WA researchers given a second chance at national success

The Cook Government has awarded more than $2 million to WA health and medical researchers as part of the 'WA Near Miss Awards: Ideas Grant program'.

Government awards $2.2 million to WA health and medical researchers
Grants assist early-to-mid career researchers to set up for future national success
Health and medical research remains priority for Government

The Cook Government has awarded more than $2 million to WA health and medical researchers as part of the 'WA Near Miss Awards: Ideas Grant program'.

Medical Research Minister Stephen Dawson said the grants were being provided through the Government's successful Future Health Research and Innovation (FHRI) Fund.

The grants assist WA researchers who submitted applications to the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Ideas Grant scheme that were deemed suitable for funding but exceeded the NHMRCs budget.

The State funding helps WA researchers improve their applications for resubmission to the NHMRC, increasing the likelihood of success during the next round of NHMRC grant applications.

A total of 22 grants, valued at $100,000 each, are awarded to researchers from six different organisations. Recipients can be seen at https://fhrifund.health.wa.gov.au/News-and-Events

Successful applicants are given the opportunity to continue their valuable input towards health and medical research areas such as multiple sclerosis treatment, mental health, and use of AI to diagnose speech disorders.

Since the introduction of the WA Near Miss Awards in 2020, more than $9 million has been awarded to 99 WA researchers.

Comments attributed to Medical Research Minister Stephen Dawson:

"The Cook Government's successful FHRI Fund targets funding to support local medical research organisations and position WA as a global leader in research and innovation.

"The Near Miss Awards is a fantastic opportunity for Western Australian researchers who have narrowly missed out on a highly competitive national grant, to have a second chance.

"WA Researchers in the early-to-mid-stage of their careers can continue to make vast improvements to health and medical research happening in the State.

"This will ultimately lead to the improved health and well-being of the WA community."

Responsible Entity	No. of Grants	Total Funding
Curtin University	7	$700,000
Edith Cowan University	4	$400,000
Murdoch University	1	$100,000
Telethon Kids Institute	2	$200,000
The University of Western Australia	7	$700,000
Fiona Wood Foundation	1	$100,000
	22	$2,200,000

Below is the full list of recipients for the WANMA IG 2023-2024 program.

CURTIN UNIVERSITY
Dr Tasmin Symons	$100,000	Realising the potential of malaria treatment on illness, infection and transmission
Dr Virginie Lam	$100,000	Revolutionising multiple sclerosis treatment: An Innovative remyelination therapy to halt disease progression
Dr Virginie Lam	$100,000	Developing prophylactic interventions for chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment for breast cancer survivors
Dr Thi Ninh Ha	$100,000	Understanding configurations of community-based multidisciplinary team care to improve management of diabetes: mixed methods in large linked administrative data in Western Australia
Dr Laurence Cheung	$100,000	Deciphering the role of bone marrow fat cells in children with high-risk leukaemia
Dr Hani Al-Salami	$100,000	Repurposing of cholesterol-lowering drug to prevent hearing loss in children with cancer
Dr Roslyn Ward	$100,000	Application of AI in the diagnosis of speech sound disorders in children
EDITH COWAN UNIVERSITY
Dr Christopher Latella	$100,000	Human motor impairment in Long COVID: Brain and motoneuron dysfunction
Dr Oliver Schumacher	$100,000	Exercise as a novel therapeutic approach for sensitising prostate cancer to radiotherapy
Dr Amanuel Gebremedhin	$100,000	Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes, Immediate, and Long-Term Morbidity: A Life Course Approach
Dr Manshu Song	$100,000	Exploring and translating subjective and objective measures of suboptimal cardiometabolic health in a community-orientated setting
MURDOCH UNIVERSITY
Dr Luke Gray Whiley	$100,000	A molecular atlas of the skin - Characterising intrinsic skin metabolic phenotypes to improve outcomes in burn injury
TELETHON KIDS INSTITUTE
Dr Jua Iwasaki	$100,000	A novel vaccine to prevent Group A Streptococcus attachment to the tonsils
Dr Jonatan Leffler	$100,000	Elucidating the contribution of sex hormones to Epstein-Barr Virus responses associated with Multiple Sclerosis: leveraging the transgender immunity study
UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Dr Marcus Korb	$100,000	Ironing Out Antimicrobial Resistance with a new class of Iron (Half-)sandwich-sugar Conjugates
Dr Jamie Beros	$100,000	A brain connectivity approach to treating depression: TMS in adolescent and adult preclinical models
Dr Aron Chakera	$100,000	The AVENGE Study: Accelerating Phage Therapy Development - AI-driven Genotype-phenotype evaluation for targeted pathogen eradication
Dr Erin Lloyd	$100,000	Targeting inflammatory dysfunction to treat dysferlinopathy
Dr Benjamin Zwick	$100,000	Can physics-informed neural networks improve registration accuracy for image-guided neurosurgery?
Dr Yee Man Elaine Wong	$100,000	Novel nano targeted gene therapy for hearing loss
Dr Belinda Guo	$100,000	PlateletSeq: a novel blood test to assess cancer status in myeloproliferative neoplasms
FIONA WOOD FOUNDATION
Dr Lucy Barrett	$100,000	Preventing inflammageing after burn injury: Understanding and ameliorating the life-long impact of burns on whole-body homeostasis and health

Language

WA researchers given a second chance at national success

Hon. Stephen Dawson

Acknowledgement of Country