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'.
News and Publications
We produce a wide range of publications and documents, which provide information about funding opportunities, research outcomes and HRC-related news.
Ethics and Regulatory
We help ensure all research involving human participants is based on good science, meets ethical standards and complies with best practice.
Contact Us
If you have any questions about the HRC or would like to know more about how our funding process works, please drop us a line.
Gene Technology Advisory Committee
News and Media
Our latest and archived media releases and news articles.
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Media Release1 April 2019
A Victoria University of Wellington scientist hopes to bring us a major step closer to a vaccine for drug addiction, with the help of an Explorer Grant from the Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC).Scientists have been trying to create vaccines for treating drug addiction since the 1970s, but so far trials in humans have had disappointing results, says Dr Benjamin Compton. He believes the lack of efficacy comes down to vaccine design, not the concept itself.
With a background in chemistry and experience in developing immunotherapy treatments for cancer, asthma, influenza and malaria, Dr Compton will construct a synthetic vaccine that works in a completely different way to others trialled in this field.
Working with immunologist Dr Lisa Connor, Dr Compton is pioneering a vaccine platform that can generate an immune response to small drug-like compounds. His concept is to circumvent the need for protein-based activation of the immune system to drive this response.
The end-goal is to instruct the body’s immune system to recognise a specific drug when it enters the bloodstream, and to treat it like a toxin: that means antibodies would bind to the targeted drug in the periphery and prevent it from crossing the blood-brain barrier where it would normally interact with receptors and trigger ‘a high’.
“Achieving this would herald a new paradigm in immunopharmacotherapy,” says Dr Compton. “And importantly, we’re aiming to design a vaccine that can be manufactured en masse, at low cost.”
The HRC’s chief executive, Professor Kath McPherson, says this research addresses a major issue of concern for individual and public health. “Drug addiction is a serious problem worldwide, which not only results in personal harm, death and reduced quality of life, but also costs our health system hugely in hospital admissions and emergency attendances, treatment and counselling.
“A vaccine could well be the way of the future. If Dr Compton can deliver proof of concept, it could be a ground-breaking step towards developing a vaccine in the future.”
Vaccines are one of the most cost-effective and powerful health interventions available, notes Dr Compton, and he believes it should be possible to vaccinate against drug addiction. “Ultimately what we’re trying to do is generate a robust B-cell response (an antibody response) to specific drug targets.”
Traditionally this is done by first generating a T-cell response (those white cells that defend us against infection and disease) which in turn enhances the B-cell response. However, due to the complexity of the human body, generating the desired T-cell response can be tricky. Cellular processing and presentation of proteins varies from person to person which, in part, may be responsible for past failures to develop vaccines for drugs of abuse.
Dr Compton’s novel vaccine construct should improve the T-cell response or, even better, directly activate B-cells independent of a T-cell response. But even if his vaccine can activate B-cells directly, that in itself may not be enough; the key to making this kind of vaccine effective is to ensure it also drives a memory response to the drug.
“We are trying to understand the simplest way to activate B cells so that we can invoke a memory response to compounds which would otherwise not be recognised by the immune system. How can we make this technology a reality?” Dr Compton will be testing his vaccine on mice, and if he can prove that the concept works, it could be a game-changer.
“This technology will be really helpful for those addicts who want to break free of their addiction. Should that person come into contact with the drug, a vaccine will ensure there is no reward from the drug-taking behaviour.”
Dr Compton was one of 15 researchers to receive a Health Research Council 2019 Explorer Grant, valued at $150,000 each. The Explorer Grant scheme seeks to attract and fund transformative research ideas with the potential for major impact on healthcare.
See below for the full list of 2019 Explorer Grant recipients.
