Can you describe the aim of your research in 10 words?
To determine whether tilorone can reduce pathology of the heart with diabetes related disease.
What have you discovered in this area so far?
To date, there is no specific therapy for diabetes related heart disease. Given the prevention of cardiac complications in people with diabetes is poor in comparison to people without diabetes, new treatment strategies for improving cardiac function of hearts with diabetes related disease are greatly needed. I have discovered that when I administered the small molecule tilorone to a preclinical model of heart failure (i.e. hypertension), it was able to reduce heart scarring and the expression of pathological genes in the heart. Heart scarring causes a decline in heart function, and is also a common feature of diabetes related heart disease. I am now curious to determine whether tilorone can decrease scarring and improve the function of the heart with type 1 diabetes related damage.
What’s your Holy Grail – the one thing you’d like to achieve in your research career?
I would be really happy to successfully secure my own fellowship or research grant – that would give me funding for 3-4 years.
What is your biggest research hurdle?
Lack of funding for early to mid-career scientists. It is extremely competitive to get a fellowship and large project grant to develop your own ideas and project independent to your laboratory head. That is why it is important to have small project grants like those offered by Diabetes Australia to help bridge the gap. They allow us to develop ideas and generate pilot data for a larger proposal.
How long before your work impacts patient care?
Given that tilorone has a history of clinical use, if studies in preclinical models prove promising, it is hoped that it could reach patients in 5-10 years.
Who has inspired you?
My parents. Everything they have done is for their children. They migrated to Australia from Italy as young children in the 1950s with my grandparents after WW2. My dad is one of the hardest working people I know. As a teenager, he didn’t speak English, yet put himself through school while working with his dad before and after school to make ends meet. My mum is the most patient person one would ever meet. I wish I had half as much patience as her!
If you could only keep three possessions, what would they be?
- My road bike (a Bianchi Infinito CV, in the famous celeste colour). We have spent many hours together including riding from Canberra to Melbourne to raise money for research at the Baker Institute.
- My wedding and engagement rings
- My credit card – so I can go buy all the things I had to leave behind.
Can you nominate a book that resonated with you?
I recently read The Rosie Project by Australian author Graeme Simsion. I found it to be engaging and humorous. The main character, Don Tillman, is a Professor in his late 30s at the University of Melbourne. It is about his quest for love (we have all been there!) and he teaches us to see the funny side of our behaviour. You could just imagine he was one of your university professors giving a lecture.