AMRF Awards over $1.13million to Auckland Researchers in its Latest Grant Round

The Auckland Medical Research Foundation (AMRF) announced today $1,132,631 in
funding to medical researchers in Auckland in its June 2011 grant round.

Foundation Executive Director Kim McWilliams says, “From our beginnings, we have
promoted research of high scientific value and purpose across the full spectrum of medical
science. Many of these researchers already have and will go on to become leaders and
internationally recognised in their particular discipline or field of medicine. This round again
saw applications rise to record levels, so many worthy projects were not able to be funded.
This is what drives us to build our income to meet this demand. ”

The grants included 10 successful research projects ($930,931), the Ruth Spencer Medical
Research Fellowship ($178,000) to Dr Primal Singh, and 10 travel grants ($23,700) for
researchers to present their research overseas. Research grants were awarded over a
variety of research areas ranging from kidney disease, brain research and autism, stem
cells, cancer, diabetes, vaccine development, heart failure, and bone health.

Recipients of the research grants include:

Associate Professor Alan Davidson and co-workers from the Department of
Molecular Medicine & Pathology at the University of Auckland, who were awarded
$140,000 over two years to investigate new therapies to preserve kidney function in
patients with chronic kidney disease.

Associate Professor Carolyn (Raina) Elley and co-workers from the Department of
General Practice & Primary Health Care, who was awarded $69,854 for one year to
further investigate the new risk equation to identify those with diabetes most at risk of
having a heart attack or stroke.

Dr David Crossman and co-workers of the Department of Physiology who were
awarded $131,768 over two years to identify new avenues for future heart failure
therapies.

The Ruth Spencer Medical Research Fellowship was awarded to Dr Primal Singh from the
Department of Surgery at the University of Auckland ($178,000). This prestigious award is
to encourage medical or science graduates with exceptional potential to undertake fulltime
research for a PhD or an MD. Dr Singh is an outstanding young medical doctor who will
develop his research skills by investigating the effects of a class of drugs, the statins, on the
body‟s stress response to surgery, with the aim of reducing post-surgical complications and
improving patient recovery.

Research project summaries overleaf

The AMRF is a major independent funding agency and Charitable Trust that provides
contestable funding for medical research based in the greater Auckland region. Over the
past 55 years the AMRF has distributed over $40 million in funding to a wide range of
research activities - $3.3million distributed in 2010 alone.
For further information on the current grants awarded and application forms for future grant
rounds see our website at www.medicalresearch.co.nz.