The Burnet Institute has been awarded more than five and a half million dollars in National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) grants in an announcement made today by the Federal Health Minister, Tanya Plibersek.

Burnet Institute and Director and CEO and President-elect of AAMRI, Professor Brendan Crabb thanked the government for its commitment to NHMRC funding in the face of ongoing budgetary pressure.

“We know the government is facing some tough decisions at the moment, so we are pleased they have recognised the importance of a sustained investment in health and medical research,” he said.

“This is an investment in the future health and wealth of all Australians.” The NHMRC grants address research needs from basic science to research translation and they support researchers and their teams through the early and mid-stages of their careers.

A total of $652 million for just over a thousand grants nation-wide for ground breaking medical research across Australia was announced today.

Victoria will again receive the highest amount of funding, with $290 million for 498 grants.

Please see below for a full list of recipients with their project names.

Research Fellowships

Associate Professor Heidi Drummer - $665,785
Viral entry and the development of vaccines

Professor Suzanne Crowe – $714,745
Translating research into HIV-related health outcomes in the developing world

Project Grants

Professor James Beeson with co-investigator Professor Stephen Rogerson - $578,502.60
Surface antigens of Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes and immunity to malaria in humans

Associate Professor Anthony Jawarowski with Professor Suzanne Crowe, Dr Paul Cameron and Dr Julian Elliott - $598,938.60
A longitudinal study of Natural Killer cell function in HIV-infected individuals initiating therapy

Dr Freya Fowkes - $254,165.93
Human malarial immunity and risk of malaria post-partum and during infancy

Associate Professor Melissa Churchill with Associate Professor Paul Gorry and Professor Steve Wesselingh - $610,658.10
Viral determinants of HIV-1 transcriptional latency in the central nervous system

Dr Jack Richards with Professor Raymond Norton and Dr Christopher MacRaild - $655,517.85
Generating an effective vaccine response against the intrinsically unstructured malaria antigen Merozoite Surface Protein 2

Early Career Fellowships

Dr Rebecca Jenkinson - $299,564
Risky Business: Improving understanding of young people’s risky alcohol consumption, drug use and sexual behaviour

Dr Greta Weiss - $299,564
Identification and development of proteins, which interact with the innate immune system as malaria vaccine candidates

Dr Mark Agostino - $319,180
Improving the immune response to bacterial superbugs and malaria

Practitioner Fellowship

Professor Sharon Lewin (as part of her role with Monash University) - $532,630 Improved health outcomes for people living with HIV