NHMRC grants lure eminent immunologist home

Expatriate Australian immunologist Prof Jonathan Sprent will return to Australia next year from the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego, California, to take up a position at Sydney's Centenary Institute after being awarded a prestigious Burnet Award from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).

The award, which is worth AUD$2 million over a five-year period, is used to bring high calibre researchers back to Australia. Previous awardees include Nobel laureate Prof Peter Doherty in 2002.

The NHMRC has also announced $222 million in project grant funding and other programs, and a further $63 million in support for health and medical researchers.

A total of 416 projects were funded -- 22 per cent of the nearly 1900 applications -- at a cost of $188 million, with the remaining funding going to the creation of seven 'centres of clinical research excellence in Victoria, NSW, South Australia and Queensland, as well as to population and health services research.

Universities and research institutes in Victoria and NSW took the lion's share of the funding, with Victorian research boosted by $66.7 million for 146 projects and NSW research gaining $49.7 million for 111 projects.

Infection and immunity, cancer research and mental health/neurosciences research topped the list of funds distributed by health area, with infection and immunity receiving a total of $32.5 million, while cancer research and the neurosciences each received more than $25 million.

Of the $63 million earmarked for supporting researchers, $43 million has been allocated to NHMRC Fellowships and $15.9 million for career development awards.

Breakdown of project grant allocation by state:

• ACT: 16 grants, $6.6 million
• NSW: 111 grants, $49.7 million
• NT: 2 grants, $2.2 million
• QLD: 54 grants, $24.1 million
• SA: 38 grants, $15.8 million
• TAS: 4 grants, $1 million
• VIC: 146 grants, $66.7 million
• WA: 45 grants, $18.6 million

Details of the grants can be found at www.nhmrc.gov.au