Graduate Research Services

Project Outline:

Cancer survivors are living longer with improving detection and treatment techniques, so it is becoming increasingly important to develop strategies to improve their health into survivorship. Common cancer therapies have a range of adverse effects, which may include an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and impaired musculoskeletal health. A healthy lifestyle can help ameliorate these adverse effects, however many cancer survivors do not meet physical activity or dietary guidelines.

This research aims to understand diet and physical activity behaviours of cancer survivors, as well as the support they receive during and following treatment. It will also explore novel ways to evaluate and monitor cardiovascular and musculoskeletal health in cancer survivors, and how this can be used to promote healthful diet and physical activity behaviour change

Project Area: Health, Nutrition, Exercise, Cancer survivorship

School / Research Centre: Nutrition & Health Innovation Research Institute

Supervisor(s): Dr Jack Dalla Via, Dr Mary Kennedy, Associate Professor Joshua Lewis

Project level: Masters

Funding: Applicant should apply for ECUHDR or RTP Scholarship

Start date: 2023

Project Outline:

Sustainable food systems are a critical part of the story in response to current issues of climate change and local food security. The pandemic highlighted the vulnerability of food supply especially for essential services, such as childcare services. Currently 1.4 million children access childcare services in Australia and many of these services plan, shop and buy food to prepare meals in these settings.

This project seeks to understand how childcare services purchase their food, if these services have the interest and capacity to purchase more locally grown foods and what would be the impact for parents and children. In addition, do services feel this would support them achieving an exceeding standard in their assessment and rating process, why or why not?

Professor Maijaliisa Erkkola, from Helsinki University, Finland will be a supervisor on this project.

Desired Skills: Health promotion and/or nutrition

Project Area: Public Health/Health Promotion

School / Research Centre / Institute: Nutrition and food literacy across the lifespan

Supervisor(s): Ros Sambell, Dr Ruth Wallace, Professor Amanda Devine, Maijaliisa Erkkola (Helsinki University, Finland)

Project level: Masters, PhD

Funding: 

Start date: 2021

Project Outline:

Childhood overweight and obesity is a serious public health concern, contributing to long term chronic disease and reduced life expectancy. ECEC services are key settings to establish healthy habits in the early years and contribute towards the prevention of childhood obesity. The World Health Organisation’s 2016 Report of the Commission on ending childhood obesity identifies childcare settings as a key preventive health setting and recommends only healthy foods, beverages and snacks are served, physical activity be incorporated into the daily routine and the engagement of community to promoting healthy lifestyles to children. These recommendations align to the National Quality Framework.

There is no national formal qualification for ECEC (Long Daycare, Family Daycare) service cooks that address menu planning/nutrition information. A national approach is needed to ensure that food service cooks, are equipped with the knowledge and skills to provide food and drinks that are nutritious and appropriate for each child.

This project would review equivalent qualification requirements, develop, implement and evaluate, a pilot vocational program.

One of the supervisors will be an industry representative, that has been involved in delivering Certificate III, previously for a similar sector.

Desired Skills: Health promotion and/or nutrition

Project Area: Public Health/Health Promotion

School / Research Centre / Institute: Nutrition and food literacy across the lifespan

Supervisor(s): Ros Sambell, Meagan Sauzier/Amanda Ferguson, Dr Ruth Wallace, Professor Amanda Devine

Project level: PhD

Funding: 

Start date: 2021

Project Outline:

A series of projects related to the analysis and improvement of out of hospital cardiac arrest management. A number of project themes are available and can be tailored to the candidate’s interest. These include (and are examples only):

• Use of first responders in cardiac arrest
• Predicting cardiac arrest
• Decision making in cardiac arrest
• Data analysis on timing, transport, interventions
• Breaking bad news to families

Desired skills: Data analysis, Interest in prehospital environment and paramedics

Project Area: Paramedicine

Supervisor(s): Dr. David Reid

Project level: Masters, PhD

Start date: Ongoing

Project Outline:

Novel Subjective Measure: We recently developed an internationally validated tool to measure a subclinical, reversible stage of pre-chronic health that we coined the 'Suboptimal Health Status' (SHS), which is a physical state between health and disease characterised by 1) the perception of health complaints, general weakness, chronic fatigue, and low energy levels during the past 3 months; and 2) as a subclinical, reversible stage of chronic disease.
Novel Objective Measures: Complex and branching carbohydrate moieties that attach to proteins (referred to as glycans) are potentially novel markers of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, where N-glycosylation is the most common post-translational protein modification contributing to the heterogeneity of protein action, which is advantageous for adapting to a changing environment.
Thus, a combination of N-glycome and SHS measures, taking into consideration the structure, function and role of the glycans, is proposed in this project where we hypothesise that N-glycome profiles, dysregulated in the presence of even mild subclinical disorders and in combination with subjective SHS measures, may be real-time indicators for the interaction between predisposition and the environment, and serve as important early screening tools for chronic diseases.

