The Kids researchers will use almost $730,000 in WA Child Research Fund grants to step up the fight against leukaemia and Strep A, as well as helping children with neurodevelopment issues.
The Kids microbiologist Dr Timothy Barnett and lung health researcher Associate Professor Anthony Kicic have been granted $250,000 to study how deadly Strep A attaches itself to the tonsils. It’s hoped the findings will help inform the development of a much-needed Strep A vaccine.
There are more than 615 million cases of ‘Strep throat’ around the world every year, with the condition a major cause of serious Strep A infections. In WA alone, more than 13,000 GP visits for Strep throat occur in children aged zero to 15 years old each year – costing the State more than $2.5 million annually.
Dr Bree Foley and a team including researchers from The Kids, Royal Perth Hospital, Perth Children’s Hospital and the Peter McCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne, have been awarded almost $250,000 to test an advanced cellular therapy strategy. It’s hoped the strategy will improve emerging therapies aimed at eliminating leukaemia in children.
The third WA Child Research Fund grant awarded $230,000 to Starlight Fellow and researcher Dr Amy Finlay-Jones for a pioneering study that will explore how the health system can better identify and help developmentally vulnerable children.
Using data already collected as part of the ORIGINS Project, Dr Finlay-Jones aims to help health professionals shift from a ‘wait and see’ approach when dealing with developmentally vulnerable children, to instead ‘identify and act’ when difficulties are first picked up.
Institute Director, Professor Jonathan Carapetis, congratulated the recipients on successfully securing the competitive research grants.
“This is an excellent result for our researchers and will enable them to continue the incredible work they do to improve the health and well-being of children,” Professor Carapetis said.
The WACRF, formerly known as the Telethon-Perth Children’s Hospital Research Fund, was jointly established by the Department of Health and Channel 7 Telethon Trust to fund research projects that focused on the health of children in WA.
Its key aims include funding research that improves the health of children and adolescents, and enhancing the translation of research findings into more effective health policy and practice, as well as contributing to integrating the research capability in universities, research institutes and health services by encouraging the development of research-policy-practice clusters.
You can read the Health Minister’s full statement here.