Exceptional achievements

Two budding MMRI scientists have recently been honoured with two prestigious awards at the annual scientific meeting, Gastroenterology Society of Queensland's 10th Annual Coolum Conference.

The conference attracts international attention and is an opportunity for Queensland scientists to share their latest developments in gastroenterology research. The conference awards just two young investigator awards each year. Last year, MMRI's Mr Chin Wen Png won an award for his work on bacteria and IBD. This year it was two out of two.

Rachel Adams was presented the "Young Investigator of the Year" (Clinical Research) award and Chad Heazlewood was presented with the "Young Investigator of the Year" (Basic Science) award.

Both scientists were thrilled to receive these awards in recognition of their work which has provided some exciting new developments and clues into what causes inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). IBD affects about 0.2% of the population.

Rachel, who works with Associate Professor Tim Florin, Director of Gastroenterology at Mater Adult Hospital and IBD Team Leader at MMRI, was recognised for her research into Crohn's disease (a form of inflammatory bowel disease).

“We evaluated the widely used diagnostic test (ASCA) for Crohn's disease and compared it to antibodies against specific bacterial proteins and novel bacterial protein mixtures.”

“Analysis of our data showed that our special mixture of bacterial proteins had a higher rate of true positives (specificity) and a lower rate of false positives (sensitivity) than ASCA, which would make a better diagnostic.”

“Measurement of the antibodies has also provided new and valuable insights into the immune response in Crohn's disease,” Rachel said.

Chad, under the guidance of Dr Michael McGuckin, Epithelial Cancer and Mucosal Biology Program Leader at MMRI, has been studying the role of mucin, Muc2, in the development of intestinal disease through the use of novel mouse strains.

“These novel mouse strains have symptoms similar to an inflammatory bowel disease called ulcerative colitis,” Chad said.

“We have found that altered cellular processing of Muc2 may be a factor involved in the development of ulcerative colitis, which could lead to new treatment methods for this disease.”

“For the first time we have a model and a theory that can explain ulcerative colitis,” he said.