Desired Skills: Basic Knowledge in Biology or Epidemiology

Project Area: Public Health; Epidemiology; Biology

School / Research Centre / Institute: Centre for Precision Health

Supervisor(s): Professor Wei Wang

Project level: Masters, PhD

Funding: Applicant should apply for ECUHDR or RTP Scholarship

Start date: 2023

Project Outline:

The glycome is the entire complement of sugars, whether free or present in more complex molecules, of an organism. An alternative definition is the entirety of carbohydrates in a cell. The glycome may in fact be one of the most complex entities in nature.

Glycosylation, the covalent attachment of sugar moieties (glycans) to proteins, is a significant process in the endoplasmic reticulum and theGolgi apparatus. More than 50% of all proteins within the cell undergo such modification. When bound to proteins, they affect their structure, function, stability, folding, half-life, trafficking, solubility, and their interactions with other proteins.

Glycans vary in terms of glycosylic linkages, position of the hydroxyl group on the anomeric carbon, the number and type of constituent monosaccharides and the degree of branching. Subsequently, their attachment to protein increases the complexity of the proteome.

Based on how glycans are bound to proteins, glycosylation can be classified into
(1) N-glycans,
(2) O-glycans,
(3) C-linked,
(4) glypiation, and
(5) phosphoglycosylation.

The HGP is a consortium of research groups with expertise in glycomics that share a common goal of aiming to understand glycan structures and functions in humans. Australia, China, Croatia, Germany, the Netherlands, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States joined the HGP that will support the analysis of glycans in 30,000 human samples by the end of 2021.  ECU team joined the HGP as one of the funding members by contributing the personalised medicine perspective via population-based study of variability of the human IgG glycome.

Desired Skills: Qualitative and quantitative statistical analyses
Basic knowledge on Genetics and Epigenetics.

Project Area: Glycosylation;  Immunity , Omics

School / Research Centre / Institute: Centre for Precision Health

Supervisor(s): Professor Wei Wang, Dr Lois Balmer and Dr Alyce Russell

Project level: Masters, PhD

Funding: Applicant should apply for ECUHDR or RTP Scholarship

Start date: 2023

Project Outline:

We have many ideas for research projects investigating Clostridium difficile, an antibiotic resistant superbug which causes both healthcare-associated and community-associated infections. Our One Health-focussed group consists of microbiologists, epidemiologists, doctors, nurses and veterinarians.

We are investigating several aspects of C. difficile including:

• Epidemiology of C. difficile infection
• C. difficile in wild and production animals
• Environmental sources of C. difficile
• Genotypic and evolutionary aspects of C. difficile

Desired Skills: Background in microbiology, public health, biomedical science or related subjects.

Project Area: Microbiology, Infectious Disease Epidemiology

School / Research Centre / Institute: Clostridium difficile

Supervisor(s): Prof Tom Riley, Dr Deirdre Collins

Project level: Masters, PhD

Funding: Applicant should apply for ECUHDR or RTP Scholarship

Start date: 2023

Project Outline:

This project builds on a recently completed PhD that investigated the university experiences of women nurse students in an intimate relationship (married or de facto). This study identified the structural and personal challenges these women experienced during their time at university. The study highlighted the importance of gender as a key influence on their progress. It also revealed the extent to which being a female nurse student impacted on the intimate relationship itself.

As these influences are likely to continue through the transition to the workplace on graduation, this study proposes to explore the early career experiences of recent female nurse graduates who are in a heterosexual intimate relationship. Using a qualitative interpretive approach, it will ask how being in an intimate relationship influences the career progression of women graduates. It will also investigate the impact of this career on the intimate relationship itself.

The rising proportion of mature-age women entering the nursing profession and the projected nursing workforce shortage supports the significance of this study.

Desired Skills: Qualitative research skills, interviewing skills

Project Area: Public Health, Gender, Nursing

School / Research Centre / Institute : School of Medical and Health Sciences research

Supervisor(s): Dr Leesa Costello, Dr Ken Robinson, Dr Julie Dare, Dr Lesley Andrew

Project level: Masters, PhD

Funding: Applicant should apply for ECUHDR or RTP Scholarship

Start date: Semester 2, 2020

Project Outline:

