NHMRC grants for QIMR Berghofer

Researchers at QIMR Berghofer have been successful in securing more than $12 million in funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) in the latest round of project grants and fellowship announcements.

The funding will provide much needed support for our researchers to continue their valuable contribution to understanding the causes and finding treatments for diseases across a range of health areas.

Funds will be provided from 1 January 2011 for a total of 17 new research projects ranging from the genetics of brain structure and function, to understanding the causes of breast and ovarian cancer and risks, to improving the health of Indigenous populations. (see all below)

An additional eight Fellowships totalling $3,890,820 ranging from post doctoral to senior research Fellowships were also announced.

“This is a great result in a very competitive environment. I would like to personally congratulate all of our successful applicants. QIMR Berghofer’s success rate is on par with the national average of 23% of grant applications funded,” said QIMR Berghofer’s Acting Director, Professor Adele Green

“Over the past 10 years, QIMR Berghofer researchers have received almost $177 million which equates to 3.9% of a total funding pool of $4.5 billion.”

“I would especially like to congratulate Professor Don McManus and Professor Rajiv Khanna who were named as Senior Principal Research Fellows, and Dr David Duffy who was named as a Senior Research Fellow(B).”

“It is also very encouraging to see three of our post doctoral researchers receive training awards. Congratulations to Ms Kate Markey, Drs Ting Wei and Sarah Harten.”

Researchers at QIMR Berghofer have been successful in securing in excess of AU$12 million in funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) in the latest round of project grants and fellowship announcements. NHMRC fellowships and grants awarded to QIMR Berghofer researchers are listed below by category and alphabetically by surname.

Research and Practitioner Fellowships

Dr Patricia Valery – Career Development Award – Level 1

Professor Don McManus – Senior Principal Research Fellow

Associate Professor Rajiv Khanna – Senior Principal Research Fellow with Promotion

Dr David Duffy – Senior Research Fellow with Promotion

Dr Geoff Hill – Practitioner Fellowship Reappointment with Promotion

Post-Doctoral Training Fellowships

Ms Kate Markey –  Health Professional

Dr Ting Wei –  Australian Biomedical

Dr Sarah Harten –  Australian Biomedical

Project grants

Researchers at QIMR Berghofer have been successful in securing in excess of AU$8 million in funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council in the latest round of Project Grant announcements. This will provide funds from 1 January 2011 for a total of 17 new projects.

Dr Annika Antonsson, Cancer and Population Studies, $ 212,015
Project: Squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck: Exploring the role of human papillomavirus infection

Dr Jonathan Beesley, Cancer Genetics, $ 382,524
Project: The TERT locus as a susceptibility gene for ovarian and breast cancer: genetic and functional evaluation

Associate Professor Scott Burrows, Cellular Immunology, $ 352,524
Project: The impact of micropolymorphism within the T cell receptor genes and their target antigenic peptides

Dr Suyinn Chong, Epigenetics, $ 701,732
Project: Epigenetic and neurobehavioural changes in a new mouse model of foetal alcohol spectrum disorders.

Associate Professor David Harrich, HIV Molecular Virology, $ 610,074
Project: How Does A Host Cell Stimulatory Factor Stabilize The HIV-1 Reverse Transcription Complex?

Associate Professor David Harrich, HIV Molecular Virology, $ 561,453
Project: An RNA Element Negatively Regulates Initation HIV-1 Reverse transcription and Inhibits Proviral Integration

Associate Professor Rajiv Khanna, Tumour Immunology, $ 421,299
Project: Prophylactic vaccine to prevent cytomegalovirus disease

Dr Kelli MacDonald, Antigen Presentation and Immunoregulation, $ 490,470
Project: The role of alloantigen presentation in transplantation

Dr Allan McRae, Queensland Statistical Genetics, $ 579,766
Project: Inheritance of DNA methylation state in humans

Dr Sarah Medland (New Investigator), Genetic Epidemiology, $ 238,979
Project: Genetic influences on the comorbidity between Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and substance use

Associate Professor Grant Ramm, Hepatic Fibrosis, $ 555,048
Project: Role of tissue ferritin as a proinflammatory mediator of hepatic stellate cell activation in hepatic iron overload

Dr Amanda Spurdle, Molecular Cancer Epidemiology, $ 553,390
Project: Prediction, verification, and clinical significance of splicing aberrations associated with BRCA1 and BRCA2 variants

Dr Judy Tellam, Tumour Immunology, $ 344,208
Project: Enhanced expression of the Epstein-Barr Virus Nuclear Antigen, EBNA1, as a Target for T-cell-Based Immunotherapy for Prevention of Viral-Associated Diseases

Dr Patricia Valery, and Associate Professor Gail Garvey, Indigenous Health Research, $ 610,731
Project: A comparative study: Patterns of Care, Comorbidities and Quality of Life of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people with lung, head and neck, breast or gynaecological cancers

Dr Naomi Wray, Psychiatric Genetics, and Professor Peter Visscher, Queensland Statistical Genetics, $ 578,416
Project: Better Methods for Individual Risk Prediction of Complex Traits in Human Populations

Dr Margie Wright, and Professor Nick Martin, Genetic Epidemiology, $ 560,218
Project: Genetics of brain structure and function

Dr Yurong Yang (New Investigator), Molecular Parasitology, $ 632,128
Project: Does environmental change drive the spatiotemporal transmission dynamics of Echinococcus spp. in Ningxia, China?