National Imaging Facility granted $28m NCRIS funding to strengthen Australia’s advanced imaging network and bolster health research

The Commonwealth Government Department of Education has today announced National Imaging Facility (NIF) will receive $28m under the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS), to address Australia’s strategic science and research priorities, benefit industry and keep Australians healthy.

The funding is in addition to $18m secured under earlier NCRIS funding rounds for the period of 2023-2028, taking the total sum to $46m.

Minister for Education, the Hon Jason Clare MP said the strategic investment will help to deliver the solutions needed for the challenges ahead.

“These investments allow our world-class universities and researchers to work on game-changing projects that are good for our economy and good for Australia,” Minister Clare said.

Minister for Industry and Science, the Hon Ed Husic MP said the grants will supercharge research efforts in priority areas identified through the Government’s $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund, and will help to cement Australia’s reputation as a centre of global scientific excellence.

“Scientist and researchers making new discoveries can help manufacturers make new products, right here in Australia,” Minister Husic said.

The funding secures NIF’s operations until 2027, supporting Advanced Human Imaging, Preclinical and Frontier Imaging, Radiopharmaceuticals, and Data Collections and Partnerships programs.

Governing Board Chair, Prof Margaret Harding said these programs will enable research targeting diseases with a high burden for Australia, such as neurological disorders, cardiovascular disease and cancer, and will help industry develop new medical products. In addition, the NIF program will provide continued support to agriculture and collections sectors.

“NIF’s national-scale network underpins better healthcare, better medical products, and important research discoveries. Our national platforms include Australia’s most sophisticated imaging equipment which is made accessible to research and industry, and this funding will ensure its continuing impact,” Prof Harding said.

“This funding underscores the valuable expertise of the cutting-edge research infrastructure specialists within NIF’s node partner institutions, and the central role they play in maintaining Australia’s world-leading position in applying advanced imaging technology.

“Our imaging specialists are of the highest calibre and are vital to NIF’s operations – without them our instruments would be inaccessible.

“The unique capabilities that comprise NIF’s network are significant national assets, and this has been recognised by the Australian Government with this announcement,” Prof Harding said.

National Imaging Facility 2023-2027 Program

The Advanced Human Imaging Activity equips and operates Australia’s most advanced human imaging capabilities, instruments, and expertise, and is critical to understanding how the brain functions, studying disease states, understanding how we age, and developing new pharmaceuticals and medical devices.

Advanced Human Imaging underpins work that is of high priority in reducing Australia’s burden of disease such as large-scale studies for dementias, epilepsy, MS, stroke, liver and kidney diseases, mental health and cognition.

Preclinical and Frontier Imaging provides infrastructure for advanced imaging of preclinical models, plants and specimens, materials and minerals, all supported by specialised expertise.

The Activity plays a vital role in advancing Australia’s medical, manufacturing and environment industries, and is used to digitise unique national-priority collections.  

Radiopharmaceuticals are a vital nuclear medicine product used for visualising biological processes in medical research through molecular imaging. NIF supports the development of new radiotracers and enables open access to cyclotrons and coordinated supply of cyclotron-produced radioisotopes for research and industry.

Radiopharmaceuticals are critical for medical diagnosis and therapy – the ability to produce radiopharmaceuticals in Australia is an important sovereign capability with significant potential for commercial innovation.

Imaging Data Collections and Partnerships is a new NIF program which will help create imaging data collections of national priority, and deploy the digital infrastructure and expertise required to translate them into valuable information.

NIF will work in partnership to create, establish, and manage imaging data assets, underpinning the next generation of medical research in critical fields, including imaging-based precision medicine studies, and help translate the application of imaging AI solutions into healthcare and products.

Chief Executive Officer, Prof Wojtek Goscinski said NIF’s major growing priority is the boom in large-scale, multi-site studies and clinical trials, and this funding will provide the opportunity to accommodate growth and attract studies important for Australians’ health.

“NIF is focused on supporting coordinated access for researchers, clinicians and industry through our national network to meet this growing demand for multi-site Australian-scale studies,” Prof Goscinski said.

“There are no other organisations with the capacity to unite Australia’s imaging experts and resources, and this sovereign capability has additionally come at a crucial time of expanding industry and research need,” Prof Goscinski said.

Read the joint media release from Minister Clare and Minister Husic here.

