Australian Rotary Foundation Presentation
Congratulations to Dr Nickolai Titov & Professor Gavin Andrews, and Professor Valsamma Eapen, who were presented with plaques by Mr Phil Lacey, Director of the Australian Rotary Foundation, in a small ceremony on 22 April. See short news item and photo under Faculty News & Events.
NHMRC Program Grants - Call for Applications
The NHMRC will open a call for applications under its Program Grants Scheme on 4 April 2009. This call will be for grants commencing in 2011.
Applications close 5.00pm AEST 1 July 2009 . Further information is available from the NHMRC website
Applications are open to new teams, or current Program Grant holders in their 4 th or 5 th year in 2009.
Any enquiries about this call for applications should be directed to: program.grants.preaward@nhmrc.gov.au
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Accepting Grant Proposals
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is now accepting grant proposals for Round 3 of Grand Challenges Explorations, a US$100 million initiative to encourage unconventional global health solutions. Anyone can apply, regardless of education or experience level.
Grant proposals are being accepted online at www.grandchallenges.org/explorations until May 28, 2009, on the following topics:
New! - Create Low-Cost Diagnostics for Priority Global Health Conditions
New! - Create New Ways to Induce Mucosal Immunity
- Create New Vaccines for Diarrhea, HIV, Malaria, Pneumonia and Tuberculosis
- Create New Tools to Accelerate the Eradication of Malaria
Initial grants will be $100,000 each, and projects showing promise will have the opportunity to receive additional funding of $1 million or more. Full descriptions of the new topics and application instructions are available at http://www.grandchallenges.org/explorations.
Health Data Linkage Committee
To-date, the UNSW Health Data Linkage Committee has awarded more than $105,000 in linkage credits to UNSW researchers utilizing the Centre for Health Record Linkage (CHeReL). The current CHeReL linkage credits scheme is coming to an end, and the last round of funding applications under this scheme closes on 18 June 2009. This will be the final opportunity for UNSW staff wishing to conduct research involving the linkage of datasets that are not currently included on the Master Linkage Key, to obtain a discount on the cost of their linkage. For full details, please go to http://www.med.unsw.edu.au/medweb.nsf/page/HDLC
Note, the CHeReL member organisations have been involved in negotiations with CHeReL regarding the new funding arrangements and charge rates; these will be announced shortly.
Biological Resources Update
Animal Research and Review Panel Inspection - Wallace Wurth and St George facilities were recently inspected. Careful attention was paid to compliance with the Code of Practice and ARRP policies and guidelines. A report the UNSW ACEC is expected towards the end of July.
Renovations/Refurbishment Wallace Wurth
Lower Ground – Some minor works still outstanding but subject to the two week lead time for orders, is operational.
BABS (formerly) animal house is now expected to be ready for occupation prior to the end of May.
PC1 on Level 5 is currently at full capacity so space cannot be guaranteed at this time. This should be resolved once the BABS facility is operational. Space availability will be checked on receipt of orders.
For further information contact our Office: 9385 8456 Fax: 9385 8457 or email
News from NewSouth Innovations Pty Ltd (NSi)
NSi Inventor of the Year awards
NSi Life Science Team Congratulates Inventor of the Year – Biomedicine Professor Phil Hogg and Biomedicine Finalist Professor Levon Khachigian.
The inaugural NSi Inventor of the Year award, held 23 April, rewards innovative technologies of UNSW researchers and students that benefit the community and the environment. One hundred and twenty leaders from business, media and research organisations attended the awards gala evening held at UNSW’s John Niland Scientia Building and emceed by James O’Loghlin, host of ABC TV’s The New Inventors.
Eleven UNSW inventors were short-listed as finalists across four inventor award categories – biomedicine, science and engineering, the environment, and information and communication technology. The winners of each award category were nominees for the overall Inventor of the Year award.
NSi congratulates Biomedicine category finalists Professor Phil Hogg Director of the UNSW Cancer Research Centre and Professor Levon Khachigian Director of UNSW Centre for Vascular Research for their achievements.
Professor Philip Hogg won the Biomedicine Inventor Award for his discovery of GSAO, which is an anti-cancer drug that stops cancer cells from proliferating by preventing the growth of new blood vessels. The drug is in clinical trials with Cancer Research UK. Professor Hogg is also working with Covidien Limited to develop GSAO as an imaging agent, where GSAO will be used to identify apoptotic cells and measure the effectiveness of conventional chemotherapy.
See all winners and the full story at on the NSi website.
Launch of the 2009 AusBiotech-GSK Student Excellence Awards
The NSW AusBiotech Student Association (ABSA NSW) will hold the annual 'Research To Revenue' event proudly partnered by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). This event aims to encourage biotechnology students to think strategically about the commercial aspects of their projects. The event features speakers with a unique insight into the commercialisation process in biotech.
This event will attract undergraduate and postgraduate students with an interest in turning their research into commercial outcomes, and for students who would like to know how to recognise and exploit intellectual property arising from their research.
The evening also launches the 2009 AusBiotech-GSK Student Excellence Awards, and Mr Leo McHugh, the 2008 NSW winner of the award, will talk about his experience and winning a trip to the AusBiotech National Conference.
For more details see this flyer or visit the AusBiotech website.
NSi Biomedicine Commercialisation Seminars
The NSi Life Sciences Team is preparing a series of informative short, 1-hour seminars on commercialisation of medical technologies. The first to be held in early July will be an in-depth workshop on biomarkers and their potential use in diagnostics and drug discovery and development.
If you have a specific area of interest you would like NSi to workshop send your ideas to Laura Issa
For those who missed the FOM Commercialisation Workshop, hosted by NSi on 23 April 2009, the Invited Speakers have made their presentations available for circulation at the following link:
See links to presentations at end of the event page here
- Dr Susan Pond AM “Pharmageddon”
- Dr Stephen Cocks Senior Product Development Manager, Invetech “Medical Devices Software: a developer’s perspective”
- Mark Van Asten, CEO, Diagnostic Technology “Bringing novel diagnostics to market”
Continue to direct any enquires to Laura Issa at: or 9385 5592
New Director, Research Strategy Office
Dr Laurent Rivory has been appointed as the Director, Research Strategy Office. Most recently, Laurent was Senior Research Director at Johnson & Johnson Research Pty Ltd where he oversaw key research programmes in virology, immunology, cancer, RNA therapeutics and diagnostics.
Australasian Research Management Society Annual Conference 2009
The Australasian Research Management Society Annual Conference 2009 will be held in the Christchurch Convention Centre, Christchurch, New Zealand, 15-18 September 2009.
Please see http://www.ARMS2009.org for information and registration.
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