Six research projects win MDHS Dean’s Innovation Grant funding
Diabetes, Parkinson’s and brain cancer research among the innovative projects funded in the 2024 MDHS Dean’s Innovation Grant and Innovation Seed Grant rounds.
From Parkinson’s, obesity, diabetes, brain cancer to mast cell disease, bowel disease and enzyme inhibitors treatments – six projects have been funded for their future potential to transform research to improve lives, medicine and healthcare. The innovation grants are designed to help the researchers advance their projects and in turn attract funding from government, industry or investors in order to progress to the next stage of development.
Please join us in congratulating the following researchers from across the School of Biomedical Sciences.
Dept of Anatomy & Physiology
A/Prof Garron Dodd
Garron is a neuroscientist and the Head of the Metabolic Neuroscience Research Laboratory. He has been awarded a Dean's Innovation Grant and Innovation Seed Grant to advance his research in two very promising areas: obesity and Type 2 Diabetes treatment; and therapy to treat Glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer.
"The first project focuses on targeting a new receptor in the brain to treat obesity and Type-2 diabetes. Currently, nearly half the world's population is affected by metabolic disorders, and there are no cures. The grant will enable us to develop a new therapeutic that could make a real difference in combating metabolic disorders."
The second project, supported by the Innovation Seed Grant, is aimed at developing a new therapy for Glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer.
"Glioblastoma is resistance to current chemotherapies and there is no cure meaning survival time is nearly months. We aim to offer new hope by developing a new drug that targets key proteins that are expressed on the outside of brain cancer cells, helping chemotherapies work better. This grant will allow us to conduct crucial preliminary studies and gather the data needed to move forward with this innovative approach," Garron said.
For Garron and his team, both grants are immensely valuable.
"They provide the necessary resources to push the boundaries of our research and bring us closer to potential breakthroughs in these challenging fields. I'm excited to see where these projects will lead us, and I am grateful for the support that makes this work possible."
Dr Rachel McQuade
Rachel is an NHMRC Research Fellow exploring the relationship between gut and brain impairment in Parkinson’s disease. Her research project - From Stool to Science: Biomarker Breakthroughs in Parkinson’s – has received an innovation grant.
Dept of Microbiology & Immunology
Dr Brendon Chua
As a viral and translational immunologist based in the Dept of Microbiology & Immunology at the Doherty Institute, Brendon’s work is focused on defining protective immune responses to respiratory infection, vaccination and anti-viral interventions. He has received an Innovation Seed Grant to progress his project looking at developing therapeutic agents to target and inhibit the OLAH (Olfactomedin-like protein A), a protein that has been implicated in neurodegenerative diseases, inflammation, and certain cancers.
A/Prof Maria Liaksos
Maria is a teaching and research academic, her research focuses on understanding how bacterial pathogens cause disease in humans. She has been awarded an innovation seed grant to look at the development of a new treatment for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
IBD is a chronic, debilitating and incurable inflammatory condition that affects more than 6 million people worldwide and 1 in 250 Australians. Current IBD treatments are becoming ineffective due to increasing drug resistance in patients, highlighting an urgent need for the development of novel IBD therapies.
This grant will enable us to perform pre-clinical studies using patient-derived translational models to progress the development of a novel and targeted IBD therapeutic in collaboration with clinician scientists.
Dept of Biochemistry & Pharmacology
A/Prof Graham Mackay
Graham teaches and researches in pharmacology – his research looks at allergic disease and more recently drug allergy. He has received a Dean's Innovation Seed Grant to look at diagnosis of mast cell-driven disease.
Those of us with hay fever know first hand how irritating mast cell activation can be. But these cells also contribute to many other disorders in a more discrete way. This project will determine if several proteins that we have discovered are released from mast cells will provide a 'smoking gun' of mast cell involvement in disease, permitting new targeted therapeutic approaches.