Read the Department of Education’s 2023 Research Infrastructure Investment Plan (RIIP) here.

Western Australia’s first advanced human imaging capabilities for research to bolster national studies and improve health outcomes

A new multimillion dollar imaging facility that will underpin potentially life-changing clinical trials in neuroscience, cancer and a new generation of technologies was launched today by Western Australian Science and Medical Research Minister the Hon Stephen Dawson MLC.

The WA National Imaging Facility (WA NIF) Node now houses Western Australia’s first research-dedicated human MRI and PET-CT imaging technologies to add to its existing preclinical capability.

Minister Dawson said the new infrastructure will make it easier for researchers to undertake investigations requiring medical imaging.

“It will also increase opportunities for WA to be involved in nationally coordinated clinical trials, giving WA patients better access to emerging treatments and therapies,” Minister Dawson said.

NIF CEO Professor Wojtek Goscinski said the expansion of NIF’s national network of advanced human imaging capabilities to Western Australia will strengthen Australia’s ability to underpin large-cohort imaging projects including multi-site clinical trials, and in imaging across a representative sample of the Australian population.

“The WA NIF capabilities are essential to support national medical research priorities to keep Australians healthy, including the development of new medical products and pharmaceuticals, clinical research and industry partnerships,” Professor Goscinski said.

“This is also an important opportunity to recognise the world-leading expertise of the imaging scientists and research infrastructure specialists embedded in the WA NIF Node, who are critical to NIF’s operations, and central to maintaining Australia’s world-leading position in applying imaging technologies.”

“This team is essential to making the cutting-edge imaging capabilities accessible to Australian medical researchers, materials and agriculture scientists to enable them to solve challenges across research and industry,” Professor Goscinski said.

Based at the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research, the project is led by The University of Western (UWA) Australia and the Western Australian Health Translation Network.

UWA Vice-Chancellor Professor Amit Chakma said the facility would attract world-class researchers keen to advance healthcare, as well as reduce the barriers to cutting-edge treatments for patients.

“The scanners will cover a broad scope of diseases and treatment needs from basic science through to clinical trials – and will be available to all WA researchers,” Professor Chakma said.

Among key projects to benefit from the human MRI is a study led by Former Australian of the Year, Professor Fiona Wood and Associate Professor Mark Fear to compare the brains of children who have had a burn injury to those of the same age who have not had a burn. This follows earlier studies that found children who had burn injuries were more likely to be admitted to hospital for mental health treatment.

An Alzheimer’s disease study, led by Curtin University’s Professor John Mamo, will use both the PET-CT and MRI to investigate the impact of the cholesterol-lowering drug Probucol on cognitive function.

NIF has contributed $4.42m to the new WA facility through the Australian Government Department of Education’s National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS). This investment includes new equipment for the manufacture of radiopharmaceuticals to be housed in the new cyclotron laboratories at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital.

NIF is a $300m portfolio of open-access imaging capabilities including equipment, expertise, tools, data and analysis available nationally across 14 nodes, which have received investment from NCRIS, state governments, and its network of university, medical research institute and government science agency partners.

Other major partners in the WA NIF Node are the WA Departments of Health and Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation and the WA Future Health Research and Innovation Fund. Lotterywest is the major supporter, with additional support from Stan Perron Charitable Foundation, Cancer Council WA, Perron Institute, The Ian Potter Foundation, Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital’s Department of Radiation Oncology and Curtin, Murdoch and Edith Cowan universities.

In addition, the WA NIF Node has partnered with the Perth Radiological Clinic to provide the valuable clinical expertise of MRI radiographers and nuclear medicine technologists to support the facility.

The WA NIF Node, its world-class scientists and access to these world-leading imaging technologies will play an important role in supporting the next generation of treatments to keep Australians healthy.

Read the University of Western Australia media release here.

Read Minister Dawson’s media statement here.

 

Research-clinical partnership delivers world-leading high-power MRI to support clinical trials and new medical products

[Image: South Australia’s Acting Premier and Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, the Hon Susan Close MP joined Jones Radiology CEO Prof Susan O’Neill to cut the ribbon on the new MRI]

South Australia’s Acting Premier and Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, the Hon Susan Close MP joined SAHMRI Executive Director Prof Steve Wesselingh, Siemens Healthineers Managing Director, Michael Shaw and Jones Radiology CEO Prof Susan O’Neill to officially open one of the world’s first MAGNETOM Cima.X magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners at National Imaging Facility’s (NIF) SAHMRI Node in Adelaide today. 