A global rise in life expectancy comes with an increased burden of serious life-long health issues and the need for useful real-time indicators of the ageing process. We propose to investigate the value of biochemical profiles of lgG N-glycosylation in blood as clinically relevant biomarkers to differentiate healthy from accelerated ageing over a 25-year period in the well-characterised existing Australian cohort of the Busselton Healthy Ageing Study (B HAS). Most human biological processes rely on N-glycosylation of proteins to regulate their function, but these events appear sensitive to environmental changes, age and the presence of disease. Specifically, variations in N-glycosylation of lgG can adversely affect inflammatory pathways underpinning unhealthy ageing and chronic disease pathogenesis. We have previously shown in several European and Chinese population cohorts that lgG N-glycan profiles can serve as dynamic indicators of ageing, able to discriminate between normal and accelerated ageing by highlighting a discrepancy between a body's age in years of life (chronological age) and its age in terms of health status (biological age). We have also revealed that selective combinations of lgG N-glycan structures associate with biological hallmarks of pre-chronic disease states when biological age precedes chronological age, and we have verified the validity of these lgG N-glycan combinations as predictive risk profiles of unhealthy biological ageing in these international cohorts. This study will now address the usefulness of lgG N-glycan profiles as real-time indicators of ageing among Australians by (i) studying lgG N-glycosylation retro- and prospectively in BHAS, (ii) capturing the influences of genetics, environment and time on lgG N-glycosylation in BHAS, and (ii) validating newly discovered lgG N-glycan risk profiles by comparing them to available findings from African, Chinese and European cohorts previously established for a similar   purpose.

Research Questions:

lgG N- glycan profiles present as real-time indicators of the interaction between genetic predisposition and the environment. lgG N- glycans serve as predictive biomarkers when health is evaluated in the context of age, based on the proposition that specific lgG N-glycans:

1. Identify variations in responses to maturation, ageing, and environment across the life course at a population level
2. Facilitate early risk prediction of chronic disease development
3. Serve as prognostic indicators for the benefit of targeted preventative and disease treatment interventions.

Project Area: Medical Science

School / Research Centre / Institute: Centre for Precision Health

Supervisor:  Professor Wei Wang

Start date: 2023

Project Outline:

As we age, we progressively lose bone, while it accumulates in in our blood vessels, driving the risk for cardiovascular disease. Postmenopausal women experience rapid loss of bone following the menopausal transition, accompanied by rapid accumulation of calcium in the vessels – whether this explains the sex-disparity in cardiovascular disease risk, and phenotypes is unclear.

This research aims to understand the link between osteoporosis and vascular calcification using novel imaging approaches such as a bone density scan, to capture a high-risk population for cardiovascular disease. This work will help generate female-specific data for an underserved population, potentially identify new biomarkers/treatment avenues for cardiovascular disease prevention/management and may develop the evidence for sex-specific clinical guidelines for cardiovascular disease.

Project Area: Blood vessel health, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis

Institute: Nutrition & Health Innovation Research Institute

Supervisors: Dr Cassandra Smith and Dr Joshua Lewis

Project level: Masters and PhD

Desired Skills: Epidemiology desirable, bone health, cardiovascular disease.

Funding: ECUHDR or RTP Scholarship

Start date: 2023

Project Outline:

Vitamin K is a fat-soluble vitamin, best known for its importance in blood coagulation, and emerging evidence for its anti-calcification properties in blood vessels. The role of vitamin K in musculoskeletal health remains unclear. Indeed, until 2021, the vitamin K content of foods commercially available in Australia remained unknown. There is also evidence that current national guidelines for vitamin K intake may be too low for optimal muscle and bone health. This project will examine the relationship between vitamin K and a range of musculoskeletal outcomes including sarcopenia (low lean mass and poor function), osteoporosis, falls and fractures in numerous large cohorts.  This work will help develop the evidence for vitamin K as part of cardiometabolic health.

Desired Skills: Nutrition or exercise science background

Project Area: Nutrition, physical activity, bone, muscle, falls, fractures

School / Research Centre / Institute : Nutrition & Health Innovation Research Institute

Supervisor(s): Dr Marc Sim, Dr Lauren Blekkenhorst, Dr Nicola  Bondonno and Professor Jonathan Hodgson

Project level: Masters and PhD

Funding: Applicant should apply for ECUHDR or RTP Scholarship

Start date: Ongoing

Project Outline:

Increasing the intake of fruits, vegetables and whole grains remains the foundation of dietary approaches to prevent disease. However, surprisingly little is known about the components of these foods that contribute to cognitive health, or the mechanisms involved. Identifying these specific components and mechanisms will improve targeted dietary approaches to enhance cognitive health and prevent dementia.

Plants contain a wide variety of health promoting compounds including phytonutrients (such as flavonoids), nitrate, and vitamin K. Long-term epidemiological studies are needed to identify whether certain foods or dietary constituents improve cognitive health and prevent dementia. This project will examine associations between dietary constituents and markers of cognitive health and dementia in several large cohort studies.

