The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) grants big wins to Firefly researchers.
Four researchers who once held a Firefly grant have just been awarded NHMRC Investigator Grants: Professor Peter Meikle, Professor Gregory Goodall, Professor Carol Maher and Dr Andrew Hayles.
Professor Peter Meikle held Firefly grants in 1993 and 1994, developing ways to diagnose lysosomal storage disorders at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital. He now heads metabolomics at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute and has been awarded $3.03 million.
Professor Gregory Goodall has held two Firefly grants, in 2015 and 2025, both aimed at improving outcomes for children with neuroblastoma. He has been awarded $2.64 million to study non-coding RNAs in health and disease.
Professor Carol Maher, who also serves on the Firefly Board, led a Firefly project in 2013 on a pedometer-based physical activity programme for children, and has since been an associate investigator on further Firefly-funded research. She has been awarded $2.97 million to turn digital health behaviour change into population-level impact.
And Dr Andrew Hayles received a Firefly Early Career Grant just last year, to develop plasma-enhanced wound dressings for children living with epidermolysis bullosa. Twelve months on, he has been awarded $697,615 to build a new class of antibacterial biomaterials.
Firefly backed these researchers before the results were in. That is what an early grant is for, and it is often where a career in children’s research begins.
Congratulations to all four, and to every South Australian researcher in this round.
Little lights. Lasting impact.
