Research groups
Our research groups work across various disciplines
From diabetes and obesity to cardiovascular disease and related conditions, our researchers are working across a variety of areas.
Our research groups include those based at the Charles Perkins Centre, at the University of Sydney institutes, as well as external research partners. Learn more about our research.
Our research groups listed in alphabetical order
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nutrition and physical activity, Dr Josephine Gwynn
- Ainsworth Interactive Collection of Medical Pathology, Dr Murat Kekic
- Bacterial Pathogens in Cystic Fibrosis Group, Associate Professor Jim Manos
- Behavioural and Lifestyle Epidemiology Group, Emmanuel Stamatakis
- Boden Initiative, Professor Louise Baur
- Brett Hambly Lab, Associate Professor Brett Hambly
- Carbohydrate Nutrition Group, Professor Jennie Brand-Miller
- Cardiac Research Laboratory, Dr Sean Lal
- Cardiometabolic Disease, Dr John O'Sullivan
- Cardiovascular Initiative, Professor Gemma Figtree
- Cardiovascular Medical Devices, Dr Anna Waterhouse
- Cardiovascular Proteomics Group & Microbial Pathogenesis Group, Professor Stuart Cordwell
- Cell Signalling Laboratory, Associate Professor Lenka Munoz
- Cellular Photoimmunology Group, Associate Professor Scott Byrne
- Centenary Institute, Professor Philip Hogg
- Climate Adaptation and Health, Associate Professor Ollie Jay, Professor Tony Capon
- Computational Trans-Regulatory Biology Group, Dr Pengyi Yang
- Cytomegalovirus Research Group, Associate Professor Barry Slobedman
- Dr John and Anne Chong Lab for Functional Genomics, Associate Professor Greg Neely
- Judith and David Coffey Life Lab, Professor Jean Yang
- David James Lab, Professor David James
- Economics of Human Development, Associate Professor Stefanie Schurer
- Evidence, policy and influence collaborative (EPIC), Associate Professor Barbara Mintzes
- Exercise and Metabolic Disease Research Group, Associate Professor Nathan Johnson
- Exercise for Health and Wellbeing, Professor Corinne Caillaud
- Exercise, Health and Performance, Associate Professor Kate Edwards
- Greg Brown Diabetes and Endocrinology Research Laboratory, Professor Stephen Twigg
- Griffiths Lab & Theory and Method in Biosciences Group, Professor Paul Griffiths
- Health in the media, Professor Monika Bednarek
- Healthy Longevity, Professor Luigi Fontana
- Heart Research Institute, Professor Shaun Jackson
- How We Eat and Move, Associate Professor Kieron Rooney
- Immunology and Host Defence, Associate Professor Carl Feng
- InsideOut Institute for Eating Disorders, Dr Sarah Maguire, Professor Stephen Touyz
- Islet Biology and Metabolism Research Group, Dr Melkam Kebede
- Kidney Node Laboratory, Associate Professor Huiling Wu
- Kidney Node Laboratory, Professor Steve Chadban
- Lipid Metabolism Laboratory, Dr Andrew Hoy
- Lipidomics and Neurodegeneration, Associate Professor Anthony Don
- Larance Lab, Dr Mark Larance
- Melanoma Translational Research Group, Professor Georgina Long and Professor Richard Scolyer
- Menzies Centre for Health Policy, Professor Andrew Wilson
- Microbial Pathogenesis and Immunity Group, Professor Jamie Triccas
- Mucosal Immunology, Associate Professor Bob Bao
- Musculoskeletal Research Hub, Professor Paulo Ferreira
- Neely Lab, Professor Greg Neely
- Molecular Neuropathology Group, Dr Markus Hofer
- Nutrition and Cardiometabolic Disease, Professor Michael Skilton
- Nutrition and Dietetics, Professor Margaret Allman-Farinelli
- Nutritional Ecology Research Group, Professor David Raubenheimer
- Nutrition and Immunometabolism, Dr Laurence Macia
- Nutritional Physiology Research Lab, Associate Professor Kim Bell-Anderson
- Oral Node, Professor Joerg Eberhard
- Precision Nutrition, Professor Stephen Simpson
- Preventative Cardiology, Professor Robyn Gallagher
- Prevention Research Collaboration, Professor Adrian Bauman
- Redox Biology Group, Associate Professor Paul Witting
- Research in Implementation Science and eHealth (RISe), Professor Tim Shaw
- Sleep Research Group, Professor Peter Cistulli
