The Channel 7 Telethon Trust (Telethon) is a registered charity, raising funds to support medical research into childhood diseases, provide equipment, critical services and life-changing opportunities for sick, disadvantaged and vulnerable children.
Telethon has been created by and belongs to the community of Western Australia who over five decades have generously donated more than $605 million to ensure a better life for children now and in the future.
For more than 40 years WIRF has been a Telethon beneficiary.
Current Telethon funding is supporting the following research projects:
Targeting steroid therapy to the fetus with nanoparticles
Erin Fee
Although critical for saving the lives of preterm babies, antenatal steroids (ANS) adversely affect the mother and placenta, causing harm to the fetus. We will use nanoparticles to deliver ANS exclusively to the fetus, allowing life-saving preterm lung maturation, whilst shielding the mother and placenta from redundant, harmful steroid exposure.
Pump-free ECMO for preterm infants in respiratory failure
Dr Haruo Usuda
This proposal addresses the unmet demand for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) therapy among preterm infants <34 weeks’ gestation with cardio-respiratory failure. We have developed an innovative pump-free ECMO system, holding promise for fewer deaths and reduced complications. We will conduct pre-clinical investigations to evaluate the efficacy and safety of this new system.
AI-empowered personalised care for rare childhood diseases
Professor Gareth Baynam
We will create an AI-empowered computational model that organises the clinical features for children living with rare diseases. We will deploy this world-leading model of care to enable personalised and scalable improvements in prognosis, surveillance, coordinated clinical and social care for WA children suffering with a rare disease.
Probiotic dose-response in extremely preterm infants – A randomised study
Dr Chandra Rath
Extremely premature infants (<28weeks) are at risk of developing a serious condition of the gut called necrotizing-enterocolitis and other complications. Giving probiotics (healthy bacteria) reduces such complications. However, the optimal dose of probiotics to derive maximum benefit is unknown. This scientifically rigorous study will evaluate three different doses in them.