Westmead. $10 million grant

Professor Phil O’Çonnell, director of the Westmead Millennium Institute for Medical Research’s Centre for Transplantation and Renal Research, is part of a select team of Australian researchers which has received a $10 million National Health and Medical Research (NHMRC) grant from the Australian Government to work on a cure for diabetes.

The team brings together world-renowned Australian researchers who are looking at the role of genetics and autoimmunity that causes diabetes, and the use of pigs to grow replacement insulin-producing cells as a novel treatment for diabetes. Prof O’Connell’s role is in the transplantation and treatment aspects of the program.