Media Releases - 5 December 2024

New funding for Victorian diabetes researchers

Five Victorian researchers have secured funded research projects in the 2025 Diabetes Australia Research Program (DARP) national grant round.

Diabetes Victoria has been a significant contributor to the DARP funding pool over many years. This includes contributing more than $19 million in a little over a decade.

Dr Jedidiah Morton (Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, Monash University) was awarded the prestigious Charles Coghlan OAM Emerging Researcher Award, which was funded by a bequest to Diabetes Victoria and Diabetes Australia. His project will address inequality in type 2 diabetes development, treatment, and outcomes.

Dr Rong Xu (Monash University) received the The Millennium Type 1 Award for his research into a new treatment of type 1 diabetes. Associate Professor Adam Rose (Monash University) received the Millennium Type 2 Award for his research into the role of liver amino acid metabolism in therapies for type 2 diabetes.

Two more Victorian research projects will be led by Associate Professor Costan Magnussen (Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute) and Dr Magdalene Montgomery (University of Melbourne). Associate Professor Magnussen’s project will look at the early-life factors that forecast type 2 diabetes in adulthood, while Dr Montgomery will search for new ways to regulate glucose metabolism in the liver.

“Research is essential to prevent or find a cure for all types of diabetes and to improve the lives of people affected by diabetes,” Diabetes Victoria CEO Glen Noonan says.

“Victoria is home to world-class diabetes researchers, research centres and institutes. This is demonstrated in almost half of the successful recipients being Victorian researchers, including both the Millenium Type 1 and Type 2 awards and the Charles Coghlan OAM Emerging Researcher Award.

“Diabetes Victoria will continue to invest in and support research to strengthen our state as a global hub for diabetes research excellence.”

2025 DARP recipients

Recipient	Institute	State	Project Title
Dr Amanda Brandon	The University of Sydney	NSW	The effect of age and sex on metabolic health
Professor Jonathan Gleadle	Flinders University	SA	The Diabetic Kidney: Size Matters
Dr Tanja Jankovic-Karasoulos	Flinders University	SA	Altered placental hormones in response to elevated folic acid: Proposed mechanism for the rise in gestational diabetes in Australia
Dr Lennart Kuck \| Kellion Diabetes Research Grant	Griffith University	QLD	Red blood cells – the forgotten players driving cardiovascular complications in type 2 diabetes
Associate Professor Costan Magnussen	Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute	VIC	Intersecting Stages: Early-life factors to forecast type 2 diabetes in adulthood
Mrs Simone Marschner	The University of Sydney	NSW	Understanding the link between gestational diabetes and subsequent type 2 diabetes onset: genetic and non-genetic factors
Dr Magdalene Montgomery	University of Melbourne	VIC	Uncovering novel regulators of hepatic glucose metabolism and glycaemic control
Associate Professor Tongzhi Wu	The University of Adelaide	SA	Regulation of glucose homeostasis by renal ‘sweet taste’ sensing in people with type 2 diabetes