Julia Koehn, Nur Dianah Binte Abu Bakar, Silvano Paternoster, Gayatri Shirolkar, Dr Ross Graham, Dr Caryn Elsegood, Francis Gratte, Prof. Marco Falasca, Dr Rodrigo Carlessi, Dr Alice Domenichini, Ilaria Casari and A/Prof. Nina Tirnitz-Parker.

The involvement of several Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute (CHIRI) researchers in the recent Gastroenterological Society of Australia’s (GESA) 2018 Research Workshop in Surfers Paradise helped to ensure a swell event.

The workshop, convened by CHIRI Associate Professor Nina Tirnitz-Parker, from Curtin’s School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, and Professor Nicholas Shackel from the Ingham Institute in Sydney, provides a forum for the Australian Gastroenterology and Hepatology communities to exchange ideas and forge collaborations between GESA investigators, MD and PhD scholars, and postgraduate, basic and clinician scientists.

CHIRI’s Professor Marco Falasca was invited to speak on progress in pancreatic cancer research, while Dr Rodrigo Carlessi, Dr Ross Graham and Dr Alice Domenichini (all from the School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences) chaired sessions.

Alice also spoke as part of a Pancreas and Cancer plenary session she co-chaired on phyto-cannabinoids’ enhancement of pancreatic cancer response to chemotherapy.

Ross spoke on plasma fat profiling in iron-loaded fatty liver disease patients during a Metabolism plenary session he co-chaired with Rodrigo.

Other presentations by researchers and PhD and Honours students from Nina and Marco’s labs included:

• Francis Gratte (School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences) on ‘Hepatic Cell Phenotypes that Emerge During Recovery from Thioacetamide-Induced Chronic Liver Disease May Confer a Fibro-Protective Advantage';
• Gayatri Shirolkar on the ‘Wnt/β-Catenin Signalling Pathway in the Regulation of Liver Progenitor Cells in Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease’ (School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, PhD supervised by Nina);
• Julia Koehn (School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences) on ‘Defining the Relationship Between the Ductular Reaction/Liver Progenitor Cell Response & HCC Development in Human';
• Nur Dianah Binte Abu Bakar (former Honours student supervised by Nina and Marco) on the ‘Role of TWEAK/Fn14 Signalling in CDE-Induced Pancreatitis';
• Silvano Paternoster (School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, PhD supervised by Marco) on ‘Oleoyl-Lysophosphatidylinositol Mimics as Novel Metabolic Therapeutics’.

Dr Caryn Elsegood (School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences) gave an Abstract of Merit talk.

You can read more about GESA and the workshop on their website.