Latest news and stories
10 of the Best: Harnessing the power of science to understand and defeat today’s health challenges
The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) has released the 14th edition of its “10 of the Best” publication featuring the outcomes of some of the outstanding research that has been funded under NHMRC’s grant program.
Dr Alastair Stewart recognised for outstanding achievement in health and medical research
Doctor Alastair Stewart of Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute is a leading researcher for major antimicrobial drug development and subsequently has taken home the 2023 Commonwealth Health Minister’s Award for Excellence in Health and Medical Research.
Breakthrough for childhood brain cancer treatment
The Australian Government has announced over $700,000 in funding to support Dr Fatima Valdes Mora and a team from the University of New South Wales to develop a new treatment that targets diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG).
$50 million boost to research for health problems
The Albanese Government is investing $50 million in innovative research teams to address a range of health problems like prostate cancer, high blood pressure, stroke, and chronic pain.
$5 million to achieve equity in cancer screening for First Nations People
Research into improving First Nations health and wellbeing by achieving equity across cancer screenings is one of ten projects sharing in over $50 million in NHMRC Synergy Grant funding.
Prostate cancer research to receive $5 million with new CAR T-cell therapy
Research aiming to advance immunotherapy treatments for Australians diagnosed with prostate cancer is one of ten research collaborations sharing in over $50 million in NHMRC Synergy Grant funding.
Tracker - 20 November 2023
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Research Excellence: Supporting healing and recovery for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander survivors of childhood sexual abuse
Dr Graham Gee is an Aboriginal-Chinese man, also with Celtic heritage, originally from Darwin. His Aboriginal-Chinese grandfather was born near Belyuen on Larrakia Country. Dr Gee is a clinical psychologist and has worked at the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service for 11 years before taking up a research position at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. His early career research focused on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health, social and emotional wellbeing, resilience and complex trauma. In 2022, Dr Gee commenced working in partnership with several Victorian Aboriginal services dedicated to healing child sexual abuse. Read more to find out more about Dr Gee’s research, in his own words.
Tracker - 6 November 2023
Welcome to Tracker, NHMRC's fortnightly newsletter with the latest information on major activities and funding opportunities.
Tracker - 23 October 2023
Welcome to Tracker, NHMRC’s fortnightly newsletter with the latest information on major activities and funding opportunities.
Research Excellence: Microelectrode recordings from the vagus nerve in awake humans
Professor Vaughan Macefield is the Professor of Neuroscience in the Department of Neuroscience at Monash University. Professor Macefield specialises in recording from single nerve fibres via microelectrodes inserted into the peripheral nerves of awake human participants. He is best known for developing the methodology for recording the firing properties of single, type-identified, sympathetic neurones supplying muscle and skin, and for developing the methodology for recording muscle sympathetic nerve activity at the same time as performing functional magnetic resonance imaging of the brain. Read on to find out more about Professor Macefield's research, in his own words.
Tackling health challenges of the present and the future
As an infectious disease physician and researcher in HIV, vaccine development and the impact of the microbiome on human health, Professor Wesselingh brings a wealth of medical experience, clinical leadership as well as national and international success to this role.
Tracker - 9 October 2023
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Over $5 million for research to improve physical health of people living with mental illness
Three research teams will share in over $5.1 million in targeted funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) to investigate ways to improve the physical health of people with mental illness.
$35 million for new Centres of Research Excellence in health and medical research
NHMRC welcomes the Australian Government’s announcement of outcomes from the 2023 Centres of Research Excellence (CRE) scheme.
Tracker - 25 September 2023
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Research Excellence: Understanding membrane protein structures
Dr Alastair Stewart, Head of the Institute’s Structural Biology Laboratory at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute (VCCRI) focuses his research on understanding the mechanisms of how cells transport drug molecules using cyro-electron microscopy technology. Based within VCCRI’s Innovation Centre, Dr Stewart’s research involves generating detailed information on the function of membrane protein structures, providing a template to better understand drug interactions within the body. Read on to find out more about Dr Stewart’s research, in his own words.
