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- A new regulator of 'stemness' to create dendritic cell factories for immunotherapy
- Advanced imaging interrogation of pathogen induced NETosis
- Cancer driver deserts
- Cryo-electron microscopy of Wnt signalling complexes
- Deciphering the heterogeneity of breast cancer at the epigenetic and genetic levels
- Developing drugs to block malaria transmission
- Developing new computational tools for CRISPR genomics to advance cancer research
- Developing novel antibody-based methods for regulating apoptotic cell death
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- Dissecting host cell invasion by the diarrhoeal pathogen Cryptosporidium
- Do membrane forces govern assembly of the deadly apoptotic pore?
- Doublecortin-like kinases, drug targets in cancer and neurological disorders
- E3 ubiquitin ligases in neurodegeneration, autoinflammation and cancer
- Engineering improved CAR-T cell therapies
- Epigenetic biomarkers of tuberculosis infection
- Exploiting cell death pathways in regulatory T cells for cancer immunotherapy
- Finding treatments for chromatin disorders of intellectual disability
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- Genomic rearrangement detection with third generation sequencing technology
- How does DNA damage shape disease susceptibility over a lifetime?
- How does DNA hypermutation shape the development of solid tumours?
- How platelets prevent neonatal stroke
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- Interaction with Toxoplasma parasites and the brain
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- Investigating the role of dysregulated Tom40 in neurodegeneration
- Investigating the role of mutant p53 in cancer
- Lupus: proteasome inhibitors and inflammation
- Machine learning methods for somatic genome rearrangement detection
- Malaria: going bananas for sex
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- Revealing the epigenetic origins of immune disease
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- Structural and functional analysis of DNA repair complexes
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- Towards targeting altered glial biology in high-grade brain cancers
- Uncovering the real impact of persistent malaria infections
- Understanding Plasmodium falciparum invasion of red blood cells
- Understanding how malaria parasites sabotage acquisition of immunity
- Understanding malaria infection dynamics
- Understanding the mechanism of type I cytokine receptor activation
- Unveiling the heterogeneity of small cell lung cancer
- Using alpaca antibodies to understand malaria invasion and transmission
- Using combination immunotherapy to tackle heterogeneous brain tumours
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Discovery Fund

The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute Discovery Fund
We have established our Discovery Fund to identify and fund areas of medical research that represent our best hope for future advances in health and medicine. Government funding for medical research has plateaued over the last five years and as competition for resources becomes fiercer, there has been a marked tendency to fund safer, more conservative research.
There are four key opportunities for you to help us make these advances a reality:
1. Advancing personalised medicine
In 2003, after 15 years work and an investment of $3 billion, the first human genome sequence was unveiled. Ten years later, we can sequence a human genome overnight and for less than $1,000. This remarkable advance means our biologists, mathematicians and computational scientists can collaborate with their clinical colleagues in adjacent hospitals to routinely use genomic information in diagnosing and treating patients.
Our vision is to be able to tailor the most effective therapies for a patient, and identify potential targets for new improved therapies.
2. Eureka funding
Some of the biggest advances in medical research come from out of left field. With Eureka funding, scientists will have the time and space to flex their creativity and explore ideas to their full potential.
In 2013 researchers in the Infection and Immunity division, along with collaborators, made the surprising discovery that malaria parasites can ‘talk’ to each other. This ability to communicate improves the parasite’s chance of survival and transmission to other humans. The unexpected discovery fundamentally changed our view of the malaria parasite, and it is hoped this will lead to new antimalarial drugs or vaccines for preventing malaria.
We want our researchers to think outside of the box. With Eureka funding we can support them in doing so.
3. Bridging the ‘Valley of Death’
One of the major bottlenecks in medical research is moving from the identification of a disease mechanism or therapeutic target to the discovery of a potential new medicine. The funding between target discovery and clinical trial is a no-man’s land, which has been termed the valley of death.
We are unique in Australia in having biologists, chemists and structural biologists who are committed to collaboration and have a wonderful track record of drug discoveries that have improved the lives of millions of patients; however the resources we have available to promote these collaborations are severely limiting.
4. Technological innovation
Increasingly our scientists work collaboratively with technical specialists in microscopy, imaging, genomics and other advanced technologies. Being able to work at the frontiers of the latest technology significantly advances our understanding of the biological world.
We need to support scientists and technologists to work together if we are to tackle some of the most challenging health issues facing humankind. Investing in the latest equipment is only half the story.
Support a Discovery Fund initiative
If you would like to support one of our exciting Discovery Fund initiatives, please contact Sally Elford on 03 9345 2345 or elford.s@wehi.edu.au.