Monash University: University handbooks: Postgraduate handbook: Units indexed by faculty
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Principal research areas

The following is a brief summary of the major research areas and programs currently offered through the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences.

Anatomy and cell biology

Cardiovascular development and disease

• Fetal heart development; effect of premature birth on heart structure and function.

Kidney and ureter development

• Molecular regulation of kidney and ureter development; identifying the roles of specific genes in kidney and ureter development; effect of premature birth on kidney structure and function.

Developmental renal programming

• Identifying the effects of fetal perturbations (including dietary manipulations, natural and synthetic glucocorticoids, alcohol, estrogens, ultrasound radiation) on kidney development, and the consequences for adult kidney function and disease.

Human nephron number, kidney disease and hypertension

• Nephron number in different racial groups and the link to adult hypertension and renal disease and function – studies in Australian, US and African populations.

National audit of aboriginal renal biopsies

Renal stem cells and regeneration

• Identifying stem cells in developing and adult kidneys; driving human embryonic stem cells towards a kidney lineage; using stems cells to regenerate diseased kidneys.

Male reproductive biology

• Testicular function; testis development.

Female reproductive biology

• Development of the ovary; renewal and replacement of ovarian follicles.

Blood disorders

• The genetic basis of thalassaemia.

Contact details

Professor John Bertram: telephone: +61 3 9905 2751; email: john.bertram@med.monash.edu.au or visit www.med.monash.edu.au/anatomy/research/

Biochemistry and molecular biology

• Signal transduction in the regulation of secretion; cytoskeletal rearrangements and cellular proliferation in cancer; proteases and their inhibitors and receptors in degenerative diseases; the role of protein folding and misfolding in disease; nuclear protein transport in medicine and development; bioinformatics: searching for novel protein domains in the human proteome; structural biology (crystallography) of medically important proteins; molecular analysis of the cause and expression of autoimmune diseases; peptide folding, protein engineering and drug design; diabetes and renal failure, mechanisms of proteinura in the kidney; the molecular neurobiology of Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders, molecular analysis of platelet function in thrombosis and haemostasis; the structure and function of a molecular machine: mitochondrial ATP synthase; mitochondrial turnover, vacuolar ATPase function and autophagy; fluorescent proteins with novel proteins; functional and biochemical aspects of hyaluronan with special reference to its role in disease; adrenal steroid signalling and actions in embryonic development, heart failure and obesity; mitochondria in ageing; environmental causes of type 1 diabetes; protein tyrosine phosphatases in cancer and diabetes.

Contact details

Professor Rod Devenish: telephone: +61 3 9905 3782; email: rod.devenish@med.monash.edu.au or visit www.med.monash.edu.au/biochem/research/.

Community emergency health and paramedic practice

• Emergency medical services; Pre-hospital emergency medical care; Paramedic education.

Contact details

Associate Professor Frank Archer: telephone: + 61 3 9904 4330; email: frank.archer@med.monash.edu.au or visit iwww.med.monash.edu.au/mucaps/research.

Epidemiology and preventive medicine

• Chronic disease epidemiology (cardiovascular, respiratory and rheumatic diseases); clinical pharmacology; the clinical evaluation of drugs including physiological studies in humans, drug trials and drug safety studies; toxicology; clinical epidemiology and biostatistical methods (including diagnostic tests, clinical measurement and systematic reviews); infectious diseases neuro-epidemiology; epidemiological modelling; health services delivery; health economics and cost-effectiveness studies; health services research; environmental health, including health risk assessment: evidence-based medicine, preventive medicine and occupational health; health promotion; health policy development; quality assessment and outcomes in healthcare.

Contact details

Professor John McNeil: telephone: +61 3 9903 0565; email: john.mcneil@med.monash.edu.au or visit www.med.monash.edu.au/epidemiology/research/

Forensic medicine

• Forensic pathology, clinical forensic medicine, forensic toxicology, molecular biology and tissue banking; intravenous drug abuse, death, injury and prevention; adverse events in hospital practice; patterns of injury; sexual assault; traumatic neuropathology; ageing of injuries; traffic medicine including drugs and driving; post mortem drug redistribution; wound ballistics; SIDS; tissue banking including allograft incorporation and tissue engineering.

Contact details

Professor Stephen Cordner: telephone: +61 3 9684 4301; email: stephenc@vifm.org or visit www.vifm.org/

General practice

Mental health

• Assessment and management of depressive and anxiety disorders, internet-based mental health, primary care of mental illness.

