Researchers across the Flinders medical precinct are a step closer to the next big breakthrough, sharing in $750,000 of funding through Flinders Foundation’s annual Health Seed Grant Round.

In all, 31 exciting new projects have received funding through the partnership between Flinders Foundation and Flinders University. The seed grants have been awarded to support new research that has the potential to create positive change within our community.

Funding of up to $25,000 has been awarded to each of the projects, which focus on a variety of illnesses, diseases and social issues, ranging from cancer, sleep disorders and neurological conditions, to women’s health, maternal and indigenous health.

The annual health seed grant round, which is funded by donations from generous individuals and money raised by supporters and organisations, gives researchers the time and resources they need to prove their concepts and generate data so they can apply for larger sums from national and international funding bodies.

Flinders Foundation Executive Director Ross Verschoor says Flinders Foundation is proud to support the talented researchers working across Flinders University and the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network.

“Medical discoveries are made through research and the only way to advance clinical practice is through research. We’re grateful to our supporters and the South Australian community for helping to fund the dedicated researchers at Flinders, who work tirelessly to improve the lives of people and their families affected by a wide range of illnesses, diseases and social issues,” says Mr Verschoor.

“Over the years, the seed grant program has led to new discoveries, bold new ways of thinking and improvements in patient care and treatment.

“It has also been rewarding to see many seed grant recipients go on to win grants of a much larger size. Recently, 10 Flinders University-led research project groups were awarded significant grants through the coveted National Health and Medical Research Council (NHRMC) Ideas Grant scheme.

“Of the 10 successful research groups, eight had previously received seed funding from Flinders Foundation. This funding scheme facilitates substantial projects and delivers results that advance research knowledge and make a difference to people’s health and lives, both locally and globally.”

Flinders University Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Robert Saint thanks Flinders Foundation’s supporters for their continued commitment to funding new research.

“Research has perhaps never been in the spotlight more so than this year, and the importance of health and medical research has never been clearer,” says Professor Saint.

“The support of the foundation and its generous donors and supporters is vital in helping our talented researchers to explore and prove new treatments, or get revolutionary research projects off the ground which could be the catalyst for the next, much-needed breakthrough.”

2021 Health Seed Grant Round Research Projects (listed in alphabetical order of researcher’s surname). For more information, visit Flinders Foundation’s project site.

• Claire Baldwin – “ACTIVE-DAY”: helping older adults to move more, sit less and sleep well, from hospital to home.
• Savio George Barreto – Pancreatitis in South Australia and the Northern Territory: Quantifying the Epidemiological and Economic Burden of Disease.
• Christine Barry – The role of sphingolipids in female sexual pain.
• Alline Beleigoli – CR4ALL- Cardiac Rehabilitation for All:  A telehealth cardiac rehabilitation care pathway tailored to the needs and preferences of disadvantaged populations living with cardiovascular diseases in rural and remote Australia.
• Giles Best – TR-57 as a novel therapeutic agent for acute myeloid leukemia, multiple myeloma and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.
• Martin Breed – Breathing in health: Assessing the outdoor environment’s potential for supplying health-beneficial butyrate-producing bacteria to people.
• A. Simon Carney – “Pheno-DISE” improving Drug Induced Sleep Endoscopy using novel acoustic and phenotyping techniques.
• Ching Li Chai-Coetzer – Breaking down barriers for Indigenous Australians with obstructive sleep apnea
• Yee Lian Chew – Seeing what sticks: Identifying disease protein interactors to uncover new therapeutic targets for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis/Motor Neuron Disease.
• Arne Ittner – Tau determines synaptic trafficking in physiologic memory processes and in dementia.
• Tanja Jankovic-Karasoulos – Human placental endocrine responses to folic acid.
• Claire Jessup – Developing effective immunotherapy approaches for ovarian cancer.
• Emma Kemp – Impact of socioeconomic and geographic disadvantage and digital health literacy on digital health engagement in people with cancer: a participatory, qualitative exploration of user needs and experiences.
• Belinda Lunnay – Are women in midlife ‘sober curious’? Leveraging alcohol moderation movements to reduce harmful drinking according to social class.
• David Lynn – Does vaccination with the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccine (COMIRNATY) induce innate immune reprogramming in humans?
• Tamara Mackean – Identifying how First Nation food knowledges are used in the creation and interpretation of nutrition textual information: a mixed-methods study involving Kaurna Knowledge Holders in Adelaide and Arrernte Knowledge Holders in Alice Springs.
• Amy Marshall – Mapping the journey of women with disability experiencing violence through the healthcare system.
• Robyn Meech – Overcoming Androgen Receptor Addiction in Prostate Cancer.
• Amal Mohamed Osman – An investigation of a novel mechanism of obstructive sleep apnoea in people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
• Yoichiro Otsuka – The role of the brain serotonin system in emotionally-elicited physiological responses.
• Janni Petersen – Toward understanding the impact of cell metabolism on DNA repair in cancer.
• Amy Reynolds – The Paramedic Sleep Health Intervention for Transition to Work (Paramedics SHIFT2Work) Study: A protocol feasibility and acceptability study in student paramedics.
• Tim Schultz – Improving the use of business cases in local health services across Australia.
• Jessica Shipman – The needs of girls with early menarche in South Australian primary schools: An exploratory mixed-methods study.
• Andrew Shoubridge – Targeting of host-microbiome interactions to achieve precision dementia risk reduction.
• Jacqueline Stephens – A multifaceted study of the application of machine learning for the diagnosis of childhood otitis media.
• Sarah Thompson – Validation of a simple and practical method to monitor the efficacy of medical vs. surgical therapy for patients with Barrett’s oesophagus.
• Minh-Son To – Improving identification of hospital patients with poor bone health using artificial intelligence.
• Jing Jing Wang – Molecular analysis of pathogenic rheumatoid factor repertoires in patients with primary Sjögren’s syndrome.
• Harriet Whiley – Controlling biofilm to prevent healthcare associated infections.
• Amy Wyatt – Characterising the relationship between pregnancy zone protein and preeclampsia.