DIETARY INTERVENTIONS INFLUENCING NEUROLOGICAL OUTCOMES
Carolina Blagojevic Castro
Dietician/Nutritionist,
PhD Candidate at Murdoch University, Western Australia &
Research Assistant, Alzheimer’s Research Australia
RESEARCHER PROFILE
Filmed in Perth, Western Australia | September 2024
With over a decade of experience as a dietitian and nutritionist, Carolina Blagojevic Castro specialises in providing personalised dietary guidance and customised meal planning tailored to meet each client’s unique health needs. She is known for her engaging and educational presentations on topics related to health and nutrition, sharing practical, evidence-based insights with both community groups and professional audiences.
Currently, she works as a Nutritionist and Research Assistant at Alzheimer’s Research Australia, supporting studies on the links between diet and cognitive health. This role deepens her expertise in neurology-related nutrition, allowing her to explore how dietary interventions may influence neurological outcomes. She is also a PhD candidate at the Centre for Healthy Ageing at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia, where she merges her hands-on experience with academic research, contributing practical insights to the field of nutritional science. Her research focuses on the interplay between diet and aging, bridging real-world applications and theoretical knowledge to advance the understanding of nutrition’s impact on healthy aging.
In addition to her role at Murdoch University, she holds a postgraduate qualification in Neurological Diseases from Philadelphia University/UniFil in Brazil, further enhancing her capacity to address complex dietary needs. Her commitment to professional development ensures that she stays at the forefront of advancements in nutrition, providing care to her clients and contributing meaningfully to her field.
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Electrical stimulation on organic conductors
Professor Gordon Wallace AO is the Founder and Director of the Intelligent Polymer Research Institute (IPRI) at the University of Wollongong and Founding Director of the Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF) Materials Node. He was previously the Executive Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES).
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Neonatal respiratory trials in sick & preterm newborn infants
Prof Brett J. Manley leads and collaborates on large national and international randomised clinical trials in neonatology. He previously collaborated on 4 randomised trials of nasal high-flow as non-invasive respiratory support for preterm and term infants, all of which were published in N Engl J Med. Recently he led the PLUSS trial of intratracheal budesonide for extremely preterm infants, that recruited in 21 NICUs across 4 countries, the results of which were published in JAMA. PLUSS was awarded the Australian Clinical Trials Alliance Trial of the Year in 2025. Another passion of his is mentoring and supervising early career researchers to undertake their own clinical trials.
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Identification & characterisation of molecular drivers of therapeutic resistance
Professor Pieter Eichhorn is an internationally experienced cancer biologist and research leader whose career has been defined by high-impact contributions at the interface of functional genomics, translational oncology, and research infrastructure strategy.
He completed his PhD at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, contributing to the cloning of the gene associated with Cornelia de Lange Syndrome, before undertaking postdoctoral training at the Netherlands Cancer Institute in the laboratory of René Bernards. There, he performed pioneering functional genetic screens that identified key regulators of oncogenesis and therapy resistance, including critical roles for the PI3K signalling pathway in resistance to targeted breast cancer therapies.