- Sleep Research Group, Professor Philip de Chazal
- Sydney Brainomics, Associate Professor Greg Sutherland
- Sydney Translational Imaging Laboratory / Cardiac Imaging Group, Professor Stuart Grieve
- Stem Cell Biotechnology Lab, Dr Giselle Yeo
- Synaptic Physiology and Plasticity Laboratory, Associate Professor Elena Bagley
- TEMPO Diet Team, Professor Amanda Salis
- Thorn Lab, Professor Peter Thorn
- Varicella Zoster Virus Research Group, Professor Allison Abendroth
- Viral Immunopathology Unit, Professor Nicholas King
- Weight management for young women
- Weiss Lab, Professor Anthony Weiss
Search our project nodes by name
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health and Wellbeing
Understanding the substantial changes to dietary intake and participation in physical activity of Australia’s first peoples since colonisation and informing education programs for local communities. Project node lead: Dr Josephine Gwynn; Dr Nicole Turner
Developing solutions to improve the physical, social, and mental wellbeing of older people living at home. From aged care treatment to policies, education for health professionals, and rehabilitation programs in the community. Project node lead: Professor Murieann Irish, Professor Lynette Mackenzie and Dr Serene Paul.
Identifying and dealing with interactions before and during pregnancy that can contribute to the development of health disorders that impact future generations. Project node lead: Dr Adrienne Gordon
Good research has always been about evidence. Reliable evidence. This node aims to ensure that research, and related policy decisions, rest on strong and unbiased pillars of evidence. Project node lead: A/Professor Kieron Rooney; Dr Joanna Diong
Increasing the understanding of ageing and interventions that delay ageing in order to increase human lifespan and health span. Project node lead: Professor David Le Couteur
Exploring the connection between body disorders like obesity and diabetes, and brain diseases like Alzheimer's. Project node lead: Associate Professor Greg Sutherland
Building system wide capacity for complex and big data analysis and storage in T2D
Promoting strong collaboration between clinicians, biologists, mathematicians, engineers and computational scientists. Project node lead: Professor Jean Yang, Dr Rima Chaudhuri, Professor David James
Businesses, markets and the social context of health
Understanding the interconnected roles of business, social context and consumer behaviour in improving health. Project node lead: TBA
Guiding effective decision-making in cardiac health by using emerging technologies that provide better detection of early stages of disease. Project node lead: Professor Stuart Grieve
Charles Perkins Centre networks
Exploring the transformative effect that the Charles Perkins Centre has on the University’s academic population and its external collaborators. Project node lead: TBA
Children and adolescents' health and wellness in the Pacific region
Understand how adolescents' views, attitudes and behaviours towards physical activity, nutrition and sleep are influenced by the systems in which they are embedded, and how this is affecting their health. Project node lead: Professor Corinne Caillaud
Citizen science enhances diversity of thought and can accelerate transformative outcomes for health and quality of life. Through this node, we will establish a framework and platform for the enhancement of citizen science. Project node lead: Professor Yun-Hee Jeon
Our climate is constantly changing. As increasingly high temperatures accelerate mortality and morbidity rates, this node explores the heightened health risks created by these climate issues. Project node lead: Professor Ollie Jay
ClinPASS will assist clinicians, researchers, and healthcare service developers to integrate and optimise lifestyle interventions involving physical activity, sleep, and nutrition as therapeutic strategies to improve health. Project node leads: Dr Sonia Cheng, A/Professor Zoe Keough, Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis.
