Research achievements and outcomes

Monash researchers make highly significant contributions that bring real and positive change to people all over the world. The University is a major contributor to social and political debate in Australia. Its experts are sought after by government and industry for solutions to 21st challenges including climate change, health, global terrorism, migration, child protection, transport, future manufacturing, education and economics.

World-renowned research

• Pioneering IVF technology
• Drug development including combating malaria and influenza
• Helping reduce the road toll through ground-breaking accident research
• Climate change
• Stem cell research including the development of a new technique that could revolutionise treatment of Parkinson's disease and spinal cord injury.
• Obesity prevention and treatment.
• Regenerative medicine investigating ways to help the adult body repair and regenerate damaged tissues and organs.

Recent research highlights

• A range of complex surgical operations necessary to treat stroke victims, confront hardened arteries or address blockages in the bloodstream made safer with micro-motors small enough to be injected into the human bloodstream.
• Revolutionising the design of fuel cells used in the latest generation of hybrid cars, which could make the vehicles more reliable and cheaper to build.
• The discovery of one of New Zealand's oldest and most spectacular fossil deposits, a collection of perfectly preserved bird bones thought to be about 65 million years old.
• A way to remove stains using sunlight, which means that in a few years, there will be the potential to produce self-cleaning clothes.
• The development of a model for world’s best practice counter-terrorism community policing in collaboration with Victoria Police.
• The use of DNA fingerprinting to identify which embryos implanted after in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) have resulted in the birth of healthy babies.
• Using chemicals found in plants to replicate a key process in photosynthesis paving the way for a new approach that uses sunlight to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The breakthrough could revolutionise the renewable energy industry by making hydrogen -- touted as the clean, green fuel of the future -- cheaper and easier to produce on a commercial scale.
• The design of a nano-sized 'trojan horse' particle to ensure healing antioxidants can be better absorbed by the human body.

2008 research funding achievement

• Around $210 million in externally funded research income.
• $60.2 million National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) grants
• $36.6 million for Australian Research Council (ARC)
• $89.9 million from the Federal Government to build New Horizons, an initiative to transform future manufacturing.