October 2024

It’s a very exciting time of year with WCHN Research Week fast approaching on Wednesday 6^th through to Friday 8^th November. This year’s theme is “It begins with research”, which emphasises innovative research in the first 1,000 days of life, from conception up to two years of age.

Research Week will commence with an immersive Community Day at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital on Wednesday, 6 November, including the Curious Minds Kids program for children in the hospital, the annual Research Week Oration on “The importance of pre-conception health for optimal pregnancy and infant outcomes” and the Research Week Grand Round on “Finding answers for families experiencing pregnancy loss or the death of a newborn: the power of genomics”.

This will be followed by a Research Symposium on Thursday, 7 and Friday, 8 November at the Adelaide Convention Centre. Two jam-packed days of collaboration, information sharing and networking will commence with an opening by the SA Minister for Health and Wellbeing Chris Picton, and keynote addresses from:

• Professor Leonie Callaway, Interim Director of Research in Women’s and Newborn Services at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital
• Professor Craig Munns, the Mayne Professor of Paediatrics and Director of the Child Health Research Centre at The University of Queensland
• Professor Jodie Dodd, Clinical Director of the Women’s and Babies Division at WCHN

The Symposium will also feature the launch of WCHN Research Impact with drinks on Thursday, research poster displays, a Rapid-Fire competition for PhD students, and prizes and awards with celebratory drinks on the Friday afternoon.

Research Week is a wonderful opportunity to share WCHN research with the wider community and for our clinician and discovery researchers to share their research with each other. It highlights to our community the importance of research in improving health for women, babies, children and young people locally, nationally and internationally.

Research Week is a free event for all WCHN staff and students based at WCHN, thanks to the generous support of the WCH Foundation. Visit the Research Week webpage for details and to register www.wchn.sa.gov.au/research/wchn-research-week

WCHN Research Week 2024

Visit the Research Week webpage for details and to register. Don’t miss out!

AI on the Ground Seminar

AI on the Ground is an interdisciplinary seminar series focusing on the real-world issues of implementing AI- and ML-based tools in medical settings. Speakers from across the globe will discuss challenges, successes, and lessons learned across diverse fields from data science to human factors to regulatory science and more. We welcome all attendees interested in learning about the practical and ethical translation of AI/ML tools in healthcare environments.

Title: Building a responsible ecosystem for AI in health
When: 10:30AM (ACST), Friday, 25 October 2024
Presenters: Dr Xiaoxuan Liu and Dr Alastair Denniston

This presentation will explore how we can ensure that AI health technologies are effective, safe and equitable, and improve patient care in the ‘real world’ through work such as the landmark STANDING Together initiative to tackle AI bias, and CONSORT-AI to improve the quality of AI studies.

Join us in-person in the Australian Institute for Machine Learning (AIML) Atrium on Lot Fourteen, or attend online on Zoom by emailing hilary.brookes@adelaide.edu.au

2024 Lloyd Cox Memorial Lecture

The 10th annual Lloyd Cox Memorial lecture "Research with Impact: Translating Women’s Health Research in to Practice and Policy" on 23 October is presented by Professor Helena Teede AM and hosted by the Robinson Research Institute, the University of Adelaide.

Professor Teede is the Monash University Professor for Women's Health and equity and holds an L3 Fellowship in implementation and impact. She will speak on her career learnings on the importance of and successful strategies for research impact across the research continuum.

This free public annual event is aimed at researchers, policy makers, academics, clinicians, and the public who have an interest in women's health and reproductive medicine. Registration is essential.

For research training and funding opportunities, please visit the WCHN website: 

• Research Training
• Research Funding  

State and national recognition for the Genomic Autopsy Study

Congratulations to Professor Chris Barnett, Head of the Paediatric and Reproductive Genetics Unit at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital, and collaborators in the Genomic Autopsy Study Group, who have been selected as finalists in the Health Services Research Award category of the Research Australia Health & Medical Research Awards 2024 for the Genomic Autopsy Study.

