In a partnership between Flinders Foundation and Flinders University, the 2022 Flinders Foundation Health Seed Grant Round will provide 31 outstanding research projects with up to $25,000 each to launch new research and advance knowledge in a bid to improve health outcomes and create positive change within our community.

Ranging from cancer, sleep disorders and arthritis, through to COVID–19, dementia, maternal and indigenous health, this annual health seed grant round is funded by donations from generous individuals and funds raised by supporters and organisations.

Flinders Foundation Executive Director, Ross Verschoor, said the grants provide researchers with the time and resources they need to prove their concepts and generate data, playing a vital role in helping them to apply for larger grants from national and international funding bodies.

“Over the years, the seed grant program has led to new discoveries,” Ross said.

“It has been rewarding to see many seed grant recipients go on to win grants of a much larger scale, including significant grants through the coveted National Health and Medical Research Council (NHRMC) Ideas Grant scheme.

“We’re grateful to our supporters and the South Australian community for helping to fund the dedicated researchers at Flinders University and the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network who work tirelessly to improve the lives of people and their families affected by a wide range of illnesses, diseases and social issues.

“It’s inspiring to look through this latest round of successful research projects and see the next wave of bold ideas to improve lives, and to wonder just what may be possible for the future.”

Research projects include:

• Novel drug target to kill pancreatic cancer cells
• Investigating the immune system following SARS–CoV–2 infection in individuals suffering from Long COVID
• Understanding young Australians' tolerance of nicotine vaping health risks to reduce vaping uptake and ongoing use
• Reboxetine for obstructive sleep apnoea after upper airway surgery
• Using bugs in the bowel to detect advanced neoplasia
• Enhancing medicines communication for Aboriginal people in Central Australia

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

“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,” Professor Saint said.

View the full list of these exciting projects below:

2022 Flinders Foundation Health Seed Grant Round Recipients

Dr Amy Wyatt – Characterising the activity of pregnancy zone protein, a novel mediator of chymase activity

Dr Anna Hudson – Respiratory muscle mechanics and muscle activity: validating novel methods to assess inefficient breathing in vulnerable populations

Associate Professor Billingsley Kaambwa – Co–designing quality of life measurement in sleep health: Including the missing patient perspective

Dr Dan Fassnacht – Clarifying the measurement of mental health: The development and testing of a comprehensive and novel mental health measure 

Dr David Hobbs – Investigating the effects of a novel music and mirror virtual reality polytherapy on upper limb motor function and visuospatial neglect in chronic stroke

Professor David Lynn – Long–term perturbation of the peripheral immune system following SARS–CoV–2 infection in individuals suffering from Long COVID.

Associate Professor Eng Ooi – Reboxetine for obstructive sleep apnoea after upper airway surgery: a randomised, double–blind, placebo–controlled pilot study

Associate Professor Erin Symonds – Using bugs in the bowel to detect advanced neoplasia

Professor Jacqueline Bowden – Examining adolescent drinking trends within Australia according to alcohol and health harm mass media campaign activity

Professor Janni Petersen – EFR3: Novel drug target to kill pancreatic cancer cells

Dr Jean Winter – A new blood biomarker test to detect and monitor pancreatic cancer in response to therapy

Dr Jing Jing Wang – Unravelling the molecular code of a dangerous autoantibody in vaccine–induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia: correlating molecular barcodes with functional deactivation

Dr Joshua Trigg – Throwing caution to the wind: Understanding young Australians' tolerance of nicotine vaping health risks to reduce vaping uptake and ongoing use

Dr Karissa Barthelson – Impaired energy metabolism: a common disease mechanism in both adult– and childhood onset dementia?

Dr Katie Lowe – Characterisation of rheumatoid arthritis patients with synovial tissue dominated by lymphoid or myeloid cell infiltration

Professor Kim Hemsley – Does co–treatment with pharmacological chaperones enhance the efficacy of enzyme replacement therapy in Sanfilippo syndrome?

Dr Lauren Thurgood – Developing novel medical imaging tools for non–glycolytic tumours

Dr Lauren Lines – How are we educating our future workforce in child protection? Exploring interprofessional education for nurses, midwives and social workers

Dr Madhan Balasubramanian – Innovative care models for prevention of dental, vision, and hearing conditions among culturally and linguistically diverse older adults availing home care services in Australia: investigating the disease burden

Dr Mallika Prem Senthil – Role of optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) as a biomarker in peripheral arterial disease

Professor Melissa Brown – Reversing bacterial multidrug resistance

Dr Nicholas Eyre – Identification of host factor interactions that are required for the ability of dengue virus NS1 protein to induce vascular damage

Associate Professor Robyn Meech – Too much of a good thing: inducing synthetic lethality in cancer cells via androgens and lipids

Dr Sara Tommasi – Dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase 2 (DDAH2): a novel approach to targeting neovascularisation in breast cancer.

Professor Simon Brookes – Intrinsic and extrinsic innervation of human stomach – comparison between regions

Dr Stewart Lake – The Prediction of Retinal Detachment from retinal Irregularity in optical Coherence Tomography (PReDICT) study

Mr Tobias Speare – Talking about Medicines: Enhancing medicines communication for Aboriginal people in Central Australia.

Dr Vi Khanh Truong – Prolonged Antimicrobial Gallium Liquid Droplet Coating Technology to Prevent Infections Associated with Urinary Catheters

Associate Professor Vladimir Zagorodnyuk – Peripherally restricted cannabinoids as potential novel treatment of pain in cystitis

Associate Professor Yoichiro Otsuka – The significance of the brain's dopamine system in physiological responses induced by emotion

Dr Zivile Useckaite – Tracking liver–specific protein and gene fingerprint in blood in real time by using extracellular vesicles as liquid biopsies