IRH researchers recognised at 2025 Raine Medical Research Foundation Awards
Researchers from the Institute for Respiratory Health have been recognised across multiple categories at the 2025 Raine Medical Research Foundation Awards, securing more than $990,000 in funding for innovative respiratory and cancer research.
The awards recognise excellence in health and medical research that benefits Western Australians, with IRH-affiliated researchers receiving two Priming Grants, a Clinician Research Fellowship, a Research Collaboration Award, and a Publication Prize.
Targeting immunotherapy resistance
Dr Nicola Principe (IRH, NCARD) received a Raine Priming Grant of $238,159 for her project exploring how lipid metabolism could help overcome immunotherapy resistance in thoracic cancers.
Immunotherapy has transformed cancer treatment, but fewer than 20 per cent of patients with thoracic cancers—including mesothelioma and lung cancer—experience long-term benefit. Dr Principe’s team has discovered that regulatory T cells, which suppress the body’s cancer-fighting response, rely on fats and cholesterol to survive inside tumours. By targeting these pathways with existing cholesterol-lowering medications such as statins, her research aims to help more patients respond to treatment.
“I’m grateful for this support from the Raine Medical Research Foundation. This funding will enable us to better understand therapy resistance and explore new ways to improve responses to treatment.”
Personalised cancer vaccines
Dr Francois Xavier Rwandamuriye (UWA, NCARD) was awarded a Raine Priming Grant of $236,409 to develop mRNA-based neoantigen cancer vaccines.
His project harnesses the same mRNA technology behind COVID-19 vaccines to develop personalised cancer treatments. The approach targets neoantigens—proteins found only on cancer cells—training the immune system to recognise and destroy tumours while leaving healthy tissue unharmed. Building on pioneering work identifying neoantigens in mesothelioma, Dr Rwandamuriye will design mRNA constructs that can deliver multiple cancer targets in a single vaccine.
“As an early-career researcher, I appreciate the opportunity this grant provides to explore new approaches that could improve outcomes for patients.”
Improving lung cancer diagnosis
Professor Rajesh Thomas (UWA, SCGH), who is part of IRH’s Bronchiectasis Group, received a Raine Clinician Research Fellowship worth $452,392 to optimise novel robotic bronchoscopy techniques for lung cancer diagnosis and treatment.
This research has the potential to transform how clinicians detect and treat lung cancer, leading to better outcomes for patients. The fellowship recognises Professor Thomas’s clinical expertise and his commitment to translating innovative technologies into improved patient care.
Predicting and preventing asthma attacks
Dr Sanjay Ramakrishnan (UWA, SCGH) received two Raine awards: the Strachan Memorial Prize for his landmark publication in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, and a Research Collaboration Award of $59,306 for his PREACT project.
The publication prize recognises Dr Ramakrishnan’s research demonstrating that benralizumab, a monoclonal antibody, can treat acute asthma and COPD flare-ups more effectively than standard steroid treatment. The study found that patients receiving benralizumab were four times less likely to experience treatment failure compared to those receiving prednisolone alone.
His Research Collaboration Award will fund the PREACT project, which aims to identify changes in blood markers in the weeks leading up to an asthma attack. By discovering these early warning signs, the research could enable clinicians to intervene before symptoms emerge—shifting asthma care from reactive to proactive. The project is a collaboration with the University of Newcastle and Trajan Scientific Australia.
“Every 3 minutes, someone in Australia is having an asthma attack. We must stop treating these attacks as inevitable and unpredictable. By understanding what happens before a patient even knows they are having an attack, we can abort the attack completely. This seed funding from the Raine Foundation is crucial to developing this line of research.”
Supporting Western Australian research
The Raine Medical Research Foundation supports health and medical research in Western Australia through grants, fellowships, and prizes. These awards will enable IRH-affiliated researchers to pursue innovative science with the potential to improve outcomes for patients with respiratory disease and cancer.