Biomedical Science

Head of Discipline
Dr Karen Ginn
Location
School of Medical Sciences, Cumberland Campus

Anticancer Drugs Development and Xenobiotics Metabolism
Metal-based anticancer drugs (design, synthesis, activity, nature of binding with DNA and synergism with other tumour active compounds)

Metal-induced toxicity and carcinogenicity and modulating effects due to antioxidants

Molecular modelling analyses of drugs and toxicants

Biochemical Complications of Obesity
Cardiovascular risk factors in two groups of Taiwanese women – one in Taiwan and the other a post-migration group in Sydney

Cardiovascular risk factors in Bangladeshis in Sydney, with particular reference to adiponectin levels and insulin resistance

Apolipoproteins and obesity

Effects on certain novel aspects of blood biochemistry of an interval training programme designed for high risk cardiac patients


Biomedical Education
The first year experience

Relationship between how university students approach their learning, how these approaches are related to the ways in which they perceive the learning context and conceive of the tasks in which they are engaged

Distance education and e-learning

Assessment factors that affect student performance

Online learning in neuromusculoskeletal anatomy

Blended learning

Bridging the gap between undergraduate experience and graduate entry requirements

Chemical Hazard Assessment
The main area of research interest is in developing/assessing a range of in vivo and in vitro techniques that can be utilised to assess the toxic effects of occupational chemicals with a particular focus on the modulating effects of chemical mixtures. This allows subsequent risk assessment to be based on biological and toxicological plausibility.

Screening chemical mixtures for possible genotoxic effects

The relationship of exposures to toxic chemicals and ageing on mitochondrial DNA using Drosophila as a model.

Reflex contribution to limb biomechanics
Research in this laboratory is looking at the contribution of reflex mechanisms to the biomechanics of the limb in health and disease. Muscle reflexes make important adjustments to the biomechanics of the joints in different tasks. Parallel measures of biomechanical (joint position, torque and velocity relationships) and reflex parameters are carried out in normal subjects during different tasks and in patient groups with "stiff" joints such as spasticity, Parkinson’s disease and arthritis.

Reproductive Toxicology
Identification and examination of drugs and chemicals that cause birth defects:

Examination of the safety of herbal medicines in pregnancy

Determination of the role of hypoxia in induction of birth defects

Respiratory Control
Research in this laboratory concentrates on physiological connections between the midbrain and brainstem respiratory centres involved in control of respiration. The dorsal and ventral respiratory groups, interconnected networks of respiratory-related cells, are part of the neural system controlling respiratory rhythm generation and respiratory motor output. The work in the laboratory is attempting to locate cells in these centres and observe their firing patterns during “normal” breathing and to observe changes in these firing patterns when the respiratory system is perturbed by alterations to central or peripheral neural inputs.

Skeletal Biology
Sexual dimorphism of the postcranial skeleton in prehistoric New Zealand Polynesians

Standardisation of the osteometry of the postcranial skeleton

Shoulder
Electromyographic studies investigating normal shoulder muscle activation and co-ordination patterns in normal subjects and patients with shoulder dysfunction

Electromyographic studies evaluating shoulder muscle rehabilitation

Clinical trials to evaluate the efficacy of conservative treatment for shoulder dysfunction

Studies evaluating the validity and reliability of components of the physical examination of the shoulder

Shoulder region profiling in various sporting populations

Vision
Research in this laboratory concentrates on signal processing in the visual system. The main technique used is psychophysical testing of human subjects viewing ambiguous stimuli such as binocular rivalry and structure-from-motion. Mathematical modelling is used to assist in interpreting the experimental results.