APP1135277_Rice_Grant Proposal

GRANT PROPOSAL – 2016 Centres of Research Application ID: 1135277
Excellence funding commencing 2017 CIA Surname: Rice
and coordinate access to clinical records.
contribution to the work of the CRE.
As such they make extremely valuable in kind
AI- A/Prof David Whiley is employed concurrently by The University of Queensland working at
UQCCR and Pathology Queensland an organisation occupying the adjacent building. A/Prof
Whiley has expertise in the successful development and implementation of in vitro diagnostics and
their implementation to clinical practice. His working environment at Pathology Queensland
contributes a clear pathway for translation. A/Prof Whiley conducts the development all phases of
IVD development within the Centre of a Clinical Research and work closely with CRE members
within the facility. He will play crucial role in is the translation of new screening tests into routine
clinical pathology services.
AI-Prof Karen Moritz is Director of the children’s health research Centre, University of
Queensland and an NH&MRC Senior Research Fellow in the School of Biomedical Sciences at the
University of Queensland. The aim of her work is to understand how prenatal perturbations
contribute to an increased risk of developing cardiovascular, renal and metabolic disease in
adulthood. Over the last 5-7 years, her research has focused on determining the pivotal role played
by the kidney in the “developmental programming” of adult disease. Her research has shown a
reduced nephron endowment is associated with hypertension and renal impairment in the adult
following excess maternal glucocorticoid exposure, maternal low protein diet, placental
insufficiency and most recently, prenatal alcohol exposure. Prof Moritz will play a substantive role
in assessing the impact of complications of pregnancy on pregnancy and neonatal outcome and the
development and evaluation of intervention strategies.
AI – Dr Sarah Reed is the Head of the Mass Spectrometry Facility at the University of Queensland
Centre for Clinical Research. She has over 12 years of experience in mass spectrometry across the
research areas of proteomics, lipidomics, metabolomics, tissue imaging and small molecule
analysis. Her background is from the industry where she was appointed as the senior application
specialist for a global mass spectrometry company and was integral in the development,
implementation and education of new technologies and workflows to researchers across Australia,
New Zealand and the Rest of Asia regions. AI Reed is also involved in implementing and
maintaining the international industry standard environment (ISO17025, ISO13485) within the
facility. Dr Reid’s role in the CRC is one of a technical regulatory compliant expert.
AI-Prof Annemarie Hennessy is the Dean of Medicine at the School of Medicine and currently
holds the position of Foundation Professor of Medicine. Profe Hennessy is an active obstetric and
renal physician based at the Campbelltown Hospital. Prof Hennessy has an extensive research track
record in preeclampsia research and is actively involved in clinical and laboratory research into the
causes of high blood pressure during pregnancy; collaborating with hospitals in Sydney, Canada
and the USA. Her contribution to this CRE is indispensable for the successful completion of T3
and T4 activities and for mentoring and training of clinical researcher and practitioners.
AI – Dr Marloes Dekker Dr Dekker’s research focuses on the role of metabolism in
complications of pregnancy. Dr Dekker is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Biomedical Sciences
and heads a research group at the UQ Centre for Clinical Research studying the role of the gut
microbiome in pregnancy, the role of food additives on placental function and placental gene
expression and epigenetic markers in pregnancy complications. Dr Dekker works closely with
clinician-scientists and clinicians at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital. She is part of the
SPRING RCT team which assesses if probiotics can prevent gestational diabetes mellitus in
overweight and obese women. Dr Dekker is a scientific representative on the SOMANZ council.
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