The new scanner is a co-investment between NIF ($1m) through the Australian Government’s National Collaborative Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS), SAHMRI, Jones Radiology, Siemens Healthineers and the South Australian Government ($1m).  

[Image: SAHMRI Executive Director Prof Steve Wesselingh with South Australia’s Acting Premier and Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, the Hon Susan Close MP]

The Cima.X will be based at SAHMRI’s Clinical Research Imaging Centre (CRIC) which delivers open access state-of-the-art imaging services for clinical and research scanning.  

CRIC Director and NIF Node Director, Dr Andrew Dwyer said the Cima.X has the potential to revolutionise MRI for both purposes. 

“The clinical benefits of this technology will be initially realised for degenerative brain diseases, traumatic brain injury, and supporting precision treatment of brain tumours,” Dr Dwyer said. 

“It’s on the research front though, where we have the greatest potential for breakthroughs. Combining the gradient performance of the Cima.X, frontiers in machine learning and the skills of the team at CRIC will enable our researchers to investigate the body and its processes with a clarity they couldn’t have dreamed about previously.” 

[Image: NIF SAHMRI Node Director Dr Andrew Dwyer, Senior Scientist and National Coordinator for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Dr Shawna Farquharson, and Chief Technologist and NIF Fellow Angela Walls]

NIF CEO, Prof Wojtek Goscinski said SAHMRI’s Cima.X, as one of the first of its kind globally, will support the translation of cutting-edge scientific discoveries into new medical products, a key priority of the Australian Government’s National Research Infrastructure Roadmap.  

“Australia is a world leader in applying and translating MRI technology, and the unique capabilities of the Cima.X within SAHMRI’s world-class clinical context will be a valuable component of NIF’s national network, underpinning Australia’s ability to translate research, provide better clinical decision-making and better health,” Prof Goscinski said.  

“The Cima.X is designed to study the connections in the human brain, which is critical to understanding challenging neurological disorders, such as stroke and acute brain injury, and will be an important tool for investigator and industry led clinical trials for the development of new medical products to treat these conditions.”  

Managing Director at Siemens Healthineers, Michael Shaw said the Cima.X is the strongest whole-body, clinically-approved 3T MRI ever manufactured.  

“The system is more than twice as powerful as anything used in a clinical setting previously thanks to the novel Gemini Gradients,” Mr Shaw said. 

“This will ultimately provide clinicians and researchers alike with deeper insights into the human body. In addition, the Cima.X leverages our next generation of deep learning image reconstruction technology for faster image acquisition and signal rich super resolution images. Our Open Reconstruction Research Platform is designed to connect research partners and promote seamless national and international research collaborations.” 

Read SAHMRI’s media release here. 

NIF – ACRF collaboration launches Australian-first facility for new cancer therapies

Queensland’s Assistant Minister for Health and Regional Health Infrastructure, the Hon Brittany Lauga MP joined the University of Queensland’s Vice-Chancellor and President Prof Deborah Terry AO and Chair of the Australian Cancer Research Foundation (ACRF), Mr Tom Dery AO to officially open the ACRF Facility for Targeted Radiometals in Cancer (AFTRiC) at the Centre for Advanced Imaging (CAI) in Brisbane today.

[NIF Fellow Dr Gary Cowin demonstrating the capabilities of the new Facility, with Assistant Minister for Health and Regional Health Infrastructure, the Hon Brittany Lauga MP]

AFTRiC will be Australia’s first facility for the discovery, development and clinical application of novel alpha particle-based cancer therapeutics, as well as other radiometal and molecular imaging agents.

The Facility has been co-funded by the National Imaging Facility (NIF) ($1.2m) in partnership with the ACRF ($1.2m), the Ian Potter Foundation ($180k) and the University of Queensland.

[Assistant Minister for Health and Regional Health Infrastructure, the Hon Brittany Lauga MP with UQ NIF Node Director Prof Markus Barth]

AFTRiC will support the advancement of cancer theranostics (combined therapy and diagnostics in imaging), using cancer-seeking molecules attached to alpha particles to deposit high-energy radiation to cancer cells, without impacting healthy tissue.