Developmental origin of health and disease (DOHaD)
A study on pregnant women in Western Sydney to determine whether disease begins developing in the womb through fetal immune programming. Project node lead: Professor Ralph Nanan
Digital Health Informatics Network
Our purpose is to connect interests, promote collaboration in research, share current projects and resources in these areas, and stimulate purposeful networking via DHIN-hosted events and online engagement. Network lead: A/Professor Adam Dunn
Digital solutions in cardiovascular disease prevention
Improving preventative care through the development of digital health interventions designed to educate patients and reduce the number of secondary cardiovascular episode. Project node lead: Professor Clara Chow
Dog ownership and human health
Examining the influence of dog ownership on human physical and mental health and social wellbeing. Project node lead: Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis
Early prevention of obesity in childhood
Making a direct impact on the community through research into lifestyle changes made in the early years and their effect on obesity-related diseases. Project node lead: Professor Louise Baur
Exploring the complex biopsychosocial interplay of eating disorders in order to develop novel treatments and improve patient outcomes. Project node lead: Dr Sarah Maguire
Economics of human development
Why are some people more likely to succeed than others? This node addresses the question of long-term effects of socioeconomic disadvantage on the evolution of human potential. Project node lead: Professor Stefanie Schurer
E-health in gaming and avatars
An artificial intelligence-based clinical intervention for patients with Type-2 diabetes that aims to help them achieve health and wellness goals. Project node lead: Professor Stephen Twigg
Working towards synthesizing all kinds of evidence around obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, and uniting key researchers to collaborate on solutions. Project node lead: Associate Professor Barbara Mintzes, Dr Lisa Parker
Finding solutions to prevent and manage obesity within individuals, families and communities, in Greater Western Sydney and beyond. Project node lead: Dr Kathryn Williams
Bringing together researchers from a diverse range of disciplines to prevent, treat and reverse fibrosis across a diversity of diseases. Project node lead: Professor Stephen Twigg
Our goal is to foster the spread of accurate scientific information, to spread trust in that scientific information, and to support the use of that information when making decisions. Project node lead: Dr Micah Goldwater
Exploring how governments can use legal strategies to create conditions for people to live healthier lives. Project node lead: Sally McDonald, Fiona Sing
Discovering the influence of our gut microorganisms over our metabolism, immune and nervous systems, our food choices and other behaviours. Project node lead: Associate Professor Andrew Holmes
Challenging staff and students to create a new vibrancy to explore new approaches to society’s complex and chronic health problems. Project node lead: Natalie Nicolas, Martin Brown
Using health research and applied economics to influence government decision-making so we can improve cross portfolio policy, and in turn, the health and wellbeing of Australians. Project node lead: Dr Michelle Cunich
Health and wellness in the air
Working with Qantas to provide integrated health and wellbeing advice, education and research to improve the experience of long-haul flying. Project node lead: Professor Stephen Simpson
A holistic exploration on how the arts and humanities can promote human health and wellbeing in hospitals, households, and communities. Project node lead: Dr Olaf Werder
Health literacy chronic disease network
A multidisciplinary, international research network improving the management of chronic disease for adults with lower literacy. Project node lead: Professor Kirsten McCaffery
We look at ways that communities can access nutritional food while ensuring the natural systems their food comes from remain ecologically sustainable. Project node lead: Dr Sinead Boylan
Developing new partnerships in clinical medicine, biomedical research, computing and systems biology to apply new immune therapies and diagnostic tools for monitoring patient response. Project node lead: Professor Barbara Fazekas
Biomedical and health service research often stays in the laboratory longer than it should. This node addresses the urgent need for this new evidence to be put into practice. Project node lead: Professor Tim Shaw
Incidental physical activity and sedentary behaviour
Understanding the cultural, economic and individual circumstances leading to habit-formation to help people adopt healthy habits. Project node lead: Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis
Judy Harris Writer in Residence Fellowship
The program invites Australian creative writers to apply for a generous University of Sydney fellowship, including a $100,000 grant, to begin a project exploring issues around health.