Developmental disability

• Mental health of the disabled, sexuality, human relations, health and well-being, challenging behaviours, Down’s syndrome and rural disability care.

Medical education research

• Evaluation of medical education.

Health and medical services

• Integration of evidence-based medicine, quality improvement, informatics in primary care use of computers in primary care, workforce violence and stress.

Cardiovascular health and illness

• Prevention and treatment programs, management and hospitalisation.

Men’s sexual health

• Management of erectile disorders, hormone replacement therapy, infertility, testosterone deficiency and prostate disease.

Ageing

Family violence

Medical ethics

Contact details

Associate Professor Neil Spike: telephone: +61 3 8575 2212; email: neil.spike@med.monash.edu.au or visit www.med.monash.edu.au/general-practice/research/

Immunology

Allergic diseases

• Allergy; asthma; cytokines; allergens; T-cell responses; immunotherapy.

Tolerance and autoimmunity

• Autoimmune gastritis; type 1 diabetes; atherosclerosis; immunopathogenesis; transgenic and genetically engineered mice; stem cells engineering; bone marrow transplantation.

Inflammation

• Thrombosis; platelet adhesion; platelet activation; glycoprotein 1b-IX-V.

Cell biology

• Cell immoralisation; cell senescence; telomeres; cell division; cancer; secretory pathway and the Golgi.

Contact details

Professor Michael Berndt: telephone: +61 3 9905 3721; email: michael.berndt@med.monash.edu.au or visit www.med.monash.edu.au/immunology/research/

Medical imaging and radiation sciences

• Clinical studies in radiography; ultrasound; CT; MRI; MR spectroscopy; PET; PET/CT; vascular imaging; radiobiology and radiation physics specifically anatomical and functional imaging of tumours; musculo-skeletal pathologies and injuries; development of new contrast media; evaluations of work practices of sonographers and radiographers and studies into professional and educational issues of imaging practitioners; Animal-model based studies are conducted into bioeffects of ultrasound during pregnancy.

Contact details

Dr Michal Schneider-Kolsky: telephone: +61 3 9905 1348; email: michal.schneider-kolsky@med.monash.edu.au or visit www.med.monash.edu.au/radiography/

Medicine

The Alfred Hospital

• Organ transplantation; renal disease; respiratory disease; clinical pharmacology; infectious diseases; oncology; rheumatology; dermatology and palliative care.

Contact details

Professor Napier Thompson, the Alfred Hospital: telephone: +61 3 9903 0640; email: napier.thomson@med.monash.edu.au or visit www.med.monash.edu.au/medicine/alfred/research

Dr Robert Medcalf, Australian Centre for Blood Diseases: telephone: +61 3 9903 0133; email: robert.medcalf@med.monash.edu.au or visit www.acbd.monash.org/

Box Hill

• Fibrinolysis/plasminogen activator laboratory; serpins biology group; the dynamic cytoskeleton; the blood platelet.

Contact details

Professor Peter Gibson: telephone: +61 3 9895 0369; email: peter.gibson@med.monash.edu.au or visit www.med.monash.edu.au/medicine/box_hill/research/ .

Monash Medical Centre

• Apoptosis; asthma and airways disease; anticoagulants; bioethics, bowel cancer; liver disease; cardiovascular disease, especially atherosclerotic and cardiac failure and hypertension; clinical and public health nutrition; cytotoxic lymphocytes; diabetes; gene regulation; haemostasis; oncology; inflammatory disease (joints, skin and kidneys); infectious diseases; intensive care medicine; intracellular signalling; movement disorders; osteoporosis; osteoarthritis; peptic ulcer; proteases and protease inhibitors; platelet biology; renal disease; rheumatology, serine proteinase inhibitors; skin cancer; psoriasis; clinical pharmacology; gerontology; palliative care; neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's disease; neuro-otology; clinical and basic research in cardiology, vascular and respiratory areas including vascular biology, physiology and pharmacology of the peripheral and coronary vasculature; metabolic vasodilation; vascular effects of hormone replacement, vitamin therapy, hypercholesterolaemia; pathophysiology of left atrial thrombus; mitral stenosis; atrial fibrillation; pulmonary circulation; pulmonary hypertension; cardiac function, coagulation activity; acute coronary syndromes; inotropic agents; asthma; bronchiectasis; sleep disorders; thrombosis; platelets; Von Willebrand factor; fibrinogen; intracellular signalling; glycoprotein allbb3; RhoA, actin cytoskeleton, haemopoiesis; serpins; yeast-2-hybrid; yeast-3-hybrid fibrinolysis; tissue plasminogen activator; urokinase plasminogen activator; plasminogen activator inhibitor-2; neurodegeneration; tumour metastasis; gene regulation; RNA processing; mRNA stability; Prothrombin G20210A polymorphism.

