Over $893,835 awarded to Medical Researchers

11 July 2012

Auckland Medical Research Foundation Awards over $893,835 to Medical Researchers

The Auckland Medical Research Foundation (AMRF) announced today $893,835 in funding to medical researchers in the first half of 2012.

Foundation Executive Director, Kim McWilliams says, “From our beginnings, we have promoted research of high scientific value and purpose across the full spectrum of medical science. Many of these researchers already have and will go on to become leaders and internationally recognised in their particular discipline or field of medicine. This round again saw applications rise to record numbers, and we are pleased to see the broad reach of successful grants”.

The grants included eight successful research projects ($824,752); 19 travel grants ($49,354) for researchers to present their research overseas; two Sir Douglas Robb Memorial Fund Awards ($1,000 & $5,000) for publication assistance, and to fund a communication and outreach initiative; and one Sir Harcourt Caughey Fund Award for a visiting academic to address the primary healthcare sector throughout New Zealand. Project grants were awarded over a variety of research areas ranging from breast cancer, vision, kidney stem cells, pre-term brain injury in babies, gout, and the effects of pre-natal methamphetamine exposure in children.

Research project summaries overleaf

The Auckland Medical Research Foundation is a major independent funding agency and charitable trust that provides contestable funding for medical research across the complete spectrum of modern medicine. Over the last 56 years we have distributed over $45 million in funding to a wide range of research activities – over $3 million distributed in 2011.

For further information on the current grants awarded and application forms for future grant rounds see our website at www.medicalresearch.org.nz

PROJECT GRANTS AWARDED JUNE 2012

KIDNEY STEM CELLS ($35,499 – 1 year)
A/Prof Alan Davidson, Dr Teresa Holm
Dept of Molecular Medicine & Pathology, The University of Auckland

New Zealand has an alarmingly high rate of kidney disease and there is an urgent need to find better therapies. Regenerative medicine utilising tissue-specific stem cells offers the potential to treat a wide range of chronic illnesses. In this study we plan to isolate and characterise renal stem cells from the mouse with the ultimate goal of testing their ability to regenerate the kidney.

TARGETING EXTRACELLULAR MATRIX IN PRETERM BRAIN INJURY ($139,105 2 years)
Dr Justin Dean
Dept of Physiology, The University of Auckland

Improved hospital care has increased the survival rates of babies born very premature. However, these infants have a high rate of injury to structures in the brain important for movement, which can result in cerebral palsy. Infection of the mother or baby is an important cause of preterm delivery and preterm brain injury. However, at present we do not understand how infection works to cause injury, and treatments such as antibiotics do not improve outcomes. We have recently identified a new enzyme in the brain, PH20, which is important in controlling brain inflammation induced by infection. Further, we propose that this enzyme plays a key role in preterm brain injury, and that it may be useful as a therapeutic target. This study will examine the role of PH20 in regulating brain injury following infection, and determine whether treatments that block its activity may ultimately reduce injury.

PEPTIDE TECHNOLOGY TO COMBAT BREAST CANCER ($67,686 – 18 months)
A/Prof Geoffrey Krissansen, Glenn Bell,(PhD Student) Yi Yang (Technician)
Dept of Molecular Medicine & Pathology, The University of Auckland

Novel protein technologies developed in-house will be employed to combat breast cancer, which is the most common cause of cancer-related death in women. Each year in New Zealand more than 2,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer. Breast cancer growth is driven by the female sex hormone estrogen, and is blocked by anti-hormone drugs like tamoxifen. Unfortunately, some cancers don’t respond to tamoxifen and others become resistant to its effects. The novel protein technology we have developed has the potential to overcome these problems, and will be tested for its ability to combat breast cancer.

EXECUTIVE FUNCTION IN METHAMPHETAMINE EXPOSED CHILDREN ($79,083 – 2 years)
Dr Trecia Wouldes, A/Prof Linda LaGasse, Prof Barry Lester
Dept of Psychological Medicine, The University of Auckland

P and Crystal Meth are street names associated with potent forms of methamphetamine that have become increasingly problematic in New Zealand and worldwide. Notable is the number of women using this drug during pregnancy. Yet, scant evidence is available regarding the effect it has on child development and school readiness at 4.5 years of age. This study will investigate whether prenatal exposure to methamphetamine is associated with deficits in higher order thought processes that may interfere with behavior and learning. We will follow up children currently enrolled in our longitudinal study of 107 children born to mothers who used methamphetamine during pregnancy and 115 children born to mothers who did not to determine whether children exposed to methamphetamine have poorer developmental outcomes than non-exposed children. Early evidence has found behavioural effects of methamphetamine exposure during infancy. In addition, our early results show that mothers who used methamphetamine during pregnancy were at higher risk of mental health problems, ongoing substance abuse problems and lower financial resources. This research will help us to determine whether the early effects of methamphetamine persist and what additional contribution a poor home environment may have for any observed learning or behavioural problems.

