RESEARCHER PROFILE
Huiwen Pang, PhD candidate (Filmed Nov 2023)
Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology
University of Queensland
Australia
Huiwen Pang is a 3rd year PhD candidate in the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, University of Queensland, focusing on biomedical health research. Prior to commencing his PhD, Huiwen studied animal genetics in his Masters degree at Huazhong Agriculture University in China.
People with diabetes, especially Type 1 diabetes, largely rely on the insulin injections or insulin pumps to control their high blood glucose levels, which is painful and has a high risk of infections.
Huiwen Pang is conducting research on nano-based drug formulations for Type 1 diabetes treatment, with a focus on using nanomaterials to load insulin for oral administration and employing anti-apoptotic and anti-inflammatory approaches to mitigate damage to beta cells.
The treatment and prevention of Type 1 diabetes remain largely unknown due to the autoimmune system’s attack on the pancreas and beta cells. Huiwen’s research focuses on nano based drug formulations for Type 1 diabetes treatment due to unknown triggering mechanism of autoimmune system attacking pancreas.
Huiwen Pang’s goal to make his own mark in the field of biomedical health is driven by inspiration from distinguished scholars and their research outcomes. Huiwen is also driven by having meaningful impact on people’s health, inspired by the challenges faced by patients with diabetes, including his own grandfather.
Huiwen enjoys hiking each weekend in Brisbane and the surrounding areas, taking in the mountains and the lakes which give he finds relaxing.
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Food and fasting periods as medicine to prevent disease
Professor Leonie Heilbronn is based at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI), where she leads the Obesity and Metabolism laboratory. Her research is at the interface between basic and clinical science. She is internationally recognised for her work in nutritional modulation in humans and has made major contributions to our current understanding of mechanisms underlying conditions such as insulin resistance, particularly inflammation and lipid metabolism. She has also contributed significantly to current concepts of caloric restriction (CR), intermittent fasting (IF) and time restricted eating (TRE) in humans. She has published more than 110 peer reviewed papers in scientific journals and is an Associate Editor of Obesity, and Obesity Research and Clinical Practice.
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Healthcare associated infection prevention
Professor Philip Russo is an internationally regarded expert in healthcare associated infection prevention, and led the recently completed the Australian National Healthcare Associated Infection Point Prevalence Survey, the first in Australia for 34 years. He is also Past President of the Australasian College for Infection Prevention and Control (ACIPC), the peak body for Infection Prevention and Control professionals in the Australasian region.
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Pathogenicity, modelling & treatment of inherited retinal Stargardt disease
Dr Di Huang is a Research Associate at the Lions Eye Institute (LEI), working with A/Professor Fred Chen and Dr Sam McLenachan. Her research focuses on developing a robust platform of retinal pigment epithelium cells and retinal organoids derived from patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cells to model inherited retinal diseases, particularly Stargardt disease (STGD1).
