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I tweet alot about my #OutFitFoodFacts & my life in general, I don't often tell you all about my actual research. So here is a (not so) little thread on the research I have been a part of publishing this year. 1/?
With my mates in reproduction, led by PhD candidate @EmmaOolemma I was part reviewing the Advances in human primordial follicle activation & premature ovarian insufficiency. We summarized what is known about the mechanisms & the models used to study
https://rep.bioscientifica.com/view/journals/rep/159/1/REP-19-0201.xml 2/?
https://rep.bioscientifica.com/view/journals/rep/159/1/REP-19-0201.xml 2/?
. @EmmaOolemma & the team also published the results of our survey on The association between reproductive health smartphone applications and fertility knowledge of Australian women. Apps were linked to some knowledge but overall knowledge levels were low. 3/?
. @EmmaOolemma is on the final stretch of her PhD studies & will be submitting v. soon, shout her a coffee or tea if you see her! 4/?
Another PhD superstar @smallscientist_ submitted her thesis this year (awaiting examiners reports & applying for post docs is anyone wants to snap her up! Pat published on the interactions between skin pigment genetics, sun UV levels & folate/homocysteine levels in elderly 5/?
This is important as high homocysteine increases risks for cardiovascular disease. https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/5/1545 6/?
Later, we looped vitamin D into this, because they are linked in the folate-vitamin D hypothesis of the evolution of skin pigmentation (pigmentation evolved to balance the optimal levels of Vit D made by the suns, and folate which is degraded by it) 7/? https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/12/5/1455
Pat also used existing publicly available data to show that it isn't just skin pigmentation that varies with latitude, but there are also pattern in the frequency of many of the genes that code for enzymes & receptors involved in vitamin D metabolism https://genesandnutrition.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12263-020-00663-3 8/?
PhD candidate @alex_lturner published two reviews on taste receptors in the gut. One on the potential interactions with intense sweeteners https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/11/4094 another on their role in inflammatory bowel disease 9/? https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352385919300222
. @alex_lturner also published her honours research on the potential for extracts from Blueberry Ash to induce apoptosis in cancer cells (in vitro). This is early work in the pathway 10/? https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11033-020-05307-8
Another student Celeste Ferraris, published her honours work looking at how the genes for taste receptors for salt related to diet quality & health markers - this was great to get out there because there were no associations found 11/? https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/12/4/1056
I also wrote my first ever editorial on the many things that vitamin D does when interacting with our DNA https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/12/8/2388/htm 12/?
Our team is also presenting a bunch of work at the up coming @nutsocaus scientific meeting! Work on Short Chain Fatty Acids and taste, work on cooking and vegetable intake, attitudes to vegetables, taste receptors & diet and more! 13/?
Stay tuned for bunch of research on taste genetics &epigenetics that will be published soon as part of my fellowship work+(with @KjitGill14, @drjanetwallace & the oral health team) we've collected a bunch of samples and data on the relationships between taste & oral health. 14/?
It's been a big+wonderful year. Research is often very incremental & can be stressful & hard. I'm so lucky to have been a part of all this work with such great people. Every finding raises more questions & we keep working away with the ultimate aim of making a difference 15/?.
If you made it to the end of this thread thanks for taking an interest in our research.
Please note I was part of all that research while dressing like Ms Frizzle so never let anyone tell you that you have to look a particular way to be a scientist. 16/16
Please note I was part of all that research while dressing like Ms Frizzle so never let anyone tell you that you have to look a particular way to be a scientist. 16/16
PS! Massive thanks to every single survey participant, study participant, lab tech and everyone who made this possible.
