MRFF Early-Mid Career Grant success

Two Hudson Institute researchers have successfully obtained Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Early to Mid-Career Researchers Initiative grants for 2025.  The researchers will focus on projects to develop degenerative nanotherapies for primary sclerosing cholangitis and advance pelvic reconstructive outcomes with surface nanotechnology.

These highly competitive MRFF grants enable or support emerging research leaders to make breakthrough discoveries, develop their skills, and progress their careers in Australia, and also address intractable health issues and accelerate research translation with the potential to transform health care and health systems.

Learn more about our successful recipients and their projects. 

Associate Professor Shayanti Mukherjee

Hudson Institute’s Associate Professor Shayanti Mukherjee has received a Stream 3 (Targeted Call for Research) grant to lead a project on advancing pelvic reconstructive outcomes with surface nanotechnology.

Stream 3 (Targeted Call for Research) grants utilise co-funding between the MRFF, a sponsoring academic organisation and other organisations to accelerate translation of research led by early to mid-career researchers

Working with the School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health, A/Prof Mukherjee’s project will address Pelvic Organ Prolapse (POP), a neglected gynaecological disease affecting 25 per cent of women. POP has no cure, and surgical treatments often fail. Vaginal mesh treatments have also been banned due to unacceptable side effects. The project will propose a new approach by using a highly innovative surface nanotechnology combining her ongoing 3D printed mesh (3DP) and adult stem cells research. Using unique preclinical models, the project will pave the way for new solutions to radically transform health outcomes, reduce healthcare costs, and improve women’s quality of life.

Dr Charlotte Keung 

Dr Charlotte Keung from The Ritchie Centre and the School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health has received a Stream 1 (Incubator) grant to lead a project on degenerative nanotherapies for primary sclerosing cholangitis.

Stream 1 (Incubator) grants support early-stage, small-scale research led by early career researchers that seek to assess the potential and feasibility of novel strategies to address a critical or intractable health issue in one or more priority populations.

Dr Keung’s project will develop a stem-cell based nanoparticle therapy for primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), a rare and untreatable inflammatory and scarring disease affecting bile ducts. No treatment exists to improve the outcomes of PSC patients, who die from liver failure or cancer. The project will develop nanoparticles produced from placental stem cells tailored to PSC and tests them in animal and human models of PSC to provide information required to plan early human trials.

Find out more about the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Early to Mid-Career Researchers Initiative grants