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$8.2 million in competitive grants awarded to PHI
Posted 9 December 2010
Prince Henry’s Institute (PHI) has been awarded more than $8.2 million in recent competitive research funding to prevent major health conditions for cardiovascular disease and cancer, and improve men’s and women’s health and fertility.
PHI was awarded seven project grants, and two each of fellowships, career development and training awards totalling more than $6.6 million from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) in its recent funding rounds announced in November by the Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, Mark Butler.
Key projects supported include: understanding the underlying causes of infertility in men, investigating the linkage between obesity and breast cancer, new treatments for heart disease and protecting against heart disease and hypertension, unraveling the genes involved in determining healthy egg production in the ovaries, and new treatments for liver disease and prevention of fibrosis in numerous tissues.
In addition to these projects, two outstanding PHI researchers, Professor Peter Fuller and Professor Lois Salamonsen were awarded highly valued and prestigious NHMRC Fellowships to expand their areas of research.
Amongst a highly competitive field, Dr Kristy Brown and Dr Craig Harrison were awarded Career Development Awards that will enable them to develop their research careers, and overseas training fellowships were awarded to Dr Yogesh Makanji and Dr Amanda Rickard.
Director, Professor Matthew Gillespie said the funding confirmed PHI’s increasing research capacity and innovation.
“This success reflects that PHI’s research areas are major Australian health priorities and the Australian government’s commitment to preventing cancer and cardiac disease particularly,” Professor Gillespie said.
Additionally, PHI together with research partner, Monash Institute of Medical Research (MIMR) have secured over $1.6 million for new equipment aiding cancer diagnosis from the Australian Cancer Research Foundation (ACRF).
PHI Grant recipients
Dr Stefan Bagheri-Fam – investigating the mechanisms underlying male fertility
Dr Kristy Brown – fat and breast cancer: aromatase, p53 and HIF-1alpha
Professor Peter Fuller – Ligand-discrimination at the aldosterone receptor
Dr Craig Harrison – development of a specific activin antagonist for therapeutic applications
Dr Karla Hutt – the life and death of oocytes: the role of BH3-only proteins
Dr Peter Stanton – Micro RNAs – a new mechanism of hormone action in the testis
Dr Morag Young – A pivitol role for the mineralocorticoid receptors in heart disease
Professor Peter Fuller – NHMRC Fellowship (SPRF)
Professor Lois Salamonsen - NHMRC Fellowship (SPRF)
Dr Kristy Brown – Career Development Award
Dr Craig Harrison – Career Development Award
Dr Yogesh Makanji – overseas based Biomedical Training Fellowship
Dr Amanda Rickard – overseas based Biomedical Training Fellowship
MIMR and PHI – ACRF Equipment Grant