MRFF – 2021 Genomics Health Futures Mission Grant Opportunity (GO ID: GO5103)

The goal of the Genomics Health Futures Mission is to save or transform the lives of more than 200,000 Australians through genomic research to deliver better testing, diagnosis and treatment.

The objective of the 2021 Genomics Health Futures Mission Grant Opportunity is to provide grants of financial assistance to support Australian medical research and medical innovation projects that:

  • Stream 1 (Targeted Call for Research): develop disease-agnostic, high throughput and scalable functional genomics platforms to increase the diagnostic rate of unresolved cases and accelerate the development of experimental therapeutics
  • Stream 2 (Targeted Call for Research): develop new models of genomic newborn screening
  • Stream 3 (Targeted Call for Research): through a competitively selected national consortium, conduct research addressing emerging ethical, legal and social issues associated with the governance of clinical and genomic datasets
  • Stream 4 (Targeted Call for Research): through a competitively selected national consortium, conduct research to develop effective approaches for responsible, culturally appropriate and nationally consistent involvement of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people in genomics research and clinical practice
  • Stream 5 (Targeted Call for Research): through a competitively selected national consortium, conduct research to enrich genomics databases to support the inclusion of culturally and linguistically diverse groups in genomics research, and equitable benefit from genomics in health
  • Stream 6 (Incubator): conduct small-scale development projects to establish feasible, evidence-based approaches for population cohort research, focusing on culturally and linguistically diverse groups, including:
    • using the international landscape to inform an Australian approach
    • identifying potential cohorts for analysis and integration
    • identifying opportunities for Australian leadership and contribution.

The intended outcome of the research funded by this grant opportunity is to improve the health and wellbeing of Australians by:

  • Stream 1 (Targeted Call for Research): enabling earlier and more efficient genomic diagnosis of unresolved cases to inform and accelerate the clinical options and pathways
  • Stream 2 (Targeted Call for Research): enabling effective diagnosis in newborns of diseases caused by genetic mutations to support development of earlier and more effective interventions and treatments
  • Stream 3 (Targeted Call for Research): generating knowledge to enable more effective implementation and use of clinical and genomic datasets
  • Stream 4 (Targeted Call for Research): generating knowledge that supports the involvement of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people in genomics research and clinical practice
  • Stream 5 (Targeted Call for Research): generating knowledge that supports the involvement of culturally and linguistically diverse populations in genomics research
  • Stream 6 (Incubator): generating new approaches for researching population-based cohorts that include culturally and linguistically diverse populations in Australia.

This grant opportunity is being administered by NHMRC on behalf of the Australian Government Department of Health.

Further information on the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) is available from the Department of Health’s MRFF website.

Link to GrantConnect