Professor Rebecca S Mason
|
Professor
F13 - Anderson Stuart Building |
|
On this page
Themes | Research interests | Grants | Research project opportunities | Keywords
Themes
Cancer; Chronic and Preventable Conditions
Research interests
Professor Mason's research program has developed over many years in the fields of bone and skin. The link between them is vitamin D, which is made in skin and is important in bone, but, as this research has discovered, important in skin for photoprotection as well. The link between bone and skin is Vitamin D. In particular, her group’s studies in skin have shown that the active vitamin D hormone is synthesised locally by melanoma cells and causes their differentiation. The group also showed for the first time that Vitamin D compounds formed in skin by the action of UV light contribute to endogenous photoprotection, including a reduction in DNA damage and UV-induced immunosuppression, through a reduction in nitric oxide products and an increase in p53 expression. Professor Mason has served on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research and on National Health and Medical Research Council Grant Review Panels for Endocrinology and Reproduction and Musculoskeletal diseases. She is a member of the Technical Committee of the Commission Internationale de L’Eclairage (International Commission of Illumination) on Sunlight, Health and Vitamin D. She serves on a committee updating Clinical Guidelines for melanoma prevention and management for the National Health and Medical Research Council.
bone and mineral metabolism; osteoporosis; sun-protection
Current national competitive grants*
2009
Drug-delivery coating for a new generation of orthopaedic implants
Rohanizadeh R, Mason R, LeGeros R
ARC Discovery Project ($325,000 over 3 years)
2008
Mechanisms of photoprotection by vitamin D and analogs
Mason R, Reeve V, Halliday G
NHMRC Project Grant ($420,563 over 3 years)
2006
The FREEDOM Study: A RCT of sunlight and calcium to reduce vitamin D deficiency in older people in residential care
Sambrook P, March L, Cameron I, Cumming R, Seibel M, Simpson J, Mason R
NHMRC Project Grant ($820,300 over 4 years)
Oxide Bioceramics for Drug Delivery
Ruys A, Mason R
ARC Linkage Projects ($86,275 over 4 years)
* Grants administered through the University of Sydney
Research project opportunities
Role of Vitamin D and other compounds in protection of skin cells from UV