October 2005
Menzies secures $1.8m in funding for the NT
Menzies School of Health Research has just secured an additional $1.8 million to tackle local health issues such as petrol sniffing, melioidosis and heart disease in Aboriginal Australians.
Almost $1.7 million was awarded by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), with a further $119,000 from the Channel 7 Children's Research Foundation.
Petrol sniffing was given the biggest boost with $625,000 from NHMRC to fund a three year project, which will build on recent Menzies findings concerning recovery of brain damage with abstinence from petrol sniffing.
Research into melioidosis, a potentially fatal bacterial disease of the tropics, gained further funding to establish new DNA testing to identify the disease at an earlier stage to allow faster treatment and fewer deaths.
Dr Shelly Walton was awarded a prestigious NHMRC Career Development Award to increase understanding of the biology of the scabies mite, which causes major health problems in remote Aboriginal communities and in many developing countries throughout the world. Dr Walton's lab based research is geared towards aiding early identification of scabies, vaccine development, and investigating the escalation of scabies mite resistance to current treatment methods.
Grants awarded by NHMRC to Menzies School of Health Research
Grants awarded by Channel 7 Children's Research Foundation:
For more information: Contact MSHR Reception on 8922 8196 � to be directed through to the relevant researcher.