2018 Blue Sky Award recepients Dr Thomas Iosifidis and Dr David Martino
Two The Kids researchers will launch innovative new scientific projects thanks to funding from BHP.
Dr David Martino and Dr Thomas Iosifidis have both been awarded $100,000 each through the 2018 BHP Blue Sky Awards, which provide funding for bold and courageous research ideas.
Dr Iosifidis is developing new and cutting-edge ways to heal wounds, while Dr Martino is investigating what impacts the microbiome in infants.
The Kids Director Professor Jonathan Carapetis congratulated this year’s recipients.
“The ideas funded through this program have the potential to create new scientific paradigms, establish entirely new and improved clinical approaches, or develop transformative technologies,” Professor Carapetis said.
Professor Carapetis said the sort of out-of-the-box thinking The Kids is known for would not be possible without the support of BHP and the $20 million-dollar commitment they have made to the Institute over five years.
“Thanks to the generous support of our strategic partner we are able to fund high risk, high reward research that could make a huge difference to kids’ lives,” Professor Carapetis said.
Previous recipients of the scheme have since been awarded $3.85 million in follow on funding, two provisional patent applications have been filed, one ongoing collaboration with an industry partner has been developed and several articles have been published in high impact journals.