In June, 38 PhD students from across Australia submitted single-page synopses in a bid to win a $10,000 award. Their projects had to be related to cell or biological therapies – and had to demonstrate commercial potential. We talked with the seven winners about their ground-breaking research, their lives as a researcher and how they’re likely to spend their $10,000.
Meet our AusHealth CureCell Award Winners for 2024
Kimberley Gunther
PhD Candidate, Institute for Molecular Bioscience (University of Queensland)
Kimberley Gunther is from the Institute for Molecular Bioscience (University of Queensland). The AusHealth CureCell award winner talks about her research into mRNA therapy for sepsis patients – and how students, not just projects, need funding.
Congratulations on winning $10,000, Kim! How did it feel when you were told?
A little bit unreal, to be honest. I learned I’d won on a Friday afternoon – and it felt a bit crazy.
How did you first learn about the AusHealth CureCell Awards?
The award was advertised through our regular institute communications channels. I took it to my supervisor and said, ‘I think my project fits into this category... should I apply for it?’
He said, 'You know what? It actually does fit quite well – go for it!’
I put in my application, not really expecting it to go any further, and was very pleasantly surprised to be shortlisted.
As a PhD researcher, how big a deal is it to receive a sum like this?
Honestly, when you calculate the hours that we work for our scholarship, we get paid below minimum wage. So, $10,000 is a major increase for the year. Most PhD students get by on their stipend, but there's no room for anything else. We don't get any money paid into our superannuation, for example, and there’s no extra money being paid into an emergency fund.
Can you take us through your project using non-scientific terms?
I'll do my best! As an immunologist, I work on the immune system, which is a system of cells that fights off bad things when they get into your body. So, your immune system is responsible for creating inflammation, which can be very detrimental in autoinflammatory diseases and autoimmune conditions; but this system is also responsible for fighting off infections like bacteria and viruses.
What we're attempting to do is basically redirect your immune system to do the things that we want it to do. So, I'm using a new and popular method of mRNA delivery – the same method used by the COVID-19 vaccine – to deliver some instructions that tell our immune cells to switch off inflammation and switch on the mechanisms to fight infection.
You’re in your last year of research – how’s the project going?
We've had pretty good success in what we call in vitro models – in cells that we grow in a dish – and seen promising results in a mouse model, where we've been able to reduce these harmful levels of inflammation.
Next year, I'm trialling a different delivery method for my therapeutic. I want to solidify the mouse model with an intravenous injection, because I think that's going to be the most effective and most easily administered method into humans.
The AusHealth CureCell Awards are quite heavily focussed on commercial projects. Where’s your project on its commercial pathway?
We have connections with the commercialisation body at the University of Queensland and already have a patent filed for the work. We’ve been doing discovery-based research and the next step in the pathway is to try and find partnerships with a private company to take our therapy forward to the next stage.
Would you encourage other PhD students to apply for an AusHealth CureCell Award?
Yes! I think it's amazing that AusHealth is using its resources to help new generations of scientists. The funding of PhD students is often overlooked in preference for the funding of projects. But it’s the students whose feet are on the ground – we’re the ones training to be that next generation of scientists who are hopefully going to make more of those big discoveries.
Dylan McPeake
PhD Candidate, University of Adelaide
AusHealth CureCell award winner Dylan McPeake from the University of Adelaide is researching the use of CAR-T cells in the treatment of solid tumours. He talks about the financial stresses PhD students face when doing their work – and how a $10,000 can make all the difference.
Dylan, congratulations on your award! PhD students typically have to get by on less than minimum wage. What sort of difference will $10,000 make?
It’s almost life changing. It means not having to stress about finances – and doing a PhD and working longer than full-time hours is already stressful enough! I’ve been quite lucky in that I worked before I started the PhD, so I had some savings, but I know people who have to work other jobs and they're not able to have much of a life outside of that.
Can you summarise your research project for a lay audience?
