HYPERTENSION AND THE GUT MICROBIOME: USING GUT MICROBES TO REDUCE BLOOD PRESSURE
Professor Francine Marques
Professor of Genetics and Genomics
Monash University, Victoria, Australia
RESEARCHER PROFILE (Filmed in Clayton, Victoria | December 2024)
Professor Francine Marques is an National Health and Medical Research Council Emerging Leader, Viertel Charitable Foundation, and National Heart Foundation Fellow.
She leads the Hypertension Research Laboratory at Monash University and has published more than 120 peer-reviewed papers in journals such as Nature Reviews Cardiology, Nature Medicine, Nature Cardiovascular Research, and Circulation.
As a researcher Professor Marques has secured over $10 million in competitive funding as a principal investigator. She has won 31 awards, including the 2019 American Heart Association Hypertension Council Goldblatt Award, the 2020 High Blood Pressure Research Council of Australia and 2021 International Society of Hypertension Mid-Career Awards, the 2021 Australian Academy of Science Gottschalk Medal, and the 2024 Australian Society of Medical Research Peter Doherty Leading Light Award, and was a finalist for 12 awards, including the Eureka Prize Emerging Leader in Science.
Her research team aims to build exceptional scientists that help improve cardiovascular health, using translational approaches to lower blood pressure via the gut microbiome. Professor Marques is also passionate about equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and helping communities change the current culture of research.
She has led research identifying intrinsic equity issues in the cardiovascular research community in Australia (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32839116/), followed by research to find solutions for these issues (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35577952/), resulting in the 2021 Women’s Agenda Emerging Leader in STEM award.
Outside work, Francine enjoys baking, travelling, spending time with family, friends and her dogs, and reading books.
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4920-9991
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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.
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Next Generation Condom Contraception, Dr David Shepherd
Dr David Shepherd is a Lead Production Engineer and Materials Specialist at Eudaemon Technologies. His journey began at the University of Wollongong, where he pursued advanced studies and eventually obtained a PhD under the guidance of a distinguished professor. His research initially focused on actuating materials and artificial muscles, particularly centred around hydrogel materials. These early explorations have seamlessly evolved into his current focus on utilising hydrogels in the realm of sexual reproductive health, with a specific emphasis on developing innovative hydrogel condoms.
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Therapies for chronic myeloid leukaemia
Professor Tim Hughes is an international expert in the biology and treatment of leukaemia. He led the establishment of the molecular response criteria that are used world-wide to measure response in chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) and has led many of the key Global and National trials. His group has successfully developed predictive bioassays and molecular targets that influence the way CML patients are managed world-wide. He has published over 350 papers that have been cited over 65,000 times.
