2017 Round

The 2017 Round of the Fellowship Program selected a package of a Premier's Science Fellow and a Premier's EMC Fellow to address the following Area of Research in Western Australia:

World-leading human phenomics research (using metabolic phenotyping) and data analytics with clinical applications targeted at precision medicine to deliver healthcare benefits and opportunities to Western Australia, including economic and social benefits.

Metabolic phenotyping (profiling) in biological systems involves the measurement and analysis of metabolites in biological materials such as blood and urine. Metabolites can help explain what is happening at a phenotypic level (observable physical and biochemical characteristics) as a result of the interactions between our genes and environmental factors, including lifestyle, diet, drug treatment and microbiomes (the microbial communities that live in and on our bodies).

Large-scale human metabolic phenotyping in human health and disease, and correlation with clinical data, aims to increase understanding to enable faster diagnosis and more effective treatments, including precision medicine.

Precision medicine is an emerging approach to disease prevention, detection and treatment tailored to the individual patient, subpopulation or population.

The potential contribution of metabolic phenotyping to precision medicine holds considerable promise, including for development of indicators (biomarkers) for diagnosis and prognosis to aid clinical decision-making, analysis of drug suitability (effectiveness and safety), and monitoring patient journeys in hospital environments to improve patient care and reduce time in hospital.

Appointed Fellows

The Fellows appointed under the 2017 Round of the Fellowship Program are:

Premier’s Science Fellow: Professor Elaine Holmes; and
Premier’s EMC Fellow: Dr Ruey Leng Loo.

Professor Holmes and Dr Loo relocated from the United Kingdom in early 2019 to commence their Fellowships in Western Australia.

Professor Holmes and Dr Loo are assisting Western Australia to play a significant role in human phenomics research (using metabolic phenotyping) targeted at precision medicine by building on the State's strengths in metabolic phenotyping, which include:

state-of-the-art infrastructure;
internationally recognised researchers;
collaboration within Western Australia through the Western Australian Health Translation Network; and
international linkages through membership of the International Phenome Centre Network (the Australian node of this network is the Western Australia-based Australian National Phenome Centre).

In addition to advancing precision medicine, metabolic phenotyping also offers Western Australia opportunities to:

build on the State's strengths associated with clinical trials and internationally recognised population health cohorts, such as the Busselton Health Study and the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study; and
not only link metabolic phenotyping data with health, lifestyle and clinical data, but also with genomics and proteomics data, and potentially imaging data.

Professor Holmes

Professor Holmes has over 20 years experience in metabolic phenotyping technology and its applications, underpinned by analysis and integration of complex data. She is one of the pioneers and leading researchers in this field.

Prior to taking up her Premier’s Science Fellowship, Professor Holmes was Head of the Division of Computational and Systems Medicine at Imperial College London. Her past achievements include development of crucial computational modelling tools and a novel approach for linking metabolites to population and individual data on disease risk factors; discovery of biomarkers associated with high blood pressure, liver cancer and obesity; and co-founding of two spin-out companies.

Her Fellowship Project has two complementary parts:

development of the technology platform and increasing the capability and reputation of Western Australia in metabolic profiling; and
application of the technology platform to address unmet needs in four exemplar clinical fields:
- the impact of early life environment (in utero and newborn) on childhood and adult health – to identify early indicators of downstream adverse health events and potential interventions;
- phenomic characterisation of liver and gastrointestinal diseases – for improved diagnosis, patient classification and new potential therapies;
- host-gut microbiome interactions in metabolic disease – to increase understanding and provide opportunities for new interventions; and
- early metabolic predictors of dementia.

A key objective of Professor Holmes’ Fellowship is to create a framework for delivering high quality metabolic phenotyping data to academics, clinicians and industry to serve the emerging area of precision medicine and to bridge the translational medicine gap between research and clinical implementation.

Dr Loo

Dr Loo has expertise and experience in epidemiological studies and in data analytics for metabolic phenotyping (particularly data modelling and visualisation), and specific phenomics research interests in nutrition and health.

Before commencing her Premier’s EMC Fellowship, she was a Senior Lecturer at the Medway School of Pharmacy, Universities of Greenwich and Kent. She and Professor Holmes have been research collaborators since Professor Holmes was one of her PhD supervisors.

Her EMC Fellowship Project is helping to build critical mass in phenomics data analytics in Western Australia, including for Professor Holmes’ project. Dr Loo’s work also involves complementary research in personalised nutrition aimed at delivering new knowledge of dietary influence on human metabolism and the microbiome in health/disease, and providing a translational bridge to the food science industry.

2017 Round

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