Deakin University - Health Research

16/07/2025

School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences researchers Dr Jeremy Drake and Naomi Werner are working with Love Your Sister foundation to improve outcomes for people with breast cancer.

Jeremy is investigating the role of exercise in cancer care – specifically, how the myokines released during physical activity affect cellular stress and the growth of cancer cells in breast cancer.

Generous support from the Love Your Sister Foundation is helping to advance this important research, which has the potential to improve outcomes for many people affected by cancer.

To find out more about how you can support life changing research like Jeremy’s please visit: https://lnkd.in/gnsDVUSc

There is something in your blood when you exercise called ‘cytokines’ that can stop cancer from growing and spreading.

Naomi Werner, hotshot future superstar cancer researcher, has got tubes of nice fresh blood in her little paws, and Naomi and her mentor Dr Jeremy Drake are taking blood from some fit, healthy individuals who love to exercise and seeing whether it has any effect on some breast cancer samples that they have. Then, by comparing that to some samples that have been treated with blood from people who don’t exercise, they’ll hopefully be able to figure out what in the blood is having that effect and how exactly it’s changing how the cancer grows.

There is so much to love about this research, it’s about the body's own processes that it has to deal with cancer. It’s about the breadth of things that can affect someone’s cancer diagnosis. But my favourite thing of all is that it gives Naomi, an honours student with a bright future in medical research some desperately needed experience.

No wonder I love living in this Village. Look at what we get up to!

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28/01/2025

Interested in learning more about how what you eat impacts your mood? Deakin Distinguished Professor Felice Jacka OAM from The Food & Mood Centre, IMPACT Institute, Deakin University spoke to Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Nightlife last night about the relationship between what we eat and how we feel.

Listen here:

There's a lot of wisdom in the old adage 'you are what you eat', and it's a phrase we seem to be taking a bit more seriously these days.

12/12/2024

So many great research topics at the 2024 School of Exercise and Nutrition Research Symposium👏

21/10/2024

Make your voice heard and make the online world safer and healthier. Participate in our research and receive up to $150 in cash. Find out more: https://researchsurveys.deakin.edu.au/jfe/form/SV_2ghG5eiM6ew2GgK

21/10/2024

Let's make the online world safer and healthier for your kids. Participate with your kids in our research and they can receive up to $150 in cash. Learn more: https://researchsurveys.deakin.edu.au/jfe/form/SV_2ghG5eiM6ew2GgK

23/09/2024

What happens when an aged care home and a childcare centre exist under the same roof? Lysha Lee, a PhD candidate in the School of Nursing and Midwifery within the Institute for Health Transformation is researching the mechanisms behind a unique facility in Mornington, Victoria.

26/08/2024

Researchers at Deakin University are investigating whether two common medications used to treat diabetes or cholesterol helps reduce symptoms of depression and improve quality of life. To learn more or participate in the study, click here: https://redcap.deakin.edu.au/surveys/?s=8CDF8EM9HKJMFD4K

13/08/2024

Deakin's Geelong Osteoporosis Study, a globally recognised initiative, is marking 30 years of advancing knowledge in healthy aging. This project is one of the few large-scale, population-based studies in Australia that tracks the aging process, with its valuable data being utilised both nationally and internationally.

Participant Rhonda Gambetta, now 62, joined the study in 1994 and has contributed insights by checking in with researchers every two years for the first decade, followed by additional check-ins at 15 and 25 years.

Professor Julie Pasco from the School of Medicine said that the study's data has deepened our understanding of how our bodies and minds age, as well as the lifestyle factors that contribute to healthy aging.

“We couldn't have achieved this without the commitment and enthusiasm of our participants, many of whom joined the study in their 20s and are now in their 50s,” she said.

Learn more: https://www.deakin.edu.au/about-deakin/news-and-media-releases/articles/geelong-study-celebrates-30-years-of-knowledge-gains-in-healthy-ageing

01/08/2024

Lifestyle therapy can be as clinically effective in relieving low grade depression as psychotherapy.

A world first study by Deakin's Food & Mood Centre found depressive symptoms significantly improved among adults whose treatment was focussed on lifestyle changes such as diet quality and increased movement overseen by an accredited practicing dietitian and exercise physiologist. The results were on par with improvements seen among those undergoing cognitive behavioural therapy delivered by psychologists over the same period of time.

Research lead Prof. Adrienne O'Neil says cost effective and clinically effective treatments, like those used in this trial, may provide a new treatment option for people living in regional communities or where resources are scarce.

Read more about this research 🔗
https://www.deakin.edu.au/about-deakin/news-and-media-releases/articles/mental-health-care-from-dietitians,-exercise-physiologists-equal-to-psychologists,-study-finds


Further research underway by the Food & Mood Centre is looking at whether lifestyle therapy is an appropriate treatment for people with more severe symptoms such as major depressive disorder or bipolar. The HARMON-E trial provides eligible adults eight weeks of free lifestyle therapy with allied health professionals or psychotherapy with psychologists using group-based, videoconferencing and is open for recruitment now. Find out more 🔗 https://foodandmoodcentre.com.au/projects/the-harmone-trial/

23/07/2024

Are you sitting down for too long? If you are, you're not alone. Whether it's due to desk-bound work, driving, television-watching or gaming, sedentary lifestyles are common in today's society. But prolonged sitting can increase the risk of a range of serious health conditions including cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.

Professor. David Dunstan from the Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition (IPAN), Deakin University spoke to the BBC about the risks of being sedentary.

Read more:

Sitting down is ingrained in most peoples' days. But staying sedentary for too long can increase the risk of serious health conditions like cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.

16/07/2024

Are you a registered nurse? Did you graduate between 2018-2021?

We're interested in learning about your knowledge, attitudes, and clinical practice regarding nutrition.
Learn more: https://researchsurveys.deakin.edu.au/jfe/form/SV_09dmuq3FP8JLYN0

25/06/2024

Women have a valuable role to play in sport leadership but gender balance in key roles in sport organisations hasn't always been seen as a priority.

New research led by Professor Pamm Phillips of the Centre for Sport Research within Deakin’s Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition has shown that the Balance the Board policy, introduced by the Victorian Government to increase the number of women in sport leadership roles, has been effective.

Balance the Board brought a significant increase in representation of women on Victorian sporting boards, as well as improved board performance, culture and decision making.

The Deakin Business School research team’s results indicated that from 2017 to 2023, the number of gender balanced boards rose from 45 to 96% across more than 100 Victorian sport and active recreation organisations.

Read more> https://www.deakin.edu.au/about-deakin/news-and-media-releases/articles/women-make-their-mark-as-board-directors-in-victorian-sport