Grants

white coats foundation

The Power of One Grant

What is the The Power of One Grant ?

The ‘Power of One Grant’ is a commitment to White Coats Foundation’s mission to assist early research and discoveries that can lead to better health outcomes. The funds to support awarded projects comes from generous public donations collected as part of the annual Power of One clinical trials awareness campaign in November. Applications for the 2021/2022 Power of One Grant are now Now closed. The 2021 research option voted by our contributors was Neurology.

"Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence"

Carl Sagan

Our 2021/2022 recipient

WCF is proud to announce the recipient of the Power of One 2021/22 – $5000 Grant is Dr Madison Paton Phd – Research Fellow – Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Institute for her research project – Establishing Australia’s first stem cell therapy clinical trial for newborn stroke. Congratulations!

About the Project

No current treatment options exist for babies with stroke, but early stem cell therapy to stimulate brain repair may offer a science-backed solution. Dr Paton is leading a team of researchers, clinicians and parents to deliver Australia’s first clinical trial of a stem cell treatment to protect the developing brain following stroke.
Newborn brain injury is the most common cause of death and disability. No acute therapies exist. Early stem cell therapy to stimulate brain repair is a science-backed shift in thinking.

For this program, Dr Paton will help lead and co-ordinate clinicians, scientists, consumers and collaborators with the aim of establishing Australia’s first mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) clinical trial for neonates in Australia. Importantly, this program will bring awareness to the need for early phase clinical trials for cell therapies in neonates. This work is also centred around co-creation with families to deliver consumer-driven and informed research programs.

This program has 3 objectives: (1) support collaborative preclinical and clinical research efforts to bring MSC treatments to the clinic, (2) engage neonatal intensive care units across Australia to enhance feasibility and awareness of MSC clinical trials, and (3) promote necessary research advances to improve speed of translation treatments for neonatal brain injury. This program is important and unique as there are no other treatment options for babies that target brain injury and early phase clinical research is the next necessary step to translate MSC treatments. We expect that this program will help to support consumer and community awareness, engagement and involvement in delivering an MSC clinical trial for babies with brain injury

This research and activities within the program will be conducted across Victoria and New South Wales.

Read a little more about Dr Paton, her team and the project here

2023 Update

Dr Madison Paton, ECF Power of One Grant Recipient 2021/2022 Establishing Australia’s first stem cell therapy clinical trial for newborn stroke

2023 Update

We thank White Coats Foundation for their ongoing support for our research via the Power of One Grant. We are making exciting progress in delivering a world-first clinical trial for babies with stroke. Our study aims to bring a cutting-edge stem cell treatment into the clinic via a Phase I safety trial and we are proud to report that this work has received ethics approval and start-up activities are underway. This trial (called NEOSTeM) is a huge collaborative effort between parents, clinicians, scientists and industry. A highlight for 2023 has included an invited presentation to showcase our efforts in consumer co-design in research at the Interdisciplinary Maternal Perinatal Australasian Collaborative Trials (IMPACT) Network meeting in Sydney, Australia. Here, our parent chief investigator Kylie Facer presented alongside Dr Madison Paton and Dr Himanshu Popat on ways that we have forged a meaningful collaboration to help advance research (pictured below). We have also presented our progress at the World Stroke Congress (Toronto, Canada) and across a number of local symposiums. Stroke in babies remains a leading cause of disability, including cerebral palsy. Efforts to uncover new treatments but also advocate for more research is extremely important. We have enjoyed spreading the word about this area of research and look forward to treating the very first participant in NEOSTeM in future. We would like to thank our large team of collaborators and the White Coats Foundation for acknowledging our efforts. You have made this work possible.

Parent chief investigator Kylie Facer presented alongside Dr Madison Paton and Dr Himanshu Popat post-presentation at (IMPACT) Network meeting in Sydney, Australia.

2022 Update

Dr Madison Paton, ECF Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Institute Australia’s first stem cell therapy clinical trial for newborn stroke

2022 Update

Establishing Australia’s first stem cell therapy clinical trial for newborn stroke We thank White Coats Foundation for supporting our research via the Power of One Grant. Our study aims to bring a cutting-edge stem cell treatment into the clinic via a Phase I safety trial for babies with stroke. To make this possible, we have spent the last 6 months raising awareness for this research, priming neonatal intensive care units and working towards establishing this important study across hospitals in NSW and VIC. We have held webinars across 9 sites, hosted 2 knowledge-sharing sessions with clinicians, and received critical feedback on study documents with the help of parents and families. This has involved collaboration across our extensive Investigator team, including parent Kylie Facer, as well as consultation with the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Stem Cell Reference Group and Monash Newborn Consumer Advisory Group. This study is important as there are no other treatments for babies who have sustained brain injury following a stroke. We have a unique opportunity to transform this situation and look for new treatment options. Our team has been met with enthusiasm from the community and our peers on this exciting trial. We look forward to what this year can bring and the progress we can continue to make by supporting consumer and community awareness and involvement in our research. We would like to thank our large team of collaborators, Investigators, hospitals, families and the White Coats Foundation.

