The Menzies Research Institute has been awarded $1.56 million in funding from the 2008 National Health & Medical Research Council's (NHMRC) Career Development Awards and Training Fellowships Scheme.

The Menzies Research Institute has been awarded $1.56 million in funding from the 2008 National Health & Medical Research Council's (NHMRC) Career Development Awards and Training Fellowships Scheme.

Director of the Menzies Research Institute, Professor Simon Foote said on a national scale, Menzies ranked extremely well in terms of NHMRC funding with only seven of the top eight universities and four independent medical research institutes receiving higher funding.

"Menzies has grown to be on par with some of Australia's most eminent medical research institutes," Prof. Foote said.

 "The NHMRC Career Development Awards and Training Fellowships are extremely competitive and demonstrate the high quality of Menzies' researchers and the quality of research conducted in Tasmania.

"The NHMRC funding provides salary support for five of our researchers to enable them to continue their innovative research at the Menzies Research Institute."

Dr Tracey Dickson who received a NHMRC Career Development Award for her work in examining the brain's response to injury and disease said "brain and spinal cord injury are major causes of death and disability, with degenerative diseases similarly affecting large proportions of the population."

"The singular objective of my research proposal is to increase our understanding of the molecular and cellular processes by which nerve cells respond to trauma and diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, and to identify new therapeutic approaches aimed at encouraging the repair of damaged cells."

The National Health & Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Career Development Awards and Research Training Fellowships are awarded for a four year period. 

Further Information

NHMRC grant recipients at the Menzies Research Institute:

Principal Research Fellow and Senior Member, Associate Professor Leigh Blizzard will further his study of relative risk estimation methods with a NHMRC Population Health Career Development Award ($370,000).

Associate Professor Blizzard and colleagues have contributed to the development of novel methods to assess the outcome of follow-up studies of cohorts of individuals. Currently it is not known how best to assess the adequacy of these methods and to which types of data they can be applied.

Associate Professor Blizzard's research aims to address these issues, and thereby increase the practical usefulness of these methods.

Senior Research Fellow and Member, Dr Changhai Ding was awarded an NHMRC Clinical Career Development Award ($409,000) to undertake research into longitudinal studies of knee osteoarthritic changes using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The associations between MRI-assessed knee structural changes and radiographic changes over five years in older people will be determined. The effects of physical activity in adults and childhood and the roles of inflammation will be described.

Dr Ding's study represents a cost-effective comprehensive approach to osteoarthritis, a major public health problem and is a natural progression of previous work that supports the objectives of the Bone and Joint Decade and addresses a national health priority.

Senior Research Fellow and Member, Dr Tracey Dickson was awarded the NHMRC Biomedical Career Development Award to undertake research into cellular mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative disease and the neuronal response to trauma. ($370,000)

Research Fellow, Dr Adele Vincent will examine therole of a protein called SPARC in regeneration and neurogenesis in the central nervous system with a NHMRC Australian Based Biomedical Training Fellowship. ($274,000)

Although the brain has built-in mechanisms for repairing itself, these processes are slow and incomplete. Her research will investigate how these natural repair mechanisms work and how to stimulate them to improve recovery. Initial results suggest that SPARC, which is involved in wound healing outside the nervous system, may be able to recruit new nerve cells and blood vessels to damaged brain tissue.

Research Fellow, Dr Fay Johnston was awarded an NHMRC Australian Based Health Professional Research Training Fellowship ($164,000) to undertake research into understanding the health effects of biomass smoke in Australian towns and cities.

Working with lead agencies in air quality regulation, public health and fire management Dr Johnston will examine and compare the health effects of air pollution from deliberate burns, bushfires, wood heaters and other sources of air pollution. The research will focus on respiratory and heart disease to inform public health and individual patient care.

Contact:

Phone:

Email: