University of Adelaide research into health and fertility has been funded in the latest round of the National Health and Medical Research Council Investigator Grants.
Dr Amy Hutchinson, Professor Sarah Robertson, Dr Fuyi Li, Professor Jodie Dodd and Dr Fatwa Adikusuma will share in more than $8.4 million toward projects examining dietary interventions, fertility and pregnancy disorders, molecular understanding of cancers, pregnancy health, and Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.
Professor Anton Middelberg, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), University of Adelaide, congratulated the recipients.
"The University of Adelaide is committed to creating a way to improve the health and wellbeing of society and these NHMRC grants are the latest example of this," said Professor Middelberg.
Dr Hutchinson, of the Adelaide Medical School and Robinson Research Institute (RRI), based at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI), will receive $600,724.
The funding will allow her to further her study of chrono-nutrition, and use continuous glucose monitoring to explore the impact of meal size, timing, frequency and regularity of eating could improve the health of those with type 2 diabetes.
Professor Robertson, from RRI and the School of Biomedicine, will receive $3,014,025 for her work researching periconception mechanisms.
With at least one in six intending parents affected by fertility or pregnancy disorders, the research will define how male and female factors interact before and during conception and develop tools to assist healthy embryo development and pregnancy progression.
Dr Li, Computational Systems Oncology Group Leader at the South Australian immunoGENomics Cancer Institute (SAiGENCI), has been granted $688,405 to advance his research into using Proteolysis Targeting Chimera (PROTACs) for cancer treatments.
PROTACs are small molecules that break down specific proteins in cells, which Dr Li will create using advanced artificial intelligence techniques, making them more effective and faster to produce.
Professor Dodd, from the Adelaide Medical School and RRI, received $2,477,287 for her work in creating an evidence-based strategy to break intergenerational obesity cycles.
Her previous research has found dietary changes to limit weight gain during pregnancy are not effective, so the project will focus on creating change in women before pregnancy.
Dr Adikusuma, from the School of Biomedicine and SAHMRI, will receive $1,623,700 for his work investigating Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD).
He will use CRISPR and existing DMD cell and humanised mouse models to develop innovative solutions for the devastating disease.
