Four projects by researchers at The University of Western Australia aimed at saving and enhancing lives have been awarded Medical Research Future Fund grants.

The projects include developing a camera based method to assess central venous pressure noninvasively, reducing complications for kidney transplant patients, devising treatments for a syndrome that robs children of their hearing and sight and improving cultural safety in mental health services for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Wesfarmers Chair in Cardiology Professor Girish Dwivedi, from UWA Centre for Medical Research and Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research, and his team will study artificial-intelligence based systems to estimate central venous pressure accurately and noninvasively using a camera.

“This research has the potential to improve patient outcomes and reduce hospital re-admissions by diagnosing and treating heart failure earlier,” Professor Dwivedi said.

“Our device will be ultimately adopted into a mobile system and its performance will be assessed in real life situations.”

Dr Samuel McLenachan, from UWA’s Centre for Ophthalmology and Visual Science, will work on evaluating treatments for Usher syndrome, which causes deafness and visual impairment.

“Our scientists will grow retinal and inner ear tissues from patient stem cells in the lab and use them to evaluate the promising new Usher syndrome treatments being developed by our team,” Dr McLenachan said.

Professor Wai Lim’s project will investigate why kidney transplant patients often experience heart disease complications.

“Recent evidence suggests the development of new proteins directed against the donor genes occurring post-transplant may predispose patients to a higher risk of heart disease complications,” Professor Lim said.

“This study will address this uncertainty and improve our understanding of whether this risk factor contributes to the increase of heart disease in these patients.”

Stan Perron Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at UWA and Perth Children’s Hospital, Helen Milroy, who’s also an Honorary Research Fellow at The Kids Research Institute Australia, will work on a project to improve cultural safety in mental health services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people.

“We will speak with the families, children and young people to see how they view these services, whether or not they’re culturally safe,” Professor Milroy said.

“We want to understand whether, or how well, healthcare providers recognise things like kinship systems, child-rearing styles and child development within an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander model of social and emotional wellbeing.”