17 December 2008
Pfizer Australia has awarded Monash University scientist, Professor Michael Cowley a $1million research fellowship to further his research into diabetes.
Professor Cowley, from the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, was the sole winner of the five-year fellowship which will support the testing and development of a new diabetes therapy. Although the research is in its early stages, Professor Cowley and his team have already made positive discoveries in the area of blood glucose control.
"We have some very new data that suggests that we may have found two new ways of controlling blood glucose," said Professor Cowley.
"Our testing has provided evidence of a new pathway from the brain to the body to regulate insulin sensitivity and a new hormonal link from the pituitary to muscle. These pathways seem to act in parallel to reduce blood glucose levels."
By the end of the Pfizer fellowship, Professor Cowley hopes to have gathered enough evidence to prove these effects and be in a position to begin human clinical trials.
Professor Cowley's research has the potential to improve the health of the 3 million Australians and 246 million people world-wide suffering from diabetes.
"I feel honoured to win," he said. "It is a very prestigious fellowship for translational research.
Head of Strategic Alliances for Pfizer Australia, Dr Daniel Grant, said the company was pleased to award Professor Cowley the latest Pfizer Research Fellowship Grant.
"Prof Cowley is an outstanding scientist," Dr Grant said. "We foresee great value in the contributions he will make to the biomedical research community, specifically in the area of diabetes research".
"It is Pfizer Australia's core commitment to build on Australia's exceptional research capabilities. Through our Fellowship Program, Pfizer Australia invests in young Australian researchers who have demonstrated significant potential to be leaders in their chosen field of research. This investment may well lead to new or improved therapies for a wide range of disease states."
Professor Cowley is the first Monash researcher to win a Pfizer Research Fellowship since Associate Professor Johnson Mak in 2004 who attracted the award for his research into HIV.
For more information please contact Karen Sutherland, Research Communications Manager on Ph: +613 9903 4844, Mob: 0431 959 510 or Karen.sutherland@adm.monash.edu .au.
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