AusHealth, 65 Hardys Road Underdale, Adelaide (2026)

16/12/2025

AusHealth seeded research into childhood brain cancer wins $3m federal grant

At the beginning of 2025, Dr Quenten Schwarz received seed funding of $400,000 from AusHealth and the Vonbri Foundation to investigate the causes of childhood brain cancer. Data from that research has since helped his team secure a substantial $3 million grant from the Federal Government to further investigate causes and therapies for a pernicious form of brain cancer called diffuse midline glioma (DMG).

“People don’t realise that brain cancer is responsible for more deaths of Australian children than any other, including leukemia and heart disease,” says Dr Schwarz of the University of Adelaide.

“DMG is a terrible type of brain cancer and we’ve had no major therapy breakthroughs in 20 years.”

The original AusHealth-supported project saw Dr Schwarz, a neuroscientist at Adelaide University, partner with clinician Marion Mateos at the Children's Cancer Institute in Sydney.

Read the full article here: https://www.aushealth.com.au/aushealth-funded-research-into-childhood-brain-cancer-wins-3m-federal-grant/

15/12/2025

A spoonful of sugarcane by-product helps the medicine go down

Introducing the amazing new fibre that’s healing wounds, delivering nutraceuticals and improving diets – all from an agricultural by-product that’s currently burned…

Three years ago, a nascent company called Nufiba developed a process to turn ‘bagasse’ – the pithy fibre left after juice has been extracted from sugarcane – into a suite of valuable products.

Critical to the process was three proprietary food-safe steps: a cold, water-based sterilant developed to kill bacteria in the mulched bagasse; a mild food-grade chemical process to change the structure of the material and make it more absorptive; and a bespoke milling and drying process.

“We took this by-product – material that's actually burned in the cane fields and sugar mills – and turned it into a fibre with remarkable properties,” says NuFiba CEO, Dr Mike Patane.

“We ended up with a whole plant foodstuff that acts like sponge. In the same way a sponge can suck up a fluid and be squeezed dry, so this fibre can both encapsulate and release nutrition, as well as absorb oils and fats.

Read the full article at https://www.aushealth.com.au/a-spoonful-of-sugarcane-by-product-helps-the-medicine-go-down/

01/12/2025

AusHealth CureCell event sees the awarding of seven $10,000 prizes – and one engagement ring!

Yesterday's AusHealth CureCell Awards ceremony was held in the Kent Town Hotel, Adelaide, where friends, family and academic powerbrokers gathered to celebrate as seven PhD students were each presented with trophies and $10,000.

The awards were created to help PhD students with living costs, and as such the cash prizes can be spent however they like.
Lachlan Staker – the winner of the SMART CRC CureCell Award – went public that he was going to spend his prize (and we think he said part of his prize!) on an engagement ring for his girlfriend, Ellen Solly. When Professor Simon Cool handed over the trophy to Lachlan, he insisted Ellen join them on stage for the presentation!

The winners:

🏆 Matt van der Burg (The University of Queensland): FLVCR2 as a novel gateway for brain therapeutics and glioblastoma treatment
🏆 Cate Cheney (SAHMRI), receiving the Pan Macedonian Federation of SA CureCell Award: Generation of a microbiome-oriented adjuvant therapy for patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia
🏆 Julia Leeflang (University of Adelaide): Engineering next-generation colorectal cancer treatments
🏆 Giáng Tuyết Phạm (Flinders University), receiving the Marine Bioproducts CRC CureCell Award for Marine Medical Biotech: A wound healing hydrogel based on plasma-assisted microalgae extract
🏆 Matteo Pitteri (The Florey Institute): Unlocking brain-penetrating antisense therapies for neurological diseases
🏆 Kelsy Prest (Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre): The clone claw: A novel platform for precise isolation and molecular profiling of rare MRD-resistant clones driving AML relapse
🏆 Lachlan Staker (University of Adelaide) receiving the SMART CRC CureCell Award: Dual action gene editing strategy for treating dominant negative or toxic-gain of function mutations.

