Our $500,000 boost to three world-changing UQ projects

Good things come in threes – like the trio of world-leading University of Queensland research projects benefitting from our $500,000 contribution today.

From the power of seagrass in helping beat climate change to continued research into pain relief from spider venom and supercharging the production of future vaccines, today’s funding from The Lott by Golden Casket unclaimed prizemoney will help researchers tackle some of our generation’s biggest issues.

The money takes our support of UQ research to $2.5 million over the past four years. 

The first project aims to better understand how seagrass on the Great Barrier Reef can help address climate change with its ability to capture and store carbon dioxide, while the second uses the peptides in spider venom to develop new pain relief medications for chronic conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome and endometriosis.

The third project further investigates molecular clamp technology to fast-track the development of a safe and cost-efficient vaccine in just 100 days from a future viral outbreak or epidemic.

“We are developing vaccines to protect against current and future viral threats, including influenza viruses, coronaviruses, Ebola viruses and other highly pathogenic viruses,” UQ’s Associate Professor Keith Chappell said.

“The new molecular clamp platform can be deployed quickly in the event of future pandemics, and the donation from The Lott will help us to reduce the timelines for developing safe and effective vaccines.”