Tracker - 11 September 2023
Welcome to Tracker, NHMRC’s fortnightly newsletter with the latest information on major activities and funding opportunities.
$1.5 million for research collaboration to develop a Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder screening tool
A project in partnership with community organisations to explore the national expansion of a Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) screening program is one of eight research collaborations sharing in over $10.5 million in NHMRC partnership funding.
Preventing infectious diseases in early childhood education and care services
The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) is seeking the views of early childhood educators, parents, carers, and experts in public health, environmental health, food safety and infectious disease as part of a review of the Staying healthy: Preventing infectious diseases in early childhood education and care services resource.
Research Excellence: trialling women's testosterone therapy
Professor Susan Davis AO, Head of the Monash University Women’s Health Research Program, focuses her research on understanding the role of sex hormones, particularly testosterone, in women’s health. Her program of research involves a series of innovative, complementary clinical trials to determine if the hormone can serve as a new therapy to protect against leading causes of ill health in postmenopausal women. Read on to find out more about Professor Davis’s research, in her own words.
Tracker - 28 August 2023
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Over $9 million for collaborative research projects to improve health care access and equity
A project in partnership with community organisations to guide the effective use of medication that reduces the risk of contracting HIV is one of seven research collaborations sharing in over $9 million in NHMRC Partnership Project funding.
Tracker - 14 August 2023
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Research Excellence: predicting gastric cancer
Dr Doug Tjandra is an advanced trainee in gastroenterology at The Royal Melbourne Hospital with an interest in preventing gastrointestinal cancers and immunotherapy-related complications of the gastrointestinal tract and liver.
Tracker – 31 July 2023
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Donor milk study one of 28 projects to share in $73 million Clinical Trials and Cohort Studies funding
Research teams from across Australia will share in almost $73 million from Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) to conduct studies addressing topics such as the benefits of donor milk for pre-term babies, culturally inclusive pregnancy to early childhood services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, and preventing e-cigarette use among young people.
Research excellence: understanding the first few weeks of pregnancy
Professor Jose Polo’s work in epigenetics spans diverse fields, including cellular reprogramming, embryogenesis, neurobiology, immunology and cancer. His Synergy Grant brings together a multidisciplinary team who will combine the latest advances in models of early development, genetics and molecular biology to determine how the early placenta produced by the embryo burrows into the uterus and keeps developing during the entire pregnancy.
NHMRC statement on iBlastoids
Regulation of research involving human embryos and embryo-like structures in Australia.
Tracker – 17 July 2023
Welcome to Tracker, NHMRC’s fortnightly newsletter with the latest information on major activities and funding opportunities.
Research Excellence: rapidly detecting emerging viruses
It is challenging to contemplate, but the world can expect to experience pandemics like COVID-19, and perhaps even larger in scale, in the future. Professor Eddie Holmes is developing a pandemic radar to rapidly detect emerging viruses and determine which are most likely to have pandemic potential. His research focuses on understanding the fundamental mechanisms of virus ecology and evolution, as well as how viruses jump species boundaries to emerge and cause disease in new hosts.
$5.5 million in funding for research projects to address the impact of loneliness in chronic disease
Over $5.5 million in targeted funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) will be shared across four research teams to investigate ways to identify and support people with chronic disease who are experiencing loneliness and social isolation.
$3.5 million in targeted research funding to improve dementia care in culturally diverse communities
Three expert teams will share in almost $3.5 million in funding from Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) to improve clinical pathways for the diagnosis, early intervention, treatment and management of dementia for people from diverse cultural, ethnic and linguistic backgrounds.
Tracker – 3 July 2023
Welcome to Tracker, NHMRC’s fortnightly newsletter with the latest information on major activities and funding opportunities.
