News Archive

More than half the outstanding new researchers awarded funding to carry out important medical and health research in WA are from The University of Western Australia.

Assistant Professor Anita Chua, Assistant Professor Wendy Davis, Dr Brad Zhang, Dr Shelley Gorman and Dr Graeme Zosky were among nine recipients of the 2010 New Independent Researcher Infrastructure Support (NIRIS) Awards, announced by Western Australia's Chief Medical Officer Simon Towler.

They have been awarded $10,000 each for projects ranging from the effects of red meat on bowel cancer and the effect of sunlight-induced vitamin D on immune responses to the origins of chronic lung disease and the cost and impact of type 2 diabetes.  The awards give the new researchers the funds needed to obtain the resources and infrastructure required to further develop their research careers.

A/Professor Chua, from UWA's School of Medicine and Pharmacology, Fremantle Hospital Unit, is examining whether a high dietary intake of red meat and iron-containing foods are risk factors for colorectal (bowel) cancer.  She also aims to identify how factors such as alcohol, free radicals and inflammation change the amount of iron taken up by the liver and how they affect the degree of iron overload in haemochromatosis, a common genetic disorder of iron metabolism.

A/Professor Davis, also from UWA's School of Medicine and Pharmacology, Fremantle Hospital Unit, is involved in the Fremantle and Busselton Diabetes Studies.  Her research will analyse and compare the cost and personal impact of diabetes among participants.

Dr Zhang, who works in the UWA School of Paediatrics and Child Health and the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, will investigate the role of genetic and environmental interaction in allergic diseases and his findings may be significant in asthma prevention and treatment.

Dr Gorman, adjunct lecturer at the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, is investigating the effects of vitamin D deficiency on allergic skin and lung disease.  Her research aims to ascertain whether vitamin D supplements (through diet or exposure to sunlight) can prevent and treat allergy.

Dr Zosky, also an adjunct lecturer at the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, is examining the effects of exposure to drinking water contaminated by arsenic and whether it increases the risk of chronic lung disease in later life.  His research aims to guide public health policy relating to safe levels of environmental contaminants in drinking water.

The WA Department of Health funds the awards, recognising the need to sustain and enhance innovative medical and health research in WA.  More than 70 WA-based researchers have received NIRIS funding since the award's inception in 2001.

Media references

Janine MacDonald (UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 8)  6488 5563  /  (+61 4) 32 637 716