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THE CYCLE OF OBESITY: Two Generations Of A Pregnancy Cohort To Investigate Obesity Epigenetics
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,117,795.00
Summary
Obesity has increased 3-5 fold in the last fifty years, overtaking smoking as the greatest killer. In recent history, each generation has experienced greater amounts of obesity and at younger ages. Being exposed in the womb to mother’s obesity transmits the risk to the child, possibly by changing our epigenetic profile and how our DNA code is read. We need to break this vicious cycle. This study is a world first, investigating 2 generations with respect to obesity and epigenetic profiles.
Burden Of Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD) And Impact Of Prevention Strategies: Comprehensive Evidence To Drive The RHD Endgame
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$960,655.00
Summary
Rheumatic heart disease is chronic damage to the heart valves caused by repeated bouts of acute rheumatic fever. Both are preventable, yet rates among Indigenous Australians are of the highest recorded. We propose to undertake the first multi-jurisdictional study of these conditions to determine trends in occurrence and evaluate the impact of existing interventions in Australia. Findings will be used to inform the development of a roadmap to remove RHD as a public health problem in Australia.
Gene Identification For Keratoconus - A Blinding Eye Disease
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$912,880.00
Summary
Keratoconus is a common eye disease where the cornea at the front of the eye progressively becomes thinner and bulges out, resulting in severe visual impairment in young people. This project is investigating the genetic causes of keratoconus in a large collection of Australian patients. We aim to be better able to predict who will develop the disease and treat them earlier, as well as be able to target treatments to the causes of disease.
Contrary to traditional belief few cases of cerebral palsy are due to problems at birth. Most have earlier origins. Sophisticated new methods have found that many developmental brain disorders e.g. autism, intellectual disability and epilepsy are associated with submicroscopic but genetically large alterations in the genetic code of these children. This novel study will seek these alterations in a large group of Australian cerebral palsy families. The pilot data show novel and exciting findings.
Mothers’ And Their Children’s Health Study: Understanding Disparities In Health And Health Service Utilisation Among Australian Families
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$684,744.00
Summary
The Mothers’ and their Children’s Health study will advance understanding of the risks to child health and development and help guide health policies for families across Australia. It builds on 17 years of data from a leading study of Australian women’s health with a new survey on all the children of 4000 mothers from that study. It is uniquely placed to investigate how the history of maternal and family characteristics affects the health and development of all the children in a family.
IMPROVE - Investigating Medication Re-Purposing To Reduce Risk Of OVarian Cancer And Extend Survival
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$430,196.00
Summary
Ovarian cancer is the 6th most common cause of cancer death in women and the proportion of women who die from their disease has not improved substantially over time. This large-scale study will use de-identified data from the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, the Australian Cancer Database and the National Death Index to investigate whether medications commonly used for other conditions can help decrease the risk of ovarian cancer developing or improve survival from ovarian cancer after diagnosis.
Brain Plaques And Cognitive Decline In The Elderly - A Study Of Human Twins
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Summary
One hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a build up of plaques in the brain, starting years before symptoms are observed. We will use PiB-PET brain scans to determine the degree of plaque build-up in pairs of twins at risk of developing AD, and calculate the heritability of these plaques. We will also be able to calculate (potentially modifiable) environmental factors that may be contributing to the relationship between plaques and memory and thinking.
Menopause is one of the important risk factors for bone loss, structural decay and bone fragility. We aim to quantify the biochemical, microstructural and biomechanical basis of loss of bone strength during and after menopause. A cohort of 324 pairs of female-female twins aged 25 to 75 years old will be followed up for up to 9 years. Defining the structural basis of bone fragility provides a rational means to identifying women at risk for fracture.
Constructing Control Samples For The Australian And Other Populations: Improving Power And False Positive Rates In The Next Generation Of Genetic Association Studies With A Focus On Controlling For Fine-scale Population Structure In DNA Sequence Data
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$283,447.00
Summary
Individuals who live near each other tend to be more similar genetically than individuals who live in different parts of the world. One reason is that they share more of their genetic ancestry. There can be very subtle differences in patterns of genetic variation even within countries. Accounting for these subtle differences can be important for studies of the genetic basis of diseases. We will develop novel statistical methods to control for these genetic differences in disease studies.
We will conduct a study of more than 500 Australian female twin pairs in which one or both have had breast cancer. We will also study measured and unmeasured genetic and environmental causes of risk factors.