Project Area: Nutritional Epidemiology

School / Research Centre / Institute: Nutrition & Health Innovation Research Institute

Supervisor(s): Dr Catherine Bondonno and Professor Jonathan Hodgson

Project level: Masters and PhD

Funding: Applicant should apply for ECUHDR or RTP Scholarship

Start date: January 2022

Project Outline:

Despite knowledge of the importance of fruits and vegetables in the diet, only 5.4% of Australian adults meet the recommended guidelines for daily serves of fruit and vegetables. Current dietary guidelines recommend a high intake of all fruits and vegetables however, studies have shown that some fruits and vegetables may be more protective against cardiometabolic disease than others. Plants contain a wide variety of health promoting compounds including phytonutrients (such as flavonoids), nitrate, and vitamin K. Long-term epidemiological studies looking at disease incidence are needed to identify whether certain foods or dietary constituents afford greater protection against specific types of cardiometabolic disease, and to provide an estimate of their effects at the population level. This project will be focused on examining associations between dietary constituents and a range of cardiometabolic outcomes (subclinical measures and major clinical events) in several large cohort studies. Furthermore, this project will include validation studies of novel biomarkers of flavonoid intake.

Project Area: Nutritional Epidemiology

School / Research Centre / Research: Nutrition & Health Innovation Research Institute

Supervisor(s): Dr Nicola Bondonno and Professor Jonathan Hodgson

Project level: Masters and PhD

Funding: Applicant should apply for ECUHDR or RTP Scholarship

Start date: January 2022

Project Outline:

Background: Informal carers are a significantly disadvantaged group within the population. Carers are at increased risk of poor health, with the role associated with a higher mortality rate than non-caring counterparts. Caring can lead to multiple psychological changes, such as depression, which may manifest into physiological changes, for example, impaired immune function. A developing body of evidence suggests caring is a risk factor for the development of cardiovascular disease. Suboptimal health status is described as a physical state between health and disease, characterised by general malaise and ambiguous health complaints in the absence of a diagnosable condition. The suboptimal health status questionnaire (SHSQ-25) is a measure of suboptimal health status, and past studies demonstrate that suboptimal health status is associated with cardiovascular risk factors. To date, measurement of suboptimal health status and cardiovascular risk factors in carers has not yet been explored. This study marks the first-time suboptimal health status has been measured in carers.

Aim: Evaluating suboptimal health status in carers is an effective risk stratification tool for the prevention of cardiovascular disease from a preventive, predictive, and personalized medicine perspective (PPPM).

Objectives: To better understand the association between carers of patients with rare and chronic diseases, suboptimal health, and cardiovascular disease.

Setting and study design: This study is a cross-sectional, case-control study. The study will be conducted in metro and rural Western Australia.

Participants: Cases are carers of family members with rare or chronic diseases. Controls will be matched for sex, age, and postcode. Participants must be between 18-65 years of age, male or female, able to speak English, and live in Western Australia.

Significance: Studies investigating the association between Australian carers, suboptimal health, and cardiovascular risk factors are lacking. Further, the prevalence of cardiovascular disease in Australian carers is currently unknown. Research to quantify these associations is urgently needed, especially considering the leading cause of death in Australians is cardiovascular disease. Detecting SHS in carers may offer a unique window of opportunity to prevent chronic diseases in the primary care setting

Desired Skills: Basic Human Biology and Genetics; Basic Public Health.

Project Area: Rare Disease; Chronic Disease; Suboptimal Health

School / Research Centre /Institute: Centre for Precision Health

Supervisor(s): Professor Wei Wang

Project level: Masters & PhD

Funding: Applicant should apply for ECUHDR or RTP Scholarship

Start date: 2023

Project Outline:

Evidence is emerging that cruciferous and allium vegetables may exert superior vascular and metabolic health benefits in comparison to others. These vegetables contain specific nutrients and other bioactive compounds that are found almost exclusively, or at relatively high levels, and could be particularly beneficial for vascular and metabolic health. However, little is known regarding how these vegetables effect vascular and metabolic health.

This research project will delve into understanding the vascular and metabolic health benefits of organosulfur compounds found in cruciferous and allium vegetables in human studies.

Desired Skills: Understanding of nutritional biochemistry.
Ability to work as a team or independently, and manage time across multiple demands whilst maintaining a high level of accuracy and productivity.

Project Area: Nutrition

School / Research Centre / Institute:  Nutrition & Health Innovation Research Institute

Supervisor(s): Dr Lauren Blekkenhorst, Professor Jonathan Hodgson, Dr Ari Shafaei Darestani

Project level: PhD

Funding: Applicant should apply for ECUHDR or RTP Scholarship, School Scholarship Available

Start date: Semester 2, 2020

Project Outline:

The overarching aim of this study is to assess the clinical utility of blood derived biomarkers such as circulating tumour cells (CTCs), circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) and extracellular vesicles for predicting and monitoring response to immune checkpoint blockade in melanoma and lung cancer.

