Universities are major beneficiaries from $83.6 million of new funding announced today by the Health Research Council, involving a total of 70 contracts which include six new long-term programmes. The HRC received 275 applications for five different types of awards (new programmes, programme extensions, projects, emerging researcher first grants, feasibility study projects) in its annual contestable funding round.

The internationally-recognised Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study has received further support from the HRC to conduct a study of aging and risk for chronic disease. The study, led by Professor Richie Poulton from the University of Otago, proposes to test the novel hypothesis that a persistent history of psychiatric disorder might accelerate individuals' risk of progression towards age-related cardiovascular disease.

Professor Ian Reid from the University of Auckland has received support for a programme that will investigate mechanisms and management of musculoskeletal disease. Loss of bone density is a major public health problem, resulting in fractures for many older women. The study will determine whether zoledronate, a drug given by annual injection and shown to prevent fractures in osteoporosis, is also effective in osteopenia. A positive result would lead to much more widespread treatment of those at risk of fractures, with a resultant reduction in the number of older women disabled by broken bones.

An Auckland University of Technology team has been awarded $2.37 million to conduct a population-based study which will quantify the incidence and burden of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) in a nationally representative population. The three-year study, headed by Professor Valery Feigin, will provide crucial background information for evidence-based health care services including rehabilitation, resource planning and evaluation of effects of preventative and management strategies for TBI in New Zealand.

Dr Beverley Lawton from the University of Otago (Wellington School of Medicine) has received a grant of $1.18 million for a four-year study - Wahine Haoura: Reducing barriers to care for pregnant mums and their whanau. The study will look at a retrospective 10-year cohort of Māori and non-Māori young women and their babies. Rates of subsequent hospital admissions and immunisations for babies in the cohort will be examined and their relationship to risk factors analysed. Study results will be used to develop a protocol for a national intervention based on whānau ora to reduce barriers and improve outcomes for tamariki.

Another study, led by Associate Professor David Grattan from the University of Otago, will research the mechanisms of hyperprolactinemia-induced infertility. One in six couples will face infertility and excessively high prolactin in the blood is a major cause of infertility in both males and females. Using state-of-the-art transgenic approaches, the research team are in a position to provide definitive answers about how prolactin regulates fertility. Such studies will help develop better treatments for infertility, and may provide an opportunity for the development of novel contraceptives.

Professor Jeff Sigafoos from Victoria University of Wellington received a HRC feasibility study project grant of $150,000 to look at communication intervention for adults with intellectual disability.