Australia–Canada symposium strengthens Melbourne–Calgary research partnership

Researchers from the University of Calgary’s Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases and Hotchkiss Brain Institute converged on Melbourne earlier this year for the inaugural AUS-CAN Symposium to discuss the nexus between neuroscience and infectious diseases.

Hosted in partnership with the Cumming Global Centre for Pandemic Therapeutics at the Doherty Institute, and the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, the symposium was a key step in strengthening an international research partnership between UCalgary and The University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Medicine Dentistry and Health Sciences (MDHS).

From gut-nervous system interactions and the microbiome to microbial frontiers and novel vaccines and therapeutics, presentations throughout the symposium highlighted the depth of expertise and opportunities for collaborative research between Calgary and Melbourne to tackle the challenge of infections and their long-term impact on human health.

Melbourne-Calgary Collaborative Seed Funding Program

The Symposium marked an important milestone in the partnership, which includes the Melbourne-Calgary Collaborative Seed Funding Program — a research collaboration between UCalgary's Cumming School of Medicine (CSM) and the Doherty Institute.

More than $160,000 Cdn. in collective grant funding was awarded in 2024 across two streams.

Several projects, each with co-principal investigators from the CSM and the Doherty Institute, received three Melbourne-Calgary Collaborative Seed Grants. The projects focus on:

• One Health – how human health is linked to animals and the environment
• Antimicrobial resistance
• Diagnostics
• Clinical trials

Two additional seed grants, jointly funded by the Cumming Global Centre and UCalgary's Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases, were also awarded to support the development of technologies aimed at reducing the burden of the next pandemic.

Creating global standards for organoid research

Principal investigators Dr. Simon Hirota, PhD, associate dean (Research Infrastructure) at the CSM and Dr. Laura Cook, PhD, senior research officer at the Doherty Institute, are co-leading a project that aims to create global standards for organoid research.

“It’s been nice to connect with a lab across the ocean and push what we’re trying to do in Canada, which is to standardize and harmonize a lot of our research approaches. When I found out what Laura’s team was doing in Melbourne, I was really excited that it’s something similar to what we’re doing, but also complementary,” says Hirota.

Organoids are miniature organ models grown from stem cells that can improve the efficiency of drug development to treat infectious diseases, including those of pandemic potential.

“I reached out (to Simon) when I saw all the amazing organoid work that he’d been doing and then, all of a sudden, there was this opportunity to have some funding available for us to tangibly connect and start working together,” says Cook. “It’s nice to be able to work with an existing friend.”

The research partnership between UCalgary and the University of Melbourne grew out of shared strength in researching infectious diseases, immunology and the microbiome, as well as a connection born from the generosity of philanthropist Geoff Cumming.

Cumming made a $100-million Cdn. gift to UCalgary in June 2014, establishing the Cumming School of Medicine and, in August 2022, he made a AU$250-million gift to the University of Melbourne via the Doherty Institute establishing the Cumming Global Centre for Pandemic Therapeutics.

Learn more about the project funded through the Melbourne-Calgary Collaborative Seed Funding Program here.