Desired skills: It is expected that a suitable candidate has a background in bioinformatic analysis.

School/Research Centre: School of Medical and Health Sciences / Centre for Precision Health

Project Area: Cancer and Oncology

Supervisor(s):  Associate Professor Elin Gray

Project level: Masters, PhD

Funding: Applicant should apply for ECUHDR or RTP Scholarship

Start date: 2023

Project Outline:

Cancer survivors are living longer with improving detection and treatment techniques, so it is becoming increasingly important to develop strategies to improve their health into survivorship. Common cancer therapies have a range of adverse effects, which may include an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and impaired musculoskeletal health. A healthy lifestyle can help ameliorate these adverse effects, however many cancer survivors do not meet physical activity or dietary guidelines.

This research aims to understand diet and physical activity behaviours of cancer survivors, as well as the support they receive during and following treatment. It will also explore novel ways to evaluate and monitor cardiovascular and musculoskeletal health in cancer survivors, and how this can be used to promote healthful diet and physical activity behaviour change

Project Area: Health, Nutrition, Exercise, Cancer survivorship

School / Research Centre: Nutrition & Health Innovation Research Institute

Supervisor(s): Dr Jack Dalla Via, Dr Mary Kennedy, A/Prof Joshua Lewis

Project level: Masters

Funding: Applicant should apply for ECUHDR or RTP Scholarship

Start date: Ongoing

Project Outline:

Neurofilament light chain protein (NFL) levels in plasma and CSF have been reported to be increased in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other neurological diseases, making it a generic marker for neurodegeneration. AD is a highly complex and heterogenous disorder and thus a single blood test evaluating one protein biomarker may not be sufficient for clinical use. Our recent findings have shown that NFL proteins can exist in different forms in the brain and only some are selectively transported to the blood. However, the different NFL isoforms in the brain and blood are not well characterized and current methods for NFL measurement are not specific to a particular isoform. In this project, we propose to characterize the different gene and protein forms of NFL in the brain and blood. Measuring these different forms individually will significantly improve accuracy of diagnosis and ability to distinguish different dementias.

The proposed biomarker study will assess NFL variants in different dementias including AD, Parkinson’s disease (PD), Multiple Sclerosis (MS), and Childhood Dementia. We are uniquely placed for this work as we have access to blood and CSF samples from all these cohorts. Coupled with the extensive experience of our collaborators in protein biomarker research, this presents a competitive advantage to develop a blood-based diagnostic assay for the diagnosis of AD.

Project Area: Neurology and neuromuscular diseases;  Expanding knowledge in the biomedical and clinical sciences.

School: School of Medical Health Science.

Supervisors: Dr Prashant Bharadwaj (primary); Mr Steve Pedrini; Dr Eugene Hone and Professor Ralph Martins.

Funding: Applicant should apply for ECUHDR or RTP Scholarship.

Start date: 2023

Project level: Masters and PhD

Desired Skills: Background in neuroscience and human biology. GLP and basic techniques in cell and molecular biology and biochemistry.

Project Outline: 

Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the most prevalent form of dementia, ranks among the leading chronic disorders with increasing global public health importance. Evidence from conventional observational studies indicates that AD often co-occurs with several conditions more than expected by chance; however, mechanisms underlying the disorder and its observed comorbidities are poorly understood. Moreover, AD currently has no known disease-modifying or curative treatment largely because its underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Given the compelling evidence of genetic contribution to the risk of AD (with a heritability of about 70%), genetic studies can strongly enhance our understanding of its risk and biological underpinnings. The present project, thus, aims to comprehensively assess the molecular genetic mechanisms of AD and its common comorbid disorders.

This project will be based on a secondary analysis of existing large-scale genetic data. Advanced statistical genetic methods will be utilised and a range of data integrated for an in-depth assessment.

Project Area: Medical Science; Neuroscience; Genomics.

Research Centre: Centre for Precision Health

Supervisors: Dr Emmanuel Adewuyi, Professor Simon Laws.

Project level: Masters and PhD

Desired Skills: Applicants should have statistical and quantitative skills with experience in using at least one statistical package (for example R, SPSS, etc). Experience using the Linux environment for data analysis will be an advantage.

Funding: Applicant should apply for ECUHDR or RTP Scholarship.

Start date: Ongoing.

Project Outline:

Measuring and predicting rates of cognitive decline and the rate of accumulation of the pathognomonic features in Alzheimer's disease (AD) are fundamental to understanding the origins of the disease. It is also essential for the implementation of more efficient clinical trials and secondary prevention studies. In both cases, it is critical to accrue this knowledge at the preclinical stages of AD.

