Our ongoing support of world-leading UQ research

How are seagrass, spider venom and molecular clamp technology connected?

They're all driving ground-breaking research at the University of Queensland in three projects we’re proud to help fund with $500,000 from The Lott by Golden Casket unclaimed prize money.

Today’s contribution marks our fourth year of support, totalling $3 million in funding.

The first of these projects is the use of spider venom to develop new pain relief medicines, with this pioneering research landing UQ’s Professor Glenn King the Prime Minister’s Prize for Innovation in 2023.

“Chronic pain is one of the primary symptoms of women suffering from endometriosis and the 11 per cent of Australians afflicted with irritable bowel syndrome,” he said.

The second project continues research into understanding how seagrass meadows and healthy coral reefs can be used to help combat global warming, while the third aims to re-engineer molecular clamp vaccine technology to respond to any future viral outbreak or epidemic with a safe, effective, cost-efficient and easy-to-distribute vaccine.

“Supporting the community is why lotteries was first established in Australia, so we’re proud to continue this tradition by donating to UQ for the fourth year in a row,” our Partnerships Manager Liz McPherson said.

“We hope that with this donation, we help UQ to tackle some of the biggest health and environment issues of our generation.”