Two Hunter researchers have clinched fellowships worth $100,000 each for their work on radiation-free lung scans and precise cancer treatments.
Dr Geshani Jayasuriya and Dr Heather Murray were announced as winners of a six-week innovator program at Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI) on Friday.
Dr Jayasuriya, a paediatric respiratory physician, is developing safer lung scans through modern MRI techniques.
Existing tests, using CT scans, carry radiation risks.
"When we spoke to patient families, they don't want those scans routinely for their children because there's a risk of cancer if you have lots of them," Dr Jayasuriya said.
"MRI doesn't have any radiation. The technology has come a long way. It's like using an old Nokia versus a smartphone.
"We're in the smartphone era with MRI. There's been such rapid advances in MRI - they now give amazing detailed images. Now is the time to take this to patients."
She said these advanced imaging methods help clinicians "make important decisions on treatments for patients".
For example, MRI images of the lungs will help tailor medications to patients with cystic fibrosis and asthma.
"Unfortunately the tests we currently use don't have the ability to detect disease early," she said, adding they were not sensitive enough.
"I want to take lung MRI into clinical care for children and adults, firstly around the Hunter and then around the country."
She said these MRI techniques provide information about how air and blood flow through the lungs.
"They tell us about the lung structure and where the disease is, giving a complete picture of what's going on," she said.
Dr Murray, a blood cancer researcher, is working to "personalise treatment decisions" for patients with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML)".
"It's a particularly aggressive form of blood cancer," Dr Murray said.
"At the moment, treatment decisions are mainly based on how old the patient is and how much intensive chemotherapy they could handle.
"My project is developing a platform to help predict what treatment is most likely to be beneficial for each patient."
The project aims to improve survival rates for "this poor-prognosis cancer".
"We hope to match people to the treatment that will work, and ensure they're not going through unnecessary toxicity from treatments that aren't working for them.
"So we're hoping it will improve their quality of life."
The innovator program helps six early- and mid-career researchers from the University of Newcastle, Hunter New England Health and HMRI to understand healthcare challenges.
The researchers work with affected people and develop practical solutions.
The HMRI program is run in partnership with Newcastle Permanent.
Other projects this year included infant respiratory risk, wound care and genomics analysis. The remaining four finalists each received $20,000 seed grants to continue their research.
HMRI director Frances Kay said the program involved the region's "emerging research talent".
Professor Kay said it showed the "value of investing in ideas with the potential to improve lives".
"Every breakthrough starts with an idea, but the journey ... requires much more than a good idea alone," Professor Kay said."
