Content
Media release
Summary media release information
Description: THE HON NICOLA ROXON MP, Minister for Health and Ageing, announces Western Australian health and medical researchers have received more than $23 million in funding from the latest round of NHMRC project grants. Date: 16 October 2008 |
Type: Media release Contact for further information: |
NHMRC directs $23M to Western Australian medical research
Western Australian health and medical researchers have received more than $23 million in funding from the latest round of National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) project grants.
I am pleased to announce these 45 grants which are part of $357 million funded nationally.
I commend the researchers who have been awarded grants. The high calibre of medical research in this country means that successful applicants are of an outstanding level, carrying out research that will benefit the health of Australians in both the long and short term.
Research in Western Australia aims to improve health at every stage of life, through reducing infections in preterm infants, protecting against common cancers and understanding the effect of dietary fats on the development of Alzheimer’s disease.
The Western Australian projects include:
- Diet and Alzheimer’s disease: Prof John Mamo, from Curtin University of Technology, receives $546,000 to investigate the mechanisms of how dietary fats influence the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Are the dietary fats that are bad for the heart bad for the head?
- Green tea and cancer prevention: Prof D’Arcy Holman, University of Western Australia, receives $913,000 to determine if green tea can protect against leukemia and bowel cancer, and identify the genetic makeup of people who are able to benefit most from the polyphenols in green tea.
- Infections in preterm babies: Dr David Burgner, University of Western Australia, receives $363,250, to track the development of the immune system in children born preterm to try to determine indicators for the 25 per cent of infants who develop life-threatening infections, to enable targeted treatments for those most at risk.
- Combining surgery and immunotherapy for lung cancer: Prof Bruce Robinson, University of Western Australia, receives $496,250 to study the effects of cancer surgery on the anti-cancer immune system, to improve treatment regimes for lung cancer.
More than 23 per cent of applications from Western Australian researchers were funded, which is a success rate on par with the rest of the country.
For the full list of grants recipients, membership of the Project Grants Advisory Group, and statistics on the grants, visit www.nhmrc.gov.au/grants/rounds/index.htm.
Media contacts
Sean Kelly
Minister’s office
T
0417 108 362
Carolyn Norrie
NHMRC
T
0422 008 512
- » Download this media release (pdf, 28KB)
- » Download more details about the featured projects (pdf, 17KB)