Nine projects receive over $5 million in ARC Discovery Project funding

Lead researcher

School/Institute

Project

Funding

Associate Professor Darshini Ayton 

School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine 

Consumer and Community Involvement Process Implementation Model.

The project aims to examine the barriers and enablers to Consumer and Community Involvement. We will generate new knowledge via innovative methods from narrative medicine and economic and marketing studies including establishing the first Community of Practice for consumers and stakeholders in dementia research as the example. The outcomes include the creation of a process implementation model for Consumer and Community Involvement to inform policies and guidelines for research systems and funding. This process model will propel research forward and generate opportunities to maximise the health and social benefits of research, including significant translation of research into practice.

$609,004

Dr Claire Blewitt

School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine

Educator-child interactions and childhood social and emotional learning.

This project aims to enhance educator-child interactions to support young children’s social and emotional learning in Early Childhood Education and Care. It expects to generate new knowledge about adult-child interactions for improved child outcomes by examining the effectiveness, theories of change and implementation of an online Social-Emotional Engagement and Development Program to promote educators' engagement with three tiers of social and emotional learning strategies. The intended outcome is a confirmed evidence base supporting the program at scale and aligned professional learning resources. This project has potential to mitigate against the financial and social costs associated with mental ill-health in early childhood.

$525,095

Professor Peter Currie

Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute

How do stem cells get specified during embryonic muscle development?

This project aims to investigate the mechanisms by which muscle stem cells first form in the embryo. This project expects to generate new knowledge on the mechanism that patterns cell types in the embryonic myotome. Expected outcomes of this project include uncovering the developmental mechanisms of cell type specification in the myotome with specific reference to the generation of stem cells. This should provide significant benefits as it will inform how long-lived tissue-resident stem cells can be made in the first instance, knowledge that is critical for making stem cells on demand outside the animal and manipulating stem cells in living tissue.

$640,000

Professor Peter Currie

Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute

The developmental and evolutionary origins of vertebrae fins and limbs.

This project aims to investigate the origin of paired appendages, a major event in early vertebrate history that changed ecological opportunity and fuelled the radiation of jawed vertebrates. This project expects to generate new knowledge on the mechanism that drove this innovation, which despite over a century of debate, remains one of the great unknowns of comparative vertebrate evolution. Expected outcomes of this project include uncovering the anatomical changes underpinning the origin of the vertebrate appendicular system. This should provide significant benefits as it will inform our own natural history and provide a paradigm for studying gene network conservation, phylogenetic modifications, and the acquisition of novel structures.

$592,436

Associate Professor Luca Fiorenza

Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute 

From foraging to farming. Human adaptations during major transitions.

This project aims to investigate the causes that led to the human demographic explosion occurred during the Neolithic Revolution by analysing dental tissues through cutting-edge methods. This project expects to generate novel insights about the diet, health and weaning practices in Mediterranean human populations from the last 30,000 years. Expected outcomes of this project include the creation of new data on early life dietary transitions in archaeological populations, enhancing capacity to build interdisciplinary collaborations, and refining methods and concepts to study the diet of the past. This should provide significant benefits to Australian research in evolutionary anthropology, nutrition and in dentistry.

$717,816

Professor Elizabeth Manias

School of Nursing and Midwifery

Engaging residents and families in aged care facilities.

This project aims to investigate resident and family engagement in communicating about medicines that affect the mind, emotions and behaviour, by developing and testing creative strategies in aged care facilities. This project expects to generate new knowledge about resident and family communication within a dynamic context of sociocultural, environmental and interpersonal challenges and opportunities. Expected outcomes of this project include enhanced capacity to enable resident and family participation in bridging communication gaps. This should provide significant benefits, in terms of increased understandings about how and under what circumstances, medicines decision-making can occur with residents and families in diverse situations.

$463,939

Associate Professor Craig Smith

Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute

New insights into female reproductive tract formation and tubulogenesis.

This project aims to improve our understanding of female reproductive tract formation by studying its developmental origins. Most of the female reproductive tract derives from a pair of embryonic tubes called Müllerian ducts, the formation of which is incompletely understood. Significance: Using chicken and mouse models and innovative genetic approaches, the project will undercover novel genes and cellular pathways in Müllerian duct formation. Expected outcomes: This work will enhance knowledge in the biological sciences, in the area of female reproduction and how tubes form in biological systems. Benefits: It will train research scientists, develop collaborations and enhance Australia’s high standing in the field of reproduction.

$508,798

Professor Greg Stuart

Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute

Role of the superior colliculus in sensory processing.

The ability of an organism to attend to, and orient towards, stimuli in the environment is critical for survival. In the mammalian brain, the principal brain region performing this function is the superior colliculus. Despite its importance, little is known about the role the superior colliculus plays in sensory perception. This project addresses this issue by leveraging revolutionary new recording techniques to determine how the superior colliculus codes sensory information and ultimately drives behaviour. The outcomes will be of immediate benefit to scientists studying sensory processing and perceptual decision-making, and will help keep Australia at the forefront of brain-inspired engineering and the neuroscience-based knowledge economy.

$592,264

Dr Qi Zhang

Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute

Molecular mechanism of the PRC-dependent RNA degradation by the rixosome.

Polycomb repressive complexes (PRCs) and the rixosome are evolutionarily conserved enzymes that are required for silencing the developmental genes of multicellular organisms. This project aims to investigate how these key regulators maintain gene repression using cutting-edge approaches ranging from biochemistry, structural biology, cell biology to genomics. The expected outcomes include generating new knowledge in gene regulation, strengthening the research capabilities of Australia in fundamental biology, and training the next generation of scientists.

$544,187