The Garvan Institute of Medical Research is a world leader in biomedical research, pioneering study into some of the most widespread diseases affecting our community today.
Research at Garvan is focused on understanding the role of genes in health and disease as the basis for developing future cures.
Variant-specific vaccines would undoubtedly increase immunity. But waves of new variants would engulf the population faster than these vaccines could ever be deployed.
The federal budget contains money for big-ticket items like the SKA telescope and mRNA vaccines. But dwindling funds for universities and fundamental science will leave us vulnerable to future problems.
‘Amphy’ has features of both simple and more complex forms of life – and so can help us understand important steps in evolution.
from www.shutterstock.com
Scientists have discovered the genetic “switch” that causes many animals, including fish, frogs and humans, to look the same at a certain point in embryonic development.
The hormone irisin is one of the things that makes exercise good for us.
will ockenden/Flickr
Scientists in the US have found that a feel-good exercise hormone called irisin does indeed exist in humans, putting to bed long-disputed claims that it is a myth.
The enzyme, DNA methyltransferase (DNMT), in action in the animation, Tagging DNA.
Kate Patterson
It takes a careful balance between art and science to illustrate the processes that take place within our cells and explain the complexities of epigenetics.
Is cancer just a mathematical game of chance?
stuartpilbrow/Flickr
What causes cancer? This deceptively simple question has a devilishly complex answer. So when US researchers proposed a relatively simple mathematical formula to explain a long-standing conundrum in cancer…
Around 25-30% of obese people have no metabolic illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease, or significant risk factors.
WitthayaP/Shutterstock
Some obese people may be able to remain metabolically healthy despite their size because their bodies produce low levels of a certain molecule, according to a study published today in the journal Cell…
No one really knows whether taking large amounts of vitamins in tablet form is even the best way delivering them to the body.
Shannon Kringen/Flickr
People take vitamin supplements for all kinds of reasons, from maintaining general health to preventing cancer. But there’s no convincing evidence that vitamin supplementation benefits people who don’t…
What is going on inside plant cells? Metabolomics has answers.
Eckhard Voelcker
Rapid developments in tools to study complex interactions are transforming biology and biomedical research. A series of powerful analytical methods coined “omics” is driving us away from reductionist approaches…
The theory likens cancer to organisms such as these green and yellow sea sponges.
Steve Rupp, National Science Foundation/Wikimedia Commons
The history of biology is peppered with invaluable contributions by physics and physicists. Even if we leave aside the argument that it’s all just physics anyway, theoretical and practical biology leans…
The role of rare genes in obesity suggests we need to diverge from the singular approach to fighting obesity.
Daniel Oines
The holy grail of obesity research is a simple, single solution that could stem the tide of this epidemic. But research we published in PLOS ONE today shows that this is an implausible, if not impossible…
Creating ways for PhD graduates and other science researchers to go into teaching could be a way to improve our science education.
Phd student image from www.shutterstock.com
MATHS AND SCIENCE EDUCATION: We’ve asked our authors about the state of maths and science education in Australia and its future direction. In this instalment, Marguerite Evans-Galea, Darren Saunders, and…
Cancer is a disease in which abnormal cells divide without control and are able to invade other tissues.
Tips Times
Few things strike fear into people more than the word cancer, and with good reason. While improvements in cancer therapy and advances in palliative care mean that the illness does not always lead to inevitable…
Epigenetic factors can change due to environmental factors, such as diet, toxins and stress.
leeroy09481/Flickr
DNA provides the instructions to make us how we look and contributes to our life expectancy. Identical twins have exactly the same DNA, so why are slightly different in many ways? The answer is epigenetics…
If policymakers understood what drives people to drink sugary drinks, they make take a different approach.
Ava Rose
Policymakers should understand the urge to drink soft drinks is genetically determined, rather than being solely a lifestyle choice, argue endocrinologists from the Garvin Institute of Medical Research…
Obese people undergoing gastric banding surgery typically lose up to half of their excess body weight and go on to live more healthy lives.
Stocky Bodies
Lap band surgery is an effective long-term measure for managing obesity, according to a 15-year study of thousands of patients who have undergone the procedure. The study, from Monash University’s Centre…