Research teams receive $73m in latest NHMRC grants

More than $AUD73 million has been awarded to 11 research teams based in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland in the latest round of the NHMRC's program grants.

The grants, which replace the old block grants, provide collaborative teams of researchers with funding for five years, allowing them to focus on big picture problems, and encouraging multidisciplinary approaches.

The grants cover a variety of areas including diabetes research, cancer research, the molecular basis of degenerative diseases, bacterial pathogenesis, HIV and tropical disease vaccines, and stem cells of the brain and nervous system.

Six of the grants worth $44 million were awarded to Victorian teams at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Melbourne University and Monash University.

Another $9 million was awarded to two projects at the Garvan Institute for Medical Research and the University of New South Wales, and $19 million will go to two projects at the University of Queensland and the Queensland Institute of Medical Research.

"The NHMRC continues to lead the way in funding the work of internationally-recognised health and medical research teams for the benefit of all Australians," said Health Minister Senator Kay Patterson in a statement.

"The research undertaken by all these teams will not only address a range of important health priority issues but ensure we maintain our place at the cutting edge of international health and medical research."

The biggest grant winner was a team led by Monash University's Prof Julian Rood, which won more than $15 million to study bacterial pathogenesis.

The team includes 11 principal investigators from Monash, and the Universities of Melbourne, Queensland and Adelaide, with a wide range of skills from clinical microbiology to cutting edge cell and molecular biology and protein biochemistry.

According to Rood, the researchers will focus on mechanisms important in understanding how bacteria cause disease, with a range of approaches looking at different bacterial diseases and species.

"There are two aspects to the program. One is to fundamentally advance knowledge of how bacteria cause disease. It may also lead to new vaccines and new microbial targets for treatment," Rood said. "We hope it will provide a real stimulus into research in bacterial pathogenesis."

A team headed by Nobel Prize winner Prof Peter Doherty, with investigators at Melbourne University, UNSW and at the John Curtin School of Medical Research at ANU in Canberra will put nearly $7 million to work on the development of innovative new HIV vaccines. The program will build on a number of different approaches for next generation vaccines, and examine the immune response to vaccines.

"These will be new strategies that no one has really looked at before," said Doherty. "There are so many different strategies possible, and we each have innovative ideas of how to go about it."

One of two programs funded at the Ludwig Institute will focus on developing new therapies for colon cancer, by investigating the biochemical and biological basis of the molecular defects associated with the disease.

"We hope to contribute to recognising which patients are at most serious risk of death and suggest new treatments on the basis of molecular changes," said principal investigator Prof Tony Burgess.

Summary of grants:

Prevention and cure of type 1 diabetes. Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Vic $5.934 million over five years Professor Leonard Harrison; A/Prof Andrew Lew; Prof Thomas Kay; Dr Grant Morahan.

The multidisciplinary approach of the team will be directed to further understanding the genetic and environmental factors underlying type 1 diabetes and the immune mechanisms, particularly involving special white blood cells called T cells, that kill beta cells. The integrated research of the team is helping to provide a sound, rational base for the eventual prevention and cure for type 1 diabetes.

Understanding HIV infection and development of new vaccines. University of Melbourne, Vic $6.967 million over five years. Professor Peter Doherty; Prof David Cooper; A/Prof Stephen Kent; Prof Ian Ramshaw.

This program draws on the skills of a world-leading group of Australian researchers to bring novel HIV vaccine designs to clinical trials, improve vaccine design and create new opportunities for commercialisation.

Colon cancer: developing new therapies. Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Vic $6.688 million over five years Professor Antony Burgess; Prof Richard Simpson; A/Prof Andrew Scott; Dr Tom Garrett. This program aims to understand the biochemical and biological basis of colorectal cancer, a major cause of cancer deaths in Australia. Newly developed instruments and techniques will allow the team to identify and detect the critical steps during the development of colorectal cancer and to design potent drugs to fight the disease.

The role of the lymphatic system in human disease. Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Vic $2.904 million over five years Dr Steven Stacker; Dr Marc Achen. This program will explore the molecular mechanisms that control the growth and differentiation of the lymphatic vessels. It will greatly enhance our understanding of lymphatic vessel growth (lymphangiogenesis) and generate a range of reagents for stimulating or inhibiting this process. These reagents will be tested in animal models for their capacity to modulate lymphatic function in the context of cancer and lymphedema.

