Search

Research

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in women around the world. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women (Australian Indigenous women) have a high burden of CVD, occurring on average 10-20 years earlier than non-Indigenous women.

Research

Paediatric cancer is the leading cause of disease-related death in Australian children. Limited research focuses on cancer in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. Although there appears to be a lower incidence of cancer overall in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children compared with non-Indigenous children, a high proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia.

Research

Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia is a highly heterogeneous malignancy characterised by various genomic alterations that influence disease progression and therapeutic outcomes. Gene fusions involving the immunoglobulin heavy chain gene represent a complex and diverse category.

Research

Ongoing advances in population genomic methodologies have recently enabled the study of millions of loci across hundreds of genomes at a relatively low cost, by leveraging a combination of low-coverage shotgun sequencing and innovative genotype imputation methods. This approach has the potential to provide abundant genotype information at low costs comparable to another widely used cost-effective genotyping approach-that is, SNP panels-while avoiding potential issues related to loci being ascertained in distantly related populations.

Research

Fuelled by the tobacco industry, commercial tobacco use is a major cause of preventable morbidity and mortality among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Preventing adolescent smoking initiation is critical to reducing uptake. Understanding individual, social, and environmental factors that are protective against smoking can inform prevention strategies. 

Research

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (hereafter respectfully named Indigenous) Australians are diagnosed with some cancers substantially more frequently than non-Indigenous Australians implying a different risk factor landscape. Additionally, poorer outcomes for certain cancers are exacerbated by lower cancer screening rates and later diagnoses compared to non-Indigenous Australians.

Research

The rise of sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) studies has opened new possibilities for studying past environments. This groundbreaking area of genomics uses sediments to identify organisms, even in cases where macroscopic remains no longer exist. Managing this substrate in Indigenous Australian contexts, however, requires special considerations. Sediments and soils are often considered as waste by-products during archaeological and paleontological excavations and are not typically regulated by the same ethics guidelines utilised in mainstream 'western' research paradigms.

Research

Type I regulatory (Tr1) cells are defined as FOXP3-IL-10-secreting clusters of differentiation (CD4+) T cells that contribute to immune suppression and typically express the markers LAG-3 and CD49b and other co-inhibitory receptors. These cells have not been studied in detail in the context of the resolution of acute infection in the lung.

Research

Indigenous peoples in high income countries are disproportionately affected by Type 2 Diabetes. Socioeconomic disadvantages and inadequate access to appropriate healthcare are important contributors.

Research

The Northern Territory and Far North Queensland have a high proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women birthing who experience hyperglycaemia in pregnancy. A multi-component health systems intervention to improve antenatal and postpartum care in these regions for women with hyperglycaemia in pregnancy was implemented between 2016 and 2019.