Positioning Australian stem cell research for the future

Dr Bryony Nayagam, Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Audiology & Speech Pathology, is an Associate Investigator at Stem Cells Australia.

Established in 2011 through the Australian Research Council’s Special Research Initiatives scheme, Stem Cells Australia has developed a sophisticated national network of over 300 researchers who are at the cutting edge of research into stem cells in development, physiology and disease as well as their social implications.

Stem Cells Australia will receive additional funding from the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council to keep Australian science at the forefront of stem cell medicine internationally. This support will allow collaborative stem cell research across more than a dozen Australian universities and medical institutes to extend our fundamental understanding of stem cell science, ultimately leading to new ways to diagnose, understand and treat disease.

Dr Nayagam contributed to two of the three themes in the bid that secured this additional funding: Regenerative medicine and Disease modelling – as they relate to neural regeneration and repair. Specifically, she is leading the auditory projects relating to rehabilitation of the deaf auditory system using stem cells and understanding cochlear hair cell function through disease modelling.