Contact details

Professor Stephen Holdsworth: telephone: +61 3 9594 5525; email: stephen.holdsworth@med.monash.edu.au or visit www.med.monash.edu.au/medicine/mmc/research/

Microbiology

Molecular virology

• Dengue; coronavirus; measles virus; respiratory syncytial virus; rubella virus; mycoviruses; hepatitis v and D; virus-like particle.

Parasitology

• Plasmodium; falciparum; malaria; malaria antigens; biorheology of malaria; infected red blood cells; seroepidemiology of malaria infection; protein-protein interactions in malaria-infected cells; discovery of malaria protein function; babesiosis; adhesion molecules of babesia bovis.

Molecular bacteriology

• Pathogenesis; gene probes; transposons; gonococci; meningococci; gonorrhoea; pili; regulon; toxins and pathogenesis; clostridial genetics; transposable genetic elements; two-component signal transduction; footrot; antibiotic resistance; tuberculosis; genome databases; cell wall synthetic pathways; cell wall synthesis; bioinformatics; signal transduction regulation; leptospirosis; pasteurella pathogenisis and vaccines; shigella virulence; bacillary dysentery; Buruli ulcer; Bairnsdale ulcer; diarheagenic E. coli; bacterial adhesions; melioidosis; biofilms; bacterial respiratory infection; helicobacter pylon; pseudomonas aeruginosa; haemophilus influenza; opportunistic pathogens nosocomial infections; mucobacteria; cell-cell interactions; protein trafficking; legionella-host cell interactions; host cell targets of baceterialo virulence factors; staphylococcal infections; meningitis; septicaemia.

Immunity to infection

• Immunity; vaccines; DNA vaccination; transgenic plants as vaccines; immunization; gastrointestinal inflammation; innate immunity; toll-like receptors; nod proteins; muscosal immunity.

Contact details

Professor John Davies: telephone: +61 3 9905 4824; email: john.davies@med.monash.edu.au or visit www.med.monash.edu.au/microbiology/pgrad/index.html

Nursing and midwifery

• Acute clinical nursing; health services operations management; mental health nursing; midwifery; nursing education; palliative care; rural nursing and rural health.

Contact details

Associate Professor Tony Barnett: telephone: +61 3 9902 6636; email: tony.barnett@med.monash.edu.au or visit www.med.monash.edu.au/nursing/research/

Obstetrics and gynaecology

• Gynaecology and infertility; maternal-foetal medicine; reproductive and endothelial cell biology; reproductive endocrinology; reproductive hormones; menstruation; implantation; infertility; labour; trophoblast function; regulation of placental blood flow; preterm labour; low birth weight; prenatal diagnosis; models of antenatal care; endometriosis; preeclampsia; ovarian cancer; molecular obstetrics; molecular gynaecology; virtual reality, computerised surgery; angiogenesis (control of blood vessel growth); and factors in fibroid growth and development, investigating why these common benign tumours develop and grow.

Contact details

Professor David Healy: telephone: +61 3 9594 5488; email: david.healy@med.monash.edu.au or visit www.med.monash.edu.au/ob-gyn/

Paediatrics

• Neonatal research; paediatric sleep studies; sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS); infant home monitoring; developmental disabilities; paediatric growth and endocrinology genetics; foetal and neonatal physiology; foetal surgery; adaption at birth; lung growth and development; neonatal neurological outcomes; growth disorders; childhood diabetes and endocrinology; pathogenesis of viral infections; antiviral agents (clinical trials); developmental disability; adolescent medicine; and clinical and interventional cardiology.

Contact details

Professor Richard Doherty: telephone: +61 3 9594 4490; email: richard.doherty@med.monash.edu.au or visit www.med.monash.edu.au/paediatrics/programs/research.html

Pharmacology

• Neuropharmacology; molecular pharmacology; cardiovascular pharmacology; reproductive and genitourinary pharmacology; venoms and toxins; use of novel microscopic imaging techniques for early diagnosis; anti-obesity drugs; autacoids; diabetes; drug discovery and development; drug receptor mechanisms; hypertension; G-protein coupled receptors; free radicals; neurotransmitters; endocrine pharmacology; peptides; confocal microscopy; pharmacology of potassium channels.

