Phenomics Australia in partnership with Therapeutic Innovation Australia (TIA), Bioplatforms Australia (BPA), and ANSTO’s National Deuteration Facility (NDF), is thrilled to announce the successful recipients of the Pipeline Accelerator 2025-26 (Round 2).
Enabled by the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS), all four NCRIS providers mentioned above are working together to help address the medical products challenge outlined in the 2021 National Research Infrastructure (NRI) Roadmap.
Together, they provide academic researchers and SMEs seamless access to world-class Australian translational research infrastructure, from understanding the molecular basis of health and disease through to early-phase clinical trials.
In this round, 42 projects will share a total of $1,230,128 in voucher awards with a total cash co-investment fund of $1,528,148, facilitating access to national research infrastructure (NRI) to accelerate therapeutic translation and improve human health. These vouchers will subsidise the cost to access these translation NRIs to accelerate therapeutic translation and improve human health, supporting research in areas such as artificial intelligence, immunology, respiratory infections, cancer therapies, Alzheimer’s disease and therapeutics.
Thirteen recipients were awarded the Phenomics Australia Pipeline Accelerator 2025-26 (Round 2) and are listed below.
Among the recipients, we would like to highlight Dr Laura Croft (Queensland University of Technology), whose project, Patient-Derived Cortical Organoids to Decipher Disease Mechanisms and Therapeutic Response in SLC6A1-Related Neurodevelopmental Disorders (NDD), is jointly supported by the Australian Organoid Facility (The University of Queensland), a Phenomics Australia node, and StemCore, a Bioplatforms Australia node.
We would also like to highlight a second collaborative project led by Dr Nathalie Saurat (Monash University), Transcriptomic and Phenotypic Screening of Aged Human Microtissues to Advance Alzheimer’s Disease Therapeutics. This project is jointly supported by the Victorian Centre for Functional Genomics (Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre), a Phenomics Australia node, and the Monash Proteomics & Metabolomics Platform, a Bioplatforms Australia node.
Notably, 69% of the funding recipients are women, and 54% are early- to mid-career researchers (EMCRs), reflecting the strong representation of both women and emerging research leaders among this year’s awardees.
Phenomics Australia’s Pipeline Accelerator awards:
Click here to see the TIA voucher recipients.
The 13 recipients of the Phenomics Australia Pipeline Accelerator 2025-26 (Round 2) are listed below:
Click on the image to see the Phenomics Australia node involved
Ms Ava Owen (Murdoch Children's Research Institute)
Phenomics Australia node: Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Derivation & CRISPR Gene Editing Facility (MCRI)
Generating a model of variations in female reproductive tract development using a new stem cell reporter line
Dr Declan Turner (Murdoch Children’s Research Institute)
Phenomics Australia node: Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Derivation & CRISPR Gene Editing Facility (MCRI)
Developing a human iPSC-derived alveolar coculture platform to model respiratory infection and regeneration
Prof. Gemma Kelly (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research)
Phenomics Australia node: Melbourne Advanced Gene Editing Centre (ONJCRI)
Identifying which processes activated by p53 are critical to prevent tumour development to support the design of novel cancer therapies
Dr James McKenna (Algorae Sciences)
Phenomics Australia node: Victorian Centre for Functional Genomics (Peter Mac)
Validating the generalizability of artificial intelligence for in silico drug combination prediction
Dr Jenny Fung (University of Queensland)
Phenomics Australia node: Monash Genome Modification Platform (Monash)
CRISPR-Engineered Motor Neuron Disease Cell Models to Enable Target Validation and Accelerate Therapeutic Translation
Dr Kayla Wilson (University of Melbourne)
Phenomics Australia node: Melbourne Advanced Gene Editing Centre (ONJCRI)
Targeting Cholesin to Control Viral Immunity
Dr Lara Graves (Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network)
Phenomics Australia node: Monash Genome Modification Platform (Monash)
Generation of Humanised CYP21A2 Mouse Models to Enable Translational Genome Editing Therapies for Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia
Dr Laura Croft (Queensland University of Technology)
Phenomics Australia node: Australian Organoid Facility (UQ)
Bioplatforms Australia node: StemCore
Patient-Derived Cortical Organoids to Decipher Disease Mechanisms and Therapeutic Response in SLC6A1-Related NDD
Dr Madeleine Hardy (Australian National University)
Phenomics Australia node: Genome Targeting Facility (ANU)
Understanding the genetic basis of Syntelencephaly
Dr Nathalie Saurat (Monash University)
Phenomics Australia node: Victorian Centre for Functional Genomics (Peter Mac)
Bioplatforms Australia node: Monash Proteomics & Metabolomics Platform
Transcriptomic and phenotypic screening of aged human microtissues to advance Alzheimer's disease therapeutics
Dr Peter Johnson (Australian National University)
Phenomics Australia node: ANU Centre for Therapeutic Discovery (ANU)
Developing a Scalable Hydrogel Discovery Platform for 3D Cancer Modelling
Dr Richard Burke (Monash University)
Phenomics Australia node: Australian Transgenic Drosophila Facility (Peter Mac)
In vivo functional characterisation of candidate pathogenic variants in ubiquitin proteasome components
Dr Yi Tian Ting (Monash University)
Phenomics Australia node: Stem Cell Production Facility (VCCRI)
Scalable Allogeneic Tregs Platform for autoimmune diseases
Contact us to know more about this voucher scheme that aims to support therapeutic development projects by providing up to $50,000 with at least 50% matching co-investment to be provided by the applicant.
Phenomics Australia, Bioplatforms Australia and TIA are members of NCRIS Health Group that works closely with each other and provide seamless access to world-class health and medical research infrastructure and expertise.