In cognitively unimpaired older adults, abnormally high levels of beta-amyloid are associated with relentless decline in cognition. However, at the preclinical stage of AD, there remains considerable between-person variability in the rate of cognitive decline.  Furthermore, this variability in rates of change extends beyond cognitive deterioration to the rate of accumulation of the pathognomonic features that are characteristic of AD, namely the rate of accumulation of beta-amyloid and Tau as well as rates of cortical atrophy. While we have previously reported that single genes such as Apolipoprotein E (APOE) and the Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), both individually and combined, account for some of this variation in cognitive decline the effects of other genes remain unclear especially when their effects are combined (i.e. polygenic risk profiles). Further the genetic underpinnings of pathological change are yet to be determined. These studies will leverage extensive existing genetic (genome wide SNP and next generation sequencing), epigenetic (genome wide methylation) and longitudinal phenotype data from the Australian and international observational studies of ageing and AD.

Several research projects are available and will be offered based on current research priorities, but will focus on developing polygenic risk and methylation profiles of rates of change in preclinical AD.

Desired Skills: Health promotion and/or nutrition

Project Area: Medical Science; Neuroscience; Genomics

Research Centre: Centre for Precision Health

Supervisor(s): Professor Simon Laws, Dr Tenielle Porter

Project level: Masters and PhD

Desired Skills: This project will involve the analysis of existing data. Whilst there will be within project skills development, background skills and knowledge in data analysis is highly desirable.

Funding: Applicant should apply for ECUHDR or RTP Scholarship

Start date: Ongoing

Project Outline:

Are you interested in examining preschool speech, language and literacy in a LARGE cohort of children in Perth? ECU is recruiting PhD and/or Masters students to work with us and the Origins study to assess 5 year old children. This is a fabulous opportunity to get into research and answer any burning questions you have about speech and language development..

Desired Skills:  Speech Pathology, Psychology, Occupational Therapy or Early Childhood Teaching undergraduate degree. Experience in assessing children desirable.

Project Area: Speech Pathology

School / Research Centre / Institute : Communication Disorders

Supervisor(s): Dr Suzanne Meldrum, Dr Charn Nang

Project level: Masters and PhD

Funding: Applicant should apply for ECUHDR or RTP Scholarship

Start date: January / February 2022

Project Outline:

Over recent years, research has shifted towards studying the impact of modifiable lifestyle factors such as dietary interventions and physical activity on Alzheimer’s Disease risk reduction. In particular, three dietary patterns have been studied with respect to cognitive decline and brain health; Mediterranean diet (MeDi), Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, and a hybrid of the DASH and MeDi diets, the Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND) diet.

This study will investigate the relationship of MIND diet adherence to cognitive performance, rates of cognitive decline, and neuroimaging biomarkers of brain health, to establish the potential of this diet to slow, or ideally prevent AD onset, utilizing longitudinal data from the Australian Imaging, Biomarker and Lifestyle (AIBL) study of Ageing and the Australian multidomain Approach to Reduce dementia Risk by protecting brain health With lifestyle intervention study (AU-ARROW) a 24-month multimodal lifestyle intervention.

Project Area: Medical Science (Neuroscience)

School / Research Centre / Institute : School of Medical and Health Sciences research

Supervisor(s): Dr Samantha Gardener, Professor Ralph Martins, Associate Professor Stephanie Rainey-Smith (Murdoch)

Project level: Masters and PhD

Funding: Applicant should apply for ECUHDR or RTP Scholarship

Start date: Ongoing

Project Outline:

To date, there has been lack of disease-modifying treatment or therapeutics to prevent Alzheimer’s Disease. In the absence of any effective treatment or cure, reducing or preventing the development of risk factors for dementia is crucial. Dietary recommendations for dementia prevention need to be based on strong scientific and clinical evidence and currently it remains unclear as to whether specific components of dietary patterns (such as low sodium) are more crucial than others in terms of their neuroprotective properties.

This study will investigate the relationship of dietary sodium intake to cognitive performance, rates of cognitive decline, and neuroimaging biomarkers of brain health, to establish the potential of reducing sodium intake to slow AD onset, utilizing longitudinal data from the Australian Imaging, Biomarker and Lifestyle (AIBL) study of Ageing and the Australian multidomain Approach to Reduce dementia Risk by protecting brain health With lifestyle intervention study (AU-ARROW), a 24-month multimodal lifestyle intervention.

