Fellowship Awarded to ARMI Scientist to Accelerate the Development of Novel Regenerative Medicine Technologies

ARMI group leader Associate Professor Mikaël Martino has been awarded a coveted Senior Medical Research Fellowship from the Sylvia and Charles Viertel Charitable Foundation to develop novel regenerative medicine technologies.

This grant will provide $1.25 million over five years to assist the Martino group’s objective of developing novel regeneration methods combining bioengineering and modulation of the immune system.

“I am delighted to be supported to pursue my research and to continue to develop my talented team,” said Mikaël. “This fellowship will help us further develop and translate our preclinical findings. We’re very excited to have the support of the Sylvia and Charles Viertel Charitable Foundation to realise the potential of our research.”

The funded project will focus on better understanding how to harness components of the immune system to enhance tissue repair and regeneration.

Mikaël explained, “Regenerative medicine has great potential to address some of the biggest challenges in medicine. However, this field is still in the early stages with limited deployment of regenerative therapies in the clinic. My work is developing new promising approaches to design the next generation of regenerative medicine treatments.”

The Martino group’s recent publication in Science Advances highlighted the relationship between clinically relevant growth factors and the immune microenvironment. The paper described how, using a bioengineered molecule, dampening local proinflammatory signalling may enhance the efficacy of growth factor therapies.

The Sylvia and Charles Viertel Charitable Foundation Senior Medical Research Fellowship is awarded to mid-career Australian researchers to significantly influence the world’s health problems. The fellowship programme is very competitive, with only three fellowships awarded in 2021. This fellowship recognises Mikaël and his group’s remarkable, high-quality research, which was assessed on various factors ranging from investigator capacity to project quality and inventiveness.

“I would like to thank the Sylvia and Charles Viertel Charitable Foundation for their support and would like to recognise their dedication to championing medical research in Australia,” added Mikaël.

Congratulations Mikaël!