New funding to drive innovative child health research

Six researchers from The Kids Research Institute Australia have secured funding through the WA Child Research Fund – established by the WA Department of Health and the Channel 7 Telethon Trust - for innovative projects aimed at improving outcomes for children through advances in treatment, disease prevention and safer healthcare.

The successful projects span some of the most pressing challenges in child health, from developing new therapies for childhood cancers to strengthening protection against infectious diseases and reducing risks associated with surgery.

The funded projects are:

• Dr Sebastien Malinge (WA Comprehensive Kids Cancer Centre, The Kids and The University of Western Australia) – AIMAML: Accelerating the development of immunotherapies for children with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia, using world-first models of childhood AML to better understand how leukaemia interacts with a young immune system, and develop safer and more effective treatments for these children.
• Professor Joost Lesterhuis (WA Comprehensive Kids Cancer Centre, The Kids and The University of Western Australia) – Developing safe and effective immunotherapy for children with sarcoma, creating next-generation targeted immunotherapies designed specifically for paediatric sarcomas that not only attack cancer cells but also help the immune system continue fighting the disease.
• Professor Peter Richmond (The Kids, Perth Children’s Hospital and The University of Western Australia) – Optimising maternal pertussis immunisation for infants – the PertaMUM trial, investigating whether a different vaccine approach during pregnancy can provide babies with stronger protection against whooping cough and other serious infections during their most vulnerable first months of life.
• Dr Omar Elaskalani (WA Comprehensive Kids Cancer Centre, The Kids and The University of Western Australia) – When less is more: a gentler immunotherapy that helps children's immune cells fight cancer longer without burning out, pioneering a new immunotherapy approach that could help children's cancer-fighting immune cells remain effective for longer while reducing treatment-related exhaustion.
• Professor Chris Brennan-Jones (The Kids, Curtin University and Perth Children’s Hospital) - The Earflo Study: an adaptive randomised controlled trial of a Eustachian tube autoinflation device to improve the resolution of otitis media with effusion in children, testing a world-first, non-surgical treatment for otitis media with effusion (glue ear), a common condition that can cause hearing loss and impact children's speech, learning and development.
• Professor Britta von Ungern-Sternberg (The Kids, Perth Children’s Hospital and The University of Western Australia) – BELUGA: A multicentre, international randomised controlled trial, investigating whether changes in airway management during surgery can reduce breathing complications, one of the most common causes of anaesthesia-related complications in children.

Executive Director Professor Caroline Homer AO congratulated the researchers on their success and said the grants reflected the strength and breadth of child health research underway at The Kids.

“These grants recognise the outstanding researchers we have at The Kids and their commitment to tackling some of the biggest health challenges facing children and families,” Professor Homer said.

“It is particularly exciting to see support for projects that span the full spectrum of child health, from developing innovative treatments and strengthening disease prevention to improving the safety of healthcare for children.”

The WACRF was established by the Department of Health and the Channel 7 Telethon Trust in 2012 to provide financial support to research projects that focus on the health of children and adolescents in WA.