14 September 2021
South Australian Scientist of the Year, UniSA Professor Sharad Kumar, has been awarded $2.9 million to help improve the lives of approximately six million Australians.
That’s the number of people collectively diagnosed with heart disease, cancer, and chronic kidney disease each year, 100,000 of whom will lose their health battle by year’s end.
Prof Kumar AO will use the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Federal Government funding to lead a five-year project to help prevent and develop new treatments for these diseases and others.
His team at UniSA and SA Pathology’s Centre for Cancer Biology has made significant progress in recent years to understand the role that specific cells play in serious health conditions, and this grant will continue that work.
The project will focus on the biochemical processes of a protein called ubiquitin to regulate the body and why it breaks down sometimes, leading to a range of diseases.
Prof Kumar's project is one of 254 NHMRC Investigator Grants announced today, totalling $400 million, to support hundreds of research leaders and teams around the country.
Media contact: Candy Gibson M: +61 434 605 142 E: candy.gibson@unisa.edu.au
