Projects funded under the Spinal Cord Injury and Related Neurological Conditions Research Grants Program

Four funding rounds of the Spinal Cord Injury and Related Neurological Conditions Research Grants Program have been conducted.

Round 4 (2009-2010) - Grant Recipients

Program Grants

Two Career Development Fellowships, of $600,000 over three years have been awarded to:

• Dr Gila Moalem-Taylor from the School of Medical Sciences, University of New South Wales to support her studies into neuropathic pain due to peripheral nerve injury or spinal cord injury to enhance the understanding of underlying immunological mechanisms. Neuropathic pain is a debilitating condition that lacks effective treatment and represents a significant health problem.
• Dr Penelope McNulty from the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute in Randwick to identify how surviving connections in the nervous system can be targeted to restore hand function in quadriplegia after spinal cord injury. Loss of hand function restricts patients’ independence, opportunities for work and social interactions, and their ability to perform activities of daily living. 

One Clinical Research Fellowship (up to $600,000 over three years) has been awarded to:

• Dr Sylvia Gustin from the Pain Management Research Institute at the University of Sydney for her examination of the long-term clinical effectiveness of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in people with neuropathic spinal cord injury pain. Neuropathic pain remains extremely difficult to relieve despite a wide range of available treatments and Dr Gustin’s work will support the investigation of more novel treatment methods.

Travel Scholarships

Three Travel Scholarships – of $5,000 each have been awarded to enable PhD recipients and early postdoctoral researchers to present research at international conferences and visit relevant overseas international research facilities. The successful recipients are:

• Rachael Brown from the University of Western Sydney who will use her Scholarship to travel to Sahlgren University Hospital in Göteborg, Sweden to undertake a four week research program with an internationally renowned spinal cord injury researcher, Dr Ann-Katrin Karlsson.
• Claire Boswell-Ruys from the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute to attend the International Spinal Cord Society (ISCOS) Annual Scientific Meeting to be held in Italy and visit to the spinal cord injury research centre at the Maastricht University in the Netherlands.
• Ricardo Frausto from the University of Sydney to spend four weeks at the Faculty of Medicine in the Autonomous University of Barcelona to participate in a research program with Professors Bernardo Castellano and Berta Gonzalez who are world leaders in the research into the molecular and cellular mechanisms causing inflammation after injury.

The Research Fellowships and Travel Scholarships will help to retain the brightest and the best of the next generation of researchers in NSW and enable them to build a body of work that will attract major project and program.

Round 3 (2006-2007) - Grant Recipients

The third funding round for the research grants program commenced in April 2006. Four travel scholarships worth a total of $25,233 were awarded.

Ms Elizabeth Clarke, Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute
Travel scholarship of $5,500 as a contribution to the costs for presenting research focused on understanding the differences in spinal cord injury mechanisms and neurophysiology between children and adults at the 5th World Congress of Biomechanics, in Munich, Germany, and the International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada .

Ms Angela Laird, University of New South Wales
Travel scholarship of $8,233 as a contribution to the costs for presenting research on the impact of treadmill training on the development of autonomic dysreflexia and locomotor ability at the 6 th annual Federation of European Neuroscience Forum and also to visit spinal cord injury laboratories in Zurich, Switzerland, and Gothenberg, Sweden .

Professor Elspeth McLachlan, Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute
Travel grant of $1,500 as a contribution for Dr. Jane Butler and Dr James Brock, Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute, and Dr Luke Henderson, University of Sydney , to attend and present their work at the IBRO Special Interest Forum.

Dr Arun Krishnan, Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute
Travel scholarship of $10,000 to travel to the Institute of Neurology, London , United Kingdom , to further investigate the mechanisms underlying nerve dysfunction and conduction failure following spinal cord injury.

Round 2 (2005-2006) - Grant Recipients

The second funding round for the research grants program commenced in 2004 and the successful recipients were announced in October 2005. In the second funding round, the following were awarded:

• one program grant worth a total of $1.5 million over four years
• six project grants worth a total of over $1.5 million over two years
• three travel scholarships worth a total of $18,500

Program Grants

Professor Elspeth McLachlan, Co-Director of the Spinal Injuries Research Centre, Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute
$1.5 million over 4 years
Development of an experimental program to understand the changes in nerve and muscle function after a spinal cord injury.
Findings will provide crucial information for the development of new drug treatments and improvement of existing therapies for people with spinal cord injury, in particular stimulation therapy which can prevent muscle wasting and help spinal cord injured people generate enough muscle power to bear weight, thereby increasing their degree of independence.

Project Grant Recipients

Dr Bryce Vissel, Garvan Institute for Medical Research
$400,000 over 2 years
Glutamate receptors as targets for treating spinal cord injury and neurological disease
Investigating the role of individual glutamate receptor subtypes in conditions including spinal cord injury, Huntington's disease and ALS. This may progress understanding of the degenerative mechanisms involved in disease as well as designing therapeutic agents which can be directed against specific ionotropic glutamate subunits.

Professor Iain Campbell, University of Sydney
$310,000 over 2 years
Signal transduction mechanisms in interleukin-6-induced inflammation and injury in the central nervous system
Investigating the signalling mechanisms underlying IL-6 induced inflammation in the central nervous system. This will assist in elucidating the molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in tissue injury resulting from inflammation, potentially leading to therapeutic strategies directed at particular molecular targets within signalling pathways.