NIF Chief Executive Officer, Prof Wojtek Goscinski said it was a privilege to partner with the University of Queensland, the ACRF and the Ian Potter Foundation to boost Australia’s open-access alpha particle research capabilities.

“Our investment in AFTRiC aligns with NIF’s commitment to grow our capability to help researchers and industry use alpha particles to produce and test new-generation theranostics,” Prof Goscinski said.

“The development of new theranostics through AFTRiC will support this fast-growing area of significant healthcare innovation, allowing doctors to ‘see what they treat’ by combining diagnosis and treatment to improve cancer therapy and outcomes.”

CAI Deputy Director (Research) Prof Kris Thurecht said several pieces of AFTRiC equipment had already been installed at CAI and used to evaluate first-in-class radiopharmaceuticals, building a strong case for the development and clinical translation of new cancer drugs.

“Radiopharmaceuticals and theranostics have been identified by all levels of government as a next-generation research priority, and AFTRiC firmly positions us as one of the country’s leading capabilities in this space,” Prof Thurecht said.

[CAI Deputy Director (Research) Prof Kris Thurecht lead a tour of the new Facility]

“We will be one of the few places in the country that can produce these specialised radiopharmaceuticals and, in collaboration with our industry partners, we will evaluate and hopefully develop clinical grade product for clinical trials.”

AFTRiC is one of two NIF investments underpinning a national capability for targeted alpha particle therapeutics. The other is establishing a new facility at ANSTO’s Lucas Heights campus to enable the development and translation of alpha-emitting radiopharmaceuticals, having access to radioisotopes produced in the OPAL research reactor.

Registrations open: National Imaging Facility Scientific Symposium 2023

National Imaging Facility Scientific Symposium, Melbourne

Presented in partnership with the Victorian Biomedical Imaging Capability (VBIC)
Friday 11 August 2023
8:30am – 6:00pm
Ian Potter Auditorium, Kenneth Myer Building, University of Melbourne and online via Zoom
Register
Download the program
Join us to hear from experts at the leading edge of imaging application across four key sessions:

Addressing Australia’s Burden of Disease will showcase large-scale impactful research addressing major disease challenges. The panel will share their ground-breaking insights and explore transformative strategies that are shaping the future of healthcare.

Toward Precision Medicine brings together leading experts to discuss how cutting-edge techniques are moving the field of personalised diagnosis and targeted therapies. The session showcases the new ways imaging is being applied, from breakthroughs in molecular imaging and radiopharmaceuticals, to revolutionising patient outcomes.

Frontiers of Imaging focuses on new imaging technologies and applications spanning from state-of-the-art developments in plant and materials imaging, and cutting-edge technologies like AI and machine learning, to the development of novel modalities to improve medical diagnosis and treatment.

The NIF Community Highlights session will showcase the work of the researchers, collaborators, users, and facility staff within our NIF community, focusing on capability and research highlights from the past year.

For more information and to register, visit the National Imaging Facility Eventbrite page.

NIF Scientific Symposium Planning Committee:
NIF Central: Shawna Farquharson, Alex Burton, Bec Dickson, Sarah Flaim, Wojtek Goscinski, Monique Mahoney, Sara Motamen
The Florey: David Abbott
La Trobe University – Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute:  Ingrid Burvenich
Monash University: Michael De Veer
SAHMRI: Angela Walls
University of Melbourne: Brad Moffatt, Rob Williams
University of Western Australia: Joseph Ioppolo, Paul Parizel, Diana Patalwala
VBIC lead: Leigh Johnston
Western Sydney University: Bill Price

The NIF Scientific Symposium is part of the NIF Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM), which will be held from Wednesday 9 – Friday 11 August 2023. Click here for more information about the NIF ASM.

Victorian collaboration raises over $50m investment in critical imaging capabilities

[Image: La Trobe University – Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute NIF Fellow, Dr Ingrid Burvenich with Minister Tierney]

The Victorian Government has invested $14.83m in National Imaging Facility’s (NIF) research infrastructure in Victoria, in partnership with the Victorian Biomedical Imaging Capability (VBIC), equating to a boost of just over $50m through collaborative co-investment. 

