Welcome
We manage the Government's investment in health research. Our vision is to improve the health and quality of life of all New Zealanders.
Funding Opportunities
The HRC allocates funding through an annual funding round for researcher initiated projects, Requests for Proposals, and a range of career development awards.
About Us
We invest in a broad range of research on issues important to New Zealand, and support the development of health research careers. Our mission is 'benefiting New Zealand through health research'.
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We produce a wide range of publications and documents, which provide information about funding opportunities, research outcomes and HRC-related news.
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We help ensure all research involving human participants is based on good science, meets ethical standards and complies with best practice.
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News and Media
Our latest and archived media releases and news articles.
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Media ReleaseCould caffeine given from birth help prevent developmental impairment in babies born four to six weeks early?
Dr Jane Alsweiler, senior lecturer in Paediatrics at the University of Auckland, plans to answer that question with a clinical trial, but in the meantime she’ll be working on another critical question that her trial depends on: how much caffeine to give?
Dr Alsweiler has just been awarded a Feasibility Study grant worth $249,513 from the Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC) to determine the most effective dose of caffeine to use in babies this young.
Over 3,500 babies in New Zealand are born ‘late preterm’ (four to six weeks early) every year and are at greater risk of disability when they get older than babies born at term, she says.
This may be because late preterm babies frequently have drops in the amount of oxygen in their blood for the first few weeks after birth.
Dr Alsweiler says it’s been known for some years that in very preterm babies (more than eight weeks early) treatment with caffeine not only reduces apnoea (pauses in breathing) and hypoxaemia (recurrent drops in oxygen saturation), but also improves long-term brain development. It’s not known, however, if caffeine can do the same for late preterm babies.
She is planning a multi-centre, randomised, placebo-controlled trial (the Latte trial) on babies born between 34 and 36 weeks.
"If successful, the Latte trial will change the management and improve outcomes of late pre-term babies," she says.
"As caffeine treatment is inexpensive, and long-term neurodevelopmental impairment is costly, there is also the potential for an economic benefit for New Zealand’s healthcare system."
The HRC’s chief executive, Professor Kath McPherson, says large studies like this could not get off the ground without preliminary issues being addressed first.
Feasibility Study grants go towards testing the critical, practical issues affecting a planned larger study. The Health Research Council this year received 31 applications for these grants, and gave approval to nine, totalling $2,230,458.
"We’re committed to ensuring the greatest benefit for New Zealanders, and for New Zealand, from all of our research investment," says Professor McPherson.
"Feasibility studies are a key pathway to allow researchers to innovate, but also address potential deal-breakers or risks to a larger study. We fund these early and smaller studies to maximise the chance that future and larger studies are successful."
See below for the full list of 2018 HRC Feasibility Study grants, and click here to read lay summaries of the research projects.
2018 Feasibility Study Grants – full list
Dr Jane Alsweiler, The University of Auckland
Caffeine prophylaxis to improve neurodevelopment in babies born late preterm
24 months, $249,513
Professor Stephen Chambers, University of Otago, Christchurch
Feasibility study of vitamin C therapy in community acquired pneumonia
18 months, $250,000
Dr Sarah Cullum, The University of Auckland
Is a dementia prevalence study feasible in NZ?
15 months, $249,311
Professor Philip Hill, University of Otago, Wellington
Towards elimination of tuberculosis in Māori through preventive treatment
24 months, $250,000
Professor Ngaire Kerse, The University of Auckland
People with dementia and robots for independence
24 months, $248,490
Dr Michal Kluger, Waitemata DHB
STRIDE - Steroids To Reduce the Impact on DElirium study
18 months, $249,840
Dr Jon Mathy, Counties Manukau DHB
Prophylactic InCisional Antibiotics in Skin Surgery (PICASSo trial) feasibility
24 months, $248,477
Dr Andrew McDaid, The University of Auckland
Automated over-ground gait rehabilitation in acute stroke: A Feasibility Study
12 months, $237,839
Professor Richard Porter, University of Otago, Christchurch
Social rhythms therapy for bipolar disorder in routine clinical practice
24 months, $246,985
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Dr Timothy Edwards and his dog Tui - photo supplied by University of Waikato
Dr Kirsty DanielsonMedia ReleaseCan dogs really sniff out cancer? Thanks to a grant from the Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC), a University of Waikato lecturer can now test this theory in a clinical setting.
