UQ Institute for Molecular Bioscience

Congratulations to the #UQ researchers, partners and alum named in The Australian 2024 list of 100 leading innovators.    This includes IMB and Critical Care Research Group's Professor John Fraser who is being recognised along with Associate Professor Kristy Short and Dr Arutha Kulasinghe for a project that began during the Covid-19 pandemic - their 'back to the future' project. The team work to extract data from tissue samples collected during the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic with the goal of better understanding future pandemics.   Seeing so many of our colleagues recognised drives home the role of universities in supporting local innovation 👏 

Some studies have shown increased coffee consumption during pregnancy is associated with the child having neurodevelopmental difficulties. These may include traits linked to attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), such as difficulties with language, motor skills, attention, hyperactivity and impulsive behaviour. But is coffee really the cause? New research by Dr Gunn-Helen Moen and PhD candidate Shannon D'Urso clears up the sometimes confusing advice about drinking coffee during pregnancy. They studied tens of thousands of pregnant women over two decades and found some interesting results. 🔗 Read more: https://bit.ly/485V18I

Researchers have uncovered the workings of ant venom by measuring electric currents through individual channels in cells to understand how it causes pain. Dr Angelo Keramidas studied the potent sting of the West African ant, showing the venom toxin caused hyperstimulation of sodium channels causing continuous firing of pain signals. 🔗 Read more: https://bit.ly/4h8u600 📷 Jonghyun Park

Thank you for supporting us this #UQGivingDay! We raised an amazing $50,350 for our cardiovascular research. Thank you to our generous donors and supporters ❤️ Miss out? It's not too late to donate. Head over here 👉 https://bit.ly/3BKoRDJ

Be the reason for our next big breakthrough 🔬 Here at IMB, we are dedicated to beating heart disease. Support our world-renowned researchers Melanie White, PhD, Anne Lagendijk, Glenn King, Nathan Palpant, Sonia Shah, Mark Walker, Professor John Fraser and our partners at the Critical Care Research Group as they take on Australia's #1 killer. Donate to IMB's heart disease research today and have your gift matched. Every gift counts and 100% of proceeds go towards our research right here at IMB. Apple and Google Pay available. ❤️ Donate here: https://bit.ly/4hao5Qn #UQGivingDay

Thank you for joining us on our lab tour yesterday! 👩🔬 Heart disease is Australia's #1 killer and sadly, chances are we all know someone who has been impacted by it. By welcoming the community to our labs, we showed them first-hand the amazing work being conducted by our researchers including Melanie White, PhD, Anne Lagendijk, Nathan Palpant, Gianluigi Li Bassi, Jacky Suen and Clara Jiang. Here at IMB and the Critical Care Research Group, we investigate heart disease from multiple angles. We are developing new drugs from spider venom, looking to our DNA to predict heart disease risk, studying congenital heart disease and how our blood vessels form, developing an mRNA Strep A vaccine, and accelerating the translation of research through our partnership with CCRG. Thank you to our researchers, our donors, our advocates and community for your ongoing support. 💓 Donate to IMB's heart disease research this #UQGivingDay: https://bit.ly/3Ud30eh 💝 Donate today and double your impact through a matched gift

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in Australia – it claims the life of one Australian every 12 minutes and can affect anyone at any age, even babies. We are tackling the problem of cardiovascular disease through multiple, innovative approaches to increase scientific knowledge about the heart’s biology and genetic risk, and develop the next generation of cardiovascular medicines. Donate to our cardiovascular fund for #UQGivingDay and help our researchers develop life-saving medicines to beat heart disease. Every gift is meaningful. 💓 Donate today: https://bit.ly/3Y4ArC3 Sonia Shah, Nathan Palpant, Glenn King, Melanie White, PhD, Anne Lagendijk, Mark Walker, Critical Care Research Group

Congratulations to Dr Fleur Garton, winner of the IMB Inflazome Translation Award 🏆 and Dr Ralph Patrick, winner of the Ignite Innovation Award 🏆 at last night's Research Engagement Dinner. The IMB Inflazome Translation Award is a $125,000 award funded by royalties from the sale of IMB spin-out, Inflazome. Dr Garton will use the proceeds to fund a new blood test to diagnose MND faster and with more accuracy. Ignite Innovation is supported by generous donors including the Grummitt family and provides seed funding of $20,000 for a researcher to kickstart an idea with potential for big impact. Dr Patrick will use his winnings to support his research in tackling the mechanisms that underpin age-related diseases. Congratulations to all of our finalists including Dr Solal Chauquet and Dr Jennifer Deuis, as well as our judges Anna Palmer, CFA, GAICD, Prof Kate Schroder, Lorraine Maxwell (Chiroiu), Prof Mark Blaskovich and Dr Scott McNeil.

An IMB-led study has failed to find any strong links between drinking coffee during pregnancy and neurodevelopmental difficulties in children. Dr Gunn-Helen Moen and PhD student Shannon D’Urso led an in-depth genetic analysis of data from tens of thousands of families in Norway. 🔗 Read more: https://bit.ly/4dTm0pr

After 8 years of research, we are gearing up to begin clinical trials of a drug from K’gari funnel web spider venom, with promise to drastically reduce the number of deaths from stroke and heart attack. Glenn King, Nathan Palpant 🔗 Read more: https://bit.ly/3Nc2z04