I’d like to begin with a big thank you to you and all our supporters - what an amazing impact you have had since our last Thanks to You newsletter in April.
The universal COVID vaccine, developed in Burnet labs, is now on the brink of success. The backing you provided over many years, including a big fundraising push in 2023, enabled the team to spend the first half of this year completing essential validation experiments. Soon we’ll submit a patent application and from there we will begin making approaches to industry partners to assist us in progressing through the next phase of development towards clinical trials.
Earlier this year, Professor Gilda Tachedjian and Dr Joshua Hayward asked for funds to support their ground-breaking work on bat virology and immunology – and you responded with a surge of donations tallying more than half a million dollars. This has made it possible for Gilda and Josh to continue their investigation into bat immune systems, changing how we think about keeping communities safe from infectious diseases in the future. What an incredible effort, thank you!
And you’ve powered our work in other ways, too. Thanks to you, 22 staff members have been announced as beneficiaries of the 2024 Burnet Travel Awards. These awards, fully funded by supporters, give researchers and professional staff the opportunity to travel to conferences, gaining experiences that will advance their careers, and help build the future of Burnet.
We’re also very fortunate in this newsletter to share stories from two donors. I am sure you will be captivated by Gabrielle Lee’s recollections of a childhood spent in Papua New Guinea, and how she picked up the phone to Burnet the moment she learned about the Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies program, as well as the efforts of schoolgirl Jojo, who saved her pocket money for more than three years to make a donation to malaria research.
I am always deeply moved by the personal stories of our donors and how they came to be supporters of our work. If you have a story about what first motivated you to become a Burnet supporter, or what it means to you now, please get in touch with us!
Finally, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who completed the survey in our last newsletter. Your input is so important to us and we really appreciate you taking the time to support us in this way.
Professor Brendan Crabb AC
Director and CEO
