NUTRACEUTICAL AND PHARMACOLOGICAL INTERVENTION IN NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS
Dr Virginie Lam, Research Fellow
Curtin Medical Research Institute, Curtin University &
Perron Institute for Neurological and Translational Science
Perth, Western Australia
RESEARCHER PROFILE
Filmed in Perth, Australia | August 2025
Dr Virginie Lam is a neuroscientist and cerebrovascular biologist with over 15 years of research experience, including more than seven years post-PhD. She co-leads the Neurovascular and Metabolic Diseases Laboratory at the Curtin Medical Research Institute and holds an affiliate appointment at the Perron Institute for Neurological and Translational Science. Her research focuses on the interface between neurovascular health, cognitive function, and therapeutic translation in neurodegenerative disorders.
Dr Lam is the scientific project manager and co-investigator of a Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF)-supported Phase II randomised controlled trial in Alzheimer’s disease. She has led the expansion of this study into a multi-site trial involving centres across Western Australia, Tasmania, South Australia, Queensland, and New South Wales. She also established the trial’s first international collaboration in New Zealand, supporting a trans-Tasman research network across academic, hospital, and clinical trial partners.
Dr Lam has secured over AUD$6 million in competitive research funding as chief investigator, including grants from the MRFF, NHMRC, Raine Foundation, WA Future Health Research and Innovation Fund, and the Bryant Stokes Neurological Research Fund. Her expertise spans clinical trial coordination, human research ethics, neuroimaging, cognitive assessment, and the translation of preclinical findings into early-phase interventions. She has authored more than 70 peer-reviewed publications and currently leads a multidisciplinary team of scientists, clinicians, and research personnel.
She serves on the National Imaging Facility (WA Node) Advisory Board, Curtin University’s human and animal research ethics committee, and multiple NHMRC peer review panels. Dr Lam is actively engaged in research governance and capacity building, having founded and co-chaired several early-to-mid-career researcher (EMCR) committees and national working groups. Her research program continues to inform the development of targeted therapeutic strategies for neurovascular and cognitive disorders through rigorous translational science and cross-sector collaboration.
Source: Supplied
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8463-645X
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Medically Complex Pregnancies
A/Prof Shelley Wilkinson is an Advanced Accredited Practising Dietitian, Fellow of Dietitians Australia, and a leading Australian researcher in maternal health and implementation science.
She has over 30 years of experience in the field and holds a PhD in Psychology. Her passion is in health service redesign through co-creation and combining the ‘know-what’ of nutrition with the ‘know-how’ of innovative behaviour change techniques.
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CASE STUDY High blood pressure and shorter sleep may worsen brain decline
People with high blood pressure who also lack sleep may be at increased risk of reduced cognitive performance and greater brain injury, Monash University research has found.
Published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, researchers assessed whether the combined effect of hypertension and short sleep duration had a negative impact on brain health.
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Muscle Cell Communication and Repair
Dr. William Roman is a Group Leader at the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute (ARMI) at Monash University. He obtained his PhD from Paris Descartes University and Freie University of Berlin, focusing on nuclear positioning during skeletal muscle development. Dr. Roman’s research journey has taken him across the globe, including postdoctoral work in Barcelona, tissue engineering in Lisbon, and a brief stint at Stanford University.
At ARMI, Dr. Roman leads innovative research on intercellular communication within muscle organs. His work involves growing human muscles on chips to understand how skeletal muscle cells interact with neurons and tendons. This research aims to develop better models for studying muscle diseases, drug screening, and even applications in cellular agriculture and biorobotics.
