Health researchers receive $13.7m from the Medical Research Future Fund to accelerate genomics research

The Alan Gilbert Building
The Alan Gilbert Building, University of Melbourne

Eight researchers from the University of Melbourne have been awarded a combined $13.7 million  from the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF), as part of Australian Government’s Genomics Health Futures Mission, accelerating genomics research to tailor treatments to the individual for a wide range of health issues.

The projects address a range of health challenges: from cancer risk assessment and infectious disease surveillance and diagnosis to improving genomic healthcare access for diverse communities and implementing pharmacogenomics in hospitals. Together, they aim to deliver tangible outcomes: helping clinicians diagnose and treat breast cancer, ovarian cancer and colorectal cancers; making pregnancy safer for families; and embedding real-time genomics tools in hospitals to track superbugs and emerging outbreaks.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Mark Cassidy said funding for University of Melbourne projects, delivered in collaboration with our partners in the Melbourne Biomedical Precinct, would have a positive impact on Australia’s future health.

“This is a great milestone in our commitment to advancing genomics. These projects will drive transformative changes in healthcare, addressing critical challenges experienced by diverse communities across Australia,”  Professor Cassidy said.

The following projects were funded:

  1. Associate Professor Kara Britt, from The Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology: Biological impacts of a polygenic risk score on the normal breast.
  2. Associate Professor Laura Forrest, from The Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology: Testing the feasibility of PERSONA: a personalised breast and ovarian cancer risk assessment incorporating polygenic information that identifies high-risk women
  3. Professor Ben Howden, from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology: Australian Pathogen Genomics Program.
  4. Professor Lisa Hui, from the Department of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Newborn Health: Improving Access and Community Trust in Perinatal Genomics for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Populations: The ImpACT-PG project.
  5. Professor Paul James, from the Department of Medicine – The Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology: Trial Implementation of Pharmacogenomics to improve Complex Hospital care.
  6. Professor Mark Jenkins, from the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health: CRISP Alliance: Enhancing Polygenic Risk Scores with Proteomics for Colorectal Cancer Surveillance and Prediction.
  7. Dr Prashanth Ramachandran, from the Department of Infectious Diseases: MITIGATE: Metagenomics and Integrated Transcriptomics for Infectious disease Genomics and Translational Evaluation
  8. Dr Sibel Saya, from the Department of General Practice and Primary Care: ROSELLA: Implementation of polygenic risk assessment in general practice for Australia’s most common cancers

These projects reflect the University’s growing strength in genomic medicine in cancer, women’s health and public health innovation, and signal a future where research translates into real-world impact for patients and communities across Australia and beyond.