This caps off a big year in which they are also finalists in the SA Health Awards in the Minister’s Award for Innovation category and finalists in the Innovation Team of the Year category at the 2024 SA Science Awards. The Genomic Autopsy Study is a national research initiative based in Adelaide that aims to unravel the complex causes of pregnancy loss and offer families much-needed answers and reproductive options to prevent future occurrences. You can read more about Chris’s research in the “Researcher Q&A” below.

New Centre of Research Excellence

Congratulations to Professor Helen Marshall AM, who has been awarded $3 million from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) for a new research centre to reduce cases of meningococcal disease and gonorrhoea in Australia and around the world. 

Invasive meningococcal disease and gonorrhoea are caused by closely related Neisseria bacteria and pose an enormous global health burden. Launching in 2025, the Centre for Research Excellence in Neisseria disease control (CRE NEIS) will bring together national and international experts to shape immunisation programs against both diseases. It will determine the most effective immunisation program to reduce both diseases, which will have a huge impact, particularly for children and women.

Professor Marshall is Medical Director of the Vaccinology and Immunology Research Trials Unit (VIRTU) at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Clinical Research Director of the Women’s and Children’s Health Network, and Professor of Vaccinology at the University of Adelaide.

SA Health Allied and Scientific Health Research Forum Best Poster Presentation

Congratulations to WCH physiotherapist Angela Tully and the Paediatric Rehabilitation/Robotics research team, A/Prof Ray Russo, Dr Sophie Lefmann, Prof Susan Hillier and Chris Innes-Wong, who recently won the Best Poster Presentation prize at the SA Health Allied and Scientific Health Research Forum for their poster, “Can Robotic assisted therapy benefit children with Cerebral Palsy after lower limb botulinum toxin?”

WCH Foundation 2024 Bloom Research Program grants

Congratulations to the three WCHN teams who recently won WCH Foundation 2024 Bloom Research Program grants.

• Dr Tom Goddard and his team will develop a rapid diagnostic tool to allow clinicians to diagnose and treat lung infections in Aboriginal children living in rural and remote regions in a timely manner, preventing the need for hospitalisation in the city and reducing the risk of permanent lung damage.
• Cathy Leane and her team will integrate Aboriginal ways of knowing into the healthcare system, by co-designing and testing community-based yarning circles to improve sexual, reproductive and perinatal healthcare amongst Aboriginal women and families.
• Professor Peter Anderson and his team will investigate a targeted, non-surgical treatment for craniosynostosis based on stem cell technology, to prevent the bones of the infant skull fusing prematurely, reducing the need for invasive surgery.

Weighing women who are pregnant is not the best way to keep mothers healthy 

A systematic review conducted by researchers at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital has found that attempts to limit women’s weight gain in pregnancy to a ‘targeted’ range through increased physical activity and modified diet have a very small effect on gestational weight gain of the mother and no effect on lowering common risks in pregnancy, such as developing gestational diabetes, hypertension and caesarean section.

Led by Women's and Babies Division Clinical Director and University of Adelaide clinical researcher Professor Jodie Dodd, and published in Obesity Reviews, the findings urge reconsideration of clinical policies and guidelines to avoid promoting care practices which are both expensive and ineffective in improving women’s health. 

Channel 7 Adelaide news story here
Read about the research here

Link between maternal asthma and child allergies confirmed

Dr Andrew Tai from the WCH Department of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine collaborated in a study led by Associate Professor Cathy Gatford from the University of Adelaide’s Robinson Research Institute that confirmed for the first time that maternal asthma increases the risk of child allergies.

In a systematic review of more than 20,000 sources, the team discovered children whose mothers have asthma are 76% more likely to have the condition themselves. They found maternal asthma is associated with an increased risk of wheeze (59%), food allergy (32%), eczema (17%) and hay fever (18%).

Their analysis, published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, suggests that programs targeted to improve pregnancy management of asthma might improve long-term progeny health as well as reduce risks of pregnancy complications.

Read about the research here.

