Australia Fellowship Attracts Leading International Researcher

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PDF printable version of Australia Fellowship Attracts Leading International Researcher (PDF 27 KB)

19 May 2010

The Rudd Government today announced that leading international researcher Professor Nigel Bunnett has been awarded a National Health and Medical Research Council Australia Fellowship.

Professor Bunnett will be leaving the University of California, San Francisco and his current positions of Professor of Surgery and Physiology, Vice Chair of Surgery, and Director of the UCSF Centre for the Neurobiology of Digestive Diseases, to take up his Fellowship at Sydney University.

The Australia Fellowships are Australia’s most prestigious award for excellence in medical research and recognise outstanding researchers with the vision and dedication to tackle some of the biggest health issues facing society today.

Recipients of the Australia Fellowship each receive $4 million in funding towards their nominated research project and a specially minted commemorative medal.

Professor Bunnett will use his Fellowship for research into inflammation and pain – both essential mechanisms for health and survival.

Together with national and international collaborators, Professor Bunnett’s team will examine the molecular mechanisms by which chronic inflammatory diseases cause long-term alterations in the activity and function of nerves that control inflammation and pain, and regulate the normal process of digestion.

Professor Bunnett will further enhance Australian medical research by training graduates and post-doctoral fellows in his laboratory.

Investing in high quality medical research is an essential part of the Rudd Government’s commitment to improving health care in Australia.

Professor Bunnett joins the nine other recipients of the Australia Fellowship in 2010 whose project details are attached.

Media contact: Samantha Regione, Mr Butler’s Office, 0418 112 688
Simon Tidy, NHMRC, 0422 008 512 or (02) 6217 9190

Previously announced Australia Fellowship recipients:

• Professor Francis Carbone from the University of Melbourne who specialises in the study of immunity at the body surfaces which are the common points of entry for a variety of infectious agents. His Australia Fellowship will be used to propose how best to include this type of peripheral immune protection and how we can exploit these mechanisms for the purpose of infection control.
• Professor Michael Good who will take up a position at Griffith University using his Australia Fellowship to pursue the development of vaccines for two major pathogens – malaria and group A streptococcus (GAS). Both research programs are entering exciting phases as they move into Phase 1 clinical trials. At the same time, the fellowship will enable him to explore the development of the next generation vaccine candidates for these diseases.
• Professor Christopher Goodnow from the Australian National University (ANU) who is one of Australia’s leading immunologists. The Australia Fellowship will allow his team at the ANU, together with a national network of collaborators, to start a new initiative aimed at identifying the root cause if auto-immune disease – as well as allergy, inadequate immunity to infection, and lymphoid malignancy – by applying new technologies of massively parallel DNA, sequencing and flow cytometry.
• Professor Martyn Goulding from the University of Queensland who will use his Australia Fellowship to recruit and establish an internationally recognised team of researchers to work with him on studying how nerve cells in the spinal cord function and contribute to the sensorimotor networks that control movement, posture, balance and protective reflexes. These studies will provide new knowledge that can then be used for spinal cord repair following injury and to devise new therapeutic approaches for the management of chronic pain.
• Professor Shaun Jackson from Monash University who aims to identify an entirely new approach to the treatment of heart attacks and stroke; namely the development of innovative blood clotting therapies that prevent the disease-causing effects of disturbed blood flow. This research program brings together a number of world class researchers at Monash University, the Walter Eliza Hall Institute and RMIT University in Melbourne, with scientists at The Scripps Research Institute in San Diego to tackle this important medical problem.
• Associate Professor Paul Keall from the University of Sydney will develop imaging methods, algorithms and technology to substantially improve the accuracy and effectiveness of radiation therapy for cancer. The first part of the work will facilitate targeting radiation to moving tumours in real time to reduce normal tissue damage. The second part will enable doctors to focus additional radiation on the most resistant and aggressive parts of the cancer to improve tumour control and reduce its spread.
• Professor Charles Mackay from Monash University who is keenly interested in an intriguing link betweeb diet, gut bacteria and immune responses. His Australia Fellowship will be used to gain new knowledge on immune responses, by exploring new ideas on inflammation and the role of diet and gastro-intestinal microflora.
• Professor John Mattick from the University of Queensland who will lead a team of researchers to explore the scientific and applied dimensions of his thesis that the majority of the human genome encodes a hidden regulatory system that uses RNA to direct human development. If correct, the results of the project will transform our understanding of human biology, development, and brain functions, and create an enlightened framework for future research into human health and disease.
• Professor Mark Smyth from the University of Melbourne who sees immunology emerging as a fundamental discipline of oncology. Professor Smyth’s major goal with his Australia Fellowship is to understand why some tumours may be controlled by the immune response while others are apparently not.