Exploring how a high salt diet promotes bone destruction through immune cell activation
- Research Opportunity
- PhD students, Masters by Research, Honours students
- Department / Centre
- Baker Department of Cardiometabolic Health
- Location
- Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute
Primary Supervisor | Number | Webpage | |
---|---|---|---|
Prof Andrew Murphy | andrew.murphy@baker.edu.au | Personal web page |
Co-supervisor | Number | Webpage | |
---|---|---|---|
Dr. Sam Lee | Mankitsam.lee@baker.edu.au |
Summary Diets rich in salt have been linked to bone pathologies. This has generally been attributed to mineral exchange, causing weaker bones. However, our group hypothesized that this process is biologically driven. We have made initial discoveries to show that specific immune cells are produced and activated by a high salt diet that is linked with bone destruction. This project will focus on the novel mechanisms contributing to this discovery. Specifically, this project will determine how the immune cells interact and activate osteoclasts within the bone and will explore where these immune cells are first activated. We anticipate these findings being important across several age groups and will explore ways to offset these detrimental effects of high salt intake. The student will be exposed to a world class research environment and cutting-edge techniques, with excellent supervision. Techniques will include flow cytometry, sectioning of tissues (including bones), immunofluorescence, micro CT and multiphoton microscopy.
Project Details
Faculty Research Themes
School Research Themes
Cardiometabolic , Musculoskeletal
Research Opportunities
PhD students, Masters by Research, Honours students
Students who are interested in joining this project will need to consider their elegibility as well as other requirements before contacting the supervisor of this research
Key Contact
For further information about this research, please contact a supervisor.
Department / Centre
Baker Department of Cardiometabolic Health
Research Node
Baker Heart and Diabetes InstituteMDHS Research library
Explore by researcher, school, project or topic.