Physiology Profile

Lea Delbridge
Associate Professor	Location	N524
Teaching	Telephone	8344 5853
	Facsimile	8344 5897
Cardiac Phenomics	Email	lmd@unimelb.edu.au

Profile

After my BSc (Hons) in Physiology at Monash University I was awarded a Canadian Commonwealth Scholarship to undertake postgraduate studies in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at Dalhousie University, Halifax. On returning to Australia, I completed a Diploma in Tertiary Education and a PhD in the Department of Physiology at the University of Melbourne. As an International Fellow of the American Heart Association I spent several years in Chicago at Loyola University, subsequently returning to Melbourne as a Fellow of the National Heart Foundation of Australia. In 1998 I took up an academic `position in the Department of Physiology, and am currently appointed as Associate Professor.

Teaching

Convenor & Lecturer:
536-250 Integrated Biomedical Science (Biomedical Science)
536-301 Integrative Physiology: Heart & Kidney (Science)

Lecturer:
536-201 Principles of Physiology (Science)
536-206 Physiology (Optometry)
511-224 Oral Health Sciences 2A (Dental Science)

PBL Tutor:
513-111 Principles of Biomedical Science

Departmental AMS Coordinator

Service to the University, discipline or community and recent presentations

I serve the University as a member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Committee and the Faculty Board Committee (MDHS) and as an Equal Opportunity Observer for Promotion Panels.

I am a member of the editorial boards of �Heart, Lung and Circulation� and the �Journal of the Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone System.�

I am a National Council Member for the Australian Physiological Society (AuPS) and the Australasian Section Secretary of The International Society for Heart Research (ISHR). I also serve on the World Council of the ISHR.

I have been an invited speaker recently at:

University of Auckland, New Zealand, 2003. Cardiac hypertrophy- new models and new insights.

Australian Physiological Society Symposium, Sydney, 2003. Models in research.

European Society of Cardiology, Vienna, 2003. Chronic overexpression of cardiac angiotensinogen suppresses heart function.

World Congress of the ISHR, Brisbane, 2004. Growth induction and contractile dysfunction in the heart.

Australian Health and Medical Research Congress, Sydney, 2004. Cardiac hypertrophy and cardiomyocyte metabolic disturbances �cause and consequence?

Research Profile, Interests and Recent Publications

In the emerging field of physiologic genomics, the goal of my �Cardiac Phenomic� research is to understand the relationship between the genotype and the cardiac phenotype, as mediated by environmental influences. A particular strength of my research group is the capacity to dissect the genome-phenome relationship at the level of the intact animal, the organ, the cell and the molecule. Most recently we have focused on using unique genetic models of cardiac disease to understand the alterations in heart structure and function which occur in different forms of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy associated with hormonal disturbances (eg diabetes, renin-angiotensin system dysfunction, estrogen influences).

Together with Prof Stephen Harrap and Dr Robert Di Nicolantonio we are studying the characteristics of cardiac enlargement which occurs in the absence of hypertension. With collaborators at the Baker Heart Research Institute (Dr�s Salvatore Pepe, Rebecca Ritchie and Walter Thomas), the Austin-Repatriation Hospital (Prof Joe Proietto) and the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (Dr Gordon Smyth) we are investigating the cardiac metabolic and growth effects of dietary and pharmacologic interventions in these conditions. With our colleagues in the School of Physics and Department of Pharmacology (Prof Keith Nugent, Assoc Profs Ann Roberts and Alastair Stewart), and with industry collaborators, we develop innovative microscopy methods to characterize cell growth responses. Our explorations of the impact of diet on heart function are supported by our links with the �Smart Foods Centre� (Assoc Prof Peter McLennan) at the University of Wollongong, and we have a close research association with the University of Lausanne in Switzerland.

Recent Publications:
Kaczmarczyk SJ, Andrikopoulos S, Favaloro J, Domenighetti AA, Dunn A, Ernst M, Grail D, Fodero-Tavoletti M, Huggins CE, Delbridge LMD, Zajac JD & Proietto J. Threshold effects of glut4 deficiency on cardiac glucose uptake and development of hypertrophy. J. Mol. Endocrinol. 3:449-459, 2003.

Huggins CE, Domenighetti AA, Pedrazzini T, Pepe S & Delbridge LMD. Elevated intracardiac angiotensin II leads to cardiac hypertrophy and mechanical dysfunction in normotensive mice. J Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone System, 4:186-190, 2003.

Bellair CJ, Curl CL, Allman BE, Harris PJ, Roberts A, Delbridge LMD & Nugent KA. Quantitative phase-amplitude microscopy IV: imaging thick specimens. Journal of Microscopy, 214:62-69, 2004.

Curl CL, Harris T, Harris PJ, Allman BE, Stewart AG & Delbridge LMD. Quantitative phase microscopy: a new tool for measurement of cell culture growth and confluency in situ. Pflugers Archiv � Eur J Physiol, 448:462-468, 2004.

Lax CJ, Domenighetti AA, Pavia JM, Di Nicolantonio R, Curl CL, Morris MJ & Delbridge LMD. Transitory reduction in angiotensin AT2 receptor expression level in post-infarct remodelling in rat myocardium. Clin. Exp. Physiol. Pharmacol. 31:512-517, 2004.