Sure. I work with Chimeric Antigen Receptor [CAR] T-cells, which is a fairly new immunotherapy for the treatment of cancer. We take a cancer patient’s T-cells and give them a receptor that allows those T-cells to actually recognise cancer cells; we transfer those T-cells back into the patient to treat the cancer. While it’s a really successful therapy in treating blood cancers like leukemia, it's a different story for solid tumours. My project is trying to improve the efficacy of these CAR-T-cells by improving their infiltration into solid tumours.
Speaking broadly, do you think we’re getting closer in the fight against cancer?
These CAR-T cell therapies are personalised treatments and they’re really making progress. And look, it amazes me to think I've cured cancer in mice! Of course, achieving that result in a human is obviously quite difficult, but we’re definitely making progress.
You’ve got another year on your project. Do you know where you’d like to go after your PhD finishes?
I’m working with biotechnology company Carina Biotech as part of the project – they're running a clinical trial for one of their CAR-T cells. I'd be very interested in continuing to work on that in whatever way I can.
The AusHealth CureCell Awards will be running again in June 2025. What advice would you give to other students considering submitting a pitch?
I'd say just go for it! Throughout my PhD, I've always tried to take full advantage of any opportunity. The worst thing somebody can say is ‘no’, right? And the application process really wasn't too difficult – in fact, I found the exercise useful. It focusses your mind on your project and how to best sell it.
I’m also really excited to meet the other winners – they're obviously amazing scientists and working on a broad range of projects. I spent six months working in a German laboratory and it was remarkable how meeting new people expanded my network. I look forward to seeing if we award winners can collaborate in any way.
Maximilian Garwood
PhD Candidate, University of Queensland
Maximilian Garwood has received the inaugural Marine Bioproducts CRC CureCell Award for Marine Medical Biotech. The University of Queensland researcher talks about his groundbreaking work attempting to produce therapeutic monoclonal antibodies in microalgae.
Congratulations on winning your award, Max. How did it feel to be given $10,000?
It felt great! But it was a surprise because the project I'm working on is kind-of left field for an award in cell therapy. Even though I come from a human disease background, I transitioned into working with microalgae...
Which is probably a good time to tell us about your project! Can you explain it for a non-scientific audience, please?
Yes, no problem. Monoclonal antibodies are increasingly being used to treat cancer and auto-immune diseases like arthritis, in fact five of the most successful biopharmaceuticals ever produced are monoclonal antibodies. They're basically proteins and are currently produced in very small quantities in mammalian cells. They’re also very expensive to produce and need specialised facilities.
Our project wants to try and produce these proteins in microalgae.
That sounds radical...
Well, it’s never been done effectively before. If we succeed it will be a much easier production method and much cheaper. Microalgae are single-celled organisms that gave rise to plants millions of years ago; because they photosynthesise, they convert carbon dioxide into oxygen, so the production should be much more sustainable, too.
To what extent have you been focused on the possibilities of translating your research into a commercial proposition?
I’d say this project is more commercial than it is pure research. We're not trying to discover new monoclonal antibodies, instead we're trying to figure out a new system to produce them. We’re targeting some of the most important monoclonal antibodies and trying to produce them effectively and efficiently in microalgae. If our system works, we should be able to produce a whole range of monoclonal antibodies at greater scale, lower cost, more easily and more sustainably.
Do you have a timeline for your research?
I'm about eight months into my PhD, so there's a long runway left in terms of the project itself. By the end of 2025, we want to have the chassis set up, so we’ll be able to start testing our methods of producing monoclonal antibodies in microalgae.
How important is $10,000 to a PhD researcher?
It’s incredibly important, especially when the cost of living is rising. A lot of public academia receives less and less money, which makes it harder to get by. Even if you're lucky enough to be at a research institute that provides some of the higher stipends, it's still well below minimum wage. When I tell my housemates how much I make for the hours I work each week, they're gobsmacked. And the media aren’t talking about it. In fact, it’s got to the point where academia and public research have been told to ‘just deal with it’.
What will you do with the award?
I’ll use it to help out with rent and with food. But having said that, I’m also going to spend a small portion of the award on my project – I’m going to get a tiny bioreactor to grow microalgae. It costs about $1,000 and will allow me to control a whole range of things like day/night cycling, UV exposure and CO2 administration on a small scale.