New anaesthetic technique proves safe in children

Dr Laura Burgoyne from the WCH Department of Anaesthesia collaborated in a multicentre trial that found that a new high-flow oxygen technique which delivers oxygen at much higher rates via small nasal prongs is as safe as standard anaesthetic methods during tubeless upper airway surgery in children. Led by Associate Professor Susan Humphreys from UQ’s Child Health Research Centre, the randomised controlled trial was conducted in 5 tertiary hospitals in Australia including the Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

The High-Flow Oxygen for Children’s Airway Surgery trial, known as HAMSTER Trial, is the largest ever of its kind, examining anaesthetic outcomes in 497 children aged up to 16, and involved anaesthetists and ear, nose and throat surgeons. The results, published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, suggest that both nasal high-flow or standard oxygen, are suitable alternatives to maintain oxygenation in children undergoing upper airway surgery.

Read about the research here.

Our featured researcher this month is Professor Chris Barnett, Clinical Geneticist and Head, Paediatric and Reproductive Genetics Unit.

What are you currently researching?

My main research focus has been on understanding the genomics of perinatal death. I am the national clinical lead for the genomic autopsy study, and MRFF and NHMRC funded National research project. Hamish Scott is the scientific lead. We identified a cause of death or congenital abnormalities in 50% of perinatal deaths and published these findings in Nature Medicine.

In addition, I have been involved in several national genomics research projects over the last five years, including the acute care genomic study, a landmark study in which trio whole genome sequencing was done on extremely sick newborns and children, with a three-day turnaround time for results.

What attracted you to this area of research?

When parents experience perinatal loss, the pain is profoundly felt and made worse by the fact that there is often not an adequate explanation. Having experienced this clinically on many occasions, we wanted to offer world’s best investigation to these families, in the hope of finding answers for them and then options for subsequent pregnancies. In many cases we have been able to do this with the genomic autopsy study.

How are you researching this?

We have offered families trio (mother-father-baby) whole exome and whole genome sequencing on deceased fetuses/babies or newborns, providing first-pass results within three months and then a second pass deep research phase within 1-2 years. The first phase includes all known human genes. This sort of research comes with a lot of pre-and post- test counselling, which my department has provided.

What real life impact are you hoping the research will have?

We have already seen the impact that our research has made on many families and there have been several media stories. About 25% of the solved cases had a high risk of recurrence, which means IVF or prenatal testing can be offered as a preventative strategy.

In 1 sentence, what is your ultimate dream for your research?

To provide families who have experienced perinatal loss with answers that help them move forward.

How does the WCHN support your research?

A WCHN team approach was required to run the study and now WCHN have recognised the power of genomic autopsy by funding genomic autopsy testing for families in the post-grant funded era of the project, on the back of our high success rate and publication in Nature Medicine

How is your research funded?

We received two major grants, firstly an NHMRC grant for more than $1 million and then an MRFF grant for $3.4 million.

I am responsible for the organisation, management and operation of the SA Pharmacy Investigational Drugs Service at the Women’s and Children’s hospital. I also contribute to the review of clinical trial protocols submitted to the WCHN Drug and Therapeutics - Clinical Trials Group.

The SA Pharmacy Investigational Drugs Service at WCHN is provided by a small team of dedicated clinical trials pharmacists who are passionate about research. We work collaboratively to support researchers, Investigators, coordinators and participants in clinical trials at WCHN.  We are part of SA Pharmacy, which is a Statewide Clinical Support Service, and this provides access to a broader range of pharmacy clinical trials expertise and facilities across South Australia.

We aim to ensure the safe and ethical use of investigational products, through compliance with all relevant legislation, standards, policies and guidelines, including Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) Guidelines for Good Clinical Practice (GCP), Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP), and the National Clinical Trials Governance Framework (NCTGF).

The SA Pharmacy Investigational Drugs Service at WCHN welcomes your enquiries about how we can help you with the pharmacy aspects of your clinical trial.

Email: Health.WCHPharmacyClinicalTrials@sa.gov.au
Phone: 8161 6866

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If you have a research story to tell, please submit below!

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