Therapeutic Innovation Australia (TIA), in partnership with Phenomics Australia and the National Deuteration Facility (NDF), is thrilled to announce the successful recipients of the Pipeline Accelerator 2024-25 (Round 1).
Supported through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS), this initiative helps address the medical products challenge outlined in the 2021 National Research Infrastructure (NRI) Roadmap. Together, TIA, NDF, and Phenomics Australia provide academic researchers and SMEs access to world-class Australian translational medical research infrastructure, spanning the molecular basis of health and disease through to clinical trials.
This round, 37 projects, including one Technical Feasibility Assessment (TFA), will share a total of $1,263,387 in voucher awards with a total cash co-investment fund of $1,316,674, facilitating access to NRI to accelerate therapeutic translation and improve human health. Supported research areas includes Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, oncology, and infectious diseases. These vouchers will subsidise a maximum of $50,000 of the total cost to access these translation NRIs.
Notably, several recipients are continuing their journey with us, with nearly a quarter having previously received support through this Pipeline Accelerator scheme – a testament to its impact and value in advancing therapeutic research. For instance, Dr. Nicole van Bergen from Murdoch Children’s Research Institute has previously received support from both TIA and Phenomics Australia, highlighting the sustained value of these initiatives. Similarly, Dr. Dannel Yeo’s team was recently awarded a TFA voucher to explore the feasibility of tumour infiltrating lymphocyte therapy for appendiceal cancer. Building on this foundation, Dr. Yeo is now advancing the project further with the support of a new Pipeline Accelerator voucher.
Among the recipients, we would like to highlight Dr Aude Dorison’s (Murdoch Children’s Research Institute)’s project on screening for new treatments for glomerular disease with a new stem cell reporter line. This project is jointly supported by the Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Derivation & CRISPR Gene Editing Facility (MCRI) (Phenomics Australia) and Drug Discovery Facility (TIA).
For TIA, this round marks a significant milestone, bringing the total number of awards over the 200 mark. This small scheme that started as a pilot in 2017 has now grown to become a fixture of the biotechnology landscape in Australia.
Click here to see the Phenomics Australia voucher recipients.
The full list of awardees for the TIA Pipeline Accelerator and Technical Feasibility Assessment 2024-25 (Round 1) can be found below.
| Recipient Name | Recipient Affiliation | Project Title | Provider Facility |
| Prof Katherine Andrews | Griffith University | Screening chemically diverse compounds that represent untested chemical space for activity against Plasmodium malaria parasites | National Drug Discovery Centre |
| Dr Sheng Yu Ang | Monash University | Potent and selective non-hallucinogenic serotonin 2A receptor agonists for the treatment of severe mental health disorders | Australian Translational Medicinal Chemistry Facility |
| Dr Stephan Brouwer | University of Queensland | Development of an optimised vaccine formulation to prevent Group A Streptococcus infection | Protein Expression Facility |
| Dr Rosemary Cater | University of Queensland | FLVCR2 inhibition for the treatment of glioblastoma | Compounds Australia, Qld Emory Drug Discovery Initiative and IBG-Nathan Mass Spec Facility |
| Prof Peter Currie | Monash University | Development of NAMPT-cif Fc fusion for treatment of muscle disease | CSIRO Biomedical Manufacturing |
| Prof Bryan Day | QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute | Novel Eph Receptor Antibody Drug Conjugate Therapy Development for the Treatment of Paediatric Brain Cancer | National Biologics Facility |
| Dr Bijay Dhungel | University of Sydney | Muscle-targeted adeno-associated viruses for safer gene therapy | Vector and Genome Engineering Facility |
| Dr Aude Dorison | Murdoch Children’s Research Institute | Screening for new treatments for glomerular disease with a new stem cell reporter line | Drug Discovery Facility, Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Derivation & CRISPR Gene Editing Facility |
| Dr Frances Evesson | University of Sydney | Therapeutic possibilities for PYROXD1 myopathy | mRNA CORE |
| A Prof Richard Gordon | Queensland University of Technology | Screening and validation of novel therapeutic agents for inflammation resolution and neuroprotection in Parkinson’s disease | Compounds Australia |
| Dr Kavitha Gowrishankar | Sydney Children’s Hospital Network | EphA2 Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cell Therapy for Children with Bone Tumours: A Phase I Clinical Trial | Sydney Cell and Gene Therapy |
| A Prof Zi (Sophia) Gu | University of New South Wales | Development of a mRNA nanoparticle formulation for low back pain treatment | RNA Institute |
| Mrs Harsha Gupta | Cynata Therapeutics Limited | Development of cryopreserved wound patches with stem cells ready for thawing at point of care | Cell & Tissue Therapies WA |
| A Prof Willem Joost Lesterhuis | Kids Research Institute Australia | Lead-to-candidate optimisation of a small molecule oncology drug | Centre for Drug Candidate Optimisation |
| Dr Brian Liddicoat | exteRNA | Targeting novel RNA biology in cancer | Monash Fragment Platform |
| Dr Rebecca Nisbet | Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health | Development of an active immunotherapy for Alzheimer’s disease | mRNA CORE |
| Dr Ralph Patrick | University of Queensland | Synthesis and Characterization of Transcription Factor Inhibitors for Therapeutic Interventions in Age-Related Conditions | Centre for Drug Candidate Optimisation and Qld Emory Drug Discovery Initiative |
| Prof Damian F.J. Purcell | University of Melbourne | RNA Powered Antiviral Antibodies | National Biologics Facility |
| Dr Chengxue Helena Qin | Monash University | Novel disease-modifying approach to treat pulmonary hypertension | Australian Translational Medicinal Chemistry Facility |
| Dr Ioanna Savvidou | Monash university | Development of endothelial targeted-CD39 as a novel treatment for micro circulatory thrombosis in stroke and global brain ischaemia. | Biologics Innovation Facility |
| Dr Nicole van Bergen | Murdoch Children’s Research Institute | High-throughput drug screening for paediatric epilepsy due to pathogenic variants in CDKL5 | Compounds Australia and Drug Discovery Facility |
| A Prof Nicholas Veldhuis | Monash University | Assessing efficacy of new generation analgesic nanoparticles for osteoarthritic pain | Centre for Integrated Preclinical Drug Development |
| Dr Mai Ngoc Vu | University of Melbourne | Harnessing mRNA Lipid Nanoparticles For Efficient Delivery Of Influenza Monoclonal Antibody Therapeutics | BASE Facility |
| Prof Carl Walkley | Hudson Institute of Medical Research and Monash University | Developing new therapies to treat ADAR1 mutant disease. | ANU Centre for Therapeutic Discovery |
| A Prof Michelle Wykes | QIMR Berghofer/ Fovero Therapeutics | Novel therapy for cancer | CSIRO Biomedical Manufacturing |
| Dr Dannel Yeo | Centenary Institute | Tumour infiltrating lymphocyte therapy for appendiceal cancer | Cell & Molecular Therapies |
| A Prof Elizabeth Ng (TFA voucher recipient) | Murdoch Children’s Research Institute | Autologous haematopoietic stem cells, moving transplantation into the 21st century | Cell Therapies |
