Cardinal Pell applauded the work of the researchers, saying he was delighted with the recipients, both past and present, who were adopting an ethical approach to search for cures to the disease.
"This is exactly the sort of ethical, innovative and life-enhancing research that the grant was established to promote, and I am delighted that Associate Professor Gronthos and Dr Koblar will join the other distinguished winners of our previous grants in furthering this work," Cardinal Pell said.
Their success in winning the grant will enable Associate Professor Gronthos and Dr Koblar to investigate the capacity of stem cells derived from human dental pulp tissue to differentiate into neuronal cells, and hence whether they have the potential to be used in treating people who have suffered strokes.
The research team is being led by Associate Professor Stan Gronthos (Mesenchymal Stem Cell Group, Bone and Cancer Laboratories, Hanson Institute), and Dr Simon Koblar (Schools of Medicine and Molecular Biomedical Science, Australian Research Council Centre for the Molecular Genetics of Development at the University of Adelaide).