- Government awards $2.2 million to WA health and medical researchers
- Grants assist early-to-mid career researchers to set up for future national success
- Health and medical research remains priority for Government
The Cook Government has awarded more than $2 million to WA health and medical researchers as part of the 'WA Near Miss Awards: Ideas Grant program'.
Medical Research Minister Stephen Dawson said the grants were being provided through the Government's successful Future Health Research and Innovation (FHRI) Fund.
The grants assist WA researchers who submitted applications to the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Ideas Grant scheme that were deemed suitable for funding but exceeded the NHMRCs budget.
The State funding helps WA researchers improve their applications for resubmission to the NHMRC, increasing the likelihood of success during the next round of NHMRC grant applications.
A total of 22 grants, valued at $100,000 each, are awarded to researchers from six different organisations. Recipients can be seen athttps://fhrifund.health.wa.gov.au/News-and-Events
Successful applicants are given the opportunity to continue their valuable input towards health and medical research areas such as multiple sclerosis treatment, mental health, and use of AI to diagnose speech disorders.
Since the introduction of the WA Near Miss Awards in 2020, more than $9 million has been awarded to 99 WA researchers.
As stated by Medical Research Minister Stephen Dawson:
"The Cook Government's successful FHRI Fund targets funding to support local medical research organisations and position WA as a global leader in research and innovation.
"The Near Miss Awards is a fantastic opportunity for Western Australian researchers who have narrowly missed out on a highly competitive national grant, to have a second chance.
"WA Researchers in the early-to-mid-stage of their careers can continue to make vast improvements to health and medical research happening in the State.
"This will ultimately lead to the improved health and well-being of the WA community."
Responsible Entity |
No. of Grants |
Total Funding |
Curtin University |
7 |
$700,000 |
Edith Cowan University |
4 |
$400,000 |
Murdoch University |
1 |
$100,000 |
Telethon Kids Institute |
2 |
$200,000 |
The University of Western Australia |
7 |
$700,000 |
Fiona Wood Foundation |
1 |
$100,000 |
22 |
$2,200,000 |
Below is the full list of recipients for the WANMA IG 2023-2024 program.
CURTIN UNIVERSITY |
||
Dr Tasmin Symons |
$100,000 |
Realising the potential of malaria treatment on illness, infection and transmission |
Dr Virginie Lam |
$100,000 |
Revolutionising multiple sclerosis treatment: An Innovative remyelination therapy to halt disease progression |
Dr Virginie Lam |
$100,000 |
Developing prophylactic interventions for chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment for breast cancer survivors |
Dr Thi Ninh Ha |
$100,000 |
Understanding configurations of community-based multidisciplinary team care to improve management of diabetes: mixed methods in large linked administrative data in Western Australia |
Dr Laurence Cheung |
$100,000 |
Deciphering the role of bone marrow fat cells in children with high-risk leukaemia |
Dr Hani Al-Salami |
$100,000 |
Repurposing of cholesterol-lowering drug to prevent hearing loss in children with cancer |
Dr Roslyn Ward |
$100,000 |
Application of AI in the diagnosis of speech sound disorders in children |
EDITH COWAN UNIVERSITY |
||
Dr Christopher Latella |
$100,000 |
Human motor impairment in Long COVID: Brain and motoneuron dysfunction |
Dr Oliver Schumacher |
$100,000 |
Exercise as a novel therapeutic approach for sensitising prostate cancer to radiotherapy |
Dr Amanuel Gebremedhin |
$100,000 |
Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes, Immediate, and Long-Term Morbidity: A Life Course Approach |
Dr Manshu Song |
$100,000 |
Exploring and translating subjective and objective measures of suboptimal cardiometabolic health in a community-orientated setting |
MURDOCH UNIVERSITY |
||
Dr Luke Gray Whiley |
$100,000 |
A molecular atlas of the skin - Characterising intrinsic skin metabolic phenotypes to improve outcomes in burn injury |
TELETHON KIDS INSTITUTE |
||
Dr Jua Iwasaki |
$100,000 |
A novel vaccine to prevent Group A Streptococcus attachment to the tonsils |
Dr Jonatan Leffler |
$100,000 |
Elucidating the contribution of sex hormones to Epstein-Barr Virus responses associated with Multiple Sclerosis: leveraging the transgender immunity study |
UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA |
||
Dr Marcus Korb |
$100,000 |
Ironing Out Antimicrobial Resistance with a new class of Iron (Half-)sandwich-sugar Conjugates |
Dr Jamie Beros |
$100,000 |
A brain connectivity approach to treating depression: TMS in adolescent and adult preclinical models |
Dr Aron Chakera |
$100,000 |
The AVENGE Study: Accelerating Phage Therapy Development - AI-driven Genotype-phenotype evaluation for targeted pathogen eradication |
Dr Erin Lloyd |
$100,000 |
Targeting inflammatory dysfunction to treat dysferlinopathy |
Dr Benjamin Zwick |
$100,000 |
Can physics-informed neural networks improve registration accuracy for image-guided neurosurgery? |
Dr Yee Man Elaine Wong |
$100,000 |
Novel nano targeted gene therapy for hearing loss |
Dr Belinda Guo |
$100,000 |
PlateletSeq: a novel blood test to assess cancer status in myeloproliferative neoplasms |
FIONA WOOD FOUNDATION |
||
Dr Lucy Barrett |
$100,000 |
Preventing inflammageing after burn injury: Understanding and ameliorating the life-long impact of burns on whole-body homeostasis and health |
