Collaborative Drug Research Team Wins $1 Million Biomedical Research Award

A joint research team led by Professor Phillip Robinson and Professor Roger Reddel from the Children's Medical Research Institute, and Professor Adam McCluskey from The University of Newcastle, has received the $1 million Ramaciotti Biomedical Research Award to create a the world’s first ‘Centre for Kinomics’.

The ‘Centre for Kinomics’ will be located within two new custom-built research laboratories - one based at the Children's Medical Research Institute and the other at the University of Newcastle - that will provide the resources for 23 participating New South Wales research teams to analyse current therapeutic drugs and develop new, more effective ones.

“One of the major benefits of the Ramaciotti Foundations’ bi-yearly Biomedical Research Award is the ability to provide funding for a bold, high-impact, but costly concept.  The Centre for Kinomics was selected on the strength of the science behind it, but also its potential to benefit the broader biomedical community,” said David Knowles, Head of Perpetual’s Philanthropic Services.

The Centre for Kinomics will not only benefit the Professors’ research, but also 23 other research teams across New South Wales – and potentially many millions of people globally.

“We are honoured to receive this award from the Ramaciotti Foundations,” said Professor Phil Robinson, Children's Medical Research Institute.

“Receiving this funding means that people suffering from a range of conditions such as neurological diseases, viral diseases, inflammatory conditions and cancer will benefit, because scientists from all over the state will have access to this equipment for a broad range of research projects.  Essentially, the equipment will allow scientists to identify the undesirable elements of existing therapeutic drugs - in particular the cause of negative side effects – and then use this information to develop new therapeutics.”

The grant is part of the annual awards made by the Ramaciotti Foundations, thanks to an initial bequest made in the early 1970s.

The $1 million Ramaciotti Biomedical Research Award was presented at the Ramaciotti Foundations Awards dinner, held in Sydney on 12 November.