But that's what’s amazing about the award -- it supports a PhD student’s living expenses, but also allows for some project-related fun!
Rakshanya Sekar
PhD Candidate, Australian National University
AusHealth CureCell award winner Rakshanya Sekar (Australian National University) talks about using the body’s own blood cells to treat irreversible vision loss – and how the $10,000 award has boosted her fortunes in more ways than one.
Rakshanya, congratulations on winning your award!
Thank you! I was very pleasantly surprised – and very honoured!
How did you come to learn about the AusHealth CureCell awards?
I saw a post on LinkedIn about two or three weeks before the deadline. But like most researchers, I left it to the very last minute to apply...
Don’t worry, you weren't alone there! Did the money come at a good time?
At a great time. I’m very close to submitting my PhD so I'm in the process of job hunting. As soon as I hit that ‘send’ button, my scholarship runs out, so having an extra bit of money will really help. Also, I think the recognition will help, too...
You see value in just receiving the award?
Absolutely! It's an incredibly competitive job market, where it's more than just publications, patents and presentations. With an award like this you’ve been recognised by AusHealth – an external entity that people respect.
And the award is interesting because it’s not just about the basic research, but how translatable your project is. How innovative is your research? How much impact will it have once you commercialise it? Having that aspect of your work recognised is really cool.
Could you explain your research project to a lay person?
Absolutely. I'm looking at developing novel ways to treat age-related macular degeneration, or AMD, which is the number one cause of irreversible blindness in Australia. It affects one in seven people over the age of 50. My research is exploring how we can use the patient's own red blood cells to treat vision loss experienced during AMD.
Can we ask you about the commercial potential of your work? Have you put much thought into how you might translate your research?
I've been quite fortunate to work in an academic environment where taking your research from the bench to the bedside is one of the main goals. So, I’ve gone through a few accelerators with members of my lab where research teams are encouraged to think about the commercial potential of their projects, including product development, the product/market fit and the regulatory pathway to bring a product to market.
Do you think PhD researchers could be more more mindful about commercialisation? When you're doing a PhD, you're usually focused on the science and might not really think about all the work that goes into getting a pharmaceutical or biotech product out to market. It’s a long road, and it takes a lot of different expertise – clinical research organisations, regulatory bodies, funding bodies, attorneys, clinical trial organisers and more!
So, I think this award serves as a great checkpoint – it encourages you to really stop and think about your lab project and consider if it has the potential to go further.
And finally, would you encourage people to apply for next year’s round of AusHealth CureCell Awards?
I would – and not least because it really makes you stop and think about the translational potential of your project. If you do it earlier in your PhD, it might open doors to commercialisation programs including accelerators that universities or CSIRO might be running. It's a great way to explore that aspect of your project.
Tyra Fraser
PhD Candidate, Florey Institute/University of Melbourne
AusHealth CureCell award winner Tyra Fraser (Florey Institute/University of Melbourne) talks about her work with cell replacement therapy for Parkinson’s disease – and why her $10,000 award is a big deal.
Tyra, congratulations on winning $10,000!
Well, as a PhD student, let me say it’s very much appreciated! During this cost-of-living crisis, a student’s stipend doesn’t go very far and ten grand is extremely impactful!
For those of us who aren’t in academia, can you tell us what a typical PhD stipend amounts to?
It's about $36,000 a year. I have to add that we don't get taxed on that amount, but it’s less than a minimum wage, so $10,000 is a big deal.
Where will your money be going?
It will go straight into the savings account for now. When I finish my PhD, it would be nice to take a holiday – and after three-and-a-half years of research, I really need one!
Were you surprised when you won?
I was. I did a bit of research on the AusHealth CureCell awards and saw they were pretty focussed on cell therapies and in particular cancer treatments. My research is more neuroscience and Parkinson’s diease, so I thought, I had a slim chance. But I also thought, ‘you have to be in it to win it’.
How did you find out about the AusHealth CureCell Awards?
From a post-doc in our lab – she said it would be a good opportunity. I found the application relatively straightforward, and I felt good after the interview stage. The judges were really receptive to my research, which was encouraging – especially considering they’re from outside my field.
Could you summarise your research project for us?