Identifying and understanding the incidence, prevalence and history of kidney disease at a population level to find solutions and treatments for this disease. Project node lead: Professor Steven Chadban
Living healthier lives under the Australian sun
Finding novel strategies to block the harmful effects of sunlight and UV, while retaining the beneficial effects so we can all absorb a healthy amount of sunlight. Project node lead: A/Professor Scott Byrne
Mechanisms of developmental programming
Investigating how parental and learly nutrition alters biological systems to influence health and reproductive fitness later in life. Project node leads: A/Prof Kim Bell-Anderson and Dr Angela Crean
Nutritional ecology and human health
Drawing on theory, methods and empirical findings from the field of nutritional ecology to view humans in the broader context of biological diversity, along with the fundamental theoretical frameworks in biology, evolution and ecology, to inform the study of human diet, nutrition and health. Project node lead: Professor David Raubenheimer
Nutrition and cardiovascular health
Exploring which types of healthy diets can lower the risk of developing heart disease, and how these differ from person to person. Project node lead: Professor Michael Skilton
Exploring whether poor diets lead to disease and how a change in diet can help treat or prevent disease. Project node lead: A/Professor Laurence Macia
Improving and better understanding the clinical application of animal welfare and ethics throughout Australasia. Project node lead: Professor Paul McGreevy
Understanding the complex interplay between oral health and general health including its links with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, dementia, arthritis, and pregnancy outcomes. Project node lead: Professor Joerg Eberhard
We improve the lives of people with chronic conditions by improving pharmaceutical policies to optimise medical treatments, facilitate equal access to medications, and foster transparency. Project node lead: Associate Professor Barbara Mintzes, Dr Danijela Gnjidic.
We aim to understand the placebo effect so that we can evaluate new and existing health interventions to improve health outcomes. Project node lead: Associate Professor Ben Colagiuri
Navigating the line between the government’s responsibility to protect public health and fears of a ‘nanny state’ by developing and targeting arguments for/against policies in Australia. Project node lead: Professor Paul Griffiths, Professor Warwick Anderson
Positive computing in health systems
Psychology experts and technology designers collaborating to investigate how technology can promote motivation, autonomy and self-empowerment to support physical wellbeing. Project node lead: Professor Rafael Calvo
Precision Sleep Medicine (PRISM)
Looking at insomnia, obstructive sleep apnoea, and shift work disorder, and their links to chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Project node lead: Professor Peter Cistulli, Associate Professor Kristina Kairaitis
Addressing the prevalent issues in the prevention of cardiovascular disease through collaborative, interdisciplinary research. Project node lead: Professor Robyn Gallagher
Prospective Physical Activity, Sitting and Sleep Consortium (ProPASS)
A collaborative platform aimed at generating evidence to be used in the next generation of physical activity, sleep and exercise medicine guidelines. Project node lead: Professor Emmanual Stamatakis
Schizophrenia: Cardiometabolic and other medical comorbidity
Identifying and addressing high-risk schizophrenia patients for whom intensive interventions will be of great value. Project node lead: Professor Tim Lambert
Improving the learning experience for students by focusing on the emerging challenges and opportunities for multidisciplinary education in a research-intense environment. Project node lead: Professor Philip Poronnik, Professor Peter Goodyear
Supporting research excellence by facilitating access to cutting-edge single cell technologies and analytic tools. Project node lead: Dr Lipin Loo, Dr Thomas Ashurst
SOLVE-CHD Cardiovascular Disease Prevention and Rehabilitation
Transforming post-hospital care for people with heart disease in Australia. Project node lead: Professor Julie Redfern
Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine (TERM)
Developing a set of interfaced, artificial solutions that repair and replace malfunctioning body parts and damaged tissue. Project node lead: Professor Tony Weiss
Encouraging the growth and development of twin research to dissolve research obstacles in the wider research community. Project node lead: Ms Susan Carrick
Our multidisciplinary team is working towards improvement management and, ultimately, preventing & curing type 1 diabetes. Project node lead: Professor Peter Thorn, Dr Kirstine Bell
Designing strategies for virtual reality environments that enable researchers to adapt this technology in their research for better research outcomes. Project node lead: TBA
Wireless wellbeing and personalised health
A research into mobile phone apps, wireless sensing and communications to empower people to improve their quality of life while preventing obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Project node lead: Professor Margaret Allman-Farinelli