Dr Timothy Edwards from the University’s School of Psychology has just secured an Emerging Researcher First Grant, valued at $233,607, to see if scent-detection dogs can accurately identify lung cancer, using breath and saliva samples.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in New Zealand, mainly because of the high cost of current lung cancer screening methods, which results in late detection.
Dr Edwards says several studies have demonstrated scent-detection dogs’ ability to accurately identify cancer, but few studies have involved methods that can be used in a clinical setting.
“An operationally-viable detection system for lung cancer would have significant health and economic benefits in New Zealand and internationally,” he says.
Improvements in accuracy and speed of diagnosis could result in increased detection rates and reduced mortality for people with lung cancer.
Before joining the University of Waikato, Dr Edwards worked for a humanitarian organisation in Tanzania investigating the accuracy of tuberculosis-detection by giant African pouched rats. Drawing on that experience, he’s established a scent-detection research facility at the university and designed and built an automated canine scent-detection apparatus which will be used for his research.
HRC chief executive Professor Kath McPherson says the contribution that animals can make to human health and wellbeing has been long known, but their role in detecting ill health is a more recent development.
“Evidence shows there are specific odour profiles associated with lung cancer so there’s a chance this research might identify a valuable tool for earlier detection of the disease, or help inform the development of machine-based sensor technology. We think that’s worth a deeper look,” she says.
Another researcher focused on the earlier detection of cancer has also just secured her first significant grant from the HRC, valued at $249,984, for her novel proposal for diagnosing colorectal cancer.
Dr Kirsty Danielson, lecturer in the Department of Surgery and Anaesthesia at the University of Otago, Wellington, will investigate if the presence of certain types of molecules in the blood could be a reliable bio-marker for detecting colorectal cancer, and even predicting a person’s response to chemotherapy.
New Zealand has one of the highest rates of colorectal cancer in the world, resulting in approximately 1200 deaths a year. Current screening strategies are invasive, have a high resource burden, or lack the sensitivity required to detect cancer at an early stage, she says.
“While the current roll-out of the national bowel screening programme is a positive step, the method used still has limited sensitivity for detecting early cancers and will add pressure on hospitals to perform more colonoscopies.
“There’s an urgent need for novel, sensitive, and minimally-invasive diagnostic strategies for early-stage diagnosis,” says Dr Danielson who hopes her research will enhance knowledge in this field and ultimately reduce deaths related to colorectal cancer.
Professor McPherson says the HRC is committed to supporting “our brightest and best new talent”. In total, the research funding body has awarded $2,850,808 to 12 emerging researchers seeking to establish independent health research careers in New Zealand.
See below for the full list of 2018 HRC Emerging Researcher First Grant recipients, and to read lay summaries of the research projects, click here.
2018 Emerging Researcher First Grants – full list
Dr Sarah Appleby, University of Otago, Christchurch
Role of myoregulin in cardiovascular disease
36 months, $249,265Dr Octavia Calder Dawe, Massey University, Auckland
Working on wellbeing with young people
36 months, $249,966Dr Nadia Charania, AUT University
Exploring immunisation inequities among refugee children in New Zealand
24 months, $125,424Dr Kirsty Danielson, University of Otago, Wellington
Circulating RNA as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in colorectal cancer
36 months, $249,984Dr Rebecca Dyson, University of Otago, Wellington
Omega-3 for improvement of cardiometabolic outcomes following preterm birth
36 months, $249,660Dr Timothy Edwards, University of Waikato
Lung cancer screening with scent-detection dogs
36 months, $233,607Dr Rosemary Gibson, Massey University, Wellington
The role of sleep in healthy ageing and living well with dementia
36 months, $249,998Dr Rachel Purcell, University of Otago, Christchurch
CRC predict study - association of molecular subtypes and microbiome in CRC
24 months, $249,477Dr David Rice, Waitemata DHB
Anti-depressants for osteoarthritis pain: Can we predict treatment efficacy?
