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Tuesday, 25 September 2007

The University of Adelaide has secured more than $24 million in federal funding for research aimed at improving the health and wellbeing of Australians.

In the latest round of funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) announced today, the University of Adelaide has won more than 70% of the total funding provided to medical research in South Australia.

The new funding for the University of Adelaide includes:

• 37 Project Grants for a total of more than $18.7 million;
  
• Eight Research Fellowships totalling $4.5 million;
  
• One Practitioner Fellowship of $415,500; and
  
• One Equipment Grant of $455,803.

"This is an outstanding result for the University of Adelaide, with research grants across a wide range of health disciplines - from the conception of life, to the management of health and wellbeing in childhood and adulthood," says the Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor James McWha.

"Our research has a strong focus on the prevention and cure of diseases that affect millions of people worldwide, as well as the basic science required to learn more about how these diseases and conditions work.

"Today's announcement of the NHMRC grants consolidates Adelaide's place as the key medical research institution in South Australia, and one of the leaders in Australia in a number of fields," Professor McWha says.

The winning projects at the University of Adelaide include:

• $1.46 million to Dr Jodie Dodd (Discipline of Obstetrics & Gynaecology) - for a study aimed at limiting weight gain in overweight and obese women during pregnancy;
  
• $839,250 to Associate Professor Jane Mathias (School of Psychology) - for a study looking at the structural and functional effects of traumatic brain injury, using state-of-the-art MRI techniques and cognitive tests;
  
• $454,875 to Associate Professor Robert Richards (School of Molecular & Biomedical Science) - for a study into the function and contribution of certain genes in cancer cell biology.