Contact details

Associate Professor Wayne Hodgson: telephone: +61 3 9905 4861; email: wayne.hodgson@med.monash.edu.au or visit www.med.monash.edu.au/pharmacology/research/

Physiology

High blood pressure

• Role of the kidney in blood pressure control; renal disease and nephron endowment; physiological mechanisms regulating glomerular capillary pressure; renal innervation and renal medulla anti-hypertensive mechanisms; blood pressure regulation in diabetes; hypertension and obesity;

Fetal and neonatal

• Causes and consequences of preterm birth; growth and development of the fetus; fetal lung development; early origins of obstructive airway disease; fetal brain injury and neuroprotective treatments for the fetus and neonate.

Metabolic neuroscience

• Central neural control of energy expenditure and body weight; thirst and body fluid homeostasis; obesity hypertension; antipsychotic drugs and weight gain.

Muscle and exercise

• Exercise and women’s health; exercise and muscle gene expression; mitogenic signalling; proprioception and factors affecting limb position sense.

Neuroendocrinology

• Obesity and appetite regulation; neuronedocrine predisposition to obesity; neroendocrine regulation of reproduction; the gonadotropin releasing hormone system; impact of stress on physiological systems and the influence of sex and sex steroids on the response to stress.

Smooth and cardiac muscle

• Endothelial control of blood vessel diameter; vitamin D deficiency; uterine physiology and dysfunction in labour; function and dysfunction of the upper urinary tract; sex hormone modulation of cardiac hypertrophy; synchrotron radiation studies of cardiac function.

Systems neuroscience

• Structure and function of the auditory system; structure and function of the visual system; central and peripheral mechanisms of sensation; cellular mechanisms of neuronal genesis and death; neurobiology and pharmacology of cognitive and behavioural processes in humans.

Contact details

Associate Professor Igor Wendt: telephone: +61 3 9905 2511; email: igor.wendt@med.monash.edu.au or visit www.med.monash.edu.au/physiology/research/index.html.

Psychology, psychiatry and psychological medicine

Animal welfare

• Animal and human interaction; animal-assisted therapy; animal welfare practice; primate vocal communication.

Contact details

Professor G Coleman: email: grahame.colemen@med.monash.edu.au

Developmental psychology and psychiatry

• Child and adolescent psychiatry; cortical inhibition; depression; developmental delay; intellectual disability; developmental disorders; autism; attention deficit disorder; anxiety; psychosis; conduct; children’s response to trauma; abuse; behaviour based therapies; drug based therapies; personality; play and aggression in children; psychobiology of emotion; psycholinguistics; psychological assessment; psychology of aging; developmental psychopathology.

Contact details

Professor B Tonge: email: bruce.tong@med.monash.edu.au

Forensic mental health

• Assessment and treatment of mental illness; developmental forensic; jury behaviour and decision making; stalking; sexual abuse of children; mental illness in prisons; effects of crime on victims; involuntary hospitalisation in civil or forensic psychiatric facilities; strategies and interventions for reducing criminal behaviour and violence; the legal system and the interface with offenders with psychiatric, psychological or behavioural disorders; substance abuse and addiction psychiatry; families and parenting; developmental forensic.

Contact details

Professor J Ogloff: email: james.ogloff@med.monash.edu.au

Health psychology and psychiatry

• Psychological and psychiatric aspects of general health; human behaviour, depression, anxiety, cognitive disturbance and its relationship to physical health and well-being; physical disease and its effects on psychological well-being; health outcomes; psychiatric aspects of general medicine; general practice psychiatry; health psychology and health behaviours.

Contact details

Associate Professor D Clarke: email: david.clarke@med.monash.edu.au

Neuroscience and neuropsychology

• Neuroanatomy; neurobiology; neurodegenerative disorders; neurodevelopmental disorders; neuroethology; neurophysiology; neuropsychology; behavioural neurobiology; psychoneuroendocrinology; cognitive neuroscience; comparative neuroscience; clinical neuropsychology; biological mechanisms underlying sleep, learning, language behaviours; dementia; insomnia; addiction; Parkinson’s disease; Huntington’s disease; Alzheimer’s disease; autism; brain function and social, physical and biological environments; cognition; bodily function; experimental neuropsychology.

Contact details

Associate Professor S Robinson: email: stephen.robinson@med.monash.edu.au

Schizophrenia and depression

• Cause and treatments; psychotic illnesses; transcranial magnetic stimulation; treatment resistance;. anxiety disorders;; bipolar disorder; brain imaging; brain plasticity; electrophysiology; epidemiology; psychopharmacology; psychogeriatrics; old age psychiatry; cortical plasticity; hormonal effects on cognition; hormonal treatment strategies.

