NFMRI awards 2015 grants

The National Foundation for Medical Research and Innovation (NFMRI), with the support of the NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI), this week congratulated its 2015 grant recipients at an awards ceremony held at the MLC Centre, Sydney.

The ceremony saw the presentation of the inaugural Dr John Dixon Hughes Medical Research Innovation Medal, which comes with a prize of $50,000. It was awarded to medicinal chemist Associate Professor Guillaume Lessene, of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI), for his discovery and development of potential anticancer drugs. His work has contributed to the discovery of a new class of drugs, called BH3-mimetics, which ‘trick’ cancer cells into apoptosis - a form of programmed cell death that normal cells undergo but cancer cells normally resist.

The foundation’s Valley of Death grant was meanwhile awarded to Professor Michael Good of Griffith University, who has proposed to manufacture and test a vaccine to prevent infections with group A streptococcus (GAS). Professor Good had received funding from multiple sources to support the development of the vaccine, but it could not be taken to market without first being manufactured and tested under Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP). The NFMRI grant will help Professor Good and his team take this vital step.

From preventing infections to diagnosing them, Professor Stephen Haswell from Deakin University will receive $372,000 to design, manufacture and commercialise a lab-on-a-chip that can rapidly identify infections and the causative virus. The test would cost around $20, take less than an hour to generate results and link wirelessly to a database to produce a range of control and treatment options. Professor Haswell noted that the grant represents more than financial support, including extras such as “contacts, commercial mentoring and the potential use of the DPI’s facilities”.

Other grant recipients include Dr Janet Davies from The University of Queensland, who aims to develop an improved allergen immunotherapy vaccine targeting subtropical grass pollens; and Dr Andrew Mitchell from the University of Sydney, who has identified a previously unknown cell type that drives inflammation.

NFMRI’s primary objective is to support innovative areas of research to help benefit mankind through the prevention or eradication of diseases. The foundation recently changed its focus towards advancing innovations and enabling collaborations, with funding available via competitive grants rounds on a national basis.