HMRI researchers Dr. Jonathan Paul and Dr. Marina Paul, who met and married while working at HMRI, are about to embark on their biggest collaborative project: parenthood.
The couple is just days away from the birth of their first child, a boy they will name Winter.
This comes on the heels of Dr Jonathan Paul winning a $2.59 million NHMRC researcher grant to harness nanoparticles targeted to the uterus to prevent preterm birth.
The timing of the funding announcement could not have been better.
Jonathan said this will give him five years of steady pay to keep his job and $400,000 a year to cover research costs and two PhD stipends.
“It's the holy grail,” he says,
Dr. Marina Paul said the couple paid close attention to everything that could happen in a pregnancy because of their shared expertise in premature birth.
“Jonathan sat me down every week and took my blood pressure to check for pre-eclampsia,” says Marina.
“We're researchers, so we study everything. We've spent a lot of time reading PubMed articles to find the best data on everything from formula to birthing methods,” she says. says.
Jonathan says NHMRC funding is a huge boon to his research and would like to particularly thank Sarah Longes and Dean Mumm at BorneHMRI for their support.
“It was their donations that allowed us to continue researching nanoparticles. It funded the microfluidics equipment and helped keep our heads above water.”
“I wouldn’t have gotten this far without them,” Jonathan says.
Sarah and Dean founded BorneHMRI after tragically losing four babies to premature birth. They are currently active ambassadors and fundraisers for this cause.
In addition to the generous support of BorneHMRI, Jonathan has received support from HMRI's philanthropic team, an early mid-career gene and cell therapy research grant and a PhD scholarship from the New South Wales Department of Health, and a PhD scholarship to support his research. We are also grateful to the NHMRC Idea Grant for funding. His mentors are honorees Professor Roger Smith and Professor Tamas Zakhar.
“We want to reassure mothers affected by premature birth that we know how devastating it is and are working hard to find solutions,” says Jonathan. .
