School of Medicine  > Research higher degrees

Welcome

Research higher degrees

The School of Medicine at Flinders University provides a stimulating and interesting environment for research students to commence their careers.

We have very wide ranging research interests from clinical and molecular medicine, biomedical science and technology to primary health care and rural/remote health. 

In the last 5 years, more than 100 candidates have graduated from the School of Medicine with a research higher degree qualification. 

Our medical school is recognised internationally for our research and our training.

We are a friendly collaborative school and we welcome new research higher degree students.

Associate Professor Malcolm Bond
Assistant Dean, Research Higher Degrees

 

Related links:

Flinders areas of research focus

Student experiences

Joanne Reed 

A novel diagnostic approach attracts international interest

Autoimmune disease occurs when the immune system recognises ‘self’ proteins and responds to them as it would to a foreign infectious agent by producing antibodies that target tissues within their own body.

The Ro 60 protein is one of the most common targets for antibody production in autoimmune diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and Sjogren’s syndrome, and it was also the focus of my PhD research in the Flinders School of Medicine.

I began working with Professor Tom Gordon and Dr Michael Jackson in the Department of Immunology, Allergy and Arthritis, Flinders Medical Centre in 2005. We have developed a multi-parameter flow cytometry protocol that has introduced a new concept in mapping Ro 60 antibody responses that distinguished patients with SLE from those with primary Sjogren’s syndrome. This finding has diagnostic potential, particularly in the early stages of autoimmune disease when patients can have similar clinical and immunological features. My findings were published in the high impact North American journal Arthritis and Rheumatism and received considerable interest from the international lupus community.

Student experiences

Dayan deFontgalland

PhD research leads to neuroscience grant

PhD candidate and surgical registrar, Dr Dayan de Fontgalland, has a rare achievement under his belt – he gained external funding for his research while still undertaking his PhD. Together with supervisors Dr David Wattchow, Associate Professor in the Department of Surgery, and Professor Simon Brookes of the Department on Human Physiology, Dayan was the only recipient in South Australia of a 2007 Neuroscience Research Grant from Pfizer Australia. This grant provided $50 000 to continue research on the nerves that sense pain in the human gut.

The research by Dayan and colleagues in the Neurogastroenterology Laboratory of the Centre for Neuroscience revealed exciting preliminary data that may lead to the first identification of the sites of the origin of pain in the gastrointestinal tract. This information may help develop new therapeutic strategies for treating the intractable gut pain associated with many disease conditions.

 

inspiring achievement