Congratulations to NHMRC Fellowship & Development Grant CCS recipients!

Congratulations to all recipients of National Health & Medical Research Council Fellowship funding starting from 2017. Central Clinical School Fellowship (x4) and Development Grant (x1) recipients are:

Dr Stuart Marshall - Health Professional Research Fellowship (part-time). Stuart is in the Department of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine. Almost every member of clinical staff in hospitals now carries a smartphone or tablet. These devices can improve staff performance when life-saving information such as reminders of complex procedures during medical emergencies are delivered in a clear way. This fellowship applies design processes used in other high-risk industries such as in military and nuclear power settings to devise ‘e-aids’ for clinicians to improve outcomes in health emergencies. Stuart can be followed at @hypoxicchicken.
 

Associate Professor Menno van Zelm - Senior Research Fellowship level A. Menno is in the Department of Immunology and Pathology.  Despite knowing a lot about immunity in mice, functional analysis of the human immune system has been a major challenge. Menno will study defects of immune cells in humans with gene mutations that cause an antibody deficiency. With new insights from these unique clinical samples, he will functionally dissect human immune responses, directly translate these to chronic inflammatory disease, and provide implications for future vaccine development and cancer treatment. See more about Menno's research on his lab web page.

Ervin Kara (supervisor David Tarlinton) - NHMRC CJ Martin Biomedical Fellowship (Overseas) - Early Career Fellowship (ECF). B cells produce antibody which is critical to fight infection. In order to perform this function, antibody genes must first be modified by immune enzymes. However, abnormal DNA attack by these enzymes outside of antibody genes can result in B cell cancer. How the immune system detects and destroys cancerous B cells is poorly understood. This research will provide insight into these processes, and in doing so will further our understanding of how B cell cancers develop and how they are destroyed.

Professor Anton Peleg, Head of the Department of Infectious Diseases, has won a Practitioner Fellowship. Antibiotic resistance and infections caused by superbugs are major public health concerns. Anton's fellowship aims to develop new strategies to prevent and treat infections caused by resistant superbugs. He will use innovative approaches both in the laboratory and in the hospital setting, and foster research across multiple groups, to solve “real-life” clinical problems. The proposed work will improve the outcomes for the most vulnerable hospitalised patients.

Professor Jennifer Wilkinson-Berka (lead CI) together with Gary Anderson, UoM and Lyndell Lim, Centre for Eye Research Australia - Development Grant. Diabetes is a leading cause of vision loss and blindness worldwide and is caused by two factors called VEGF and Ang2, which damage blood vessels. Current treatments only block VEGF and many patients do not respond and suffer irreversible damage to sight. We have used ground-breaking anticalin technology to make a new drug (PRS-AUS1) that blocks both VEGF and Ang2. Studies will be performed in animal models and move to patients where we expect improved outcomes compared to current treatments.