Bravo – Spanish collaboration brings endometriosis research funding

A Spanish-Australian research collaboration is celebrating a funding win, allowing it to establish a broader collaboration on an exciting endometriosis project.

The collaborative brings Hudson Institute and Monash University Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology researchers, led by Professor Caroline Gargett, together with counterparts from Universidad Barcelona, the Medical Research Institute of La Fe Hospital, Valencia, and the Institute of Biomedical Research of Lleida. 

Prof Gargett says the Australian arm of the research will focus on multicellular organoid technology, developed by Dr Harriet Fitzgerald, to generate a model of endometriosis lesions using actual endometriosis tissue.

Endometriosis research funding increases understanding

“We establish these organoids to gain more understanding of the development and progression of lesions, and that should lead to the development of targeted non-hormonal therapies for treating endometriosis,” she said.

The other key players in Hudson Institute’s work on this project are Dr Thomas Tapmeier of Monash University and Dr Shanti Gurung, who both bring a wealth of endometriosis research knowledge and experience to the team on small extracellular vesicles, menstrual fluid as a potential diagnostic biofluid and identifying drug targets.

The total funding of almost 400,000 Euros (AUD $679,634) over three years comes from the Fundacio La Marato, which raises money each year through the 3TV station for research into specific topics – in this case, sexual health.

The portion of the funding awarded to the Hudson Institute/Monash University team totals 97,825 Euros (AUD $166,987).

Significant on several levels: Prof Gargett

“Firstly, it recognises our expertise in endometriosis and endometrial stem cell biology research, but the collaboration with 3 different Spanish research institutions also allows our EMC researchers the opportunity to gain experience in running multi-institutional international projects, and opens the door for PhD student exchange for short periods of time between the two countries.”

She says it also increases the team’s visibility for future applications to obtain European funding for its endometriosis research.

“But the biggest positive is, of course, that we may come one step closer to devising and testing new therapies sorely needed for endometriosis,” Prof Gargett said.  

A final benefit of this funding is that it will help to nurture the next generation of endometriosis researchers – in this case, supporting the experimental work of three PhD students, all with Monash Scholarships – Jenna Douglas, Dinasha Wimalasiri and Claire Davison.