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Singapore Networking Grant

Year:
2012
Duration:
6 months
Approved budget:
$8,348.00
Researchers:
Professor Jim Mann
Health issue:
Liver
Proposal type:
Networking Grant
Lay summary
The proposed collaborative research is an extension of the collegial relationship between Gabriel Lau and Sudhakar Venkatesh (radiologist). Sudhakar has worked at the Mayo Clinic, where the MRE technology was developed, and is knowledgeable and skilled in this area of imaging. He has published with his Mayo Clinic MRE colleagues. Sudhakar visited Dunedin during 2010 and shared his experiences with MRE with Gabriel. Gabriel will be visiting Singapore in November 2011 for another purpose, and will make time to see the MRE technology operating. Sudahakar works with two gastroenterologists, Seng Gee Lim and Yin Mei Lee, both of whom are utilising the MRE imaging and are interested in a collaborative NAFLD research project. Seng Gee is a leader in hepatology research and his research interests include the pathophysiology and treatment of NAFLD. Yin Mei's special research interest is NAFLD and liver transplant, and she has two research grants in the area of NAFLD. The combined expertise of the group (imaging and clinical and research hepatology in Singapore, and radiological, clinical, dietetics and nutrition interventions in Dunedin) enables the development of an exciting NAFLD treatment research project, with a particular emphasis on nutritional therapy with different macronutrient compositions. It also provides the opportunity to look at differences between ethnic groups. The population mix in Singapore is 80% Asian, 15% Malay and 5% Indian compared with 70% European, 15% Maori, 7% Pacific and 9% Asian in New Zealand. This is relevant, as body size and site of fat deposition varies between ethnic groups, with body mass index (BMI) cut-offs for Asian populations being less than that for all other ethnic groups.