BDS INSIGHTS

The Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine was awarded Monday to three physician-scientists from the United States and Britain - William G. Kaelin Jr., Peter J. Ratcliffe and Gregg L. Semenza - "for their discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability. "The discoveries by the trio illuminated what the Nobel Committee called "one of life's most essential adaptive processes," answering profound questions about how the body works and providing potential new therapeutic avenues to treat cancer and other diseases. The three scientists, working independently, revealed the cascade of molecular events that allow cells to detect and respond to different levels of oxygen. That allows the human body to adapt to thinner air at high altitude by generating more red blood cells to carry oxygen. But it can also go awry in disease, providing new targets for treatment: Cancer cells exploit these molecular switches to thrive, for example, and i...

Melbourne Dental School Head of School Mike Morgan, CSL Senior Vice President of Research Andrew Nash, University of Melbourne Vice-President (Enterprise) Doron Ben-Meir, COHR CEO & Director of Research Eric Reynolds, Member for Higgins Katie Allen and Brandon Capital Investment Manager Ingmar Wahlqvist at the launch of Denteric. A vaccine for periodontal gum disease, which affects a third of all adults globally, is in development following a $14 million investment into newly-formed biotech company Denteric Pty Ltd. The company was set-up to develop and commercialise the research outputs of a long-running programme originating from the University of Melbourne working in collaboration with CSL. The announcement was made at the official launch of the University’s Centre for Oral Health Research (COHR). The Series A investment comes from the Medical Research Commercialisation Fund’s (MRCF) Biomedical Translation Fund, a Commonwealth-backed fund managed by Brandon Capital Partn...

Nearly 450 million people worldwide are currently living with a mental illness, yet nearly two thirds of people with a known mental illness never seek treatment.  Due to the stigma associated with mental illness, a lack of awareness, and limited access to professional help, only 10-12% of these sufferers will seek help. Support, judgement, fear The study revealed three broad segments of people based on their attitudes towards mental illness. People’s understanding of mental health The study showed that while 87% of the respondents showed some awareness of mental illness, 71% also used terms associated with stigma. This shows that stigma and awareness are two separate issues although interlinked. They need to be addressed in parallel in order to tackle the burden of mental illness in India. If individuals continue to view mental illness with apprehension and resistance, it will remain difficult for people with mental health concerns to se...