Excellence in ethics and integrity
Reverend Kevin McGovern, recipient of the 2023 NHMRC Ethics and Integrity Award, is one of Australia’s leading ethicists, active in education, research and policy for over 25 years. Throughout his professional life as a parish priest, academic and community leader, Reverend McGovern has brought to innumerable discussions and debates the highest quality and intensity of consideration. His reputation for the courage of his convictions and his openness and respect for others with a diversity of views is unparalleled.
Tracker – 19 June 2023
Welcome to Tracker, NHMRC’s fortnightly newsletter with the latest information on major activities and funding opportunities.
Tracker - 5 June 2023
Welcome to Tracker, NHMRC’s fortnightly newsletter with the latest information on major activities and funding opportunities.
Tracker special edition - MRFF – MREA consultations
Improving alignment and coordination between the Medical Research Future Fund and Medical Research Endowment Account.
Excellence in consumer engagement: optimising the lives of people with aphasia
The Queensland Aphasia Research Centre (QARC) brings together people with aphasia, their families and friends, clinicians and researchers in the collaborative development of innovative and novel health interventions that transform lives. At NHMRC's Research Excellence Awards in March, QARC received the 2023 NHMRC Consumer Engagement Award, which recognises an individual, a group of individuals or an organisation that has made a long-term contribution to consumer and community involvement in health and medical research.
Tracker - 22 May 2023
Welcome to Tracker, NHMRC’s fortnightly newsletter with the latest information on major activities and funding opportunities.
Research Excellence: A vision for the elimination of tuberculosis
Professor Greg Fox is a respiratory doctor and clinical trialist at the University of Sydney and Director of the Sydney Vietnam Institute who is contributing to the momentum towards tuberculosis (TB) elimination. Professor Fox received the 2021 NHMRC David Cooper Clinical Trials and Cohort Studies Award, recognising the highest ranked recipient in the Clinical Trials and Cohort Studies scheme.
Budget 2023-24
Support for excellent health and medical research in Australia continues in the 2023-24 Budget handed down on 9 May 2023.
Tracker - 8 May 2023
Welcome to Tracker, NHMRC’s fortnightly newsletter with the latest information on major activities and funding opportunities.
Research excellence: Transforming midwifery in the Asia-Pacific region
Professor Caroline Homer AO is a midwife and maternal and newborn health researcher. Her research addresses maternal and newborn health issues, especially the role of midwives in improving outcomes in limited-resource settings, with a focus for more than 20 years on the Asia-Pacific region.
$7.9 million for research collaboration on policy and practice
Projects aiming to improve leadership equity in health care, mental health, children’s wellbeing and patient safety are among those sharing in $7.9 million in grants for research collaboration with health sector partners across Australia.
Tracker - 24 April 2023
Welcome to Tracker, NHMRC’s fortnightly newsletter with the latest information on major activities and funding opportunities.
Research Excellence: New antibody therapies against malaria and COVID-19
Professor Wai-Hong Tham was one of four distinguished female researchers to receive 2022 NHMRC Elizabeth Blackburn Investigator Grant Awards. Her award was for the highest ranked female recipient (Leadership category) in the Basic Science research area of the Investigator Grants scheme. Professor Tham is Head of the division of Infectious Diseases and Immune Defence at WEHI and co-Chair of the WEHI Biologics Initiative.
Research boost to foster cooperation on chronic disease prevention in the Asia-Pacific
Research that aims to improve health promotion strategies for children in Fiji is one of four projects to share in over $5 million in funding from Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) as part of an international and collaborative scheme.
Tracker - 12 April 2023
Welcome to Tracker, NHMRC’s fortnightly newsletter with the latest information on major activities and funding opportunities.
Research Excellence: Identifying gaps and solutions needed for HIV elimination
Dr Tafi Marukutira is a medical doctor and public health researcher, specialising in infectious diseases epidemiology. Dr Marukutira received the 2022 NHMRC Frank Fenner Investigator Grant Award (Emerging Leadership), which recognises the highest ranked recipient in the Emerging Leadership Level 1 Investigator Grant category within the Basic Science or Public Health research areas, for his work on equitable access to HIV care and treatment.