19 June 2026
Therapeutic Innovation Australia (TIA), in partnership with Phenomics Australia, Bioplatforms Australia and ANSTO’s National Deuteration Facility, is thrilled to announce the successful recipients of the Pipeline Accelerator 2025-26 (Round 2).
Enabled by the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS), these four NCRIS providers are working in partnership to help address the medical products challenge outlined in the 2021 National Research Infrastructure (NRI) Roadmap. Together, they provide academic researchers and SMEs seamless access to world-class Australian translational research infrastructure, from understanding the molecular basis of health and disease through to early-phase clinical trials.
In this round, 42 projects will share a total of $1,230,128 in voucher awards with a total cash co-investment fund of $1,528,148. These vouchers will help subsidise the cost of access to these translational NRIs, accelerating therapeutic development across a range of health challenges, including Motor Neuron Disease, malaria, osteoarthritis pain, spinal cord injury and asthma.
This round, five projects have also been awarded supplementary vouchers to access Bioplatforms Australia capabilities, in addition to vouchers to access TIA and Phenomics Australia facilities:
- Dr Jennilee Davidson (Macquarie University) – Vector and Genome Engineering Facility (TIA) and StemCore (Bioplatforms Australia)
- Dr Emily Grace (Flinders University) – Compounds Australia (TIA) and South Australian Genomics Centre (Bioplatforms Australia)
- Dr Thomas Iosifidis (the Kids Research Institute Australia) – Drug Target Identification (TIA), Australian Genome Research Facility (Bioplatforms Australia)
- Dr Laura Croft (Queensland University of Technology) – Australian Organoid Facility (Phenomics Australia) and StemCore (Bioplatforms Australia)
- Dr Nathalie Saurat (Monash University) – Victorian Centre for Functional Genomics (Phenomics Australia), Monash Proteomics & Metabolomics Platform (Bioplatforms Australia)
These projects demonstrate how the NCRIS network is working closely together to maximise the benefit of Australia’s world-class medical innovation.
Notably, 62% of the TIA funding recipients are women, and 45% are early- to mid-career researchers (EMCRs), reflecting the strong representation of both women and emerging research leaders among this year’s awardees.
Click here to see the Phenomics Australia voucher recipients.
Learn more about the Pipeline Accelerator scheme here.
The full list of awardees for the TIA Pipeline Accelerator 2025-26 (Round 2) can be found below.
| Recipient Name | Recipient Affiliation | Project Title | Provider Facility |
| Dr Jennilee Davidson | Macquarie University | Advanced gene therapy optimisation for ALS and FTD | Vector and Genome Engineering Facility (TIA), StemCore (Bioplatfoms Australia) |
| Dr Bliss Cunningham | The University of Melbourne | Advancing development of an antibiotic potentiator therapeutic | Centre for Drug Candidate Optimisation, Centre for Integrated Preclinical Drug Development |
| Professor Sarah Vreugde | Adelaide University | Assessing the manufacturability of a new probiotic species | CSIRO Biotherapeutics |
| Dr Natalee Newton | The School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland | Broad-spectrum Japanese Encephalitis virus vaccines using ancestral state reconstruction | BASE Facility |
| Associate Professor Fernando S. F. Guimaraes | The University of Queensland | De Novo Antibody Generation Against Glycosylated Cancer Antigens for Next-Generation Immunotherapies | National Biologics Facility, BASE Facility |
| Professor Stephanie Watson OAM | The University of Sydney | Developing a GMP Compliant Manufacturing Process for Sight Lens, a cultured Limbal Epithelial Stem Cell Device | Cell & Molecular Therapies |
| Dr Nancy Wang | Murdoch Children’s Research Institute | Developing a Salmonella combination vaccine for protection against enteric fever and invasive salmonellosis | mRNA Core |
