$4 million awarded to diseases expert

Biomedical Science

University of Adelaide infectious diseases expert Professor James Paton has been awarded a $4 million Australia Fellowship to continue his research into new vaccines and treatments for life-threatening diseases.

Professor Paton, a highly regarded global leader in the fight against serious bacterial infections, was one of nine of Australia's top medical researchers to receive a total of $36 million from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) last month.

Federal Health and Ageing Minister the Hon. Tony Abbott announced the winners of the Australia Fellowships at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne.

Professor Paton and his scientific colleagues at the University of Adelaide are responsible for some ground breaking medical discoveries in recent years, including how bacterial toxins cause severe gastrointestinal diseases.

His laboratory within the University's School of Molecular and Biomedical Science is addressing one of the major challenges that faces medical science in the 21st century - the control of infectious diseases.

A major part of Professor Paton's research program is directed at the development of cheap and effective vaccines for the prevention of middle ear infections, meningitis and pneumonia caused by bacteria.

The world-acclaimed scientist and his colleagues are also exploring whether there are alternative ways of blocking interactions between pathogenic bacteria and their hosts, opening the way for development of new drugs and vaccines.

"The $4 million fellowship will be used to investigate these new approaches for combating infections caused by bacteria such as Streptococcus pneumoniae and Escherichia coli," Professor Paton said. "New vaccines and treatments already under investigation in our laboratory will also be progressed to human trials.

"One of our key aims is to make Adelaide an internationally recognised centre of excellence in bacterial infectious disease research."

Professor Paton was the only researcher from South Australia to receive a 2007 Australia Fellowship. Eight other scientists from Victoria, the ACT and NSW were also awarded funds to tackle cancer, infectious diseases and mental health.

Story by Candy Gibson