University receives $46 million for health and medical research

18 October 2006
The University of Sydney has received more than $46 million for health and medical research in the latest round of funding from the NHMRC. The University's funding allocation, announced this week, is the biggest in New South Wales.

One of the successful Sydney projects promises to resolve the long-standing and fiercely argued debate about which diets work and why.

The study will involve groups of volunteers kept in laboratory conditions for a week at a time and fed diets with "carefully manipulated macro-nutrient content," says the project's chief investigator, ARC Federation Fellow Stephen Simpson.

He aims to test his hypothesis (already demonstrated on caterpillars) that humans will keep on eating until they have satisfied their appetite for protein.

The hypothesis, called the "protein leverage hypothesis", says high protein diets like the Atkins diet work not because they cut out carbohydrates, but because they are high in protein.

Professor Simpson will be conducting the study in conjunction with Jennie Brand-Miller and Ian Caterson, both professors of human nutrition, and Associate Professor Arthur Conigrave from the School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences.

Other projects to receive funding include a study by perinatal health expert Dr Christine Roberts, which will investigate whether the place of someone's birth influences a healthy start to life.

Associate Professor Jonathon Craig and Professor Sandra Eades both received close to $2.5 million for separate research projects into indigenous health.

An investigation by Professor Phyllis Butow from psychology into the psychosocial predictors of developing breast cancer in women from high-risk breast cancer families received $1,020,600.

Other research areas to receive funding included research into sleep apnoea, lower back pain, diabetes and anorexia nervosa.


Contact: Kath Kenny

Phone: 02 9351 2261 or 0434 606 100