Spotlight on our NHMRC Fellowship winners: Professor Ben Marsland

Professor Ben Marsland
Deparment of Immnuology 
and Pathology

by Anne Crawford

Professor Ben Marsland. Senior Research Fellow B (SFRB) for: a project exploring how the microbiome can be used to prevent and treat respiratory diseases.  

Until recently the healthy human lung was, remarkably, thought to be ‘sterile’. In 2010, it was discovered that our airways, like our gut, have a microbiome, a suite of microorganisms including bacteria, fungi and viruses performing a vast array of functions. Since then the field has exploded, with hundreds of papers exploring the topic.

Spotlight on our NHMRC Fellowship winners: Dr Piero Perucca

Dr Piero Perucca,
Department of Neuroscience

By Anne Crawford

Dr Piero Perucca. Early Career Fellowship to: assess the extent to which genetic factors account for focal epilepsies of unknown cause.

Focal epilepsies, the most common types of epilepsy, have traditionally been regarded as disorders related to an 'acquired' brain insult such as a head injury, stroke or tumour. In reality, most cases of focal epilepsy have no identifiable cause.

Spotlight on our NHMRC Fellowship winners: Dr Joseph Doyle

Dr Joseph Doyle
Department of Infectious Diseases

by Anne Crawford

Dr Joseph Doyle. Career Development Fellowship to: improve the delivery of hepatitis C treatment and eliminate the disease burden from Australia.

In 2016 a new tablet that cures hepatitis C hit the Australian market. It is fully subsidised under the PBS scheme. Yet 1000 Australians still die of the disease each year.

“Most people have been diagnosed with hepatitis C but are not in care or regularly engaged with the health care system. They’re from marginalised communities, in communities of people injecting drugs or who have in the past,” Dr Doyle said.

Spotlight on our NHMRC Fellowship winners: Associate Professor Christoph Hagemeyer

A/Professor Christopher Hagemeyer
ACBD, CCS.

by Anne Crawford

Associate Professor Christoph Hagemeyer. Senior Research Fellowship A (SFRA) to; develop smart targeted nanoparticles for diagnosis and therapy.  

Associate Professor Hagemeyer’s groundbreaking work in the emerging field of nanomedicine has been given a large boost with an NHMRC fellowship supporting him as a researcher for five years and also a ‘Translation Advancement Incentive’ to allow him to translate his research into clinical practice.

Spotlight on our NHMRC Fellowship winners: Professor Sam El-Osta

Professor Sam El-Osta
Department of Diabetes, CCS

by Anne Crawford

Professor Sam El-Osta. Senior Research Fellowship: characterise novel epigenetic mechanisms and the exact nature of ‘metabolic memory’ at sites of diabetic complications.

Professor El-Osta’s Fellowship project is building on his previous exciting findings about epigenetic modifications – the chemical changes that modify DNA – and will target genes that are implicated in diabetic nephropathy and atherosclerosis.

Spotlight on our NHMRC Fellowship winners: Associate Professor Sandy Shultz

A/Prof Sandy Shultz
Department of Neuroscience

by Anne Crawford

Associate Professor Sandy Shultz. Career Development Fellowship to: conduct innovative translational studies into mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI).

Mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI) such as concussions affect millions of people worldwide. They are common on the sporting field and in military operations, and can occur as a result of anything from vehicle accidents to slips and falls in the home. Growing evidence is showing that repeated brain injuries are associated with lasting neurological impairments and neurodegenerative disease.

Yet the underlying pathophysiology of these effects is poorly understood.

Spotlight on our NHMRC Fellowship winners: Dr Pablo Casillas Espinosa

Dr Pablo Casillas-Espinosa

by Anne Crawford

Dr Pablo Casillas Espinosa. NHMRC Early Career Fellowship: to progress research into a novel therapy for temporal epilepsy.

Temporal epilepsy, a condition characterised by recurrent, unprovoked seizures, is the most common and most difficult-to-treat form of the disease. Of the patients who have it, up to 40% have seizures that don’t respond to any form of treatment. The remainder will improve with medication that stops the seizures but will go back to having them if they stop taking this for any reason. As the disease worsens, all patients will experience behaviourial co-morbidities; depression, anxiety, and learning and memory disorders, which worsen as it progresses.