ARC backs ten MIPS projects with $8.5m in funding
27 November 2024
The Australian Research Council (ARC) has announced the latest projects to receive funding under the 2025 ARC Discovery Projects scheme, including ten from the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS).
The ten MIPS-led projects represent research excellence across a range of programs spanning receptor function and signalling; parasite and microbial biology; and surfactant chemistry and nanoparticle technologies, with the total funding across the breadth of work amounting to nearly $8.5m.
Director of MIPS, Professor Chris Porter, said MIPS’ outstanding success in this round of Discovery Projects is testament to the people behind the research.
“My sincere congratulations to this round of successful ARC Discovery Project recipients for this well-deserved funding, which will help to progress vital research to tackle a broad range of technical challenges,” Professor Porter said.
“Funding basic and applied research is critical to the growth of Australia’s research and innovation capabilities and we are grateful for the ARCs ongoing commitment to investing in Australia’s ability to develop new homegrown innovations, products and jobs.”
Summary of MIPS 2025 ARC Discovery Projects:
Associate Professor Darren Creek and Associate Professor Danny Wilson were awarded $841,033 for their research which aims to reveal how malaria parasites perform extremely rapid replication of their DNA.
Professor Patrick Sexton and Dr Matthew Belousoff were awarded $1,396,173 for research into cell surface proteins called GPCR, and how they provide critical control of communication within evolved organisms to maintain normal cell & tissue function.
Associate Professor John Quinn; Professor Benjamin Boyd and Dr Wye Khay Fong were awarded $684,175 to investigate new organosulfur-based surfactants for application in formulation science.
Dr Tracy Josephs and Professor Patrick Sexton were awarded $636,811 to elucidate how biological signals essential to life are transmitted through receptors on the surface of our cells.
Associate Professor Natalie Trevaskis and Dr Sarah Turpin-Nolan were awarded $728,000 to investigate the impact of factors secreted by or transported via lymphatics on skeletal muscle growth, metabolism and regeneration using cutting-edge imaging and lymph collection techniques.
Associate Professor Angus Johnston and Dr Enyuan Cao were awarded $978,943 to improve the effectiveness of mRNA delivered using Lipid Nanoparticles (LNP).
Dr Jie Tang; Professor Michelle McIntosh and Professor Benjamin Boyd were awarded $783,398 to develop new design rules for advanced nanoparticle-based oral delivery systems targeting Microfold (M) cells in the gut, vital for efficient antigen transport.
Associate Professor Angus Johnston and Associate Professor Georgina Such were awarded $540,000 to develop a family of proteins that act as molecular glue, allowing polymers, proteins, nucleic acids, and nanomaterials to be linked without the need to chemically alter the biomolecules.
Dr Stanley Cheng Xie, Professor Leann Tilley and Dr Glen Carter were awarded $815,374 to probe the susceptibility of bacteria to a novel “reaction-hijacking” mechanism, which has recently been discovered by their team.
Professor Peter Scammells and Professor Arthur Christopoulos were awarded $1,053,670 to develop new chemical-biology probes for selectively targeting signalling pathways mediated by G-coupled protein receptors using the M4 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor as an exemplar.
For a full list of funded Discovery Projects for 2024, including a snapshot of funding by state and territory, please view the ARC announcement kit here.
ENDS