The projects span a diverse range of disciplines, from improving cancer diagnostics to investigations on healthy aging.
Five Edith Cowan University (ECU) researchers have been jointly awarded more than $1.34 million in grant funding from the Western Australian Future Health Research & Innovation (FHRI) Fund, recognising their potential to drive transformative health outcomes for the community.
The projects span a diverse range of disciplines, from improving cancer diagnostics to investigations on healthy aging, highlighting ECU's growing impact in tackling some of the state's most pressing health challenges.
Professor Elin Gray, Deputy Director of the Centre for Precision Health (CPH) and Head of the Translation Melanoma Research Group, has been awarded funding under the Innovative Solutions – Precision Health division, which is aimed at promoting the development of innovative precision health solutions to address unmet health and medical needs in Western Australia.
Professor Gray's project, Extracellular Vesicles-derIved Signature of response to Immuno-ONcology (EnVISION), would seek to further develop this diagnostic test with the aim of developing a prototype to accurately predict how patients with melanoma, lung, and renal cancer will respond to immunotherapy.
Under the WA Near Miss Awards (WANMA) Emerging Leaders program, four ECU researchers have been recognised for their outstanding early-career research potential. Dr Claire Pulker from the Nutrition & Health Innovation Research Institute, Dr Vivian Chua from CPH, Dr Abadi Kahsu Gebre, and Dr Cassandra Smith have each been awarded grants to advance their innovative projects.
Senior research fellow Dr Claire Pulker has been awarded a Fellowship for her research on The Advertising practices of Australian supermarkets and their influence over population diets to identify opportunities for changing how supermarkets advertise, to better promote and support healthy eating.
Dr Chua's project, Identifying therapeutic vulnerabilities in high-risk uveal melanoma, seeks to uncover new treatment pathways for this rare and aggressive cancer. Dr Gebre's research, Getting to the heart of healthy ageing, aims to reduce falls among older Australians living with cardiovascular disease, while Dr Smith's project, My heart matters, will co-design interventions to empower women through improved cardiovascular disease education, screening and prevention.
The WANMA Emerging Leaders program is designed to support Western Australian researchers who narrowly missed out on securing a highly competitive National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Investigator Grant.
The program is providing 12-month grants and three-year fellowships to eligible researchers who will be required to resubmit their improved applications to the NHMRC.
Dr Leslie Beasley, also from CPH has been announced among the 2026 Cancer Research Project Grant recipients, for her research project cEVsig: a blood test for predicting and enhancing response to immunotherapy. This project will test whether a new genetic marker (cEVsig) found in extracellular vesicles can predict how stage III and IV melanoma patients respond to immunotherapy, and whether it can also reveal insights into the immune anti-tumour response orchestrated.
The Cancer Research Project Grants provide funding for up to one year for early-stage research projects and is co-funded by the FHRI Fund and the Cancer Council WA.
