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UQ Researchers Awarded $29M in NHMRC Grants – News

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UQ Researchers Awarded $29M in NHMRC Grants – News

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UQ Researchers Receive $37.8 Million in NHMRC Funding

The University of queensland (UQ) has secured $37.8 million in the latest round of National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) funding, supporting vital health and medical research projects.

Professor Nagesh Bhat – understand how a new drug-resistant E. coli strain causes urinary tract infections and sepsis, to help fight the growing global threat of antibiotic resistance.

Professor H. Peter Soyer – use 3D body photography, AI and genomics to pinpoint high-risk skin areas, helping doctors detect melanoma earlier and save lives.

Professor Matt Sweet – study how immune cells turn off harmful inflammation and explore ways to use this process to create new anti-inflammatory treatments.

Professor Stewart Trost – develop a classification system capturing data on children’s screen use to determine the benefits and harms to their health.

Associate Professor Susannah Tye – develop a new deep brain stimulation system that adjusts in real time to the brain’s needs, reducing side effects and improving treatment for conditions like Parkinson’s disease.

Professor Brandon Wainwright – develop an mRNA vaccine to improve outcomes for children with brain cancer.

Professor Daniel Watterson – uncover how yellow fever vaccine mutations affect virus behavior and use these insights to design next-generation vaccines and antibody therapies for flaviviruses like dengue.

Associate Professor Timothy Wells – learn more about a ‘superbug’ bacteria that is outsmarting antibiotics to improve outcomes against drug-resistant infections.

Professor Nick West – investigate how tuberculosis bacteria use special systems to survive, and whether disrupting these systems can make them easier to treat or prevent infection altogether.

Dr Sarah Withey – grow tiny livers and brains to enable testing of treatments to tackle Ataxia Telangiectasia, a devastating childhood disease, that restore a crucial protein to ease symptoms and give affected children a better quality of life.

Associate Professor Steven Zuryn – two separate projects will investigate how mitochondrial DNA mutations spread within cells and how certain environmental bacteria can reduce mutations, uncovering new strategies to prevent and treat mitochondria-related diseases.

NHMRC Postgraduate Scholarships recipients:

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About the author: Dr Natalie Singh - Health Editor

Board‑certified internal‑medicine physician and MPH. Natalie authored peer‑reviewed studies on infectious disease and served as medical editor. “Dr. Natalie Singh delivers evidence‑based health news, medical breakthroughs, and expert wellness guidance.”