SEP 5, 2014 Five award recipients were announced to receive Telethon funding from the Asthma Foundation at its annual Research Grant Awards at the Telethon Kids Institute.
Telethon Research Funding Awarded by Asthma Foundation
One of the main roles of AFWA is to fund vital research on asthma and to date the Foundation has contributed over $5 million to respiratory research.
The following researchers and/or projects were awarded grants totaling $125,000:
- A/Prof Alexander LARCOMBE and A/Prof Benjamin MULLINS
The University of Western Australia
Electronic cigarettes as a trigger for asthma - Dr Shelley GORMAN and A/Prof Vance MATTHEWS
The University of Western Australia
Exploring the effects of maternal obesity on asthma pathogenesis - Professor Peter HENRY, Ms Tracy MANN and Professor Philip BURCHAM
The University of Western Australia
Using a novel explant perfusion system to investigate mucus secretory
pathways in human isolated airways - Dr Kimberley WANG with Professor Peter NOBLE supervising
The University of Western Australia
New Investigator project description: Intrauterine growth restriction increases airway smooth muscle mass and risk of asthma development - Ms Robyn JONES with Professor Alan JAMES supervising
Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital
Different types of airway remodelling cause fixed airflow obstruction in asthma and cigarette smoking.
The AFWA Medical and Scientific Advisory Committee (MASAC) reviewed all of the grant applications and presented their findings and recommendations to the AFWA Board. Members of MASAC include clinicians, researchers and physicians namely Professor Graham Hall (Chairman), Clinical Professor Alan James, Professor Peter Henry, Dr Phil Stumbles, Professor Mark Everard and Dr Anthony Kicic. These grants are then managed and coordinated by Ms Yolanda Arcaro, Research Grants Officer at AFWA.
Foundation CEO, David Johnson, said that ‘It is extremely rewarding that we are in a position to provide five research teams with the funds to conduct important research into asthma. Our annual awards are held during National Asthma Week, as they play such an important role in our service to the community’. ‘We are celebrating 50 years of providing research and support to asthma sufferers and their families, and we look forward to sharing the results of these research grants with all of our stakeholders’.
To review more detailed information about the grant recipients their projects and topics, please visit www.asthmawa.org.au.
