State Government boost for Telethon Kids research

Telethon Kids Institute researchers have been awarded five of eight State Government awards designed to help cover the hidden costs of conducting research.

The New Independent Research Infrastructure Support (NIRIS) awards, worth $10,000 each in 2017, are granted by the WA Department of Health each year to recognise and support outstanding new health and medical researchers by helping to meet the infrastructure costs of their work.

Telethon Kids Institute Director Professor Jonathan Carapetis congratulated the researchers on their success and said the funding would support a range of important research projects.

“Research funding typically only covers about 70 per cent of the cost of doing research,” Professor Carapetis said.

“This can leave researchers and their institutions struggling to cover extra costs such as laboratory equipment, computers, support staff and common services.

“The NIRIS awards act as a valuable safety net that allows our researchers to get on with what they do best – working to improve the health and wellbeing of the community.”

The Telethon Kids Institute recipients for NIRIS 2017 are:

• Associate Professor Christopher Blyth, of the Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines & Infectious Diseases, who is leading numerous clinical research projects focusing on influenza, pneumococcus, vaccine-preventable respiratory disease, and vaccine safety. He is also developing and supporting a paediatric infectious diseases service undertaking clinical research expected to have a significant impact on the health of Australian children.
  
  
• Dr Asha Bowen, of the Group A Streptococcal and Rheumatic Heart Disease team, who is focused on reducing the burden of infectious diseases – particularly skin infections – in Aboriginal children living in remote communities. She is currently leading the SToP trial (See, Treat, Prevent skin sores and scabies), which aims to achieve a 50 per cent reduction in skin infections in Kimberley Aboriginal children.
  
  
• Dr Carrington Shepherd, of the Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing team, whose research program is focused on the social determinants of Aboriginal child health, wellbeing and mortality. His current projects examine topics including causal pathways to avoidable and unexplained deaths in the early life course; Indigenous young people’s resilience and wellbeing; and closing the gap in early childhood development.
  
  
• Dr Gina Trapp, of the Health Promotion and Education Research team, who is investigating ways to improve children’s health through good nutrition, physical activity and a healthy body weight. Her current research includes examining the influence of the neighbourhood food environment on eating behaviour, childhood obesity and nutrition; and the role of energy drinks as an emerging public health issue for adolescents.
  
  
• Dr Kimberley Wang, of the Respiratory Environmental Health team, who is researching whether an individual’s risk of developing asthma may be determined while still in the womb. She hopes her study will provide new insights into the cause of asthma and ultimately lead to more effective treatments. Her NIRIS award will help cover the cost of a research assistant, laboratory consumables and computer software.

Read the State Government's media release here.

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