Ramaciotti Foundations celebrate 40 years

A whose who of Australia’s top medical researchers gathered at the Westin Hotel in Sydney last night for the 40th anniversary of the Ramacioitti Foundations, one of Australia’s oldest and largest medical research endowments.

All up $1.6 million worth of grants were announced for 24 leading Australian researchers, including this year’s Ramaciotti Medal winner Professor Chris Goodnow from the ANU’s John Curtin School of Medical Research.

For the past 25 years Professor Goodnow has been trying to better understand the mechanisms by which the immune system is controlled so as to prevent it attacking our own organs and tissues when it wards off bacteria and viruses.

This led him to the exciting discovery that immune system is controlled by a series of checkpoints positioned at each of the various stages in the immune response.

“We have been able to reveal the rules of engagement that govern our immune system, ensuring that our own unique pattern of tissue antigens is not mistaken for the pattern of molecules displayed by a virus or bacteria.”

“Now that we know many of the control mechanisms the body uses normally, it opens up the translational steps: figuring out why the rules have been bent or broken in autoimmune diseases, allergy, or chronic infection, and developing drugs that harness those normal mechanisms to improve the success of transplant rejection or cancer treatment.”

There’s also the possibility of improved treatments for other diseases such as arthritis, diabetes and celiac disease

Professor Goodnow said that he was excited about the potential of next generation DNA sequencers to provide the full list of genetic variants as they relate to the immune system. He estimates that only around a third have so far been discovered, likening the challenge ahead to trying to complete a jigsaw puzzle with only half of the pieces facing up the right way up. Among the many other researchers chosen to receive 2010 Ramaciotti research grants was Professor Goodnow’s former PHD student Dr Di Yu, who is the first recipient to achieve a perfect score from all seven judges. Dr Yu has been awarded $75,000 to advance his work on immunology and antibodies.

Former Ramaciotti Medal winner and 2006 Australian of the year Professor Ian Frazer praised the foundation for its work in suporting important medical research, including his own ground-breaking work on vaccines, particularly for cervical cancer.

However, he said that the high calibre of Australian researchers celebrated at events such as the Ramaciotti awards underscored the importance of increasing support for them.

“What’s missing in Australia is a real committment to research careers,” professor Frazer told ALS. “We need to value researchers in the community.”

Managed by Perpetual, the Ramaciotti Foundations were established in 1970 with a $6.7 million Bequest which was for the formation of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne. As of August this fund the foundations were worth a total of $52 million. In the 40 years since its inception the Foundations have distributed around $48.5 million to biomedical research.

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