The University of Queensland’s Dr Trent Woodruff has been recognised for his research into a new drug to help sufferers of neurodegenerative diseases.
Dr Woodruff was recently awarded the Queensland Premier’s Award for Health and Medical Research (post-doctoral category) for his work into an anti-inflammatory drug.
The new drug class aims to ease suffering for the victims of neurodegenerative diseases including Huntington’s, Motor Neuron and Alzheimer’s disease.
The $5000 cash prize was awarded for excellence in post-doctoral (up to five years post-PhD) medical research in Queensland.
Dr Woodruff said the drug had successfully completed early phase safety clinical trials and was currently being developed by Arana Therapeutics based in Sydney.
“Although further human trials are required to assess its efficacy in patients with neurodegenerative diseases, it holds promise as a new drug class to treat these debilitating conditions,” Dr Woodruff said.
The UQ graduate completed a PhD in pharmacology and formally worked for Promics Ltd to further develop the drug for use in humans.
“The work our lab is doing is at the forefront of research in this field (complement-mediated diseases) and is a really exciting area of medical research,” Dr Woodruff said.
“Indeed, the drug we have developed is now internationally recognised as the most advanced in its field, and is the gold standard amongst other researchers.
“Our drug is now routinely used by international researchers to determine the role of C5a in a wide variety of immuno-inflammatory diseases and this is a gratifying achievement, especially as it was discovered here at UQ.”
Dr Woodruff also recently received the Denis Wade Johnson and Johnson New Investigator Award from the Australasian Society of Clinical and Experimental Pharmacologists and Toxicologists.
As part of the award, he has been invited to speak at the upcoming Australian Health and Medical Research Congress held in Brisbane in November.
Dr Woodruff will be presented with the award at the Congress.
The young scientist’s list of accolades is extensive including fellowships from the Australian Research Council; the Motor Neuron Disease Research Institute; and the National Health and Medical Research Council for a Career Development Award.
“Being a young research scientist can be tough so it is a great honour to be awarded these grants and prizes to enable me to focus on my effort to improve therapeutic treatment of some truly dreadful diseases,” Dr Woodruff said.
“I am looking forward to continuing my work here at UQ, in the School of Biomedical Sciences, which has fostered my development for the last 10 years since I was an undergraduate.”
Media: Dr Trent Woodruff (3365 8275, t.woodruff@uq.edu.au) or Eliza Plant at UQ Communications (07 3365 2619)
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