AusHealth is a self-funded medical research charity based in Adelaide. In 2024, it donated $4.5 million to scientists developing new disease therapies, AI-powered clinical solutions and novel healthcare technologies.
Websites: curecell.org | aushealth.com.au

24/11/2025

AusHealth CureCell Award winner, Julia Leeflang – genetically engineering bacteria to grow inside cancerous tumours and release drugs

In July, 65 PhD students submitted single-page synopses on their research into cell or biological therapies. In this series of posts we talk with the seven award winners about their ground-breaking science, their lives as a researcher and how they’ll spend their $10,000 prize...

Read the full article here:https://www.aushealth.com.au/latest-news/

18/11/2025

AusHealth CureCell Award winner, Cate Cheney – using gut health to unlock the mysteries of leukaemia

In July, 65 PhD students submitted single-page synopses on their research into cell or biological therapies. In this series of posts we talk with the seven award winners about their ground-breaking science, their lives as a researcher and how they’ll spend their $10,000 prize...

Read the full article here: https://www.aushealth.com.au/latest-news/

17/11/2025

CureCell Award winner Matteo Pitteri – developing precision genetic therapies and a ‘Trojan horse’ delivery mechanism to treat motor neuron disease

In July, 65 PhD students submitted single-page synopses on their research into cell or biological therapies. In this series of posts we talk with the seven award winners about their ground-breaking science, their lives as a researcher and how they’ll spend their $10,000 prize…

Read the full article here: https://www.aushealth.com.au/curecell-award-winner-matteo-pitteri-developing-precision-genetic-therapies-and-a-trojan-horse-delivery-mechanism-to-treat-motor-neuron-disease/

10/11/2025

AusHealth CureCell Award winner, Thi Giáng Tuyết Phạm (Snow), Flinders University (sponsored by Marine Bioproducts CRC) – finding better solutions for chronic wound care with a multifunctional hydrogel

In July, 65 PhD students submitted single-page synopses on their research into cell or biological therapies. In this series of posts we talk with the seven award winners about their ground-breaking science, their lives as a researcher and how they’ll spend their $10,000 prize...

Read the full article here: https://www.aushealth.com.au/aushealth-curecell-award-winner-thi-giang-tuyet-pham-snow-finding-better-solutions-for-chronic-wound-care-with-a-multifunctional-hydrogel/

10/11/2025

AusHealth CureCell Award winner, Matthew van der Burg – finding a new way to deliver drugs to the brain

In July, 65 PhD students submitted single-page synopses on their research into cell or biological therapies. In this series of posts we talk with the seven award winners about their ground-breaking science, their lives as a researcher and how they’ll spend their $10,000 prize...

Read the full article here: https://www.aushealth.com.au/aushealth-curecell-award-winner-matt-van-der-burg-the-university-of-queensland-finding-a-new-way-to-deliver-drugs-to-the-brain/

03/11/2025

AusHealth CureCell Award winner, Lachlan Staker – seeking a gene editing therapy for hereditary blindness

In July, 65 PhD students submitted single-page synopses on their research into cell or biological therapies. In this series of posts, we talk with the seven award winners about their ground-breaking science, their lives as a researcher and how they’ll spend their $10,000 prize...

Read more: https://www.aushealth.com.au/aushealth-curecell-award-winner-lachlan-staker-seeking-a-gene-editing-therapy-for-hereditary-blindness/

03/11/2025

AusHealth CureCell Award winner, Kelsy Prest (University of Melbourne) – developing a ‘claw’ to isolate and study blood cancer cells that evade chemo and targeted drugs

In July, 65 PhD students submitted single-page synopses on their research into cell or biological therapies. In this series of posts we talk with the seven award winners about their ground-breaking science, their lives as a researcher and how they’ll spend their $10,000 prize...

