We now have in place an ambitious campaign to fund various research projects throughout Australia through a series of matched funding campaigns. We will match donations received from members of the public dollar-for-dollar up to an approved limit.
We’re focusing on projects that are nearing the clinic, working with donors to provide a funding injection that we hope will help bring new treatments to people with serious illnesses sooner.
The first two of these projects target two conditions that are among the largest contributors to the burden of disease borne by Australians: diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The Foundation is aiming to provide $1 million over five years for each of these projects, by matching, dollar for dollar, every public donation of $500 or more.
- Professor Bernie Tuch is developing a new treatment for type 1 diabetes. Find out more.
- Associate Professor James Chong wants to use stem cells to mend broken hearts following heart attacks. Find out more.
In addition, our annual Matched Funding Program grant round provides up to four AUD$100,000 research grants per year.
Under the Program, Foundation will match any donation it receives from an approved donor (or donors) up to a maximum of $50,000 with up to $50,000 dollars of its own funds, to potentially provide a total of $100,000 for a successful research project.
2022 Matched Funding Program recipients:
- Professor Geraldine Mitchell is developing 3D blood vessel networks covered by skin, grown from stem cells, for tissue engineering and wound healing.
- Dr Atul Malhotra is developing a treatment for brain injury in extremely preterm babies (those born before 28 weeks gestation) that uses a baby’s own umbilical cord blood cells therapeutically. Find out more.
- Dr Katie Ayers will use testis-like organoids derived from stem cells to model Differences of Sex Development (DSD), which is important for early diagnosis.
- Professor Helen Abud is using cancer cells taken from patient biopsies to recreate tumours in the lab to serve as a pre-clinical testing platform for personalised drug treatments for patients. Find out more.
2021 Matched Funding Program recipients:
- Dr Peter Houweling is developing a treatment for a type of muscular dystrophy, a group of genetic diseases that cause progressive weakness and loss of muscle mass. Find out more.
- Dr Gerard Kaiko is working on personalised gene therapy for the treatment of cystic fibrosis, an inherited condition that causes severe damage to the lungs, digestive system and other organs. Find out more.
- Dr Raymond Wong is developing a gene therapy for late-stage retinitis pigmentosa (RP), an inherited retinal disease that causes progressive loss of vision. Find out more.
- Dr Sarah Withey is using mini liver 'organoids' made from stem cells to test a treatment for children with a rare, genetic, progressive, life-limiting disease Ataxia Telangiectasia (A-T). Find out more.
2020 Matched Funding Program recipients:
- Dr Tom Edwards wants to use the infectious power of viruses to develop cures for blinding eye disease using gene therapy. Find out more.
- Professor John Bateman is researching genetic disorders of bone and cartilage. Find out more.
- Professor Mark Shackleton seeks to develop new treatments for the skin pigment disorder vitiligo and for melanoma, a deadly type of skin cancer. Find out more.