Translational Research Symposium Speaker Spotlight: Associate Professor Suzanne Miller

A/Prof Suzanne Miller

Monash University's 5th annual Translational Research Symposium is being hosted by its three metropolitan clinical schools on 21 June 2019. The symposium will host a diverse group of medical researchers presenting their work into translational research. RSVP here.

Associate Professor Suzanne Miller is the Deputy Director of the Ritchie Centre at the Hudson Institute.
Associate Professor Suzie Miller (BSc Hons, PhD) is an NHMRC Senior Research Fellow (Level B), Deputy Director of The Ritchie Centre and she leads the Neurodevelopment Theme at the Centre. Suzie's specialist expertise is in neurodevelopmental physiology, and her research group combines experimental animal models of the primary causes of neonatal brain injury to better understand the progression of neuropathology, with clinical studies focused on detection and inhibition of perinatal brain injury. Suzie’s experimental and clinical studies are directed towards understanding the mechanisms that contribute to perinatal brain injury and functional deficits, so that targeted neuroprotective therapies can be implemented. Suzie is also an advocate for the role of women in science, and a founding member of the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia’s Women in Health Science Committee.

Associate Professor Miller's presentation abstract can be found below:
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Preventing cerebral palsy; from preclinical discovery to clinical trial

Cerebral palsy is the most common physical disability in childhood, caused by damage to the brain, either during pregnancy or around the time of birth. There is no cure for cerebral palsy, and it is now established that interventions to reduce neonatal brain injury and cerebral palsy must commence as soon as compromised development is detected. There are 4 pregnancy or birth complications that can damage the developing brain – preterm birth, in utero infection, fetal growth restriction (FGR), and birth asphyxia. Each of these will likely require a different therapeutic approach to prevent cerebral palsy, and my group is undertaking preclinical studies to understand, and inhibit, the cellular mechanisms that lead to brain injury. To date we have made excellent progress characterising brain injury in FGR. FGR is a serious, but common pregnancy complication, describing the infant that is born very small due to placental failure. FGR is a primary cause of cerebral palsy or more subtle but no less significant cognitive dysfunctions. Here we will discuss our advances from preclinical discovery to commencement of randomised clinical trial for melatonin treatment in pregnancies complicated by FGR.
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We look forward to welcoming A/Prof Miller for the Symposium!

More information:
Translational Research Symposium

• Date: Friday 21 June 2019
• Time: 8:30 for 9:00am start - 5:30pm close
• RSVP here

Find out more about the symposium and our speaker program.

If you are a graduate student or early career researcher, you may be interested in the Young Investigator poster competition. See here for more details and to RSVP.