Read more here: https://www.aushealth.com.au/aushealth-curecell-award-winner-kelsy-prest-developing-a-claw-to-isolate-and-study-blood-cancer-cells-that-evade-chemo-and-targeted-drugs/

20/10/2025

ANNOUNCING THE WINNERS OF THE 2025 AUSHEALTH CURECELL AWARDS

AusHealth CEO Dr Justin Coombs is delighted to announce the winners of the 2025 AusHealth CureCell Awards.

This year, seven PhD students from leading Australian universities and research institutes each receive $10,000 to support their living expenses as they pursue breakthrough research in medical science.

The 2025 winners are:

𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁 𝘃𝗮𝗻 𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗕𝘂𝗿𝗴 (The University of Queensland): FLVCR2 as a novel gateway for brain therapeutics and glioblastoma treatment
𝗖𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘆 (SAHMRI), receiving the Pan Macedonian Federation of SA CureCell Award: Generation of a microbiome-oriented adjuvant therapy for patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia
𝗝𝘂𝗹𝗶𝗮 𝗟𝗲𝗲𝗳𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗴 (University of Adelaide): Engineering next-generation colorectal cancer treatments
𝗧𝘂𝘆𝗲𝘁 𝗧𝗵𝗶 𝗚𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗵𝗮𝗺 (Flinders University), receiving the Marine Bioproducts CRC CureCell Award for Marine Medical Biotech: A wound healing hydrogel based on plasma-assisted microalgae extract
𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗼 𝗣𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶 (The Florey Institute): Unlocking brain-penetrating antisense therapies for neurological diseases
𝗞𝗲𝗹𝘀𝘆 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁 (Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre): The clone claw: A novel platform for precise isolation and molecular profiling of rare MRD-resistant clones driving AML relapse
𝗟𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗹𝗮𝗻 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿 (University of Adelaide) receiving the SMART CRC CureCell Award: Dual action gene editing strategy for treating dominant negative or toxic-gain of function mutations

Entries for the 2025 Awards close to doubled from last year, with 65 PhD students applying from 13 national institutions across five states. The standard of submissions was exceptionally high, making the awards process highly competitive.

According to Justin, “The Awards are only in their second year, so we’re thrilled with the number of applications and inspired by the range and depth of submissions. And it's terrific to see so many universities and research institutions being represented.”

Justin says it's important to support Australia’s next generation of researchers: “People don’t realise how little money Australian PhD researchers get by on. These cash prizes are intended to relieve financial pressures – and I’m delighted to have fellow co-sponsors who appreciate that we need to lend this extra support.”

AusHealth will be releasing a series of interviews with the 2025 CureCell Award winners over coming weeks, highlighting their research and the impact of the Awards on their work.

Clockwise L to R: Kelsy, Lachlan, Tuyet Thi Giang, Cate, Matteo, Matthew, Julia with Tina and Belinda (AusHealth).

For more information, please contact curecell@aushealth.com.au
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AusHealth is Australia’s largest self-funded medical research charity. In 2024, the Adelaide-based charity donated $4.5 million to scientists developing new disease therapies, AI-powered clinical solutions and novel healthcare technologies.
Websites: curecell.org | aushealth.com.au

29/09/2025

Breathe easy: the remarkable story of David Cranston, AusHealth’s bacteriophage pioneer patient

When nasal surgery left Adelaide nurse David Cranston fighting a drug-resistant infection, traditional treatments offered little relief. Struggling to breathe and spending hundreds of dollars a week to manage his symptoms, he turned to bacteriophage therapy, a century-old approach now being revived as a potential weapon against antibiotic-resistant superbugs. David became the first patient treated by the AusHealth Phage Therapy Centre, an Adelaide-based research facility at the Basil Hetzel Institute for Translational Health Research. Researchers developed a personalised therapy that dramatically improved David's quality of life — and now offers fresh hope to others suffering from similar infections.

The AusHealth Phage Therapy Centre was set up through a collaboration between AusHealth and The University of Adelaide.

Read the full article here:https://www.aushealth.com.au/latest-news/

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