2019 Explorer Grants – full list
Professor David Ackerley, Victoria University of Wellington
Enabling NZ biomedical research with superior targeted cell ablation models
24 months, $150,000
Dr Sean Coffey, University of Otago, Dunedin
Next generation cardiac ultrasound: training echocardiography using MRI
24 months, $150,000
Dr Benjamin Compton, Victoria University of Wellington
Investigating iNKT cell-based vaccinology to treat drug addiction
24 months, $150,000
Dr Xiaolin Cui, University of Otago, Christchurch
Synthetic stem cells – a new area for myocardial infarction treatment
24 months, $150,000
Professor Parry Guilford, University of Otago, Dunedin
A novel device for early cancer detection
24 months, $150,000
Dr Tracy Hale, Massey University, Palmerston North
Transforming the paradigm of functional genome organisation
24 months, $150,000
Dr Wanting Jiao, Victoria University of Wellington
Developing computational tools to design highly potent antibiotics
24 months, $150,000
Dr Bartosz Nowak, University of Canterbury
Identification and monitoring of lymphoedema
18 months, $150,000
Associate Professor Gregory O'Grady, The University of Auckland
The ‘surgical canary’: A rapid detector of anastomotic leaks
12 months, $150,000
Associate Professor Justin O'Sullivan, The University of Auckland
Asthma – a test case for precision
24 months, $150,000
Associate Professor Anthony Phillips, The University of Auckland
Rebalancing fluid distribution in critical illness
24 months, $150,000
Dr Anna Ponnampalam, The University of Auckland
Development of a non-invasive diagnostic test for endometriosis
24 months, $150,000
Dr Rachel Simon-Kumar, The University of Auckland
“Missing women” in New Zealand: Exploring gender bias in migrant communities
24 months, $150,000
Dr Natasha Tassell-Matamua, Massey University, Palmerston North
Interpretation of anomalous experiences: Implications for wāhine Māori
24 months, $150,000
Dr Kenneth Tran, The University of Auckland
Does energy deficiency compromise myofilament contractility in diabetes?
24 months, $150,00
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News Article12 March 2019
Consultation opens today into the draft prioritisation vehicle that will drive health research investment in New Zealand up until 2027.
Feedback is sought on the proposed model through an online survey that will run for three weeks, from 12 March to 1 April.
Feedback from this round of consultation will lead to the final prioritisation vehicle and health research priority actions being established in mid-2019.
This consultation is a joint initiative between the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) and the Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC). The three agencies have been working with an independent Development Group to establish a model that will create enduring change for the life of the New Zealand Health Research Strategy (2017-2027) and beyond.
An initial round of consultation, held in September and October last year, captured a wealth of information from a wide range of stakeholders. In addition to health researchers, feedback came from NGOs, consumers, government agencies, clinicians and allied health professionals; insights also came from consultation workshops with Māori, Pacific and disability communities. That feedback formed the basis of the revised prioritisation model developed by the independent Development Group.
The revised model and consultation document, along with background to the prioritisation process to date, is all available on the consultation page of the HRC website.
Anyone unable to fill out the online survey is welcome to email their responses to Dr Patricia Anderson, the HRC's chief advisor for Research Policy, Strategy and Evaluation, at panderson@hrc.govt.nz .
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Media Release1 March 2019
New Zealand research scientists and clinicians along with collaborators in the United Kingdom, Singapore and China are a step closer to bringing a new clinical tool or biomarker, to guide clinical decision-making in the management of breast cancer, to market.
A cancer-related protein, named SHON (secreted hominoid-specific oncogene), has been demonstrated to be significantly associated with breast cancer’s response to treatment. Not only can it accurately predict if a patient will benefit from endocrine therapy, but it can also predict a patient’s response to chemotherapy before surgical removal of the tumour.
Dong-Xu Liu, Associate Professor at AUT and the lead researcher of this study, received a $200,000 grant for his work from the Breast Cancer Research Partnership of the Health Research Council, Breast Cancer Cure and Breast Cancer Foundation NZ. Breast Cancer Foundation NZ gave two additional grants totalling $160,000.