[Image: Victorian Minister for Higher Education, the Hon Gayle Tierney MP]

Victorian Minister for Higher Education, the Hon Gayle Tierney MP visited the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute on Tuesday, to highlight the impact of the collaboration and the State Government’s investment of through the Victorian Higher Education State Investment Fund (VHESIF) initiative.  

“Collaborative projects such as this demonstrate how our government is supporting higher education and industry to become international leaders in their field,” Minister Tierney said.

[Image: Victorian Minister for Higher Education, the Hon Gayle Tierney MP toured the facilities at the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute and the Austin hospital]

The funding is supporting the upgrade and expansion of imaging capabilities across NIF’s research facilities in Victoria, including The Florey, La Trobe University and the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute, Monash University, Swinburne University of Technology, and University of Melbourne in partnership with Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and the Austin Hospital.  

Critical medical research in areas of national priority such as dementia cancer and epilepsy, as well as agriculture research will be enabled by the co-investment, which includes $26.7m from NIF through the Australian Government’s National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) funding scheme. 

Infrastructure funded under the collaboration includes human magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) capabilities at Swinburne University of Technology and The Florey, where state-of-the-art high-intensity focused ultrasound will support the development of new treatments for essential tremor and tremor-dominant Parkinson’s disease. 

In addition to this, the University of Melbourne upgraded their ultra-high-field 7T MRI (one of only two in Australia), and acquired a new human PET-CT. 

Preclinical capabilities including PET/MRI and PET/CT to support important drug discovery and testing have been installed at the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute/La Trobe University and Monash University. 

[Image: NIF preclinical capabilities at the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute]

A new research cyclotron at Monash (the Australian Precision Radiopharmaceutical Facility APRF) will enable the production of radioisotopes under GMP standards, and enhance Australia’s sovereign capability to produce therapeutics and diagnostics. Complementary to this, radiochemistry hotcell infrastructure upgrades at Monash, the Austin Hospital, and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre will support the design and development of novel cancer treatments.  

[NIF radiochemistry capabilities at the Austin hospital/Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute]

The funding also enables upgrades to the magnetoencephalography (MEG) at Swinburne, one of only two systems in Australia, supporting the study of brain function. 

[Image: NIF MEG at Swinburne University of Technology]

Development of specialised plant imaging capabilities at the University of Melbourne will underpin research into the effect of climate change on crops and soil, and strategies and applications for agricultural improvements to support Australia’s standing as a world leader in food and beverage production. 

NIF Chief Executive Officer, Prof Wojtek Goscinski said the co-contributed investment underpins transformational initiatives in a number of national priority areas including precision medicine, molecular imaging, drug discovery, diagnostics and plant soil imaging. 

“It’s a privilege for NIF to partner with the Victorian Government and VBIC to support Australia’s strategic science and research priorities” Prof Goscinski said. 

“These capabilities will support Australia as a world-leader in applying advanced imaging technology, resulting in better healthcare, better products, and important discoveries.”

Read the Victorian Government’s announcement here. 

23 June: Take Your Dog to Work Day – even if you work at a research institute!

[photo credit: Mick Ross]

How do you reduce stress when you’re preparing people for medical imaging? Simply add a dog. That’s what PhD candidate Caroline Faucher at the Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI) has done, training golden retriever Maple to be a calming influence for the young, old and nervous.

Caroline and Maple are part of the Systems Neuroscience Group, under the leadership of Michael Breakspear, NIF’s University of Newcastle Node (UON) Co-Director.

The group brings together mathematicians, neuroscientists, psychologists, clinicians, social scientists and physicists to solve important research and healthcare questions.

Mathematical models, advanced statistics and behavioural sciences are combined with NIF imaging and used to improve understanding in areas such as dementia, mental health, sleep, hearing loss and ageing.

NIF’s MRI technology at Newcastle produces detailed 3D images of soft tissue such as the brain, spinal cord, nerves, muscles, ligaments and tendons.

Caroline uses MRI to study the brain of adults in mid to late life.

“My PhD focuses on the influence of sleep on cognition and brain health through a combination of clinical and neuroscience approaches,” she says.

“Using the MRI means I can study how sleep quality is related to brain activity and structure.”

The research is important in ensuring people can sleep well so their mind and body can recharge – which in turn can help decrease the risk of developing conditions such as dementia, cardiovascular disease and mental health disorders such as depression.