No problem. Someone who has Parkinson's disease loses a certain type of neuron that releases dopamine – our ‘happy neurotransmitter’. These neurons reside in a region of our brain called the substantia nigra, but their dopamine is released into a region of the brain called the striatum, which is heavily involved with our motor functions. There are presently cell therapy trials underway looking to see if we can replace these lost dopamine cells by injecting [stem??] cells straight into the striatum – but this is where the dopamine release is lost, not where the cells are lost.
What we wanted to do is improve the outcome by transplanting cells into both the striatum and and the substantia nigra.
You’re nearly at the end of your PhD. What have you learned about what it takes to complete a science-based doctorate?
It’s exhausting! My PhD has been very ambitious and, like with any science, a lot of stuff tends to not work. So, it requires a lot of perseverance – and resilience.
Are you hoping to continue in this field of research?
I am. A lot of the work I presented was in mice and we’re continuing this work in rats, so we can get a functional analysis as well. I’d like to see this research go into clinical trails. And I’d like Australia to be up there with Sweden and the United States in terms of treating patients with Parkinson's disease using stem cell-derived neurons or cell therapies. One day, I’d really love to hear people saying, ‘Oh, there are these amazing Parkinson’s trials going on in Australia.
Alanah Bradey
PhD Candidate, University of Adelaide
AusHealth CureCell award winner Alanah Bradey (University of Adelaide) talks about her quest to create the next Ozempic using venom from platypuses and echidnas. She also explains how cost-of-living pressures mean research students have never had it so tough.
First of all, congratulations on your award, Alanah!
Thank you very much.
Was it a surprise to pick up $10,000?
Well, I was always hoping, but you never know with these things.
Had you heard of the AusHealth CureCell Awards before you submitted?
No, they were new to me. But my research project is in collaboration with AusHealth and I was encouraged to apply. I'm very glad I did!
How did you find the process?
It was different to other applications I've done for scholarships – probably because the AusHealth CureCell Awards are looking to support commercial projects. When applying, you have to be mindful that you’re communicating your project in a way people can understand, not just getting down to the nitty gritty of the science. Explaining the project in only five minutes during the interview stage was a bit of a challenge, too, but I enjoyed it!
It’s a good time to ask if you could summarise your research project, ideally for a lay audience...
Sure. My project is looking at the development of novel GLP-1 receptor agonists, which are used in obesity management and the treatment of type 2 diabetes. GLP-1 receptor agonists are a relatively new class of drug which are being widely used for weight loss – you’ve probably heard about Ozempic? – because they have the ability to stimulate insulin secretion, delay gastric emptying and make you feel fuller for longer.
The first drug in this class was exenatide, which was developed following the discovery of a GLP-1 found in a venomous lizard called the Gila monster. Since then, other drugs in this class have been developed with their structures based on either exenatide or a modified form of human GLP-1.
In 2016, researchers from the University of Adelaide and Flinders University published the discovery of GLP-1 in platypus and echidna venom. That was the start of AusHealth’s “platypep” project, which gave us a panel of novel GLP-1 receptor agonists.
So far, I’ve screened these novel GLP-1s in the lab – assessing their bioactivity and ability to bind to the human GLP-1 receptor, as well as their ability to stimulate insulin production in pancreatic beta cells.
We've got our panel down to six candidate drugs and we’re planning to test them in preclinical models of type 2 diabetes and obesity.
Which sounds like it has huge commercial potential...
It’s estimated that by 2030 there'll be more than 1 billion people who are obese, so the commercial potential is massive. GLP-1s are also being researched for their potential in other diseases like cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's and polycystic ovary syndrome.
Just to satisfy our curiosity, how on earth do you find that there are GLP-1s in platypus and echidna venom?!
It came about from sequencing the platypus genome in 2008. Comparative geneticist Professor Frank Grutzner and biochemist Professor Briony Forbes found that GLP-1 in the platypus has evolved to serve a dual function – regulating blood glucose in the gut and acting as venom during the breeding season.
You’re nearly at the end of your PhD. What does $10,000 do for a PhD research student?