24 months, $247,098Dr Brie Sorrenson, The University of Auckland
Understanding genetic factors that influence beta-cell function
36 months, $247,576Dr Aaron Stevens, University of Otago, Christchurch
Can inflammation and aging modify the human epigenome?
36 months, $249,137Dr Kate Thomas, University of Otago, Dunedin
Optimisation of pre-operative cardiovascular fitness: The heat vs. HIIT study
36 months, $249,615 -
Media ReleaseA University of Otago researcher wants to improve the quantity and quality of life for Māori with cancer, and he’s just been awarded nearly $500,000 to identify strategies to do so.
Dr Jason Gurney, an epidemiologist and senior research fellow at the University of Otago, Wellington, is one of two researchers who has just received a 2018 Māori Health Research Emerging Leader Fellowship. These awards are managed and awarded jointly by the Health Research Council and the Ministry of Health.
It’s been estimated that Māori are 20 per cent more likely to develop cancer, but nearly 80 per cent more likely to die from it. There is also evidence that Māori patients with terminal cancer are more likely to experience poor quality of life and palliative care.
Dr Gurney says the disparities between Māori and non-Māori strongly suggest there is unequal access to the best-practice services that preserve life, and with his newly-gained fellowship he aims to confront those inequities.
“I believe it must be a priority of our health system to achieve equitable health outcomes for Māori.” By helping achieve survival equity for Māori cancer patients, this fellowship could take us closer to that goal, he says.
Over the next four years he aims to identify cancers which require the most urgent attention in terms of survival outcomes, and to determine the extent to which survival, quality of life and palliative care factors are modifiable for Māori patients with these cancers. Importantly, he aims to propose key social and health service investments required to improve outcomes for Māori, as quickly as possible.
The second $500,000 fellowship was awarded to Dr Reremoana (Moana) Theodore, co-director of the National Centre for Lifecourse Research and senior research fellow with the Department of Psychology, University of Otago. The experienced lifecourse researcher plans to examine the link between educational exposures and health outcomes for Māori.
Lifecourse research, which follows people’s lives over time, has shown that what happens from early life has an impact on long-term health and wellbeing. “Lifecourse research aligns with Māori worldviews that are expansive in nature and take a long-term view – looking across time and spanning generations,” she says.
High-quality education, beginning in early childhood through to the highest levels of tertiary study, is associated with significant long-term health and social wellbeing benefits, but there has been little Māori-led lifecourse research in these areas to date.
Dr Theodore plans to identify the type and timing of key educational factors associated with positive Māori health outcomes. “The government substantially invests in the New Zealand education system. The proposed research can help inform how that investment may also impact on the health sector,” she says.
Mr Stacey Pene, HRC senior manager of Māori health research investment, says both these fellowships will contribute to a healthier future for Māori.
“We’re committed to achieving health equity for Māori. These fellowships not only build our knowledge of Māori health issues and an evidence base for future social investment, but they help build leaders and mentors within the Māori health research workforce.”
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Pictured: Professor Dave Grattan. Image courtesy of University of Otago.Media ReleaseAbout 25 per cent of New Zealand couples who are wanting to conceive may experience infertility or seek medical help. But thanks to a series of discoveries funded by the Health Research Council of New Zealand, new light is being shed on the mechanisms underlying infertility and the part played by key pathways within the brain.
In a University of Otago laboratory, Professor David Grattan may have just found a missing piece of the fertility puzzle. But his finding is best explained by going back a step, to a major discovery by Professor Allan Herbison that laid the groundwork for the latest revelation.
Professor Herbison, who heads the University of Otago-based Centre for Neuroendocrinology, had his latest findings published last November in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. In a landmark study, he’d identified a group of about 2000 kisspeptin neurons in the brain's hypothalamus which generate an hourly luteinizing hormone (LH) pulse that controls fertility in both females and males.
"We knew that episodic pulses control fertility, but the question for the past 40 years has been how does the brain do that? How does it manage to generate those pulses because the pulses are the key thing that determines fertility,” says Professor Herbison.
