A/Prof Natalie Hannan was awarded a National Health Medical Research Council Ideas Grant for the 2021 round (2022 funding) as Chief Investigator A. This proposal was supported by Associate Investigator A/Prof Lisa Hui.

Lisa and Natalie lead the NCHER Biobank at Northern Hospital Epping, where part of this work will be carried out. Natalie has been funded for her project, ‘Improving the pipeline for translation of therapies for serious complications of pregnancy’.

Says Natalie, “Preeclampsia and fetal growth restriction are deadly complications of pregnancy, without current therapies for either. Development of treatments is seriously limited and pregnant women are excluded from drug trials, due to concerns for both mother and baby.”

“We have developed a dedicated pipeline for drug discovery for pregnancy; we will thoroughly test promising drug candidates and advanced delivery strategies. This proposal paves the way for much needed development of therapies for pregnant women,” she adds.

Says Lisa, “I am one of the two Associate Investigators; the other is Ms Sally Beard, a scientist who is also an honorary Northern Health researcher, who helped set up the Obstetrics and Gynaecology research, NCHER lab and the Biobank.”

“It is a small team of only two Chief Investigators – A/Prof Hannan and Dr Binder, and two Associate Investigators – a really amazing result to get funded!”

Prof Peter Brooks AM, Research Lead – Northern Health, had this to say, “‘I am delighted to see the research that has been led by Natalie Hannan and Lisa Hui receive important recognition and funding through an NHMRC Ideas Grant in the latest round.”

“The success rate for these grants was less than 10 per cent and it is a great testament to these researchers who have established the NCHER Reproductive Biobank over the past two years, that their efforts have been nationally recognised. It also demonstrates the foresight of our Chief Executive, Siva Sivarajah, who has supported the creation and ongoing support for an important part of the project,” he says.

Featured image shows A/Prof Natalie Hannan and A/Prof Lisa Hui