Scientists come together for research week
COLLABORATION and innovation will be recurring themes of Barwon Health and Deakin University Research Week.
The five-day program kicked off with a keynote speech by Associate Professor Helen Abud last night, centred on personalised cancer medicine and using organoids to take the guesswork out of treatment.
Other highlights of the week include public forums on childhood obesity and doctorpatient communication and a panel discussion on physicianassisted dying which will explore both sides of the voluntary euthanasia debate.
The two organisations work together in a research partnership at the Geelong Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases, which also includes CSIRO’s Australian Animal Health Laboratory.
Dr Fiona Collier of Barwon Health, a senior scientist in the research support unit, said the work undertaken there reflects all the workplaces involved.
“We have a storage facility for over 100,000 samples for the Barwon Infant Study,” she said. “In particular it is looking at allergic disease in infants, all the modern diseases, nurodevelopmental disorders ... part of it also looks at cardiovascular disease as it develops in us very early.
“That will be followed on for a very long time. The children involved are now seven years old and we’ve followed them since they were at birth.”
Research groups using the centre, which has been open for two years, are also looking at things such as prosthetic joint infections, treatments for depression and viruses carried by birds and later passed onto humans.
Now in its third year as a combined Barwon Health and Deakin University Research Week, events will continue to take place at St Mary’s Library until Friday.
For more information, or to register for events, visit barwon health.org.au/research-week