Project Area: Medical Science (Neuroscience)

School / Research Centre / Institute : School of Medical and Health Sciences research

Supervisor(s): Dr Samantha Gardener, Professor Ralph Martins, Associate Professor Stephanie Rainey-Smith (Murdoch)

Project level: Masters and PhD

Funding: Applicant should apply for ECUHDR or RTP Scholarship

Start date: Ongoing

Project Outline:

The autophagy-lysosomal pathway functions as a quality control mechanism to clear unwanted proteins, sugars, damaged organelles and multiple lines of evidence indicate that impairment in this pathway is a central mechanism in storage disorders like Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and Sanfilippo syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that causes childhood dementia. Overall, the general notion is that autophagy flux, a measure of the degradative capacity of the cell, is disrupted and enhancing this pathway is a promising therapeutic target. Our research includes both lab-based studies using induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSCs) derived neuronal cells and high-throughput assay systems for novel drug development and clinical studies for investigation of prognostic biomarkers for AD and Sanfilippo syndrome

Desired Skills: Basic pipetting skills, GLP, Ascetic techniques

Project Area: Neuroscience

School / Research Centre / Institute : School of Medical and Health Sciences research

Supervisor: Dr Prashant Bharadwaj; Prof. Ralph Martins

Project level: Masters, PhD

Funding: Applicant should apply for ECUHDR or RTP Scholarship

Start Date: Ongoing

Project Outline:

Proper function of the nervous system is vital to allow muscles to contract. Indeed, exercise training results in improved muscle performance. Conversely, with de-training or ageing the loss of strength can result in poor health and physical function. However, the specific neural sites and mechanisms resulting in strength increases, or a loss of strength remain unclear. One potential candidate is the intrinsic property of motoneurons (nerves that directly innervate muscle fibres) known as persistent inward currents (PICs). PICs are characterised by the ongoing and repetitive firing of the motoneuron in response to excitatory input. This research aims to investigate the effects of both chronic exercise history, and exercise training on motoneuron behaviour and function.

Research questions:
1. Does motoneuron function and behaviour differ between individuals with chronic exercise training history (i.e. strength or endurance athletes) compared to those who are inactive?
2. Is the behaviour of motoneurons upregulated after an exercise (strength or endurance) training intervention, and subsequently downregulated after a period of detraining?
3. How does motoneuron function contribute to strength loss in ageing, and can exercise counteract such effects?

Desired skills: This project will suit students with an interest in strength and conditioning, and neurophysiology. It will require hands-on studies in human participants.

Project Area: Neuroscience and Neurorehabilitation

School / Research Centre / Institute : School of Medical and Health Sciences research

Supervisor(s): Dr Chistopher Latella, Professor Janet Taylor, Professor Tony Blazevich

Project level: Masters, PhD

Funding: Applicant should apply for ECUHDR or RTP Scholarship

Start date: Ongoing

Project Outline:

General guide with specifics of project to be determined further:

To explore ways of enhancing rehabilitation services and quality of life for Aboriginal Australians after acquired brain injury.

To explore contexts of care along the rehabilitation journey from acute through to community; client-health professional interactions and relationships; health-professional decision-making and models of care.

Supervisors are able to manage projects using a range of research perspectives and methodologies.

Project Area: Communication Disorders Research Group Speech Pathology and Allied Health

School / Research Centre / Institute:  Communication disorders

Supervisor(s): Professor Elizabeth Armstrong, Associate Professor Erin Godecke, Professor Natalie Ciccone

Project level: Masters, PhD

Start date: Ongoing

Project Outline:

General guide with specifics of project to be determined further:

To explore effective, timely rehabilitation options for people with communication disorders following acquired brain injury (for example stroke, traumatic brain injury); intervention efficacy, dosage, treatment fidelity, factors influencing outcomes and treatment implementation.

To explore contexts of care along the rehabilitation journey from acute through to community; client-health professional interactions and relationships; health-professional decision-making and models of care.

Supervisors are able to manage projects using a range of research perspectives and methodologies.

Project Area: Communication Disorders Research Group
Speech Pathology and Allied Health

School / Research Centre / Institute:  Communication disorders

Supervisor(s): Professor Elizabeth Armstrong, Associate Professor Erin Godecke, Professor Natalie Ciccone

Project level: Masters, PhD

Start date: Ongoing

Project Outline:

These projects will help to  identify the  prevention and diagnostic methods for the Alzheimer’s disease. These projects will use invitro and invivo methods to identify the suitable therapeutic agent. Large number of assays  will be utilized.

Project Area: Alzheimer’s Disease

Supervisor(s): Dr Binosha Fernando, Professor Ralph Martins

Project level: Masters, PhD

School / Research Centre / Institute : School of Medical and Health Sciences research

Funding: Applicant should apply for ECUHDR or RTP Scholarship

Start date: Ongoing

Project Outline:

The Alzheimer's disease (AD) brain is characterized by accumulation of aggregated beta amyloid (AB) in neurons. A systemic failure to clean up the toxic (AB) protein aggregates is a major cause of neuronal loss and cognitive decline in AD. Our recent findings have shown that enhancing autophagy, a housekeeping pathway upregulated during starvation, removes AB aggregates and protects against toxicity. Currently, our research is targeted towards identifying protective genes and chemical modulators of autophagy that reduce AB accumulation and neuronal cell death in the AD brain.