"If the LH hormone is at a continuous high level or a continuous low level, then reproduction shuts down – so it must be pulsatile. If it's not pulsatile or the pulses are at the wrong rate then it can cause infertility,” he explains. For example, when the pulses are too fast in women, it causes polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and if they are too slow or non-existent, it leads to hypothalamic amenorrhea and infertility.
For Professor Herbison, the next step was to understand how this small group of kisspeptin neurons communicate to synchronise their hourly activity.
"Because we are working in the brain and it is incredibly complicated, we need to be developing new technologies that allow us to look at brain function better and in more detail.
"For example, we have developed a methodology where we can measure the activity of those key kisspeptin neurons online in real-time, all day and night, as an animal is moving about. Five years ago, that was only dreamed of."
Meanwhile, in a neighbouring lab, Professor Dave Grattan’s team has been busy finding another key piece of the fertility puzzle, focusing on the actions of the lactation hormone, prolactin, in the brain.
Elevated levels of prolactin have for many decades been known as a cause of infertility but – again – how it works has been a mystery. Building on the work of his colleague Allan Herbison, Professor Grattan is also now investigating the effect of prolactin on the pattern of LH pulses.
His latest research, funded by the Health Research Council, has found that administering just a single injection of prolactin appears to slow down and stop the LH pulses to the ovaries.
"We’re thinking that that's the mechanism where if you have chronically elevated prolactin, for example from a pituitary tumour, or physiologically such as in pregnancy or lactation, then the high prolactin is going to turn off the reproductive hormones.
"In lactation that's normal – it’s what you expect. But if you have high prolactin at the wrong time it causes infertility and that can happen whether you're a male or female.”
Professor Grattan’s key discovery has been to show the presence of prolactin receptors on the kisspeptin cells identified by Professor Herbison's research.
"The very recent data we've got, that I think is really exciting, is that when we knock out prolactin receptors in the kisspeptin cells we then lose the ability to suppress the LH pulses – they just carry on regardless. So it fits the idea that the way prolactin works is by directly suppressing the activity of the kisspeptin cells."
Both researchers are keen to bring together the discoveries made through the two projects and directly measure the effect of prolactin on kisspeptin activity and the pulses sent from that small group of neurons.
Expanding fundamental knowledge about the specific ways prolactin works has the potential to bring new treatments where couples struggle to conceive due to high prolactin levels.
"For the most part it can be treated effectively because it is so well known, but there might be more specific ways you can target a pathway rather than the sledgehammer type of approach of current treatments," says Professor Grattan.
For his colleague who has paved the way to more targeted research, involving new methodologies, Grattan has the greatest respect. "To be able to actually measure a population of neurons in a conscious animal and at the same time measure the hormonal output that is regulating – nobody else in the world has done that. It is absolutely cutting-edge stuff."
Other members of the Centre for Neuroendocrinology are partway through Health Research Council-funded projects involving fertility-related work. Professor Greg Anderson is examining metabolism and body weight to understand the impacts of obesity and undernutrition on fertility. And Associate Professor Rebecca Campbell is investigating the brain mechanisms leading to PCOS, which affects about 10 per cent of women. Findings from her research have just been published, showing that blocking androgen actions could help re-set reproductive function to normal levels by modifying brain circuitry important to fertility.
"The synergies of having multiple groups working on independent but related projects and having each of them developing different tools and ways of looking at it is incredibly valuable," says Professor Grattan.
Health Research Council chief executive Professor Kath McPherson says the discoveries taking place are the result of many years’ research and persistence by these researchers.
“It’s often the long-game with research like this – it takes time to find all the vital pieces in a complex process. David has successfully gained HRC support for prolactin research since 1997, and Allan since 2006. Bit by bit, their progress is advancing our knowledge of infertility causes, not just here but around the world.
“We’re really proud to be supporting work that increasingly looks as if it will, in time, help many people on their parenting journey.”
Pictured: Professor Dave Grattan. Image courtesy of the University of Otago.
A little extra: Kisspeptin was originally discovered by oncology researchers at the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, in Hershey, and was partly named after the hometown’s famous ‘Hershey’s Kiss’ chocolate. At the time, researchers had no idea that it had a role in fertility. Around 2003, kisspeptin was discovered to play a critical role in fertility.
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