure."
Forrest Fellow Dr Jessica Kretzmann, from UWA's School of Molecular Sciences, will develop new tools using 'DNA origami' to understand and improve how genes are delivered into cells, to create induced pluripotent stem cells.
"Induced pluripotent stem cells are critical for tissue replacement therapy, studying diseases and trialling drugs," Dr Kretzmann said.
"However, generating these cells and 'reprogramming' them is expensive and time-consuming, and produces cells of mixed quality.
"We aim to better understand how we can deliver genes to make these cells safely and efficiently."
Research Fellow Penelope Strauss, from UWA's School of Population and Global Health and The Kids Research Institute Australia, received funds to enhance suicide prevention and mental health support for young people of diverse genders.
"Trans young people experience high rates of poor mental health and suicidality, and experience barriers to support," Ms Strauss said.
"Our program will survey trans young people to gain insight into their mental health, investigate how accessing gender-affirming surgery impacts their mental health, map and analyse available crisis supports and implement suicide prevention guidelines to improve support services."
Professor Jonathan Carapetis, from UWA's Medical School and executive director of The Kids Research Institute Australia, will lead a project to deliver the tools needed to eliminate rheumatic heart disease.
"Our goals include advancing a vaccine trial and creating evidence-based guidelines for health interventions for Strep A infections; improving penicillin delivery and developing new penicillin formulations for rheumatic heart disease prevention; and finalising a diagnostic test for acute rheumatic fever," Professor Carapetis said.
"We aim to address critical gaps in healthcare access and outcomes, particularly among First Nations communities and marginalised populations globally."
Professor Jenny Downs, from UWA's Medical School and The Kids Research Institute Australia received fund to transform care to improve the quality of life for children with intellectual disability.
"Nearly three per cent of children globally have intellectual disability and they have poorer health, functioning and quality of life than typically developing children," Professor Downs said.
"We will track natural history in rare diseases, identify and test much needed interventions and develop valid, reliable and sensitive ways of assessing their effectiveness."
