Gut Health Research Group

The Gut Health Research Group (GHG) is engaged in projects looking at the gastrointestinal side effects (including abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhoea and constipation) of cancer treatments. We are part of an international team determining the puzzle of events that occur during cancer treatment that significantly affect quality of life, spanning across Australia, Europe and USA.

We use a range of models and analytical techniques to investigate how the gut looks and functions normally, and how this can change during cancer treatment. We investigate molecular signaling pathways that regulate both gut health and disease to link damage to these changes. We have established chemotherapy models in mice, with variations on the chemotherapy agents also able to be carried.

We use our models to test the efficacy and safety of novel compounds to prevent or treat gastrointestinal damage following cancer treatment.

Our group is heavily involved in the clinical translation of findings and has contributed to multiple Clinical Practice Guidelines updates, both in Gastrointestinal Mucositis (gut damage following cancer treatment), and the Pathogenesis of Mucositis (mechanisms that cause gut damage) systematic reviews.

Our current projects are focusing on the role of vitamin D in gut health, mechanisms of damage following cancer treatment, and investigating therapeutic targets to prevent gut damage following cancer treatment.