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The Researcher Perspective on Obtaining Biospecimens and Data (RPOBD) is a national biobanking research project which wants to hear from biospecimen researchers about your practices and what future direction biobanking should go both nationally and locally in Western Australia.

The RPOBD survey would like West Australian health and medical researchers to contribute to an anonymous survey on biospecimen practices and researcher opinions. The survey is designed for researchers who have used, are using, or plan to use biospecimens / data or biobanking services in their research methods. If you’re at the beginning of your health and medical research career or have extensive experience the RPOBD team want to hear from you.

The survey aims to investigate:

• The needs and opinions of researchers towards current biobanking practices in WA;
• Researchers’ view on future development or models of biobanks in WA

Responses will allow biobanks, their stakeholders, and funders to understand the research demands for biobanking at a state level, as well as contribute to the national biobanking landscape. The survey will take less than 10 minutes to complete, and it’s planned for aggregate results from the responses of all states to be published.

If you have any questions about the survey or would like any additional information please email Amanda Rush (NSW Health).

Take the survey now

The survey shuts COB Friday, 13 March 2020

The Research Governance Service (RGS) is an interactive, secure web portal that assists Western Australian public health organisations in managing the ethics and governance processes for human research projects.

The centralised system enables researchers, sponsors, Human Research Ethics Committees, ethics and governance offices and site administrators to manage and track the governance of research though the entire research project lifecycle. This includes ethics approval, site (also called governance) authorisation, monitoring, complaints, publications and reporting.

This RGS online training course is designed to assist researchers and sponsors to navigate the RGS through the submission, ethics and governance review and approval processes for proposed projects as well as the monitoring, publications and complaints processes for approved research. It is highly recommended that participants unfamiliar with ethics and governance terminology and processes complete the RETProgram Good Clinical Practice (GCP) course prior to starting this course.

To learn more about the RGS course and to enroll please visit the RETProgram website.

The Linkage Projects scheme supports projects which initiate or develop long term strategic research alliances to apply advanced knowledge to problems, acquire new knowledge and as a basis for securing commercial and other benefits of research.

To facilitate successful collaboration between higher education institutions and other parts of the innovation system, there will be three assessment rounds for Linkage Projects for funding applied for in 2020, an d funding outcomes will be recommended to the Minister within six months of the application closing date for each round.

The Linkage Projects scheme objectives are to:

• Support the development of long-term strategic research alliances between higher education organisations and industry and other research end-users, in order to apply advanced knowledge to problems
• Provide opportunities for internationally competitive research projects to be conducted in collaboration with organisations outside the higher education sector
• Enhance the scale and focus of research in Australian Government priority areas

The intended outcomes of the Linkage Projects scheme are:

• The growth of a national pool of world-class researchers to meet the needs of the broader Australian innovation system
• Economic, commercial, environmental, social and/or cultural benefits for Australia

Applications may only be submitted through the Research Office of an Eligible Organisation listed in the Grant Guidelines. The application must nominate at least one Chief Investigator (CI). The first CI will be the Project Leader. Additional CIs and Partner Investigators (PIs) may be nominated in the application.

The Estimated Grant Value is between $50,000 to $300,000.

Grant applications close 2pm (AWST), Tuesday 1 December 2020.

Click here for more information

Australia is facing a kidney disease crisis – one in three adults are at risk of chronic kidney disease, one in ten have early signs of disease and more than 1.5 million have no idea they have chronic kidney disease.

The Action Plan for Kidney Disease Strategy (draft) has three priority areas with nine corresponding objectives and 34 individual action items for implementation by the Australian Government, State and Territories, the healthcare and research sectors and  chronic disease and consumer peak bodies. It’s anticipated the Action Plan will be released in March 2020.

The Kidney Disease Key Activities grant is to provide optimal care and support for patients, families and carers of those with kidney disease, health professional education and improve research and data on kidney disease.

To be eligible you must:

• Have an Australian Business Number (ABN)
• Be registered for the purposes of GST
• Be a permanent resident of Australia
• Have an account with an Australian financial institution

and be one of the following entity types:

• A company incorporated in Australia
• A company incorporated by guarantee
• An incorporated trustee on behalf of a trust
• An incorporated association
• A partnership
• A join (consortia) application with a lead organisation
• An Australian local government body
• An Australian state or territory government body
• An Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Corporation registered under the Corporations Act 2006

The total amount available is $2.25 million, with the estimated grant value starting from $250,000.

Applications close Thursday February 13 at 11am (AWST). Click here for more information

A world first project – led by Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital Consultant Nephroloigst Dr Aron Chakera – centres on two tests which have the potential to minimise complications of the more lifestyle friendly form of dialysis.

Peritoneal Dialysis (PD) can offer patients a better quality of life than conventional haemodialysis because it can be delivered outside the clinical setting. PD offers great flexibility for dialysis patients to pursue everyday activities, including employment. Haemodialysis is usually undertaken for periods of four to five hours at a time, three times a week, all year. It’s rarely available outside a hospital setting, preventing many patients from travelling far from their treating hospitals.

Doctors and patients are often wary of PD due to its heightened association with peritonitis – an infection within the abdomen – which can lead to treatment failure and death. What can make peritonitis fatal is determining the cause of infection can take time and delays the start of appropriate treatment. These delays can be even longer for patients living in remote areas.

Dr Chakera and his research team believe the solution could lie in two tests which slash the time taken to identify the cause of infection, enabling earlier treatment and reduced severity of infection.

One of the new tests is used like a home pregnancy test, with the appearance to two lines in a panel providing almost immediate confirmation of infection. The second test which has been developed in Western Australia by PathWest scientists, can not only reduce the wait time for a diagnosis by hours or even days but also predict antibiotic resistance.

Read the full media statement