“My research specifically looks at the links between sleep, cognitive abilities, brain structure and activity in older adults, both with and without a genetic risk of developing dementia.”

It aligns with Federal Government priorities for ensuring better health for the young and older Australians, leveraging imaging technology to understand and promote healthy development and ageing.

Being at UON also enables researchers to undertake imaging studies across a representative selection of the Australian population, including people from regional, rural and metro areas – another important national priority.

UON is NIF’s first regional node, providing an opportunity to leverage its unique links to regional, rural and remote communities through the Hunter and New England districts of NSW.

Caroline says participants undergoing MRI scans may be tired or nervous – making Maple’s role as a therapy dog invaluable.

“It’s still early days, but the hope is that Maple can assist participants coming for research. I’m also hoping to research this topic in the near future, looking at how animal-assisted therapy can help with scanner anxiety. 

“Of course, Maple also helps with the general wellbeing of the team.

“Positive interactions between people and therapy animals are known to bring emotional and physiological benefits.

“Therapy dogs are increasingly used across Australian hospitals and health clinics, aged care and mental health facilities, schools and workplaces.”

Recent figures show that therapy dogs bring positive interactions to about 20,000 people around the country each week.

Maple also enjoys the interactions.

“My favourite part of my job is getting all of the pats and hearing that I am a good boy.”

Caroline and Maple graduated as an animal-assisted therapy human-canine clinical team from Therapy Dogs Australia.

National Imaging Facility Showcase at ANZSNM 2023

National Imaging Facility will host a Showcase at ANZSNM 2023, featuring presentations from Australia’s advanced imaging network.

See the full ANZSNM Program and register here.

Sunday 28 May, 1:15pm – 2:00pm
City Room 3/4
Adelaide Convention Centre

Chair:   Prof Steven Meikle
Head, Imaging Physics Laboratory
Brain and Mind Centre, University of Sydney

Time

1:15pm

Topic

Introduction and session open

Speaker

Prof Wojtek Goscinski
Chief Executive Officer
National Imaging Facility

1:20pm

Australian National Total Body PET Facility

Dr Georgios Angelis
NIF Total Body PET Fellow
University of Sydney

1:30pm

Monash MHELTHERA Lab and cyclotron capabilities

Prof Christoph Hagemeyer
Acting Director, NIF Node Director
Monash Biomedical Imaging

1:40pm

SAHMRI Radiopharmaceutical Chemistry

Dr Edward Robins
Head, Radiopharmaceutical Research and Development
Molecular Imaging and Therapy Research Unit
SAHMRI

1:50pm

New capabilities of the Western Australia Node

A/Prof Roslyn Francis
Head, Department of Nuclear Medicine and the WA PET Service, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital
NIF Deputy Node Director
University of Western Australia

Dr Heidi Espedal
NIF Facility Fellow
University of Western Australia

MS Awareness Month: Australia’s advanced imaging technology takes aim at multiple sclerosis

[Image: NIF Fellow Dr Tim Rosenow and researcher Dr Virginie Lam with NIF’s preclinical MRI at the University of Western Australia.]

Multiple sclerosis affects more than 30,000 Australians. Most have relapse-remitting MS (RRMS), known for having flare-ups and recovery that in turn damage and repair insulating layers protecting nerves in the brain and spinal cord. Researchers are collaborating with NIF to study the cycles of attack and remission – and determine if a novel therapy can help.

RRMS flare-ups involve demyelination, a process in which immune cells attack myelin, the protective coating around nerve fibres. Damaged myelin slows or prevents signals travelling between the brain, spinal cord, organs and limbs. 

Curtin University’s Dr Virginie Lam leads research into promoting the flipside to that process, remyelination – repair that is part of the RRMS remission phase and can halt disease progression. 

A focus is protecting fatty molecules called lipids that are abundant in myelin. 

Dr Lam is testing a lipid-based therapy with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and cell-controlling properties that shows promise in enhancing remyelination. 

The Western Australia NIF node supports the research with in vivo MRI to monitor the amount and health of myelin levels in preclinical MS models for up to 16 weeks. 

The research is a collaboration with Professor John Mamo, Director of the Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute, Dr Michael Bynevelt, a neuroradiologist at WA Health and the University of Western Australia, and NIF Fellows Dr Tim Rosenow and Dr Sjoerd Vos.  

