NHMRC Ideas Grant 2025
Pictured Prof Lisa Hui & A/Prof Fiona Brownfoot
The NHMRC Ideas Grants scheme funding outcomes for 2025 have been announced and we are very proud to let you know that out of the 2347 applications submitted with 190 funded projects, the Department of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Newborn Health are very proud to that 2 of our researchers were successfully awarded as CIA's. A huge congratulations to Prof Lisa Hui & A/Prof Fiona Brownfoot and their teams for being awarded funding in this 2025 Ideas Grant Scheme.
Prof Lisa Hui leads the project Mapping the fetal extracellular vesicle and immune cell landscapes of congenital cytomegalovirus infection for biomarker and therapeutic target discovery along with team Dr Ishara Atukorala and Prof David Baud.
Congenital cytomegalovirus is an infection passed from mother to baby before birth and is the leading infectious cause of childhood hearing loss and disability in Australia. This research will revolutionise how we detect and treat congenital cytomegalovirus by discoverying early warning signals and potential therapies from the baby’s own cells and amniotic fluid. It will give families clearer answers during pregnancy and pave the way for personalised treatment of serious fetal infections.
A/Prof Fiona Brownfoot leads the project Preventing stillbirths globally: artificial intelligence decision support for fetal asphyxia detection in labour with Dr Debjyoti Karmakar as CIB.
A quarter of the world's stillbirths occur during labour. The WHO estimated as many as 1 million survivors of birth asphyxia may develop cerebral palsy or learning difficulties annually. Currently, we use a fetal heart rate trace to determine if the baby is stressed. Often this trace can be misinterpreted by clinicians. In this project we will utilise novel artificial intelligence to determine whether computerised analysis of the CTG may better detect fetal distress and reduce stillbirth.
NHMRC is investing almost $280 million to support 190 innovative projects that address specific questions in medical research that contribute to the improvement of human health.