A group of trailblazing University of Queensland staff and students have each been awarded $8000 to help develop their innovative research.
The researchers (listed below) are winners of UQ’s main technology commercialisation company UniQuest Pty Limited’s Trailblazer Challenge competition. The competition provides funding to advance research outcomes with commercial potential, develop new ideas and reward the key staff involved.
The presentations took place on Friday, November 14 at the UQ Staff and Graduates Club at the St Lucia campus. The five cash prizes are to be used at the discretion of the winners for equipment, travel or research costs.
UniQuest Pty Limited Managing Director David Henderson said the researchers would be offered assistance by a dedicated commercialisation advisor.
“The advisor will work with the researcher to maximise the market potential of the research, help with the protection of any intellectual property and assist with fundraising,” he said.
Mr Henderson said the competition was a way of stimulating innovation amongst those involved in research at UQ and rewarding their role in deriving and identifying ideas, inventions or research outcomes with substantial commercial potential.
Winners - PhD student Judy Peng – Cancer immunotherapy suitability diagnostic test. The test is an invention of Ms Peng and Associate Professor Ranjeny Thomas from the Centre for Immunology and Cancer Research. Currently at an early stage of development, the test may be useful to predict whether patients will respond well to dendritic cell cancer immunotherapy. Ms Peng also won the $5000 prize for best overall project, provided by leading intellectual property firm Fisher Adams Kelly. Partner with the firm Mark Horsburgh said the Trailblazer program was a great incentive for innovators to get involved in commercialisation. “As patent attorneys we see first hand the delay between innovation and commercial return but Trailblazers gives an immediate reward for commercial innovation,” he said.
- Dr Claudia Popa – Your dream come true – hair removal for good. Dr Popa from UQ’s Centre for Immunology and Cancer Research has identified a protein linked with hair growth. By ‘switching off’ this protein hair growth may be stopped. If the vision for this research is realised a topical cream packaged with moisturising lotion will be applied approximately weekly and will stop hair growing. If application of the cream is stopped hair will grow back.
- Associate Professor Arne Dahle and Dr Kazuhiro Nogita – Development of Hydrogen absorption Mg-Ni alloy by solidification technology. Dr Dahle and Dr Kazuhiro from the Division of Materials Engineering, in the Faculty of Engineering, Physical Sciences and Architecture aim to develop new alloy materials for storage of hydrogen in fuel-cell powered vehicles. The use of low-cost materials is expected to deliver significant cost savings over alternative technologies including the high-pressure tanks currently in use.
- Dr Joanne Blanchfield and Professor Istvan Toth – Peptide based analgesics. Opioids such a morphine are powerful pain relieving drugs, however, patients often experience serious side effects with their use and this limits their usefulness in many cases. Dr Blanchfield and Professor Toth, who hold joint appointments with the Faculty of Biological and Chemical Sciences and the Faculty of Health Sciences, are aiming to develop drugs that have the pain relieving effects of opioids without the side effects. They are attempting to use the brain’s natural hormones to mimic the opioid action in the brain without affecting any other organs.
- Associate Professor Maree Smith and Dr Craig Williams – New therapeutic approach to the alleviation of sciatica. Dr Smith from the Faculty of Health Sciences and Dr Williams from the Faculty of Biological and Chemical Sciences are developing new treatments for the pain caused by sciatica and other forms of nerve damage.
Media: For more information, contact UniQuest Pty Limited Manager - Corporate Development Anne-Marie Birkill (telephone 07 3365 4037, mobile 0438 436 179) or UniQuest Pty Limited Managing Director David Henderson (telephone 07 3365 4037, mobile 0418 745 404) or Chris Saxby at UQ Communications (telephone 07 3365 2479, email: c.saxby@uq.edu.au).
