Funded Research for 2008/09
Canterbury Medical Research Foundation has committed $1 million funding for medical research next year.
Canterbury Medical Research boosted to over $1 million a year
Canterbury’s biggest research fund, the Canterbury Medical Research Foundation, has increased its annual research funding by $230,000 to just over $1 million a year starting from next year.
CMRF Director, Guy Johnson, said the funding boost was possible thanks to the generosity of donors and supporters and the wise investment of funds.
This means two additional research projects and two further PhD or post-doctoral students will be funded each year from 2008. At any one time, some 34 medical research projects in Canterbury are being funded by CMRF, which focuses on new research projects in Canterbury.
Currently there are two PhD scholars – Carrie Innes, who is at the Van der Veer Institute working on software that will be able to determine if patients with brain disorders like Parkinson’s are capable of driving; and Sheryl Gough, who is part of Dr Christine Morris’ Cancer Genetics Research Group, studying novel gene rearrangements in leukaemia.
The CMRF is also announcing grants for 2008 totalling $414,667 to the following researchers:
Dr Ruth Hughes – Diagnosing diabetes in early pregnancy
This pilot study will determine whether HbA1c measured early in pregnancy can identify pregnant women who have un-diagnosed diabetes. Additional tests will be carried out on blood samples already taken from the women and those women showing higher levels will be retested and treated as part of their ante-natal programme. Type 2 diabetes, if left untreated, can affect foetal development but it isn’t usually picked up until after 24-28 weeks gestation when women are now screened. The trial is a New Zealand first. Dr Hughes was recently appointed as a specialist in General and Obstetric Medicine, and she will work closely with the lead maternity carers.
Dr Margreet Vissers – Whether intravenous vitamin C can aid cancer treatment
A special molecule called HIF1 controls the activity of many cell processes which lead to more aggressive cancers. Recent work suggests that Vitamin C influences HIF1 and so is important in cancer growth, and could be used to make cancers more susceptible to treatment. Dr Vissers will study these processes in more detail in cancer cells in the laboratory to see how much Vitamin C is required to have the desired effect on the cancer cells and control their growth. The trial is part of a bigger project which will include a study of tumour samples from the Tissue Bank.
Professor Gary Nicholls – Predicting heart disease during dialysis
Patients with kidney failure need to go onto dialysis, and they then have a high risk of heart disease. This study measures a number of hormones which may change once dialysis starts, or change in heart disease, to see if one or more may predict which patients will have heart problems. Those patients could then start treatment for heart problems earlier.
Dr Leigh Ellmers – New hormone to aid recovery after heart attack
Leigh will use an animal model where the left coronary artery is tied off to stop the blood flow and cause a heart attack. She will study whether a new hormone called urocortin 2 affects the recovery of the heart tissues after the sudden loss of blood supply that is the main event that causes a heart attack.
Dr Barry Palmer – Gene variations affecting heart disease
This project will study whether Individual variations in people for three important genes affect their risk of heart disease. They will test the DNA samples from a large number of people who have either had a heart attack, who have had angina, or who are normal volunteers, and see if the frequency of these gene variations differs in the 3 groups.
Dr Kenny Chitcholtan – Role of bacteria in stomach cancer
Gastric (stomach) cancer is more likely in people with infection with Helicobacter pylori, and earlier work has shown that these bacteria shed little vesicles which enter the gastric lining cells. The research will study how this increases the risk of cancer, and it may be by causing changes in the way the gastric lining cells attach to the basement membrane and attach to each other. Dr Chitcholtan is a young post-doctoral researcher.
Professor Tim Anderson – Role of eye movement in progression of Parkinson’s
This is part of the ongoing studies in Parkinson’s disease by Professor Tim Anderson, at the Van der Veer Institute and will use the recently commissioned 3T MRI scanner at Hagley Radiology. Earlier research has shown than the fine details of eye movements are affected by Parkinson’s disease, and this study will correlate these changes with changes seen on the MRI scans of the patients. The overall aim is to establish markers of degree of progression of Parkinson’s disease both for patient care and for future research.
For further information, please contact:
Guy Johnson, director, CMRF
Phone 353 1240
