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16 Headlines An amazing 36 grants worth $3,032,944 were awarded in our first grant round of 2024. Over 80% of projects and fellowships involve early-career researchers. Nineteen principal investigators are female – that’s 53%. When we include mentors, supervisors, co-investigators, students and other personnel, these grants involve more than 85 people! Congratulations to all the successful applicants. Project Grants Professor John Dalrymple-Alford, University of Canterbury $307,444 Parkinson’s disease Recent advances have shown that Parkinson’s disease can be diagnosed through a blood test or lumbar puncture. This study investigates the potential of collecting tears from the eye as part of routine clinical examinations. This simple test could enable earlier diagnosis and access to treatment, and allow the progression of the disease to be measured. Associate Professor Miriam Scadeng, University of Auckland $295,267 Neuroinflammation Inflammation in the brain is common in injury and disease, and detecting it is important for early intervention. A team fromMatai Medical Research Institute, the University of California, San Diego, and the University of Auckland, have developed a new, highly-sensitive MRI technique that could be used in the clinic to detect early inflammation in the brain. The aim of this project is to validate their new technique so that it can be translated to the clinic. Dr Erin Cawston, University of Auckland $279,474 Dementia This study involves 250 participants from the Dementia Prevention Research Clinics and aims to determine if Alzheimer’s disease can be detected using a blood test. Currently, Alzheimer’s disease can only be definitively diagnosed by looking at the brain after death, or through expensive and invasive testing. A blood test would be cost- effective, allowing equitable access nationwide to testing for accurate diagnosis of people with cognitive symptoms. Dr Dean Singleton, University of Auckland $271,922 Brain cancer A team at the Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre are investigating brain cancers where a mutation causes the affected brain cells to become cancerous. They have discovered how these cancer cells survive in the brain. This project aims to test existing drugs that are already in routine clinical use, as well as potential new treatments, that can block the ability of the cancer cells to survive in the brain and lead to new treatments for brain cancer. Neuroscience community receives $3m boost in our latest grant round