CMRI - How Kimberly-Clark provides ongoing support
The partnership with the Children’s Medical Research Institute, along with the whole Community Care Program that we run, is about us connecting with the community in which we live in a meaningful way. Through our community partnerships, we aim to reflect our corporate values of "caring for others", "teamwork" and "exceeding expectations". Of course our main aim of our partnership with CMRI is to raise awareness of the CMRI's work and its achievements and to assist them to meet their goals. To watch an overview of the work conducted by the CMRI take a few mintues to watch the video "Difficult Questions" that has been produced to help communicate the real message of the Institute.
We offer three main areas of support:
1. The Kimberly-Clark Australia Research Fellow
The current KCA Research Fellow is Dr David Loebel, who is undertaking research into how normal development occurs in the early embryo, to learn how genes and cells work in building the tissues and organs of the body from a tiny ball of cells. Secondly, he is studying mice that have defects in genes known to be involved in human genetic disorders, in order to understand what causes development to go wrong in these situations.
2. Jeans for Genes® Day - 6th August 2010
Each year the CMRI hosts Jeans for Genes® Day, which aims to raise awareness and funds to support the CMRI's ongoing research programs.
Chances are you probably know someone who has a genetic disease, because one in twenty children are born with some form of genetic fault. There are children with leukaemia, muscular dystrophy, cystic fibrosis and many other disorders. The scientists at the Children’s Medical Research Institute are working to try to prevent these diseases before they occur in our children, or where that is not possible to develop better treatments.
We not only support this event every year at a corporate level; as a team we are always in our jeans at the office on this important day. It's easy to get involved and we encourage you to "give gene-rously". Jeans for Genes® Day will be held on the 6th August 2010.
Take a look at the great ideas on how you can take part in this important event and possibly become a genie for a day.
3. Provision of product for research labs
In addition to providing products that are useful to the research team we have also funded a number of the CMRI's education initiatives such as a general information booklet and video.
The Children’s Medical Research Institute
The Children’s Medical Research Institute, established in 1958, conducts fundamental scientific research into the genetics of human health and disease. Their researchers are working to understand the human genetic blueprint. This work may lead to better diagnosis, improved and more efficient treatments and where possible, prevention of the devastating conditions that can affect our children.
Some of the CMRI's achievements:
- In the 1960s the CMRI established Australia’s first research unit for newborns, dramatically improving the survival rate for premature babies.
- The CMRI helped develop the paediatric heart and lung life-support machine.
- Early research at the CMRI looked at causes of congenital defects, such as heart disease and blood disorders and conducted intensive studies on cystic fibrosis.
- The CMRI’s work in pioneering microsurgery techniques in the 1970s led to a better understanding of donor organ rejection in children and consequently improved the survival of infants following organ transplantation.
- The CMRI jointly established Australia’s first Gene Therapy Research Unit in 1995 with clinical partner The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, the group has since pioneered a way of repairing damaged heart tissues that form in the heart muscle following a heart attack. This technique may benefit patients with heart disease, children born with congenital heart defects and other people with a range of conditions of the heart, both genetic and non-genetic.
- The Cancer Research Unit discovered ALT, a method that cancer cells use to achieve ‘immortal’ growth. This work is currently being pursued with a focus on understanding ALT and developing potential anti-cancer treatments and diagnostic tools.
- Scientists at the CMRI discovered the function of a gene called Twist, which is crucial for head and limb formation in early development. This work led to a greater understanding of the human congenital disorder Saethre-Chotzen syndrome.
- CMRI research on the muscle weakness disease nemaline myopathy revealed that exercise therapy can improve the condition. This research has prompted the International Nemaline Myopathy Consortium to begin trialling exercise therapy as a treatment for some patients.
- Scientists at the CMRI identified for the first time ever that a defect in a single gene, rather than a multifactorial effect, can cause cleft lip and palate. These findings will help establish screening and improved diagnosis programs for families affected by the condition.
- Rett syndrome is a severe brain disorder affecting females and caused by a fault in a gene called MECP2. Scientists at the CMRI found 13 genes which may be involved in the symptoms and severity of the disease.
- The CMRI Cell Signalling Unit made a breakthrough in the understanding of nerve cell communication. The largely ignored protein syndapin was shown to play a vital role in the way neurons communicate. This finding may lead to treatments for conditions of the brain such as memory loss and epilepsy.
You may like to take a look at the CMRI website or Jeans for Genes Day® website.