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Annual Report 2015–2016

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ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR<br />

LEAH COSGROVE<br />

CSIRO (FOOD AND NUTRITIONAL<br />

SCIENCES)<br />

DEVELOPMENT GRANT<br />

$542,260<br />

2011–13<br />

Photo: Russell Millard Photography<br />

SANGUINE ADVANCES IN DETECTING COLORECTAL CANCER<br />

Associate Professor Leah Cosgrove and her team have<br />

developed a simple blood test to diagnose colorectal<br />

cancer. A reliable, non-invasive blood test could augment<br />

the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program, either<br />

as an adjunct primary screen for those unable to do the<br />

stool test, or in triaging positive subjects to colonoscopy.<br />

This could help drive a significant reduction in colorectal<br />

cancer deaths in Australia.<br />

PART 1 Overview<br />

PROFESSOR DAVID CRAIK<br />

UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND<br />

PROJECT GRANT<br />

$511,299<br />

2011–13<br />

Photo: Tony Phillips<br />

THE SCORPION KING: LIGHTING THE WAY TO DEFEATING<br />

BRAIN CANCER<br />

Professor David Craik and his team set out to make synthetic<br />

derivatives of a naturally occurring peptide, chlorotoxin, from<br />

the venom of a scorpion to use for brain tumour imaging.<br />

The work was based on a discovery by collaborator, Dr Jim<br />

Olson, that through attaching a dye to chlorotoxin it could<br />

be used to ‘light up’ tumours. This allows surgeons to pick<br />

up small amounts of cancerous tissue during surgery,<br />

reducing the risk of the tumour reoccurring.<br />

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR<br />

GORDON DOIG<br />

UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY<br />

PROJECT GRANT<br />

$845,052<br />

2010–13<br />

Photo: Grant Turner - MediaKoo<br />

PROTEIN: THE KEY TO IMPROVED KIDNEY FUNCTIONALITY<br />

Associate Professor Gordon Doig and his team showed<br />

that critically ill patients who received better nutrition were<br />

less likely to develop kidney injury. These findings represent<br />

an important first step towards global practice change<br />

and offers the potential to reduce the need for surgery,<br />

dialysis and transplantation.<br />

<strong>Annual</strong> <strong>Report</strong> of the National Health and Medical Research Council <strong>2015–2016</strong><br />

19

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