{"id":10034,"date":"2024-12-18T14:46:21","date_gmt":"2024-12-18T04:46:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/?post_type=news&p=10034"},"modified":"2024-12-18T14:58:50","modified_gmt":"2024-12-18T04:58:50","slug":"more-than-9m-in-nhmrc-ideas-grant-funding-for-wimr-researchers","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/news\/more-than-9m-in-nhmrc-ideas-grant-funding-for-wimr-researchers\/","title":{"rendered":"More than $9m in NHMRC Ideas Grant funding for WIMR researchers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Congratulations to six of WIMR\u2019s researchers who have received Ideas Grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).

This vital funding is essential for the support of WIMR research on a range of conditions, investigating new treatments, and understanding the underlying mechanisms for some of the world\u2019s greatest health issues.

NHMRC grants are highly competitive, with only a select number of innovative projects funded in each round. WIMR\u2019s success this year is testament to our research excellence and the regard held for WIMR\u2019s researchers and their work.

WIMR Executive Director, Professor Philip O\u2019Connell congratulated WIMR\u2019s recipients and said that it is an acknowledgment of outstanding, world-leading research being undertaken at WIMR and across the Westmead Health Precinct.

\u201cThis is a wonderful achievement. It demonstrates not only the quality, but also the breadth of work being conducted at WIMR and is a confirmation of our focus on precision medicine and research translation.

\u201cDiabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, hepatitis and blood cancers \u2013 all are conditions that have a significant impact on our local and global communities. I\u2019m proud to say that our research in these areas is supported by the NHMRC of Australia,\u201d said Professor O\u2019Connell.

The NHRMC Ideas Grants support researchers at all career stages undertaking innovative and creative research projects in any area of health and medical research from discovery to implementation.

Congratulations to the following WIMR researchers who received NHMRC Ideas Grants:

Associate Professor Eddy Kizana<\/strong>

Project: Creation of Next Generation Vectors for Cardiac Gene Therapy: Toward Human Application

Professor Kizana is a cardiologist at Westmead Hospital who has developed a research program at The Westmead Institute for Medical Research using gene therapy technology for the treatment of cardiac disease in humans.

The research program consists of vector technology development and the application of these in pre-clinical models of human disease. The research is translational and highly collaborative.

Professor Wayne Hawthorne<\/strong>

Project: Xenotransplantation a Next Generation Cure for Diabetes using Transgenic Porcine Islets

Professor Wayne Hawthorne leads the clinical and experimental Islet and Organ Transplant Research Group developing Preclinical Studies and Translating them to Transplantation Therapies.

He was appointed laboratory director in 2001 to Australia\u2019s First Clinical Islet Transplant program; his team at Westmead were the first in Australia to perform both allo and auto islet cell isolation and transplantation and to perform islet after kidney and combined islet\/kidney transplants in patients. Professor Hawthorne was one of the founding researchers of the Centre for Transplant and Renal Research where he remains responsible for experimental surgical research projects.

Associate Professor Thomas Tu<\/strong>

Project: Overcoming viral persistence to cure Hepatitis B

Associate Professor Thomas Tu\u2019s research focuses on persistent forms of the Hepatitis B virus, developing ways to measure and eliminate them. He is particularly passionate about developing an HBV cure and mitigating the associated liver cancer, as he himself lives with chronic Hepatitis B. This provides him with unique perspectives on the disease as a researcher, patient, and advocate. He has won multiple awards for his research and outreach, including the 2022 Young Tall Poppy Science Award and the Paul and Valeria Ainsworth Precision Medicine Fellowship.

Dr Sohel Julovi<\/strong>

Project:\u00a0 Heartfelt disharmony: Investigating a Novel Pathway Driving Cardiorenal Syndrome

Dr Julovi is a Senior Research Scientist in WIMR\u2019s Kidney Injury Research Group, investigating mechanisms of cellular injury driven by the protein thrombospondin-1 and its receptor CD47.

The laboratory focuses specifically on acute and chronic kidney disease, the sequelae of diseased organ crosstalk, and the translational potential of its research.

In addition, WIMR\u2019s Associate Professor Emily Blyth<\/strong> is a lead investigator on a successful collaborative project with University of Sydney\u2019s Dr Kavitha Gowrishanka, titled \u2018Transgenic receptor combinations \u2013 novel cellular therapeutics for acute myeloid leukaemia\u2019. \u00a0\u00a0WIMR\u2019s Dr Alicia Fajardo Lubian<\/strong> is also a senior investigator on a successful project titled \u2018Molecular and multi-omics assessment of Klebsiella pneumoniae response to bacteriophages\u2019, a collaboration with University of Sydney\u2019s Dr Carola Venturini.

The full list of NHMRC grant recipients can be found here<\/a>.


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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Congratulations to six of WIMR\u2019s researchers who have received Ideas Grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). This vital funding is essential for the support of WIMR research on a range of conditions, investigating new treatments, and understanding the underlying mechanisms for some of the world\u2019s greatest health issues. NHMRC grants are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":10035,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"categories":[19],"class_list":["post-10034","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cat-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/10034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}