FAMOUS Program Awardees Announced

Two ARMI researchers are amongst the first cohort of FAMOUS program awardees. The FAPESP (São Paulo Research Foundation) – Monash University Collaboration Seed (FAMOUS) program co-funded by ARMI, Monash University and FAPESP was established to support new collaborations in the health sciences between research groups in the State of São Paulo, Brazil, and Monash University.

ARMI group leaders Dr Gonzalo Del Monte-Nieto and Dr Nadinath Nillegoda will receive funding to facilitate their collaborative projects with Universidade Estadual de Campinas’ Professor Hernandes Carvalho and Professor Carlos Henrique Inacio Ramos, respectively.

Launched in late 2021 and with only ten grants on offer in this first round, the competitive program aims to foster the scientific relationship between research groups across these two regions, with an emphasis on online activities considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic international travel. Funding will support projects in generating preliminary results for up to two years, providing a launchpad for developing longer-term projects.

Dr Gonzalo Del Monte-Nieto, Professor Hernandes Carvalho and their teams will work together to uncover the role of a specific gene in normal cardiovascular development, adult homeostasis and disease. Using a combination of developmental and systems biology approaches in different model organisms and in vitro systems, this project’s findings will significantly impact discovering of new genes causing cardiovascular disease.

While Dr Nadinath Nillegoda, Professor Carlos Henrique Inacio Ramos and their research groups will investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying amyloid-type protein aggregation, a common feature of many neuro/neuromuscular degenerative disorders such as Huntington’s disease, this work could lead to the development of potential new targets for treatments in a broad range of neurodegenerative disorders in humans.

Congratulations to Gonzalo, Nadinath, Hernandes, Carlos and all recipients!