Research Questions:

1. What autophagy proteins are changed in AD brain and how does it correlate to AB levels?
2. Identify potent autophagy modulators that reduce AB accumulation and_ toxicity in neuronal cells.

Project Area: Medical Science

School / Research Centre / Institute : School of Medical and Health Sciences research

Supervisor: Dr. Prashant Bharadwaj; Dr. Eugene Hone; Professor Ralph Martins

Project level: Honours, Masters, PhD

Project Outline:

Mitochondria are important targets of the AB peptide. There is mounting evidence for mitochondria-specific AB accumulation, AD-related mitochondrial dysfunction and apoptotic cell death. Though antioxidant targeted therapeutic strategies are popular, mitochondrial targeted therapeutic strategies may be more effective for neuro protection against AB toxicity. Despite the positive links between sodium butyrate and amyloid beta, the relationship between sodium butyrate and mitochondria has not been fully characterised. Understanding the mechanistic insight of sodium butyrate on mitochondria may be the first step in developing the effective therapeutic agent for Alzheimer's disease. The proposed project will directly evaluate the effect of sodium butyrate on mitochondria which has been dysfunctional due to the deposition of amyloid beta.

Research Question:
The overall purpose of this work is to identify the effect of sodium butyrate on mitochondria which has been dysfunctional due to the deposition of amyloid beta, and in doing so gain new insight into the potential suitability of this compound as therapeutic agents for AD.

Project Area: Medical Science

School / Research Centre / Institute : School of Medical and Health Sciences research

Supervisor(s): Dr Binosha Fernando

Project level: Honours, Masters

Project Outline:

Cancer survivors are living longer with improving detection and treatment techniques, so it is becoming increasingly important to develop strategies to improve their health into survivorship. Common cancer therapies have a range of adverse effects, which may include an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and impaired musculoskeletal health. A healthy lifestyle can help ameliorate these adverse effects, however many cancer survivors do not meet physical activity or dietary guidelines.

This research aims to understand diet and physical activity behaviours of cancer survivors, as well as the support they receive during and following treatment. It will also explore novel ways to evaluate and monitor cardiovascular and musculoskeletal health in cancer survivors, and how this can be used to promote healthful diet and physical activity behaviour change

Project Area: Health, Nutrition, Exercise, Cancer survivorship

School / Research Centre: Nutrition & Health Innovation Research Institute

Supervisor(s): Dr Jack Dalla Via, Dr Mary Kennedy, A/Prof Joshua Lewis

Project level: Masters

Funding: Applicant should apply for ECUHDR or RTP Scholarship

Start date: Ongoing

Project Outline:

Any research that involves chemical exposure assessment and / or health surveillance of occupational cohorts. Access to a suitable study cohort is required.

Desired skills: MPH by research / Master of Occupational Hygiene and Toxicology

Project Area: Occupational Hygiene; Biological Monitoring; Epidemiology.

School / Research Centre / Institute: Occupational and Environmental Health

Supervisor(s): Professor Jacques Oosthuizen;

Project level: Masters or PhD (including integrated PhD)

Funding: Applicant should apply for ECUHDR or RTP Scholarship

Start date: Ongoing

Project Outline:

This study will examine heat exposure levels of workers in the North of Australia who work a FIFO roster and spend their off-swing in colder climates. Various physiological indicators of heat acclimatisation will be determined at the end of their time on-site and again upon their return from their time off site. This research will inform industry of the ideal FIFO rosters in order to ensure workers remain fully acclimatised and/or will advise on strategies to re-establish full acclimatisation as soon as possible after their return to work.

Access to a large FIFO cohort is essential.

Desired skills: Master of Public Health (by Research)

Project Area: Occupational Hygiene; Biological Monitoring; Heat Stress.

School / Research Centre / Institute: Occupational and Environmental Health

Supervisor(s): Professor Jacques Oosthuizen

Project level: Masters or PhD

Funding: Applicant should apply for ECUHDR or RTP Scholarship

Start date: Ongoing

Project Outline:

This study will examine exposure levels and strategies employed by outdoor workers, such as farmers with high physical work demands, to cope with heat stress. Cohorts from developing countries are of particular interest.

Desired skills: Master of Public Health (by Research)

Project Area: Occupational Hygiene; Biological Monitoring; Heat Stress.

School / Research Centre / Institute: Occupational and Environmental Health

Supervisor(s): A/Prof Jacques Oosthuizen

Project level: Masters or PhD

Funding: Applicant should apply for ECUHDR or RTP Scholarship

Start date: Ongoing