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Re-engineering bacteria into microscopic drug factories and examining factors related to cancer in children are just two of The University of Western Australia's projects to attract State Government funding.

UWA researchers won seven of the 10 grants from the Department of Health's New Independent Researcher Infrastructure Support Awards (NIRIS), worth a total of $70,000.

UWA Vice-Chancellor Professor Alan Robson congratulated the award recipients and said the funding would help ensure the University retained its reputation as the State's premier research institution.

"These grants reflect the University's commitment to pursuing research with wide-ranging benefits to the community and in keeping with our commitment to achieving international excellence," he said.

UWA's award-winning researchers are:

• Dr Leon Adams, Senior Lecturer, School of Medicine and Pharmacology, who is researching non-invasive methods to determine liver fibrosis in patients with chronic liver disease.
• Dr Andrew Currie, Senior Research Fellow, School of Paediatrics and Child Health, who is investigating why newborns, especially those born premature, risk developing serious infection.
• Dr Elizabeth Milne, Senior Research Fellow, UWA Centre for Child Health Research/Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, who is conducting broad-scale studies to examine factors that may be related to the risk of childhood cancers.
• Dr Anna Nowak, Senior Lecturer, School of Medicine and Pharmacology, who is investigating malignant mesothelioma and brain tumours.
• Dr Graeme Polglase, Research Associate, School of Women's and Infants' Health, who is researching the link between infection or inflammation in the womb and preterm birth.
• Dr David Preen, Director/Senior Research Fellow, School of Population Health, who is directly involved with public health research, particularly the use of population-based medical record linkage for evaluating WA health care policy, utilisation and outcomes.
• Dr Oliver Rackham, Research Fellow, Laboratory for Cancer Medicine/Western Australian Institute for Medical Research, Centre for Medical Research, who focuses on re-engineering bacteria for use as microscopic drug factories.

Media references

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