Scholarship to enhance PhD student’s knowledge of muscular dystrophy
Press release
16 January 2008
A second-year PhD student from the Faculty of Veterinary Science has been awarded a prestigious $5,000 travelling scholarship, which will enable him to expand his knowledge of a group of genetic muscle diseases that cause progressive muscle weakness – muscular dystrophies (MDs).
Kitipong Uaesoontrachoon, 25, originally from Thailand, is the third student to receive the Dr Sue Newton travelling scholarship, which celebrates the life and work of Dr Sue Newton, who was a visiting research fellow at the Faculty of Veterinary Science, and a highly respected and internationally recognised research scientist.
The scholarship recognises scientific excellence in the research arena, and is awarded on an annual basis to a PhD student in the Faculty of Veterinary Science.
Kitipong’s research project is centred around Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), which is the most common form of MD, and primarily affects boys. He is trying to understand the function of the structural protein, osteopontin, and the role it plays in repairing damaged skeletal muscle.
“Being awarded such a prestigious scholarship has provided me with the fantastic opportunity to visit the Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy Center in Washington, DC, where I will have access to flash frozen muscle biopsies from muscular dystrophy patients,” said the PhD student.
“Access to these samples will enable me to relate my in vivo mouse model results to the human disease, enabling me to further my knowledge and understanding of the pathology of DMD.
“I am also going to present my research at the ‘New Directions in Biology and Disease of Skeletal Muscle’ conference in New Orleans in April, which will be a great networking opportunity.”
Professor Ken Hinchliff, Dean of the Faculty presented Kitipong with his award, at a special presentation lunch held on Wednesday 16 January at the University of Melbourne.
For further information please contact Andrea Jones, Marketing Manager, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Melbourne, Tel: 8344 7844 or email: ajone@unimelb.edu.au