McQuade laboratory: Gut-Barrier & Disease
Research Overview
View Dr McQuade's latest PubMed publications listing here
Our lab is broadly interested in gut physiology and the potential role of impaired gut health on organ function and the subsequent development and progression of disease. We take a wholistic approach to gut physiology, with a focus on gut barrier integrity, and the role of enteric neurons, enteroendocrine cells, immune cells and microbiota in the modulation of gut function.
Our projects are multidisciplinary, spanning from transcriptomics and basic cell biology to pre-clinical research and we are working to expand our work to incorporate translational aspects that will complement our animal studies. Our projects are spread across a variety of conditions/diseases, with current areas of interest in Parkinson’s disease, obesity, ageing, multiple systems atrophy, motor neurons disease and chronic systemic inflammation.
The overarching goal of our research is to identify therapeutic targets in the gut and repurpose compounds that can improve gut health/integrity and prevent the development and progression of disease.
Staff
Dr Rachel McQuade
Dr Shanti Diwakarla
Ms Olivia Artaiz, Research Assistant
Ms Lauren Sahakian
Ms Anna Harutyunyan
Collaborators
A/Prof Jane Alty, University of Tasmania
Professor David Finkelstein, Florey
Prof Kulmira Nurgali, Victoria University
Prof Joel Bornstein, University of Melbourne
Prof John Furness, University of Melbourne
Dr Elena Schneider-Futschik, University of Melbourne
Dr Laura Vella, Florey Dr Lincon Stamp, University of Melbourne
Dr Marlene Hao, University of Melbourne
Dr Laura Edgington-Mitchell, Bio21 Institute
Dr Chin-Seng Ang, Bio21 Institute
Dr Rhian Stavely, Harvard University
Funding
2024 Betty Edington Bequest Funding
2024 NHMRC MRFF-Stem Cell Therapies Mission Grant
2021-2025:NHMRC Investigator Grant
Research Opportunities
This research project is available to PhD students, Masters by Research, Honours students to join as part of their thesis.
Please contact the Research Group Leader to discuss your options.