RESEARCHER PROFILE
Jason Rogers (Filmed April 2024)
Postdoctoral Fellow
Menzies Institute for Medical Research,
University of Tasmania
Jason Rogers is a Tasmanian physiotherapist clinician-researcher with a longstanding interest in improving musculoskeletal foot and ankle conditions. He completed his PhD at the Menzies Institute for Medical Research at the University of Tasmania in 2022 investigating the clinical and imaging factors associated with a common foot complaint known as chronic plantar heel pain.
Chronic plantar heel pain, historically known as plantar fasciitis, is common and commonly recalcitrant, yet the optimal treatment for this condition is not clear. The focus of Jason’s postgraduate research is on improving treatment pathways for chronic plantar heel pain. In particular his research has identified that there are many different sub-groups of plantar heel pain that may warrant specific and individualised treatment approaches. For example his research found that up to half of people with this condition have a type of bone bruise or stress response in the heel known as a ‘bone marrow lesion’ (BML). His BALSA trial will test the effectiveness of targeting these lesions with a bone-sensitive treatment known as shockwave therapy, comparing pain and BML size outcomes against a sham shockwave control group.
As well as improving treatment outcomes for this specific and sizeable sub-group of heel pain sufferers, this research will help inform the future of targeted care treatment approaches for plantar heel pain.
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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).
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Leukaemia microenvironment & high risk childhood leukaemia
Associate Professor Laurence Cheung is now an Associate Professor at the Curtin Medical School as well as Curtin Medical Research Institute, and a Co-head of the Leukaemia Translational Research Laboratory at The Kids.
He has attracted over $8.7 million in research funding, including 16 awards as CIA (over $6.1 million). Assoc Prof Cheung was named the 2019 Cancer Council of WA Early Career Cancer Researcher of the Year and received the STEM Early Career Research Award at Curtin University in 2019.
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Genetic disease research imitating function and architecture of organs
Professor Wolvetang was among the first to bring the first human embryonic stem cells to Queensland, with his Wolvetang Group at the AIBN now renowned for its work with organoids: growing them, studying them, and using them to try and understand diseases and human development.
Using cutting edge technology, Professor Wolvetang designs and grows organoids both for their own work and for labs across the country, coaxing pluripotent stem cells or tissue samples into 3D structures that mimic the function and architecture of real brains, livers, kidneys, spinal cords, and intestines.
