Monash and Yale collaborative grants for 2018 announced

By Professor Tony Tiganis

The Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute strengthens research collaborations with Yale University through the announcement of outcomes for the 2018 funding round of the Monash-Yale Collaborative Grant Program.

Commencing in 2017, the Program aims to provide project seed funding and travel grants for discovery science in the areas of obesity, type 2 diabetes and metabolism.  Bringing together research leaders from both universities, the grants support collaborative studies for the generation of high quality research publications and the preliminary data necessary for future funding via external organisations, such as the National Institutes of Health in the USA and Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council and Australian Research Council.

Two of the recipients of collaborative grant funding in 2017 were Dr Stephanie Simonds and Dr Garron Dodd, upcoming researchers in the Monash BDI Metabolism, Diabetes and Obesity Program.

Dr Simonds stated "the collaboration between Professor Horvath, Professor Cowley and myself investigates the molecular and physiological control of body weight and changes to physiological function resulting in diseases such as type II diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.”  The work undertaken by Dr Simonds and her Yale colleagues was recently published in eLife, and further work continues thanks to seed funding from the Monash-Yale Collaborative Grant Program.

Dr Garron Dodd enthusiastically stated "establishing this collaboration has already allowed me to take advantage of the electron microscopy expertise of the Horvath Lab at Yale where we have  uncovered key neuronal mechanisms that co-ordinate energy balance. This collaboration has significantly enhanced the research impact of our findings and will be included in a publication we plan to submit early next year."

Research to be supported through project grant funding in 2018 includes:

  • Belinda Henry & Sabrina Diano: Stress and weight gain
  • Anton Bennett & Tony Tiganis: Role of ROS and PTPs in Skeletal Muscle Metabolism
  • Adam Rose & Richard Kibbey: Establishing a link between liver integrative metabolism and systemic metabolic control
  • Brian Oldfield & Guillaume de Lartigue:The role of the vagus nerve in the mediation of bariatric surgery-induced changes in energy expenditure

Enquiries about the Monash-Yale Collaborative Grant Program may be directed to:
bdi-metabolism@monash.edu