Research Higher Degree Experience

Meet Professor Stuart Mazzone

Laboratory Head, Director of Research, Department of Anatomy and Physiology

What is your role in the Department?

I am Head of the Respiratory Sensory Neuroscience Laboratory.  Research into neural pathways regulating pulmonary (lung) functions, and I am especially interested in major symptoms of lung disease including cough hypersensitivity syndrome.

What piqued your curiosity about human health, and biomedical sciences?

Actually, in my youth, I wanted to be a chef but didn’t enjoy the odd working hours when I began training. I think this is why I was drawn to science when I began University – the two disciplines are similar in many respects. It takes creativity, innovation and the willingness to try new things and fail in order to discover something incredible.

Later in your studies, what was the driving factor to becoming a biomedical scientist?

I began training in exercise physiology, but became inspired by one of my undergraduate lecturers to complete research higher degree training in pharmacology.  This lead me down the path to be a biomedical scientist.

Is there such a thing as a traditional pathway to where you are now?

Not really.  Of course, you need science training and depending on what your aspirations are, you may need research higher degree training. But biomedical science is a broad discipline and the skills that you learn along the way are highly transferable across different sub-domains of the field. I started out in sport science and chemistry, trained in pharmacology during my research higher degree, and have since worked around the world and in Australia in a clinical division of immunology, as a respiratory physiologist and now as a neuroscientist. For many of us our skills and expertise bridge across multiple areas of biomedicine. That’s one of the fulfilling aspects of the profession and why it is so easy to wake up each morning and come to work.

Explain the background to your research and your main findings so far?

Globally, ~10% of people have chronic cough (defined as cough lasting for longer than eight weeks). For many it is a condition that lasts for decades because all attempts to relieve coughing with current therapies fail. Our team studies the neural pathways and processes that are involved in coughing and how these pathways change in patients with chronic cough.

What impact do you hope your research will ultimately have on improving quality of life?

Chronic cough patients have very poor quality of life. They typically have co-morbid depression and anxiety, brought about by coughing hundreds and even thousands of times a day, every day of their life.

Explain the advances in technology that are changing the way this area of research is conducted?

Modern neuroscience technologies that allow us to visualise, study and manipulate the nervous system in model systems and advanced brain imaging approaches used to understand neural circuit function in patients.

What is your advice to current students?

Get involved.  University can be the best time of your professional life. Don’t waste the opportunity by not experiencing the possibilities and what is on offer around you. It may just change you forever.

What impact does being situated in the world-leading Melbourne Biomedical Precinct have?

I’ve worked in one of the best biomedicine precincts in the world in the USA - and Parkville in Melbourne is right up there. Collaboration, inspiration and support is all around. And the coffee is top notch too!

LEARN MORE

Meet Dr William De Nardo

Post-doctoral Research Fellow, Department of Anatomy and Physiology

What are you passionate about?

I’m passionate about metabolic diseases and liver function and the perfect merriment of these two is metabolic associated liver disease.

What was the driving factor to becoming a biomedical scientist?  

I always focused on healthcare in some capacity, and I was on the fence between being clinical and working with patients or behind the scenes for bigger picture changes. In my honour’s year working between both worlds with patient recruitment and then assessing how cancer digests sugars and fats differently than healthy tissue allowed me to grasp how exciting finding biological differences and the potential this could have to treat patients one day. Another really important factor is my supervisor - Professor Matt Watt, Head of the Department, made the work exciting and made the ideas come to life. You have to like where you work and enjoy what you do and for me it is a fantastic fit.

Explain the background to your research and your main findings so far?

Around 23-30% of Australians and individuals worldwide have some form of metabolic associated liver disease, which is when your liver stores excess nutrients as fats. Over time, this excessive nutrient storage leads to inflammation and the formation of liver scars, and this can lead to liver cancer and liver cirrhosis. From my PhD, we found that there are differences in the proteins released by the liver and that enters into the blood, and we are working towards creating a blood test to predict the presence of these diseases.

Explain the advances in technology that are changing the way this area of research is conducted?

I have access to amazing novel technologies in the Department, including a precision-cut tissue slicer. This lets me assess the function of the tissues while keeping the tissue architecture intact. It means we can partner with industry companies to see how different drugs impact the liver or prevent sugar being stored in the liver.

What is your advice to anyone interested in following in your footsteps?  

Take as many opportunities as possible to get skilled up. I’m sure you would have received emails about internships or those third-year placement subjects to learn some new lab skills and getting familiar with what it’s like to work in a team of scientists. These are huge opportunities and you should take them when you can! If you can, do a semester abroad, it’s an incredible way to enrich your learning and one of the bestselling points on a student academic resume. For me, it was life-changing and eye-opening and really is a personal and academic growth experience for me.

LEARN MORE

Meet Jenna Hall

PhD Candidate, Department of Anatomy and Physiology

What is role at the Department?

I am a PhD student in a Stem Cell Disease Modelling Laboratory at the University of Melbourne. I am responsible for differentiating stem cells into retinal pigment epithelium cells to study age-related macular degeneration.

Is there a traditional pathway to where you are now?

I studied biochemistry at The University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. I was passionate about joining a woman-lead stem cell lab and I reached out to my current lab head to see if they had room for me to participate in their research here in Melbourne and luckily she had just been given funding to take on a PhD student. My PhD is using stem cells to model age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

What are the benefits of being situated in the Melbourne Biomedical Precinct?

I began my PhD remotely in New York due to border closures associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.  When I was still in New York there were stem cell conversations hosted by the Department that I woke up at 3 AM to listen to. I am making eye cells from stem cells, but what I hope to do after my PhD is make germline cells from stem cells to help couples and singles start families on a timeline best suited to them. Being part of the Melbourne Biomedical Precinct will play a big part in this.

What excites you about Research?

The possibility of improving the quality and longevity of human life.

What advice would you give to anyone interested in Biomedical Sciences?

Find a lab that has good comradery among lab-mates and supervisors that are willing to workshop ideas with you.

Meet Alexa Rheann Prawdiuk

Medical Student and PhD Candidate, Department of Anatomy and Physiology

What is your role in the Department?

I am a full-time PhD candidate in the Mazzone Laboratory, where our main research interest is describing the sensory neural pathways underpinning respiratory reflexes and behaviours, such as cough.

What inspired you to join the Department of Anatomy and Physiology?

After finishing my undergraduate degree, remaining at the University of Melbourne in the Department of Anatomy and Physiology seemed like the right decision. I thoroughly enjoyed studying anatomy and neuroscience and many of my lecturers in these subjects were laboratory heads in the Department. I began discussing available projects with these lecturers and was captivated by the research, hence my decision to remain in the Department for both my Honours year and PhD.

What was your PhD on?

My PhD is focused on understanding how vagal sensory signals arising from the respiratory tree are processed within the brainstem, thereby contributing to our understanding of the brain pathways underpinning respiratory behaviours such as cough.

My research has involved a combination of experiments to map and phenotype these brainstem regions of interest, and to assess if this circuitry can be affected by physiological and pathological states, such as pulmonary fibrosis.

Describe your experience of learning from global leaders in the Anatomy and Physiology fields?

Receiving tutelage from these experts has enabled me to learn the art of critical thinking with respect to the research process. Namely, how to form a sound experimental design, define hypotheses and critically evaluate results. I have always been encouraged to ask questions which challenge our current knowledge base, and this has allowed me to develop an intimate understanding of and appreciation for the complexity of the nervous system.