Metabolic Disorders Research Group
Who we are
The Metabolic Disorders Research Group interacts with other researchers across the School of Medical Science and the Faculty of Medicine to investigate the mechanisms involved in the development of metabolic dysfunction in the immune system and in skeletal muscles. Research focus range from the characterisation of T cells glucose metabolism using flow cytometry in the context of infectious and immune disorders to the investigation of insulin-signalling in skeletal muscle in both human and animal models of obesity using western blotting, immunohistochemistry, RT-PCR and biochemistry.
What we do
T cells metabolic dysfunction in HCV: in collaboration with other members of the IIRC we investigate the role of altered T cells metabolism in the immune response in the context of HCV.
Insulin-signalling impairment in childhood cancer survivors: our group aims at developing innovative strategies to assist in the early detection of metabolic defects developing in long-term survivors of childhood cancer.
Muscle metabolism in diabetes and obesity: using animal and human models, our group investigates the key mechanisms involved in the development of insulin resistance in skeletal muscle and potential therapeutic strategies to prevent those defects.
Funding
Our work is supported by funding from the Cancer Institute NSW, the NHMRC and Diabetes Australia Research Trust. In collaboration with researchers from the School of Medical Sciences it has also attracted infrastructure grants to improve our research support.
Major Researcher
Further information
International collaborations:
Pr Jacques Mercier (INSERM, Montpellier, France)
Dr Romain Barres (The Novo Nordisk Foundation Centre, Copenhagen, Denmark)