| Dr John W Scott | Monash University | Development of a clinical-grade CAMKK2 inhibitor for the treatment of castration-resistant prostate cancer | Centre for Drug Candidate Optimisation |
| Dr Stefanie Buchholz | Griffith University | Development of a Continuous Bioprocessing Platform for Antibody Purification from CHO Supernatant | National Biologics Facility |
| Dr Annaliese Dillon | Monash University | Development of a New, Irresistible medicines for Malaria | Centre for Drug Candidate Optimisation |
| A/Prof David Croucher | Garvan Institute of Medical Research | Development of a selective inhibitor of metastatic relapse | Australian Translational Medicinal Chemistry Facility |
| Dr Steven Suchting | Emenda Therapeutics Australia Pty Ltd | Development of intra-articular SRPK1/CLK1 inhibitors for osteoarthritis pain | Centre for Drug Candidate Optimisation, Centre for Integrated Preclinical Drug Development |
| Associate Professor Natalie Borg | RMIT University | Development of anti-viral agents targeting severe viral infections | CSIRO Biotherapeutics |
| Dr Manuela Jörg | Monash University | Development of pan-flaviviral protease inhibitors | Monash Fragment Platform |
| Associate Professor Fabrice Jaffré | Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute, Monash University | Discovery of new therapies for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in Noonan syndrome using a hiPSC-based high-throughput drug screening platform | Victorian Centre for Functional Genomics |
| Dr Emily Grace | Flinders University | Discovery of Prophage-Inducing Compounds as a Novel Strategy for Targeted Antibacterial Therapy | Compounds Australia (TIA) , South Australian Genomics Centre (Bioplatforms Australia) |
| Dr Seen Ling Sim | The University of Queensland, Frazer Institute, Experimental Dermatology group | Dual-Action mRNA Therapy for RDEB: Restoring Skin Integrity and Reducing Chronic Itch | BASE Facility |
| Dr Katherine Audsley | Beavis Laboratory, Cancer Immunology Research Division, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre | Enhancing CAR-T cell therapy with mRNA vaccination | mRNA Core |
| Professor Jana Vukovic | The University of Queensland | GP130 Agonists for the treatment of brain and spinal cord injury | Centre for Drug Candidate Optimisation, Centre for Integrated Preclinical Drug Development, Queensland Emory Drug Discovery Initiative |
| Professor Dipti Talaulikar | Australian National University | High-Throughput Drug Sensitivity Screening in Multiple Myeloma | ANU Centre for Therapeutic Discovery |
| Dr Hannah Kelly | Australian National University | Improving mRNA vaccines for malaria with precision vaccinology | BASE Facility |
| Dr Phillip Pymm | WEHI | mRNA LNP vaccine design for endemic and emerging Henipaviral diseases. | mRNA Core |
| Dr Li-Jin Chan | WEHI | mRNA-LNP vaccines targeting multiple stages of the malaria parasite lifecycle | mRNA Core |
| Dr Sasanan Trakansuebkul | Children’s Cancer Institute | Multiplexed Evaluation of Splice‑Site Selectivity for RNA‑Targeted Therapeutics | Compounds Australia, ACRF Drug Discovery Centre |
| PhD Gabriel Reis Ferreira | Intelligence Center in Emerging and Neglected Tropical Conditions (CIATEN) | RNA-Based Nanotechnology for the Control of Leishmania | RNA Institute |
| Dr Stuart Mudge | Lateral Pharma Pty Ltd | Scale-up of LAT9997 as a treatment for chronic neuropathic pain | Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre |
| Dr Thomas Iosifidis | The Kids Research Institute Australia | Target Identification for Small molecule Therapeutics in Asthma | Drug Target Identification (TIA), Australian Genome Research Facility (Bioplatforms Australia) |
| Professor Wendy Gold | 1 The School of Medical Sciences, the University of Sydney; 2 Kids Neuroscience Centre, Kids Research, Sydney Children’s Hospital Network | Transformational Drug Discovery for TAOK1 Neurodevelopmental Disorder | ACRF Drug Discovery Centre |
| Dr Kelsie Raspin | Menzies Institute for Medical Research, University of Tasmania | Using zebrafish to assess the potential of mitochondrial-associated genes as therapeutic targets for metastatic cancer | Vector and Genome Engineering Facility |