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"Philanthropy allows us to reach for the stars" - Hope for children with cystic fibrosis

Life expectancy was in the 20s for children born with cystic fibrosis 30 years ago, today it is in the 30s. Professor Graham Hall is leading this research.

ANRIL Promoter DNA Methylation: A Perinatal Marker for Later Adiposity

Experimental studies show a substantial contribution of early life environment to obesity risk through epigenetic processes.

Machine Learning-Based DNA Methylation Score for Fetal Exposure to Maternal Smoking

Fetal exposure to maternal smoking during pregnancy is associated with the development of noncommunicable diseases in the offspring. Maternal smoking may induce such long-term effects through persistent changes in the DNA methylome, which therefore hold the potential to be used as a biomarker of this early life exposure. With declining costs for measuring DNA methylation, we aimed to develop a DNA methylation score that can be used on adolescent DNA methylation data and thereby generate a score for in utero cigarette smoke exposure.

Executive Function

Early childhood is increasingly recognised as a critical time for the development of executive function.

Presence of onco-fetal neighborhoods in hepatocellular carcinoma is associated with relapse and response to immunotherapy

Onco-fetal reprogramming of the tumor ecosystem induces fetal developmental signatures in the tumor microenvironment, leading to immunosuppressive features. Here, we employed single-cell RNA sequencing, spatial transcriptomics and bulk RNA sequencing to delineate specific cell subsets involved in hepatocellular carcinoma  relapse and response to immunotherapy. 

Immunosuppressive mechanisms of oncofetal reprogramming in the tumor microenvironment: implications in immunotherapy response

Both fetal and tumor tissue microenvironments display immunosuppressive features characterized by the presence of specific immunomodulatory stromal and immune cell populations. Recently, we discovered shared microenvironments between hepatocellular carcinoma and fetal tissues and described this phenomenon as an oncofetal ecosystem.

Developing primary intervention strategies to prevent allergic disease

Allergic diseases are a major cause of morbidity in the developed world, now affecting up to 40 % of the population with no evidence that this is abating.

The role of dendritic cells and regulatory T cells in the regulation of allergic asthma

Airways hyperresponsiveness (AHR) is one of the major clinical features of allergic airways disease including allergic asthma

Prevention of Mental Health Difficulties for Children Aged 0–3 Years: A Review

The period of infancy and early childhood is a critical time for interventions to prevent future mental health problems. The first signs of mental health difficulties can be manifest in infancy, emphasizing the importance of understanding and identifying both protective and risk factors in pregnancy and the early postnatal period.

Amy Finlay-Jones

Head, Early Neurodevelopment & Mental Health; Healthway WA Senior Research Fellow