Wellington, June 10 NZPA - In the unending tussle between researchers for Government funding, Auckland University claims to have won the latest round -- the Health Research Council's handout of $83.58 million for 70 contracts.

Auckland University claimed nearly half the money, $41.2m million for health research ranging from cyclists' risks of injury to treatment of "lazy eye", and to stroke recovery.

"This amounts to 49 percent of the funds awarded, considerably more than any other institution," the university said in a press release.

The next biggest slice, $30.3m, went to 25 projects at Otago University, where deputy vice-chancellor of research, Professor Harlene Hayne said the grants were "fantastic".

Research ranging from investigations of basic biomedical mechanisms in cancer to community-level interventions aimed at making homes healthier, and tackling childhood obesity would produce benefits for individuals, families and communities, she said.

Professor Jane Harding, Auckland University's deputy vice-chancellor for research said today's $41.2m was Auckland's largest ever handout from a single HRC research round, as well as being the largest proportion of funding nationally awarded to any institution.

"These substantial grants from the HRC reflect the world-class standard of health research at the university," she said.

A total of 26 research projects and programmes at Auckland won funding, including three existing long-term research programmes which received $12.4m.

The extensions will keep going for another three years Professor Alistair Gunn's research into brain injury around the time of birth ($2.6m in 2006, $3.5m today); Associate Professor Ngaire Kerse's team maximising health for older people $2.6m in 2006, $4.6m today); and Professor Peter Hunter and his team will continue to work on modelling the human heart ($3.6m in 2006, $4.13m today).

Prof Hunter is the chair of the Marsden Fund Council, a Royal Society body which allocates funding for "blue skies" research.

Three new long-term research programmes at Auckland received a total of $11 million, also for three years.

Professor Ian Reid -- who received $3.3m in 2006 for a separate study of bone and calcium metabolism -- today received the HRC "powerball" -- $5.2m for mechanisms and management of musculoskeletal disease.

Professor John Fraser got $3.2m to investigate the biology of bacterial infection and Associate Professor Frank Bloomfield has been granted $2.5m for a three year study of perinatal care and its longterm consequences.

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