Monash University: More than $50m awarded to Monash for vital medical research
Research projects to treat dementia, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and improve life support machines with AI are among 27 projects funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Investigator grants awarded to Monash University researchers.
Federal Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler announced almost $50.47M in funding for Monash researchers across all areas of health and medical research from the Faculties of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences (MNHS), Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Science, Science and Engineering, with 63 per cent of awards and 62 per cent of funding allocated to women.
Investigator Grants provide the highest-performing researchers at all career stages with consolidated funding, specifically for research across the four pillars of health and medical research: biomedical, clinical, public health and health services research.
Monash University President and Vice-Chancellor Professor Margaret Gardner AC welcomed the ongoing funding by the Federal Government into research that should deliver significant and improved health outcomes for all Australians.
“These grants to the University’s outstanding researchers recognise their world-leading projects for the benefit of our community. I congratulate all the recipients and thank the government for its support,” Professor Gardner said.
Professor Rebekah Brown, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) said the grants were recognition of the strength of Monash research. “These grants are a real testament to our researchers who are doing incredible work contributing to research excellence and impact. Not only is this an excellent outcome, but it’s wonderful to see that 63 per cent of awards went to females; who are historically underrepresented in funding outcomes.”
Professor Christina Mitchell AO, Dean of Monash Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, was awarded $1.5m for undertaking discovery research using models of disease of human development and cancer, to try to unravel the molecular basis of these diseases.
“This is an important scheme, because it funds research teams for 5 years, allowing investigators to pursue new research directions, fostering innovation” Professor Mitchell said.
Professor James Whisstock, Deputy Dean Research, at Monash Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, congratulated the recipients. “These grants are incredibly competitive and difficult to win so it is wonderful that so many of our researchers have achieved such significant success and are able to deploy this support to address some of the most pressing health challenges facing society,” he said.
Professor Shaun Gregory received a grant of over $1.3m to investigate how to improve life support machines, known as Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation or ECMO. ECMO is used when hearts and lungs fail, and also as a last line of defence for patients with COVID-19, when all other options fail. While ECMO has saved many lives, there are substantial limitations that reduce patient survival and prevent more widespread adoption.
Professor Gregory’s research aims to address those limitations through his world-class team at the Monash University CREATElab where a multidisciplinary team crossing engineering, biological science, medicine and more will develop improved implantation techniques, better clinical training tools, and risk prediction models using big data and artificial intelligence.
“This NHMRC fellowship is career-defining. It will provide an opportunity for me to focus my time and efforts on delivering improved solutions for the sickest of patients. Such a prestigious fellowship also elevates my national and international reputation as a researcher, thus further building my research career and giving me the time to build the careers of the next generation of budding biomedical engineers,” said Professor Gregory.