Physiology And Pathophysiology Of Disorders Of The Musculoskelatal System
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$926,980.00
Summary
This application for a Senior Principal Research Fellowship is to enable me to address the enormous burden of musculoskeletal conditions - an important, but understudied and underfunded area of health/medical research. My focus is the most costly and prevalent musculoskeletal conditions of low back pain and osteoarthritis, and other neuromuscular conditions such as incontinence. My aim is to improve outcomes by discovering how to apply the right treatment to the right person at the right time.
I am a neurophysiologist who examines the neural control of movement and the interaction of sensation and movement in human subjects. I study cortical and motoneuronal events during exercise and muscle fatigue, how cortical connections to the motoneurones change with practice of motor tasks, and whether they can be changed artificially. I also study proprioception i.e. the sensations related to relative position and movement of parts of the body and the production of muscle force.
Physiology And Pathophysiology Of Disorders Of The Musculoskelatal System
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$898,008.00
Summary
I am a neuroscientist and physiotherapist focussed on the conservative management of disorders of the musculoskeletal system. My research aims to uncover the mechanisms underlying musculoskeletal pain and other disorders such as incontinence, to develop and refine treatments for these conditions, and to understand the mechanism for efficacy of these treatments.
My work investigates the neural output to human inspiratory muscles and how it is related to mechanical effectiveness for breathing. The aim is to discover how this relationship can change with respiratory disorders such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and obstructive sleep apnoea. I also examine the changes in breathing muscle control in people with spinal cord injury. This work promises new understanding of the basic control of respiration and how it changes with disease.
I am an aged care rehabilitation researcher seeking to minimise disability and prevent falls in large numbers of older people. I am particularly interested in the role of exercise in falls and disability prevention.
My research focuses on understanding pathobiological mechanisms in acute and chronic neurodegenerative conditions such as stroke and Parkinson’s disease which have large burdens on the community through health care costs and on families because of the lack of effective treatments. An improved understanding of how brain cells die and of how the most abundant brain cell, the astrocyte, can be engineered to be a resource for regenerative medicine offer promise for improved clinical management.
Human Movement Control: Basic And Applied Neurophysiology
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$948,684.00
Summary
My research targets mechanisms underlying human movement, ways in which they can be deranged, and ways in which interventions can diminish impairments. It focuses on gaps in understanding and in clinical practice. Work in our broad ‘Motor Impairment’ NHMRC Program underpin my research. It is supplemented by new work on respiratory neurophysiology which has already delivered basic and clinical insight into neural control of the main breathing muscles and more recently upper airway muscles.
Integration Of Biostatistics And Mathematical Modelling To Improve The Control Of Infectious Diseases
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$622,655.00
Summary
Improving the control of infectious diseases requires the evaluation of interventions that prevent disease at the population level and successfully treat infections at the individual level. This proposal brings together advanced biostatistical research with mathematical modelling to discover novel methods for evaluating antimalarial treatments and malaria vaccine candidates, leading to new insights in infectious disease control and building capacity in this emerging cross-disciplinary field.
The major objective of this research is to advance the development of highly effective malaria vaccines through i) defining mechanisms and targets of human immunity to malaria to establish a rational basis for vaccine design; ii) advancing the development of lead candidates and promising new candidates and combinations; iii) advancing vaccine platforms that induce potent protective immune responses; iv) develop and validate urgently-needed immunological assays for vaccine development and testing