News
Dust particles may be more harmful to asthmatics than M5 soot
Tuesday, 16 September 2014
Particles derived from dust may do more harm to asthmatics and those people susceptible to developing it than soot particles from the M5 roadway, UNSW and University of Newcastle researchers have found.
The researchers compared the effects on airway cells of pollutants in airborne dusts from the centre of the Sydney region, to those from the M5 tunnel stack, and unexpectedly found the coarse component of airborne particulate matter was more damaging. They exposed both mouse and human cells to the pollutant particles in cultures in the laboratory.
Full Details Boring and bad: How junk food changes eating behaviour
Wednesday, 27 August 2014
A diet of junk food not only makes rats fat, but also reduces their appetite for novel foods, a preference that normally drives them to seek a balanced diet, according to UNSW research.
The study, published in Frontiers in Psychology, helps to explain how excessive consumption of junk food can change behavior, weaken self-control and lead to overeating and obesity.
Full Details Why bad food is good for business
Tuesday, 5 August 2014
OPINION: Many people eat badly because far too much of their energy is provided by nutritionally worthless junk foods and drinks. Part of the problem is the push by the food industry to get us to buy food that may be bad for us but good for its business.
In the 1960s, we had between 600 and 800 foods to choose from, many of them only available at the right season. But that was before supermarkets became widespread.
Full Details Four UNSW researchers win top NHMRC Excellence awards
Tuesday, 10 June 2014
UNSW has won four of 20 prestigious awards given to the country’s top health and medical researchers. The haul includes a particularly strong performance by female researchers.
The National Health and Medical Research Council is acknowledging the recipients of its Research Excellence Awards at a ceremony in Canberra tonight, with the prizes being presented by Federal Minister for Health Peter Dutton.
Full Details A world of disease at your fingertips
Wednesday, 7 May 2014
A few decades ago, medical students used to spend an inordinate amount of time inside UNSW’s Museum of Human Disease. Studying its formalin-preserved specimens was the primary way to learn how to identify the appearances of disease.
Full Details Fast-tracking new treatment for childhood cancer
Monday, 5 May 2014
Children fighting a life-threatening form of cancer could be treated with a revolutionary anti-cancer therapy as early as next year, following the formation of a research alliance to fast-track development of a medicine pioneered by Australian researchers.
Full Details Bionic ear technology used for gene therapy
Wednesday, 23 April 2014
Researchers at UNSW have for the first time used electrical pulses delivered from a cochlear implant to deliver gene therapy, thereby successfully regrowing auditory nerves.
The research also heralds a possible new way of treating a range of neurological disorders, including Parkinson’s disease, and psychiatric conditions such as depression through this novel way of delivering gene therapy.
The research is published today in the prestigious journal Science Translational Medicine.
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Medical research makes an impact
Friday, 14 February 2014
UNSW has performed strongly in the latest analysis by the federal government of the impact of its health and medical research funding.
A study conducted by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) “Measuring Up 2013” found the research it supported significantly outperformed other comparable Australian research in the five-year period 2005-2009.
The analysis showed the NHMRC continued to outperform the world benchmark by 60% in citation rates. Australian research as a whole performed 17% above the world average.
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Why we can’t have reliable evidence for herbal therapies
Friday, 14 February 2014
OPINION: Natural products can be a source of useful new medicines when the active ingredient is isolated, identified, standardised and subjected to appropriate clinical studies. But in their “natural” form herbal medicines are so variable from batch to batch and across brands that gathering reliable evidence of effectiveness is unlikely ever to be possible.
Indeed, for almost all herbal therapies, it’s likely there will never be anywhere near the standard of evidence that’s required for prescription medicines.
Standardisation issues
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Translational Cancer Research Network Prize awarded
Friday, 17 January 2014
Congratulations to Alan Truong who was awarded the UNSW Translational Cancer Research Network Prize of $200 for the best performance in PATH3208 Cancer Sciences in December. The certificate was awarded by the Translational Cancer Research Network, the University of NSW and the Prince of Wales Hospital, Randwick. The official prize giving ceremony is on Thursday 13th March 2014.
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