Two newborn health research projects at Hudson Institute are among 67 around Australia to receive funding from the Heart Foundation.
Dr Nhi Tran has received a Postdoctoral Fellowship and Dr Tayla Penny a Vanguard grant for their work, with both projects aimed at protecting vulnerable babies who suffer injury around the time of birth.
Dr Tran's project titled Improving Outcomes of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation of Asphyxiated Newborns with Prophylactic Creatine Supplementation is being funded to the tune of $163,000.
She says it aims to establish a novel paradigm in which enhancing cellular energy capacity within the heart and brain, using creatine before birth, can improve neonatal adaptation following birth asphyxia.
Current treatment strategies are limited to administration after a birth asphyxic event - Dr Tran poses whether a proactive approach that enhances a newborn's resilience can reduce the overall impact and severity of birth asphyxia.
Heart Foundation backs creatine research for vulnerable newborns
"Creatine is low cost and readily accessible, and as we gather more rigorous preclinical evidence indicating significant efficacy, this strategy has strong potential to improve heart health equity, particularly in settings with limited access to advanced neonatal care," she said.
"Ultimately, this study will provide the critical evidence towards translating antenatal creatine dietary supplementation to improve health outcomes for newborns."
Dr Penny's project, Using MRI guided focused ultrasound to improve the uptake of insulin like growth factor-1 as a treatment for perinatal stroke will receive $150,000.
It aims to determine whether delivering insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) directly to the brain using magnetic resonance imaging-guided focused ultrasound (MRIgFUS) can reduce brain injury following perinatal stroke.
Reducing impact of perinatal stroke
She says there are currently no treatments available for perinatal stroke, so this study will provide crucial evidence of the neuroprotective capacity of IGF-1 to reduce in these cases.
"Our lab contains the only people in the world to have used MRIgFUS in a neonatal setting, and this technique of therapeutic delivery to the brain has potential to impact various areas of drug delivery research," Dr Penny said.
The Heart Foundation's National Manager for Research, Dr Anna Calkin, said this funding would empower the country's leading cardiovascular researchers to pursue breakthroughs that could improve heart health and save lives.
"Research is critical to finding better ways to prevent heart disease, detect it earlier and develop better treatments for people living with it," Dr Calkin said.
"For more than 60 years, Heart Foundation-funded research has driven major advances in heart health in Australia including the pacemaker, new imaging methods and better treatments for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart failure, kidney damage and blood vessel disease.
"Behind every one of these projects is the potential to deepen our understanding of heart disease and ultimately improve the lives of people affected by it.
"None of this funding support would be possible without the generosity of Heart Foundation donors," she said.