Protease biology. Monash University, Vic $6.555 million over five years Dr James Whisstock; Dr Phillip Bird; Dr Stephen Bottomley; A/Prof Eleanor Mackie; Dr Robert Pike. Many of the themes of this program are aimed at understanding the molecular basis of several important degenerative diseases that in particular affect the ageing population. These include osteoporosis, arthritis, periodontal disease, wasting diseases of muscle and inherited disorders such as antitrypsin deficiency. The research is extensive and involves protein folding, enzyme kinetics, molecular modelling, structural biology, bioinformatics, cell biology and pathology, enzyme kinetics and drug design.

How bacteria cause disease in humans Monash University, Vic $15.255 million over five years Professor Julian Rood; Prof Ben Adler; A/Prof John Davies; Dr Elizabeth Hartland; A/Prof Michael Jennings; Prof Alastair McEwan; Dr Renato Morona; Prof James Paton; Dr Adrienne Paton; Prof Roy Robins-Browne; Prof Richard Strugnell. This multidisciplinary collaborative team is investigating the complex interactions between major disease-causing bacteria and their human hosts, in order to determine how they cause disease. These studies will make a major contribution to fundamental knowledge in this field. This information is also essential for the development of cheaper and more effective vaccines, as well as novel drugs. These are urgently needed to reduce death and illness due to bacterial infectious diseases in the 21st century.

Control of nerve cell production. University of Queensland, Qld $6.474 million over five years Dr Perry Bartlett; A/Prof Seong-Seng Tan; A/Prof Trevor Kilpatrick; Dr Pankaj Sah.

Discovering the molecular mechanisms controlling the molecular control of nerve cell production and function in the developing and adult brain is the goal of the present program. By combining resources the team will be positioned at the very forefront of the international competition to discover and to evaluate clinically the molecular mechanisms underlying neural repair and regeneration. This is of enormous significance in determining how we best treat stroke, injury and other neurodegenerative diseases in the next 10 years, and will lead to the development of new therapeutics of immense value.

How can people be helped to exercise regularly so as to improve their health? University of Queensland, Qld $4.387 million over five years Professor Neville Owen; Prof Adrian Bauman; Prof Wendy Brown.

New ideas and practical tools are needed to tackle serious 'diseases of inactivity' including weight gain, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and breast and colon cancer. To this end, the team will bring together innovative and practically useful scientific approaches drawn from psychology, epidemiology and exercise physiology. The approach is interdisciplinary - it combines theories and methods from their individual disciplines in an innovative manner, within a public health framework. Their new research program will build on and significantly extend these ideas and approaches into new areas. These ideas and approaches will be used to identify practical ways to help more people to be more physically active.

Research towards vaccines for tropical diseases Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Qld $8.521 million over five years Professor David Kemp; Prof Michael Good; Dr Kadaba Sriprakash; Prof Istvan Toth; Dr Christian Engwerda; Dr Dror Baruch.

Malaria, streptococcal diseases and scabies are infectious diseases largely affecting Indigenous people in various parts of the world on a massive scale, for which there are no vaccines. The aim of the work is to develop vaccines or other biological prevention measures against each of these diseases and the problems that need to be solved are similar. The team includes senior experts in the biology of infectious diseases with long histories of collaboration as well as younger members with impressive credentials that are new to the collaboration.

Mechanisms of breast and prostate cancer development and progression: implications for improved clinical management and treatment Garvan Institute of Medical Research, NSW $4.740 million over five years Professor Robert Sutherland; A/Prof Roger Daly; A/Prof Elizabeth Musgrove; A/Prof Christopher Ormandy.

A multidisciplinary team of cancer researchers at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, with a 10 year track record of discovery and application of their research into breast and prostate cancer, will employ state-of-the-art research tools to identify new molecules and molecular pathways involved in these diseases. This new information will facilitate the improved management of these cancers through improved assessment of disease progression at the time of diagnosis and the development of new drugs and strategies for treatment and prevention.

Posttraumatic mental health. University of New South Wales, NSW $4.740 million over five years Professor Richard Bryant; Prof Alexander McFarlane; Prof Derrick Silove.

The overall goal of this project is to enhance the nation's capacity in research into the identification of risk factors for posttraumatic mental disorders, study of neurophysiological factors mediating these disorders, and evaluation of treatment strategies to reduce psychological morbidity after trauma. This project will develop a critical mass of Australia's leading trauma researchers that will ensure that Australia retains its leading edge in posttraumatic research.