BETTER BIOMARKERS FOR PREDICTING THE INCIDENCE OF HAVING ATHEROSCLEROSIS AND HEART ATTACKS
With
Associate Professor Christina Bursill
Co-Director, Vascular Research Centre,
South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) &
Department of Health and Medical Science,
The University of Adelaide, Australia
RESEARCHER PROFILE
Filmed in Adelaide, Australia | April 2025
Associate Professor Christina Bursill started as Co-director of the Vascular Research Centre in January 2017 at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) and at The University of Adelaide, Department of Health and Medical Science. She currently holds the Lin Huddleston National Heart Foundation fellowship and is a Chief Investigator on the ARC Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale Biophotonics (CNBP).
Assoc Prof Bursill is a vascular biologist with interests and expertise in vascular inflammation, atherosclerosis and angiogenesis. She completed her PhD at The University of Adelaide in lipid metabolism then headed to Oxford University for five years to undergo a postdoctoral post in the Departments of Cardiovascular Medicine and Pathology. Her postdoctoral time triggered her interest in the mechanisms that cause atherosclerosis and in particular the role of small inflammatory proteins called chemokines.
Assoc Prof Bursill returned to Australia in 2007 at the Heart Research Institute (HRI) in Sydney where she led the Immunobiology Group. In 2008, she was awarded a National Heart Foundation Career Development Fellowship. At the HRI A/Prof Bursill developed an interest in high-density lipoproteins (HDL) and through NHMRC and National Heart Foundation funding, investigated novel mechanisms of their action in models of stent biocompatibility, diabetes and wound healing. She also has an interest in using viral gene transfer techniques to over-express proteins that attenuate chemokine activity to suppress atherosclerosis and inflammatory-driven diseases. A/Prof Bursill currently holds NHMRC Ideas, Heart Foundation Vanguard and Diabetes Australia Millenium grant funding.
Recently, Christina has been focusing on finding ways to reduce atherosclerotic heart disease.
Source: Supplied
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0682-8760
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Dr Kelly-Anne Masterman
RESEARCH IN NEEDLE-FREE VACCINE DELIVERY SYSTEM
@ VAXXAS, BRISBANE, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA -
Patient reported outcomes in the diagnosis and treatment of lymphoma
Dr. Elizabeth Goodall (BMedSci Hons, MBBS Hons, FRACP, FRCPA) is a PhD student and early career researcher with La Trobe University and the Olivia Newton John Cancer Research Institute (ONJCRI), and Haematologist at Austin Health and Monash Health, Melbourne.
Her specific interest in how patients experience their illness and treatment forms the basis for her research in improving patient outcomes. This research comes at a pivotal time in modern lymphoma management with an ever-increasing number of treatment options available and renewed focus on each patient’s journey.
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Infections and other lung diseases using models of human lung tissue grown from stem cells
Dr Rhiannon Werder is a Team Leader at Murdoch Children’s Research Institute leading a multidisciplinary team, combining expertise in stem cell biology and immunology, to develop new therapies for lung diseases. Her research centres around induced pluripotent stem cells to investigate respiratory diseases, spanning acute respiratory infections to chronic lung diseases. Using stem cells, Dr Werder’s team creates models of human lung tissue. With these models, Dr Werder is investigating how human-specific pathogens infect different regions of the lung, the ensuing immune responses, and how the lung repairs itself after infections, especially in people with preexisting lung diseases.