Professor Elizabeth Burcher, University of New South Wales
$250,000 over 2 years
Receptor changes in the bladder following spinal cord injury
Investigating receptor changes in the bladder following spinal cord injury and multiple sclerosis, with a view to establishing new therapies for bladder dysfunction that are better targeted and less invasive than current treatments.

Professor Max Bennett, University of Sydney
$250,000 over 2 years
The role of astrocytes in nociceptor pain transmission in the spinal cord
Investigating the role of ATP in the interactions between astrocystes and microglia and the different neurotransmitter and cytokine production. This should elucidate underlying mechanisms of pain induction, potentially leading to new approaches for treating pain associated with spinal and peripheral nerve injury.

Dr Matthew Kiernan, Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute
$175,000 over 2 years
Origins and patterns of neuronal degeneration in motor neurone disease
Investigating the origin of degeneration that occurs during motor neurone disease, based on assessment of the physiological changes encountered in patients with evident manifestation of the disease. The tests proposed will further assist in monitoring changes in individuals without the disease, but with a high genetic predisposition to acquiring it.

Professor George Paxinos, Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute
$200,000 over 2 years
The spinal cord of the rat and the human: Atlases and 3D models
Providing the first complete atlas of the rat spinal cord. Through relevant comparisons with the human spinal cord, this will become an important source of reference for experimental and clinical observations in spinal cord injury.The atlas will be prepared by sectioning and staining of the rat spinal cord with specific chemical markers.

Travel Scholarships

Mr Brett Graham, University of Newcastle
Travel scholarship of $8,340 to attend the Society for Neurosciences 35th Annual Meeting in Washington DC USA to present a poster presentation and attend symposia. Mr Graham will also visit the laboratories of Dr Troy Margrie and Professor Maria Fitzgerald with a view to collaboration. Mr Graham's area of research is mechanisms underlying the processing of pain signals in the spinal cord.

Miss Jennica Winhammar, Royal North Shore Hospital
Travel scholarship of $4,200 to present findings of her research at the International ALS/MND Symposium in Dublin, Ireland. Ms Winhammar's research is investigating Motor Neurone Disease and the mechanisms that cause nocturnal hypoventilation.

Dr Ostoja Vucic, Prince of Wales Hospital
Travel scholarship of $6,000 to present his research findings at the International ALS/MND Symposium and the International Alliance of ALS/MND Associations in Dublin, Ireland. Dr Vucic's research investigates the site where Motor Neurone Disease begins, and the way in which the loss of nerves within the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves evolve over time.

Round 1 (2004-2005) - Grant Recipients

The inaugural funding round for the research grants program commenced in December 2003 and the successful recipients were announced on 2 August 2004. In the first funding round, the following were awarded:

• four program grants worth a total of $5 million over four years
• two project grants worth a total of almost $400,000 over two years
• four travel scholarships worth a total of $30,000

Program Grants

Professor John Pollard, Director Brain and Mind Research Institute, University of Sydney
$1 million over 4 years
Investigating glial and neuroinflammatory mechanisms of neuronal degeneration and regeneration: the functional states of microglia in the central nervous system and macrophages in the peripheral nervous system.

Dr James Middleton, Medical Director, Moorong Spinal Unit, Royal Rehabilitation Centre and Senior Lecturer, Rehabilitation Studies Unit, University of Sydney
$1 million over 4 years
Investigating enhancing functional recovery and independence after spinal cord injury.

Professor Phil Waite, Head, Neural Injury Research Unit, School of Medical Sciences, University of New South Wales
$1 million over 4 years
Investigating repair of the injured spinal cord: trialling potential cell therapies.

A/Professor Janet Keast, NHMRC Senior Research Fellow, Pain Management Research Institute, Northern Clinical School, University of Sydney
$2 million over 4 years
Investigating pain following spinal cord injury (SCI): tnderstanding mechanisms to develop treatments.

Project Grants

Dr Penelope McNulty, Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute
$200, 000 over 2 years
Neurophysiological investigation of single motor unit (SMU) properties, and sensorimotor integration and control in subjects with spinal cord injury.

Dr Marcus Stoodley, Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute
$191, 490 over two years
Investigating cerebrospinal fluid flow in post-traumatic syringomyelia

Travel Scholarships

Four travel scholarships for PhD students of up to $10,000 each to present their research overseas. The recipients are:

Dr Michael Barnett, University of Sydney
Dr Brian Owler, University of Sydney (Children's Hospital, Westmead)
Biljana Illovski, University of Sydney
Grahame Simpson, Brain Injury Rehabilitation Unit, University of Sydney

Research Enabling Support Programs

The NSW Government has supported a range research enabling initiatives under the NSW Spinal Cord Injury and Related Neurological Conditions Research Grants Program. Examples of the research infrastructure that has provided platforms for research collaboration include:

• $670,000 for the establishment of the Australian & New Zealand Spinal Cord Injury Network (ANZSCIN) aimed at bringing together researchers, clinicians and key stakeholders to accelerate the spinal research effort.
• $600,000 to support the development of transgenic animals lines for research;
• $500,000 to establish a multiple sclerosis specific brain bank; and
• $500,000 in NSW grant funding to encourage the State’s scientists to expand stem cell research, including Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (sometimes known as therapeutic cloning) for research purposes, and other practices to assist in the understanding and treatment of infertility.