UNSW awarded more than $27m for ideas and development research grants

Professor Sylvia Gustin from UNSW Science and Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA) and Associate Professor Matthew Brodie from UNSW Engineering were awarded $2,154,000 to create a new treatment using VR and spinal cord stimulation to help people with complete paraplegia feel touch again.

Prof. Gustin’s earlier research showed that some people with complete spinal cord injuries could still send touch signals to the brain, which was previously thought impossible. This finding opened new possibilities for treatment.

Her team is developing a system called VRWalk+, which combines VR walking exercises with electrical stimulation of the feet and spinal cord. This approach aims to retrain the brain to sense touch.

“We are designing the VRWalk+ system as a home-based intervention, ensuring that every Australian living with spinal cord injury can access the benefits of this innovative technology from the comfort of their own home,” Prof. Gustin said.

Dr Daniel Fernandez-Ruiz from UNSW Medicine & Health has received $1,838,000 for a project focused on understanding how T cells, which play a key role in fighting diseases, decide how to act and form memories in different parts of the body. 

Prof. Fernandez-Ruiz’s team believe this process is controlled by long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), a type of RNA that helps regulate many important biological processes. Their aim is to discover how lncRNAs influence the development and function of T cells.

“Our work will provide a new framework to understand immune regulation, leading to improved T cell therapies and vaccines,” Dr Fernandez-Ruiz said.

Dr Thanh Nho Do from UNSW Engineering has received $1,098,000 for a project that aims to develop an innovative soft micro-endoscopic robot for cancer detection and treatment. 

The technology is designed to navigate hard-to-reach tubular structures within the body, such as those in the breast, lungs, pancreas and gastrointestinal tract, where many cancers originate. By enabling precise cancer detection and on-site tumour removal, the project targets early-stage cancers that often lack symptoms but are more treatable. 

“By enabling earlier diagnosis and timely treatment, this grant provides the opportunity to develop an innovative soft robotic system with the potential to become an integral part of global cancer screening and treatment programs,” Dr Do said.

The other UNSW recipients are:

Dr Chantelle Ahlenstiel from the Kirby Institute and UNSW Medicine & Health received $875,000 for her project Self-amplifying mRNA Antiviral RNA Therapeutics (SMART) for an HIV cure.

Dr Gavin Chapman from Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute and UNSW Medicine & Health received $1,548,000 for his project Protein methylation and R-loop resolution – a new mechanism disrupting heart development.

Dr Charles Cox from Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute and UNSW Medicine & Health received $1,510,600 for his project Fibroblast PIEZO1/2 channels as biomechanical drivers of cardiac remodelling.

Associate Professor James Van Gelder from UNSW Medicine & Health received $945,000 for his project Injectable bioscaffold for structural spinal repair.

Associate Professor Sophia Gu from UNSW Engineering received $760,000 for her project Drug-free biomimetic nanomedicine for targeted treatment of metastatic triple negative breast cancer.

Professor Jeffrey Holst from UNSW Medicine & Health received $1,421,000 for his project Personalising neoadjuvant therapy for early-stage, high-risk triple-negative breast cancer.

Dr David Jacques from UNSW Medicine & Health received $1,310,000 for his project Understanding the functions, interactions, and therapeutic potential of the Human T-cell Leukaemia Virus capsid.

Professor Levon Khachigian from UNSW Medicine & Health received $1,087,500 for his project Novel self-nano-emulsifying drug delivery system for post-reperfusion cardioprotection.

Dr Renjing Liu from Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute and UNSW Medicine & Health received $1,297,500 for her project Modulating Piezo1 channels in vascular smooth muscle cells to treat aortic aneurysms.

Dr Marcia Munoz from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and UNSW Medicine & Health received $1,035,700 for her project A cure for inflammatory bowel disease in mevalonate kinase deficiency.

Dr Kendelle Murphy from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and UNSW Medicine & Health received $599,600 for her project Targeting pancreatic cancer via anti-fibrotic FAK treatment and FOLFIRINOX chemotherapy using dual biosensor imaging.

Dr Padmanesan Narasimhan from UNSW Medicine & Health received $981,700 for his project User-centred design and testing of a conversational Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbot to address language barriers in Emergency Department Triage – The TRIBOT study.

Dr Drew Neavin from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and UNSW Medicine & Health received $645,000 for her project Building the world’s largest bipolar Stem Cell resource to elucidate disease risk and therapy response.

Dr Brooke Pereira from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and UNSW Medicine & Health received $599,600 for her project Integrated intravital imaging guided therapeutic targeting of pancreatic cancer fibrosis to enhance gemcitabine/Abraxane chemotherapy response.

Dr Andre Martins Reis from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and UNSW Medicine & Health received $807,000 for his project Advanced computational methods to enhance long-read sequencing in genomic medicine.

Professor Nigel Turner from Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute and UNSW Medicine & Health received $793,900 for his project Novel agents targeting sphingolipid metabolism as treatments for diabetes and obesity.

Associate Professor Fatemeh Vafaee from UNSW Science received $1,325,500 for her project Game-changer in early breast cancer detection: AI-powered multi-analyte blood test.

Associate Professor Antoine de Weck from Children’s Cancer Institute and UNSW Medicine & Health received $1,313,600 for his project The druggable Transcriptome: small molecules inducing reading frame shifts.

Dr Heidi Welberry from UNSW Medicine & Health received $761,700 for her project CausAID: using Causal Artificial Intelligence and population-wide data to understand the role of infectious diseases in the aetiology of dementia.

Dr Joanna Yau from UNSW Science received $1,131,000 from her project Learned safety: novel brain mechanisms of fear inhibition.

New therapies to fight melanoma 

Professor Levon Khachigian from UNSW Medicine & Health received $1.1 million for a project which will investigate new treatment options for melanoma patients. 

Australia has the highest melanoma rate in the world and its incidence is increasing. Immunotherapy and targeted therapy are currently used to treat advanced melanoma, however around one in two patients don’t respond to the treatment, which can have toxic side effects. 

The immunotherapies also require in-clinic administration which is costly to patients and health systems.

Prof. Khachigian said his proposal will address the urgent need for a safe and effective oral drug for advanced melanoma.

“This grant enables my team to develop orally bioavailable, novel small molecules that ultimately may provide new treatment options for melanoma patients, particularly those who are resistant to current therapies,” he said. 

“These small molecule alternatives may provide transformative new tools to complement or potentially replace current therapies to reduce morbidity and mortality from this most dangerous and aggressive type of skin cancer.”

Prof. Khachigian’s commercial partner is Australian biotechnology company, Filamon Ltd.

Advancing a growing class of therapeutics

Director of the Garvan Institute Centre for Targeted Therapy and UNSW Medicine & Health Professor Daniel Christ received $987,585 for a project which will help advance the development of monoclonal antibodies.

Monoclonal antibodies are a type of immunotherapy which can be used to treat many diseases, including cancer and inflammation. They are among the most rapidly growing drug classes entering into clinical trials, with more than $100 billion sales in 2023. 

“The aim of this project is to further develop monoclonal antibodies which can be used in humans, using computational analysis, laboratory evolution and structural studies,” Prof. Christ said. “These are critical steps and a necessary prelude to any clinical trials in patients.”

Prof. Christ has had more than 25 years of experience in the molecular engineering of monoclonal antibodies for human therapeutic purposes. He said their development has transformed diagnosis, treatment and research applications. 

 “One key advantage of using monoclonal antibodies is they can be aimed at a wide range of disease targets,” he said. “They also have the potential to bind with very high-binding strength or affinity, which can enhance potency while simultaneously reducing side effects.”