The role of gut peptides in obesity-related hypertension

Supervisors: Dr Tony Verberne,Dr Daniela Sartor

This project will determine the importance of gut peptides (leptin, CCK) on sympathetic nerve activity in obesity-prone animals.

View project details

The role of lung volume in the pathogenesis of Obstructive Sleep Apnea.

Supervisors: Amy Jordan and John Trinder

Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is a common disorder where the upper airway (throat) repetitively collapses during sleep preventing the sufferer from breathing adequately while they are asleep. In recent years it has become apparent that the collapsibility of the upper airway is influenced by the volume of air in the lungs. However, whether sleep related changes in lung volume contribute to the airway collapse in OSA is unknown. In addition, it is also not clear whether raising lung volume could be a new way to treat the disorder. Thus we are planning to conduct a series of experiments investigating the role of lung volume in the pathogenesis of OSA. Examples of the sorts of questions we will address are 1) how much does lung volume fall during sleep in patients with OSA compared to controls? 2) if the lung volume change at sleep onset is prevented does the airway still collapse? 3) can raising lung volume alone sufficiently treat the disorder?

View project details

The Role of Metals in Neurodegeneration

The Oxidation Biology Laboratory is situated at the Mental Health Research Institute within a nexus of major neuroscience research activity with the University of Melbourne. We have weekly interactions with Bio21, Howard Florey Institute, CSIRO, and medical departments at the University of Melbourne, particularly the Centre for Neuroscience. The lab is therefore situated in an extremely well-resourced condensation of talent, equipment, know-how, facilities and ideas.

My theory on the role of physiological transition metals in Alzheimer’s disease pathogenesis is exciting, ground-breaking, and has generated many novel insights as well as potential diagnostic tests and a new drug therapy that is advancing into phase 2b/3 clinical trials. This body of work is now generalizing to other neurodegenerative diseases e.g. Parkinson’s disease.

The current project aims to understand the biochemical basis for ageing of the brain, with a view to aiding the development of new disease-modifying drugs that are urgently needed.

View project details

The role of Muscarinic M1 receptors in schizophrenia

The undertaking of the Rebecca L Cooper Research Laboratories is to understand the pathologies of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. This is achieved primarily by studying human brain tissue, obtained post-mortem from subjects with either the psychiatric disorders or age/sex matched control subjects.

View project details

The role of neural stem cells in repair following CNS demyelination

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is characterized by the death of oligodendrocytes, which are specialized glial cells that support nerve cells in the central nervous system.

View project details