Our 2020/2021 recipient

WCF is proud to announce the recipient of the Power of One $5000 Grant is …..The University of Newcastle for their research project- ‘Brain Cancer and Cognitive decline: The acceptability of Cognitive Screening for Aboriginal people in New South Wales (NSW)’. Congratulations!

About the Project

Tools that measure thinking and memory are important for supporting people with brain cancers, dementia, & other health concerns. The University of Newcastle will be working with local Aboriginal communities to explore the acceptability & cultural safety of current thinking and memory tools from the perspective of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Peoples.

2023 Research Update

The University of Newcastle - ‘Brain Cancer and Cognitive decline: The acceptability of Cognitive Screening for Aboriginal people in New South Wales (NSW)’.

2023 Update

As per our 2022 update , Yarning circles were unable to be safely conducted as initially planned due to COVID-19 as well as a rise in Influenza and RSV in the region. However, we are pleased to report we were able to complete the yarns in 2022. Two yarning circles with a total of ten participants were completed at the end of 2022 and have provided a rich dataset for analysis. These are currently being transcribed, with plans in place to begin analysis, completing and disseminating the results before the end of 2023

Further Updates from the University of Newcastle

2022 Update

University of Newcastle Research Project 'Brain Cancer and Cognitive decline: The acceptability of Cognitive Screening for Aboriginal people in New South Wales (NSW)'.

2022 Update

Thank you to the White Coats Foundation, through the Power of One grant, for supporting our research study. This aim of our study is to ensure a screening tool being used in healthcare is acceptable with Aboriginal peoples in New South Wales. The tool can identify whether people are experiencing changes in their thinking and memory that may require support. The tool is currently used in general practice and with neurology and cancer patients. While we had intended to conduct yarning circles during 2021, Covid-19 has had other plans. With rising cases in New South Wales, it soon became clear that we would not be able to safely conduct the planned face-to-face yarning circles in 2021. A rise in COVID-19, Influenza, and RSV in the region also meant that these circles could not be safely conducted during 2022. We have now slightly modified the study and will now instead be having more yarns, but with much smaller single-family groups to allow safe participation. This will allow us to reach the required sample size and complete data collection by the end of 2022. In the meantime, we have been keeping very busy. This study is part of a larger research project that is trying to find acceptable and feasible ways for healthcare professionals to find changes in people with a brain cancer diagnosis’ thinking and memory. We have completed a systematic literature review to identify existing tools that are both effective and practical which is ready for submission. We have also piloted the thinking and memory tool with brain cancer patients and asked patients and caregivers about their experiences of changes in thinking and memory. Ensuring that thinking and memory screening tools that used by healthcare professionals are acceptable with Aboriginal peoples remains a very important part of finding a tool suitable for use in healthcare settings. It is a priority to complete these revised yarns safely with the support of the Power of One grant. We look forward to being able to being able to provide an update once the yarns are complete.

2021 Update

University of Newcastle Research Project 'Brain Cancer and Cognitive decline: The acceptability of Cognitive Screening for Aboriginal people in New South Wales (NSW)'.

2021 Update

Thank you to the White Coats Foundation, through the Power of One grant, for supporting our research study. This aim of our study is to ensure a screening tool being used in healthcare is acceptable with Aboriginal peoples in New South Wales. The tool can identify whether people are experiencing changes in their thinking and memory that may require support. The tool is currently used in general practice and with neurology and cancer patients. While we had intended to conduct yarning circles during 2021, Covid-19 has had other plans. With rising cases in New South Wales, it soon became clear that we would not be able to safely conduct the planned face-to-face yarning circles. We have had to postpone these yarning circles until next year. As soon as it is safe to do so, we will resume planning for our yarning circles and we have set aside the funds for the Power of One grant to support this. In the meantime, we have been keeping very busy. This study is part of a larger research project that is trying to find acceptable and feasible ways for healthcare professionals to find changes in people with a brain cancer diagnosis’ thinking and memory. We have been conducting a systematic literature review to identify existing tools that are both effective and practical. We have also been piloting a thinking and memory tool with brain cancer patients and asking patients and caregivers about their experiences of changes in thinking and memory. Ensuring that thinking and memory screening tools that used by healthcare professionals are acceptable with Aboriginal peoples remains a very important part of finding a tool suitable for use in healthcare settings. It is a priority to return to this research question as soon as we are safely able, with the support of the Power of One grant. We look forward to being able to being able to provide an update next year!