Contact details

Professor J Kulkarni: email: jayashi.kulkarni@med.monash.edu.au

Behavioural ecology

• Community health economics; health outcomes; rural mental health; service evaluation research; women’s mental health; environmental psychology; health care management; information processing; innovation and creativity; medical simulation; road user behaviour; values, culture and climate; cross-cultural psychology; epidemiology; nature and psychological well-being, ; behavioural medicine; behavioural neuroscience.

Contact details

Email: research.spppm@med.monash.edu.au or visit www.med.monash.edu/au/spppm/research .

Education

• Educational psychology; educational technologies; learning; medical education; perceptual learning.

Contact details

Email: research.spppm@med.monash.edu.au or visit www.med.monash.edu/au/spppm/research .

Organisational psychology

• Professional identity; performance in the workplace; vocational psychology; organisational change; organisational psychology; change management; leadership development; leadership succession; leadership; psychology of groups and teams.

Contact details

Email: research.spppm@med.monash.edu.au or visit www.med.monash.edu/au/spppm/research

Rural health

Rural health workforce issues

• Rural medicine and allied health workforce recruitment and retention; advanced nursing practice; gender issues in rural health workforce; international medical graduates; rural and remote classification.

Models of health services in rural and remote areas

• Sustainable service delivery models; service accessibility; the role of information technology; delivery of mental health services.

Rural medical health education and support

• The medical schools outcomes database project; rural exposure and medical placements programs.

Rural community development and capacity building

• Change and restructuring within rural communities; rural and regional development.

Indigenous health

Determinants of rural health and population health issues

• Rural and environmental epidemiology; health behaviour of rural youth; ageing in rural areas; rural injuries; rural consumer preferences for health services and involvement in quality improvement.

Clinical topics

• Management of chronic diseases, such as osteoporosis, diabetes, cancer; mental health; disabilities; rural surgery; rural pharmacy.

Rural health research methodologies

• Research capacity building.

Rural health policy and program evaluation

Contact details

Professor John Humphreys: telephone: +61 3 5440 9082; email: john.humphreys@med.monash.edu.au or visit www.med.monash.edu.au/mrh/research

Social work

Casework

• Child protection; child abuse and the media.

• Community services; management of health and welfare services.

Corrections

• Family and children’s courts; family interventions; family violence.

• Policy development.

Other

Contact details

Dr Rosemary Sheehan: telephone: +61 3 9903 1134; email: rosemary.sheehan@med.monash.edu.au or visit www.med.monash.edu.au/socialwork/research/.

Surgery

The Alfred Hospital

• Molecular biology laboratory; cell culture laboratory; tissue culture laboratory; colorectal cancer; colon cancer; chemoprevention of colorectal cancer; evaluation of laparoscopic procedures; obesity; hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery; diseases of the liver and bile ducts; gastric mucosal protection.

Contact details

Professor Paul O’Brien: telephone: +61 3 9903 0608; email: paul.obrien@med.monash.edu.au or visit www.med.monash.edu.au/surgery/alfred/research/

Cabrini Hospital

• Investigation of bowel disorders; colorectal cancer; colon cancer; chemoprevention of colorectal cancer; evaluation of laparoscopic surgery for colorectal surgery; genetic predisposition of colorectal cancer; genetic mutations associated with colorectal cancer; assessment of diagnostic techniques for the early detection of colon cancer; clinical applications of anorectal physiology studies; applications of new clinical treatments for colorectal cancer; determining incidence between colorectal and other cancers.

Contact details

Professor Adrian Polglase: telephone: +61 3 9508 1651; email: adrian.polglase@med.monash.edu.au or visit www.med.monash.edu.au/surgery/cabrini/research/

Monash Medical Centre

• Retinal research; vascular surgery; experimental colorectal cancer; liver metastases; the vascular response to inflammation; ulcer healing; surgical education; laparoscopic surgery; cultured epithelial grafts; microsurgery; gastrointestinal motility; endovascular stents and grafts: minimally invasive surgery; robotically assisted surgery; cognitive function after major surgery; activin and related peptides in cancer; urological malignancy.

Contact details

Professor Julian Smith: telephone: +61 3 9594 5400; email: julian.smith@med.monash.edu.au or visit www.med.monash.edu.au/surgery/mmc/research.html

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