METABOLIC PHENOTYPING, LIPIDOMICS & BIOINFORMATICS IN DEMENTIA
With
Dr Luke Whiley
Curtin Medical Research Institute,
Western Australia
RESEARCHER PROFILE
Filmed in Perth, Western Australia | February 2026
Dr Luke Whiley is a dementia researcher whose work focuses on understanding how the body’s metabolism, particularly the biology of fats known as lipids, influences our health throughout ageing.
His research explores how the body responds to illness, lifestyle, and environmental stress at a chemical level, and how these responses shape longterm disease risk. Using advanced blood-based measurement technologies, Dr Whiley studies thousands of small molecules at once to build a snapshot of a person’s metabolic health. By combining these measurements with data science approaches, his work identifies biological pathways that become disrupted in disease, providing insight into why some people are more vulnerable to conditions such as dementia.
A major focus of Dr Whiley’s research is Alzheimer’s disease, where he investigates how genetic risk, particularly variations in genes involved in lipid transport, may affect metabolism across the body and lead to disease. This work highlights the importance of lipids in brain health, helping shift dementia research beyond proteins alone to include broader metabolic processes.
He also studies related questions in Parkinson’s disease, traumatic brain injury, and COVID19, where metabolic disruption plays a key role in recovery and longterm outcomes. Alongside discovery research, Dr Whiley develops methods that allow detailed metabolic testing using much smaller samples, making future screening and monitoring more accessible.
His overarching goal is to improve understanding, earlier detection, and prevention of neurodegenerative disease, while keeping people with lived experience at the centre of dementia research.
Source: Supplied
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9088-4799
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Newborn screening for congenital hypothyroidism
Assoc Prof Jack is passionate about the health and wellbeing of children and adolescents, with diverse research areas including the impacts of family friendly workplace initiatives, screening and management of thyroid disorders in infants and children. She supports her First Nations colleagues on Indigenous-led research projects funded by the Medical Research Future Fund, aiming to improve the social and emotional wellbeing of First Nations Children. Through her clinical and academic roles, Assoc Prof Jack hopes to make a positive difference to the health and well-being of children and their families.
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Dr Zarina Greenberg
RESEARCH IN SANFILIPPO
@ SAHMRI
ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA -
Next generation nanomedicine and radiopharmaceuticals to treat cancer
Finding better ways of treating cancer, aside from finding a cure, aim to provide a better quality of life for those who suffer from it.
Professor Thurecht’s work focuses on nanomedicine and spans across the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology and the Centre for Advanced Imaging, at the University of Queensland in Australia.
