About this research

Grant in Aid 2020 recipient

(Project Co-funded with Arthritis and Osteoporosis Western Australia)

Ankylosing spondylitis, or AS for short, is a form of arthritis that affects joints in the spine and pelvis, causing them to fuse together which results in severe pain and disability.

The immune system plays an important role in AS and we know that drugs that shut down or inhibit parts of the immune system provide considerable symptom relief to patients including relief of pain.

Until recently there were very few of these drugs available and patients were typically treated with the drug that best suited their particular clinical symptoms.

However, new families of drugs are now available with more in development and the selection of which drug to use on which patient needs now to be better informed and to include an understanding of the patients immune profile.

"Our project will study groups of AS patients who have either responded well or poorly to treatment with one of these drugs and determine whether there are tell-tale ‘signatures’ in their immune or genetic profiles that could have predicted their treatment response."

Assoc. Prof Tony Kenna Principal Research: Fellow Faculty of Health, School - Biomedical Sciences

About this grant

Grant in Aid

$15,000 AUD

The Grant in Aid is a grant to support translational research that seeks to improve the ‘patient experience’ for people living with arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions. Preference is for a Queensland researcher.

The Grant in Aid is available to new researchers (up to 6 years post PhD) or allied health researchers.