It makes life significantly easier. Most students are on a research training program stipend funded by the Australian Government, which is below minimum wage. In a cost-of-living crisis, that makes it very difficult to get by. It means people are working extra jobs when hours are already long. In the lab, when you've got long experiments, you can be doing 10-, 12-hour days, which makes doing paid part-time work really difficult.
People are surprised by how little we earn. If you're a scientist doing a PhD, it sounds really fancy and people assume you must have a really high income. The truth is most PhD students are struggling to get by. Ten thousand dollars takes that pressure off.
What will your $10,000 award actually go on? Day-to-day living expenses or something else?
Besides living expenses, if I can save up and go for a week’s holiday at the end of the year – just the chance to relax after three-and-a-half years of study – that would be amazing.
Andrew Quattrocchi
PhD Candidate, University of Melbourne/The Florey
Andrew Quattrocchi has won the inaugural Dibbens Family CureCell Award for Stroke Research. The Florey Institute researcher talks about his work in stem cell therapy for stroke repair – and discusses some of the tensions faced by PhD students working up to 70 hours a week.
Andrew, congratulations on winning $10,000. How did you how did you first come to hear about the award?
One of the newly graduated students in the Parish Lab brought my attention to it.
Can you tell us where you are in your research?
I'm a year-and-a-half in, with intentions to go to four years. I've actually been doing research since I was 16 – I had an amazing opportunity to work with a biotech company when I was in high school and I’ve worked in different labs ever since.
Your research project is focussed on stroke. Have you always been in that field?
Foundationally, my early research was focussed on understanding how the dysfunction of the blood vessels in our brain lead to disease, and that naturally evolved into studying stroke. I think we've all been affected by stroke – my grandmother suffered from recurrent strokes throughout my childhood. I guess it exemplifies how vulnerable we can be. Something as small as a clot in the brain can completely change not only an individual but someone's whole family.
Can I ask you to summarise your research for a lay audience, please?
For sure. To frame the research, it only takes 15 seconds for neurons to start dying when the vascular supply is cut off. So, blocking a blood vessel in the brain will cause death of the surrounding brain cells, as well as a larger area of tissue that we can potentially save. No drug is able to repair this dead brain tissue, and few strategies are appropriate to save this larger area.
That’s where our work comes in. We’re developing a next-generation therapy using human stem cells to repair damaged brain tissue after a stroke. Specifically, we’re working with human induced pluripotent stem cells. These are cells that we can make into any cell type in the body, including brain cells. Importantly, they are no longer derived from a foetus as you might think when you hear ‘stem cells’, but instead can be created in the lab from adult cells, for example skin. By isolating specific cells from these pluripotent stem cells —called cortical progenitors—we aim to create a highly controlled and reliable treatment.
Instead of using a mix of different cells, we focus on these progenitors because we believe they have the best potential to grow into the right type of brain cells.
This approach gives us a huge advantage: we know what’s in each vial, how the cells will behave, and with the goal of understanding how effective they’ll be at repairing the brain. It makes the therapy much more predictable, which is key to improving patient outcomes. By focussing on a consistent, purified cell product, we can increase the chances that this treatment will help stroke patients recover lost brain function.
As a researcher, what sort of difference will $10,000 make?
Well, it’s like a 30% increase in your salary – and who doesn’t want that?! It’s really impactful.
There’s a lot of tension when you’re a PhD student, specifically, how you allocate your time. No PhD student I know spends just 40 hours a week on their PhD – it's more like 60 to 70 hours. Technically, we’re allowed to work up to 25 hours a week to supplement our income, but in reality, that isn’t tenable.
Awards like the AusHealth CureCell award are instrumental if we want upcoming scientists to be focussed on science.
How did you find the process of applying for the award?
It was a really rewarding process! The exercise of synthesising my research into a single page – you know, what's the innovation, how feasible is it, how relevant? – was sobering but I found it beneficial. After that, the interview was rather like an open panel discussion, but it started as a pitch, and I also found that rewarding.
Will you be encouraging other researchers to apply for the 2025 awards?
For sure! My lab, the Parish Lab, is probably one of Australia’s most established cell therapy labs. Hopefully, next year, everybody in the lab will be applying!