It involves use of some of Australia’s most advanced MRI technology, an ultra-high field preclinical research MRI scanner at the University of Western Australia. 

It is important national infrastructure supporting preclinical research for modelling disease mechanisms and testing early drug candidates, ahead of plans to move into human imaging and clinical trials. 

The NIF platform can determine the structure and health of myelin in the specific brain regions that are most important in MS. Critically, this can be done non-invasively, allowing repeated measurements over time. 

This enables Dr Lam’s team to monitor the health of myelin and brain function, study pathways needed for healthy brain function, and track the effects of the therapy. 

“Imaging is important for determining the efficacy of the therapy we are researching,” Dr Lam says. 

“The therapy we are using is a purified form of a lipid which makes up a large portion of myelin.  

“The myelin lipid in the therapy is not found in high quantities in the foods we eat, so we need to boost that through a purified supplement form. 

“There is no cure for RRMS and little is known about the mechanism for myelin repair.  

“We want to better understand the underlying processes – and at the same time determine our therapy’s success – in restoring myelin function, enhancing remyelination and preventing or slowing MS progression.” 

Four weeks into the study, interim results have already shown increased myelin in the brain and reduced demyelination in an important part of the brain that is prone to demyelination in MS, the corpus callosum, Dr Lam says. 

The findings come as peak body MS Australia publishes research in February 2023 showing the number of Australians living with MS is increasing at a significant and accelerating rate – up from 25,607 in 2017 to 33,335 in 2021. 

Total costs for all people with MS in Australia have increased substantially in the same period, from $1.75 billion to $2.5 billion, with an annual per-person cost that is $20,000 above the next highest comparable complex chronic disease, Parkinson’s. 

People with RRMS are typically diagnosed in their 20s and 30s – earlier than other forms of MS. 

Common RRMS symptoms include fatigue, numbness, vision problems, spasticity or stiffness, bowel and bladder issues, and problems with learning, memory or information processing. 

Australian health research infrastructure underpins world-first brain cancer collaboration

The NCRIS Health Group will support Australian brain cancer research through Brain Cancer Biobanking Australia’s project to develop an integrated network of research platforms to improve patient outcomes, test new treatments and work toward a cure, with the announcement of a Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) grant worth just under $6M.

The project brings together clinicians, researchers and healthcare specialists from institutions across Australia to establish three essential interlinked platforms:

  • An Australian Brain Cancer Registry to systematically collect treatment and outcome data of Australians living with brain cancer, enabling researchers to identify and address variations in clinical practice and outcomes, immediately increasing the quality of care that every patient experiences.
  • Registry Clinical Trials and Patient Enrolment Platform to connect researchers with people living with brain cancer and enable rapid, cost-effective clinical trials and patient donations of data and specimens of research for testing novel ideas designed to improve patient survival.
  • Biobanking and Organoid Platform to establish national standards and protocols for brain cancer biobanking and the creation of Australian brain cancer organoids (cutting-edge brain tumour models). This will assist in providing the resources Australia needs to drive the innovative genomic research that will deliver new treatments in brain cancer.

The NCRIS Health Group’s research infrastructure will enhance collaborative opportunities for this important national initiative through the support of critical capabilities in biobanking, imaging, modeling and providing access to linked data.

Around 2,000 Australians develop brain cancer every year, and it takes the lives of more children and adults under 40 than any other cancer, with no improvement in survival rate for over 40 years.

Brain Cancer Biobanking Australia Chair A/Prof Lindy Jeffree will lead the important national collaboration to improve the lives of Australians living with brain cancer.

“The significance of this grant cannot be overstated. These funds will enable our national team to establish an integrated network of research platforms that will not just be an Australian-first, but a world-first in brain cancer,” A/Prof Jeffree said.

About the NCRIS Health Group

The NCRIS Health Group includes Bioplatforms Australia (BPA), National Imaging Facility (NIF), Phenomics Australia (PA), Population Health Research Network (PHRN) and Therapeutic Innovation Australia (TIA), enabled by the Australian Government Department of Education’s National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS).

The NCRIS Health Group supports cross-disciplinary research, giving Australian researchers access to world-leading facilities for more impactful outcomes across the whole translation cycle. Contact any of the affiliated organisations for more information about open access to capabilities.

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