Dr Rhiannon Werder Awarded Australian Government Grant for Post-COVID Research

Dr Rhiannon Werder has secured an Australian Government grant to further her team’s research into a long-COVID complication that causes lung damage.

Dr Rhiannon Werder, an Associate Investigator at reNEW Melbourne and Team Leader at Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI), has secured an Australian federal grant to further her team’s research into a long-COVID complication that causes lung damage.

Dr. Werder has been awarded a $998,000 Medical Research Future Fund Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 grant for her project focused on understanding the development of pulmonary fibrosis, a type of lung disease, following COVID-19.

Pulmonary fibrosis is characterised by damaged and scarred lung tissue, leading to symptoms such as shortness of breath, dry cough, fatigue, and weight loss. Post COVID-19 pulmonary fibrosis (PC19-PF) is a common complication that arises after a COVID-19 infection.

Werder said, “Long COVID occurs in less than 10 per cent of people (according to the World Health Organization), yet currently we do not understand why some people will develop ongoing problems. This makes the quest to find new drugs to prevent pulmonary fibrosis after COVID infections particularly challenging.”

In collaboration with Dr Sean Humphrey and Associate Professor Mirana Ramialison, Werder’s project will use stem-cell models of the lung to uncover the underlying causes of PC19-PF.

The team, in partnership with the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity and the University of Melbourne, will also use small animal models and lung samples to identify the cause of pulmonary fibrosis following severe infection.

“It is not yet understood how lung cells become dysfunctional following COVID-19, leading to PC19-PF. This lack of understanding has prevented researchers from identifying new preventative or therapeutic approaches,” Werder said.

“Our goal is to develop targeted interventions aimed at preventing or even reversing the devastating consequences of pulmonary fibrosis in the wake of COVID-19.”

Werder also recently received a Carty Signature Grant from the L.E.W. Carty Charitable Fund.   grant to examine the immune systems of patients with genetic chronic lung disease.