Grants totalling more than $150,000 have been announced by the Otago Medical Research Foundation, an organisation which distributes money to support local medical research.
Three grants were funded from a $100,000 donation from the Community Trust of Otago, and three from the foundation's own resources.
Dr Steve Kerr (department of pharmacology and toxicology) was awarded $34,684 to research using drugs and toxins to trigger a response in the brain and resist the effect of a severe trauma. This research has implications for conditions in which blood flow to the brain is interrupted.
Prof Helen Nicholson (anatomy and structural biology) received $31,361 to investigate possible causes of the progression of prostate cancer.
Dr Eng Wui Tan (chemistry), Associate Prof Brian Hyland (physiology) and Dr John Reynolds (anatomy and structural biology) received $34,779 to research medical treatments aiming to increase drugs' effectiveness.
Dr Nicholas Heng, Associate Prof Mary Cullinan (dentistry) and Prof John Tagg (microbiology and immunology) were granted $23,801 to buy equipment for their research into methods of preventing oral infections.
Dr Stephanie Hughes (biochemistry) was given $15,200 to investigate how the brain responds to immune invasion.
Dr Stephen Sowerby (biochemistry) received $10,843 to help build a prototype device capable of analysing particles varying in size from single molecules to cells.
