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New South Wales to receive more than $35 million in research funding

A total of 102 health and medical research projects in New South Wales, including efforts to develop a tuberculosis vaccine; new ways to target toxic drugs into cancer cells; and treating multiple sclerosis by transplanting stem cells, will receive more than $35 million in research funding next year.

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30 October 2002

New South Wales to receive more than $35 million in research funding

A total of 102 health and medical research projects in New South Wales, including efforts to develop a tuberculosis vaccine; new ways to target toxic drugs into cancer cells; and treating multiple sclerosis by transplanting stem cells, will receive more than $35 million in research funding next year.

Announcing the funding today, Federal Minister for Health and Ageing, Senator Kay Patterson, congratulated the successful applicants saying the National Health and Medical Research Council's annual project funding round was highly competitive.

"In total, 406 important health and medical research projects across Australia will receive more than $150 million in funding from the NHMRC next year," she said.

"Funding applications to the NHMRC are extensively peer reviewed and successful applicants can be justly proud of their achievement. This year's projects reflect the increasing effort being directed into providing money for research into a wide variety of health issues affecting Australians."

Ten New South Wales institutions have received just on 24 per cent of the available funds, recognition of the high quality of proposals submitted by researchers from that state.

"The projects are numerous and wide ranging. For example, the Centenary Institute of Cancer Medicine and Cell Biology at the University of Sydney hopes to develop and test novel vaccines to prevent tuberculosis. This would be a major medical breakthrough because tuberculosis is a worldwide health problem killing two million people every year," Senator Patterson said.

"Another project at the University of Sydney will try to determine whether using long-term antibiotic treatment for children with urinary tract infections is safe and effective in preventing further infection, while researchers at the University of New South Wales will investigate a new way to target toxic drugs into cancer cells and look at transplanting stem cells to treat multiple sclerosis."

The funding for health and medical research in Australia was doubled by the Commonwealth in the 1999-2000 Federal Budget, as a result of the Wills Review.

Details of the 406 Project Funding Agreements are at: www.nhmrc.gov.au/funding/outcom02.htm

Media Contact: Randal Markey, Media Adviser, (02) 6277 7220
Jeanne Klener, Media Unit, NHMRC, (02) 6289 5796