News and Events

2006 Media Releases

La Trobe NHMRC grants success rate highest of all universities

La Trobe University has received 12 grants worth more than $8 million from the NHMRC for studies into a range of diseases including cancer, malaria and Alzheimer’s, as well as drug design, maternal health and improved public health services.

Results in the prestigious and highly competitive national research awards were announced earlier this week by Health Minister, Mr Tony Abbott.

‘Our success rate for project approval was 31 per cent – ten percent higher than the national average – the highest of any university in the country,’ said Vice-Chancellor, Professor Brian Stoddart.

‘This is a great credit to La Trobe University’s biomedical and health scientists by any standard – and especially so considering the University does not have a medical faculty.

‘Also, if you compare the result in terms of average dollars per grant, La Trobe University is up there with the top Victorian medical universities.’

Faculty of Health Sciences

Professor Judith Lumley from the Mother & Child Health Research Centre has received a $2.3million ‘Capacity-Building Grant’ to support continuing education and development for postdoctoral staff in their transition from completing a PhD to becoming independent researchers.

The aim is to help them initiate their own research programs and secure competitive funding for research into a range of problems, from premature birth to partner violence.

‘The program also involves the Department of General Practice at the University of Melbourne, with whom we have a long history of successful collaboration and common interests in mothers’ and children’s health, including research with Indigenous and immigrant women, says Professor Lumley. ‘Some of these projects have also been supported separately with additional funding.’

Associate Professor, Stephanie Brown has received almost $1 million for a study of women giving birth in South Australia and Victoria. She will investigate childbirth and early postnatal experiences, and the physical and emotional health of more than 7000 women in metropolitan, regional and remote areas.

‘The aim is to give women in each state the opportunity to provide feedback on changes to the organisation of maternity and early postnatal services,’ she says. A parallel project will involve Indigenous women.

With another grant, valued at $628,000, Dr Brown will follow-up more than 1,500 women in a longitudinal study of their health during pregnancy and in the first four years after the birth of their first child.

The study will provide the first Australian data on the incidence of maternal health problems – including urinary incontinence, sexual health issues and depression – and add to international to evidence concerning the role of birth events in maternal health outcomes. Findings will be used to design intervention and primary care strategies to support women in the early years of parenting.

Dr Helen McLachlan from the School of Nursing and Midwifery, with colleagues from Mother & Child Health Research and the Royal Women’s Hospital, has received $583,000 for the first randomised controlled trial in Australia of caseload midwifery care for women at low risk of medical complications – and, she says, it is only the third such trial she is aware of in the world.

‘It is a unique opportunity to provide a rigorous evaluation of a model that is beginning to be implemented widely in Australia. The trial will provide much needed information regarding the outcomes of caseload midwifery, including interventions in childbirth, safety, costs, women’s satisfaction with care and impact on the midwifery workforce.’

Dr Hylton Menz from the Musculoskeletal Research Centre in the School of Physiotherapy has received a Clinical Career Development Award of $445,000 to continue his research into the epidemiology and management of foot disorders in community-dwelling older Australians.

This project involves determining the prevalence of common foot disorders in a large sample of older people, exploring the impact of foot disorders on mobility and quality of life, and assessing the efficacy of various conservative treatments.

Faculty of Science, Technology and Engineering

Professor Leann Tilley, from the Department of Biochemistry, has been awarded $526,500 for research using cell biology techniques to introduce foreign genes into malaria parasite-infected red blood cells. The research aims to unravel the molecular ‘machinery’ and ‘ticketing’ system used by the parasite to ‘traffic’ its virulence proteins to their correct destinations.

Professor Tilley says as resistance to anti-malarial drugs increases, the study could lead to new ways to fight malaria, which kills between 1 and 3 million children each year. The disease also debilitates adult population in malaria-endemic areas, thereby contributing to the cycle of poverty in many third world countries.

Another biochemist, Dr Christine Hawkins, has won $563,000 to study
‘apoptosis’, or programmed cell death, which eliminates unwanted and dangerous cells. Mistakes in regulating apoptosis can contribute to many conditions including cancer, autoimmune and degenerative diseases.

Her project will exploit biochemical approaches to explore cell death pathways of a round worm, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, and compare these with apoptosis pathways in mammals.

She says: ‘Understanding the way in which mammalian apoptosis is regulated may be of clinical benefit, helping in the design of diagnostic and therapeutic reagents for many of these diseases.’

A colleague, Dr John Silke has received $375,000 for another project relating to killing tumour cells and the role of Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins.

He says melanomas and gliomas are tumour types that respond poorly to current treatments which are not only generally ineffective, but also unpleasant and destructive of healthy cells.

‘We will test two new targeted anti-cancer treatments that so far appear to have minor side effects in small animal models, and determine whether these treatments can work together to kill tumours more effectively.’

Dr Silke will continue to work closely with La Trobe’s Federation Fellow, Professor David Vaux, who was a chief investigator on an NHMRC Program Grant with colleagues at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute that will bring an additional $2million to La Trobe over the next five years.

A fifth biochemist, Associate Professor Mike Ryan has obtained two grants – one valued at $448,000 and another $462,000 dealing with mitochondrial research

Mitochondria are sub-cellular compartments that produce most of the energy for our bodies. Dr Ryan says while we now realise the great importance of mitochondria to human cells, we are only beginning to work out they undergo drastic changes in their shape which is essential for cellular function.

His research aims to identify and characterise the proteins involved in movement and shaping of mitochondria, and how they generate energy.

‘Understanding the fundamental mechanisms of mitochondrial dynamics will provide valuable insights into mitochondrial segregation and specialisation in cells and their defects that can lead to infant death, degenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, and type-2 diabetes.’

In the University’s Muscle Research Group, based in the Department of Zoology, Professor Graham Lamb and Dr Robyn Murphy have been awarded $347,000 to investigate the role of calcium-dependent proteases in muscle damage and disease while Professor George Stephenson and Dr Mark Jois received $372, 000 to study the regulation of protein synthesis in skeletal muscle fibres using a novel approach.

Skeletal muscle is the most abundant tissue in the human body and accounts for more than 40 per cent of body weight. Loss of muscle mass is a major cause of frailty in the elderly and common to chronic diseases such as cancer, HIV, arthritis and heart failure.

Professor Stephenson says his research will contribute to understanding the regulation of cellular and molecular events underpinning protein synthesis in muscle.

‘This is critical for the treatment and management of various medical conditions to prevent muscle wasting.’

Professor Lamb’s work will probe a family of proteins called ‘calpains’ that breakdown other proteins and play a key role in various types of muscular dystrophy as well as normal muscle fibre repair

‘Our research will help elucidate where exactly calpains are located within a muscle fibre, what activates them and what proteins they target.

 

For further information:

Full details of projects can be found on the following website:

http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/funding/funded/outcomes/index.htm

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