A QUT project investigating the role mitochondrial genes play in migraines has received funding in the latest round of National Health and Medical Research Council grants.
Projects looking at issues including therapeutic strategies against breast cancer bone metastasis, chlamydia and reproductive health and chronic cough in Indigenous children were among the other projects allocated funding in the October round of NHMRC grants.
QUT had 11 projects funded, totalling $5,752,894.
Professor Lyn Griffiths, Executive Director at QUT's Institute of Health Biomedical Innovation along with Associate Professor Rod Lea and Professor Yaoqi Zhou, received $429,313 for their project - Identifying mitochondrial genome variants associated with familial migraine susceptibility.
"Migraines can significantly disrupt all parts of a patient's life and are also responsible for substantial economic costs, with loss of workplace productivity costing more than direct medical treatment," Professor Griffiths said.
"Ninety per cent of sufferers have close relations who also suffer migraines and 18 per cent of Australian women get migraines, compared to 6 per cent of men.
"This research aims to investigate whether genetic variation within the mitochondrial genome - which is passed on by mothers - plays a role in migraine."
Professor Griffiths said the project would use the isolated Norfolk Island population to conduct full mitochondrial genome sequencing over the next three years.
"In Norfolk Island 25.5 per cent of the population suffer from migraine - more than double the percentage of the Australian population, so it is natural to explore any possible genetic link," Professor Griffiths said.
"This grant will pay for intensive sequence analysis of samples from a very large family on Norfolk Island we have been working with for a number of years.
"By determining what type of migraine someone has, we can ultimately develop more effective treatments to help them."
The other successful projects to receive funding were:
Dr Kerry-Ann O'Grady, Prof Anne B Chang, Dr Maree Toombs, Prof Theo Sloots and Dr Michael Otim - A randomised controlled trial to evaluate early intervention in chronic cough in Indigenous children - $1,385,667
Associate Professor Damien Harkin, Associate Professor Fred Chen, Professor Traian Chirila, Associate Professor Nigel Barnett - A fibroin-based prosthetic Bruch's membrane for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration - $519,154
Professor Dietmar Hutmacher, Professor Filipe Cardoso, Associate Professor Jean-Pierre Levesque, Dr Boris Holzapfel, Dr Brett Hollier - A preclinical humanized chimeric model to investigate novel therapeutic strategies against breast cancer bone metastasis - $674,492
Professor Kenneth Beagley, Dr Simon Keely - Chlamydia and reproductive health - $475,526
Dr Michael Doran, Associate Professor Travis Klein, Professor Yin Xiao, Professor Ross Crawford - Coupling an injectable gel and MSC microtissues to enhance cartilage repair - $516,398
Career Development Fellowships:
Dr Steven McPhail - Communication technologies for supporting patients with multiple
morbidities accessing hospital services - $411,768
Dr Jyotsna Batra - Exploring the role of miRSNPs in diagnosis and prognosis of prostate cancer - $411,768
Early Career Fellowships:
Dr Mark Adams - Identifying novel genome instability signatures in cancer - $309,436
Nathalie Bock - Using Bioengineered 3D Models to Replicate the Tumour Microenvironment in Prostate Cancer - $309,436
Dr Aaron Conway - Improving nurse-administered sedation practice in the cardiac catheterisation laboratory - $309,436
Media contact:
Rob Kidd, QUT Media, 07 3138 1841, rj.kidd@qut.edu.au
After hours, Rose Trapnell, 0407 585 901
