Inaugural Scholarship 2002 The inaugural MAWA Trust Doctoral Research Scholarship was awarded to Ms Hala Raghib of RMIT University in Melbourne, for a project entitled "Death by QT: A New Safety Challenge". In her application, Ms Raghib described her project as follows: "Recently some drugs that have been in widespread use have been withdrawn from sale because they have been associated with deaths related to cardiac disturbances, the most notable example being the antihistamine terfenadine. The safety of currently used drugs and proposed new drugs with respect to cardiac disturbances is unknown as appropriate testing, QT interval testing, is not widespread. The genesis of the QT interval relies on the activity of cardiac ion channels responsible for action potential initiation. These vary between species making the classical rodent models of testing unreliable, and currently animal experiments (for example using dogs) are recommended. An alternative approach, as addressed in this application, is to transfect an immortalized human cell line with the relevant human ion channels, and use this to monitor drug actions for potential cardiac disturbances. Drugs known to affect QT in humans will then be addressed in the cell system. This will then test the predictability of the methodology with relevance to human safety testing. The study represents significant potential to replace animals in drug development." Application Form (application2006.doc) Scholarships Awarded Back to Scholarships Main Page