Liu says, “Breast cancer is curable if treated in a timely fashion and with the correct therapy. We might have found a way to improve the efficacy of endocrine therapy, the most widely-used breast cancer treatment for two-thirds of breast cancer patients.
“We can now predict those who will not respond to the therapy and they may now receive alternative treatment improving their chance of survival from breast cancer and allowing them to lead a quality life after cancer.”
These findings have the potential to change the current clinical practice of breast cancer management around the world. In fact, doctors would have a reliable prognostic tool to use in their treatment decision-making process. The research manuscript has now been accepted for publication in the British Journal of Cancer, a prestigious journal in the field.
Liu continues, “Breast cancer affects one in nine New Zealand women in their lifetime and accounts for almost half of the cancers in NZ women. Our findings would allow breast cancer patients to receive treatments that are the most appropriate to their characteristics, therefore improving treatment response and saving lives.”
Annually there are 2.1 million new cases of female breast cancer around the world and despite improved treatment options it is understood that 626,000 women still die from the disease each year. It is also now known that breast cancer is not a single disease, but a complex group of diseases that are highly heterogeneous in their genotype, phenotype, sensitivity to treatment and clinical outcome.
Liu says, “Our next step is to apply for funding for a feasibility study before conducting a randomised control clinical trial in the near future. This is a pivotal point in the research and one we would not have achieved were it not for the support and funding we have received to date. I am indebted to the people and organisations who have stuck with me through this long journey.”
Phillipa Green, General Manager at Breast Cancer Cure, says, “It is hugely satisfying to fund a study of this nature as once the work is complete it will assist clinicians to tailor treatment more specifically to a patient’s cancer which will improve the outcome. This is why we all fundraise – to ensure we can put money into life-changing research.”
Evangelia Henderson, Chief Executive at Breast Cancer Foundation NZ, says, “Biomarkers and tests that predict with a high degree of accuracy how well a patient will respond to breast cancer treatment will play a huge role in reducing deaths. We look forward to seeing what happens next as a result of Dr Liu’s excellent study.”
Pictured: Dong-Xu Liu, Associate Professor at AUT and the lead researcher of this study.
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Professor Kathryn McPhersonMedia ReleaseThe chairman of the Health Research Council of New Zealand, Dr Lester Levy, has announced that the chief executive, Professor Kathryn McPherson, will step down from the role in mid-2019.
Over the past four years, while health research has been firmly on the government’s agenda, Professor McPherson has headed a number of measures for maximising the value and benefit of health research for all New Zealanders.
Dr Levy says Kath McPherson has solidly championed the objectives and principles of the New Zealand Health Research Strategy, ensuring the crown agency is well-positioned to continue bringing the Strategy to life.
He says the Health Research Council (HRC) is leading the way in aligning the nation’s health research efforts and improving health outcomes for Māori and Pacific peoples, as well as developing a strong and capable health research workforce.
“As a strong advocate for ensuring value in research, Kath has also overseen changes to HRC’s assessment processes which aim to deliver greater impact from our investments and a clearer pathway to translating research findings into policy and practice.”
Professor McPherson says helping position the HRC as a leader and weaver in connecting health research with the end-users of research has been a highlight of her time at the HRC.
“It’s been an absolute privilege to work with the team and Council, as well as researchers, ministry colleagues and so many other interested people wanting to ensure that the Health Research Strategy delivers for New Zealand and New Zealanders,” she says.
“Researchers in our universities, hospitals and communities are incredibly dedicated and it’s been great to see their commitment recognised by way of increased funding over the last few years.”
Professor McPherson will continue leading the HRC while a search for her successor takes place over the next few months.
Dr Levy says the HRC has been exceeding its goals in key focus areas, such as achieving health equity, and is looking for someone to build on this momentum.
“Heading the HRC is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to steer the direction and potential of health research in New Zealand.
“It’s in the interests of the New Zealand public and all stakeholders that we find the most suitable candidate to pick up where Kath leaves off, ensuring publicly-funded research has high impact and real benefits for New Zealanders.”
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