CYSTEINE DELIVERY TO THE LENS ($126,521 – 2 years)
Dr Julie Lim, Dr Angus Grey, Prof Paul Donaldson
Dept of Optometry & Vision Science, The University of Auckland

Age related nuclear (ARN) cataract is the leading cause of blindness in the world. Despite effective procedures to restore sight, the number of people afflicted by cataracts is estimated to reach 30 million as the world’s population ages. Faced with a looming cataract epidemic, research efforts have focused on developing novel anti-cataract therapies to prevent or delay the onset of cataract. Since ARN cataract is associated with oxidative damage to cells in the centre or nucleus of the lens, our research efforts have concentrated on enhancing the delivery of antioxidants to this region. While glutathione (GSH) is the principal antioxidant in the lens, our work in rat, human and more recently bovine lenses, suggests that the small amino acid cysteine may also be a key antioxidant in the lens nucleus. Furthermore, our identification of cysteine uptake pathways in the lens nucleus indicates that this region is capable of accumulating this antioxidant. In this research proposal, we will expose bovine lenses to high pressure oxygen to mimic the formation of a nuclear cataract. We will then use this model to trial the delivery of cysteine formulations to see if they are effective in preventing or slowing down the progression of cataracts. This rational design and testing of targeted anti-cataract strategies has the potential to delay the onset of ARN cataract thereby reducing the need for expensive surgical intervention.

TRIPLE NEGATIVE BREAST CANCER ($119,949 – 18 months)
Dr Euphemia Leung, Prof Bruce Baguley
Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre, The University of Auckland

Breast cancer is the major malignancy in women and one of the main treatments, apart from surgery, is to block the action of the hormone estrogen. One form of breast cancer, called “triple negative”, is particularly difficult to treat. We are developing cultures of human breast cancer cells which have this triple negative characteristic and our goals are to use them to understand the mechanisms involved in their resistance to therapy and to develop new strategies for their treatment.

DURATION OF ESBLPE COLONISATION ($139,605 – 2 years)
Dr Dragana Drinkovic, Dr Hasan Bhally, Dr Susan Taylor, Dr David Holland, Dr Arlo Upton, Dr Simon Briggs, Ms Helen Heffernan, Dr Lifeng Zhou
Microbiology Laboratory, North Shore Hospital

Extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (ESBLPE) are common gut bacteria that have become resistant to multiple antibiotics. When a patient is known to carry an ESBLPE during a hospital admission they must be kept in isolation. Infections due to ESBLPE can be difficult to treat, and it is not known whether humans can ever get rid of ESBLPEs. This study will test for ESBLPE in patients known to be carrying an ESBLPE to see if it continues to be detected in faeces over an extended time period (two years), and thus contribute valuable knowledge for the management of ESBLPE-colonised patients.

BIOMECHANICAL MODELLING TO EXPLAIN TOPUS FORMATION AND BONE EROSION IN GOUT ($117,304 – 2 years)
Dr Justin Fernandez, A/Prof Nicola Dalbeth, Dr Kumar Mithraratne
Auckland Bioengineering Institute, The University of Auckland

Gout is the most common inflammatory arthritis, and causes attacks of severe joint pain and also joint damage. The foot is virtually always involved, and is usually the first area to be affected by gout. Gout is strongly associated with obesity and features of wear-and-tear arthritis, suggesting that loading on certain joints may play a role in the presentation of this disease. This study aims to understand why gout affects certain joints. Using a number of emerging technologies including dual energy computed tomography, motion capture, foot pressure plates and highly detailed 3D computational models, we aim to answer the question, ‘is biomechanical loading or tissue stress within the foot linked to sites affected by gout?’ This study may provide evidence for the role that biomechanics plays in development of gout and provide justification for future studies assessing gait modification and foot stress rebalance as strategies in the clinical management of gout.

SIR HARCOURT CAUGHEY FUND AWARD ($13,792)

Dr Peter Huggard
Goodfellow Unit, The University of Auckland
Funding for visiting academic Prof Christina Puchalski, Director of the George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health, University of Washington, March April 2013

SIR DOUGLAS ROBB MEMORIAL FUND AWARD ($1,000)

Dr Jennifer Utter
Epidemiology & Biostatistics, School of Population Health, The University of Auckland
To support publication costs from AMRF project grant titled National Study of weight control and disordered eating among New Zealand adolescents.

SIR DOUGLAS ROBB MEMORIAL FUND AWARD ($5,000)

Dr Siouxsie Wiles
Dept of Molecular Medicine & Pathology, The University of Auckland
To assist with study of Glow worm animation outreach project

ENDS

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