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Future focus
Scientists probe COVID-19 impact on long term health .
By NCA NewsWire
Victorian scientists say they are “ incredibly concerned ” about the long-term defects COVID-19 may cause within the human body as researchers scramble to keep tabs on evolving mutant strains .
Contemporary research has pointed to fatigue development , a loss of smell and taste , and heart , neurological , cognitive and lung complications .
But Professor Melissa Little , from the Murdoch Children ’ s Research Institute , said there was little understanding about how the virus wreaked havoc once it entered the body .
“ We don ’ t really know what the virus is doing when it gets inside us ,” Little said .
“ We know the body isn ’ t fully recovering once the virus is cleared . We ’ ve had virus epidemics before , but we don ’ t know enough about exactly what is going on because it ’ s mutating really quickly .”
Researchers in the state have embarked on ground-breaking research examining new and emerging strains , long-term symptoms and potential links between the disease and unborn children .
The group of scientists will use human stem cells and turn them into threedimensional models to investigate how the virus operates .
The work will build on the MCRI ’ s research into the effects of the virus on every major human organ . It ’ s hoped it will spark new ideas about how to evade any long-term impacts .
Little said the health issues would likely impact all demographics unless research proved otherwise .
“ We have to assume that everyone who gets it at this point will have a problem ,” she said .
While there have been enough pregnant women with COVID-19 to show no damage inflicted on foetuses , scientists will now look at whether it ’ s the same story for mutating forms .
“ If we don ’ t understand exactly what is causing the damage , we can ’ t begin to either prevent it or treat it ,” Little said . ■
Faecal matters
Artificial super stool in works at RMIT .
By NCA NewsWire
The urgent need for human poo donations to treat chronic gut infections could soon be eased , with innovative research to develop an artificial super stool .
New research aims to create a new generation of microbial therapies that can replace donor-derived faecal microbiota transplantation .
Technology that replicates complex microbes in the human gut will be manufactured in Australia as part of the microbiome project , for which biotechnology company BiomeBank and RMIT University secured $ 100,000 in funding .
Currently , the material can only be harvested from healthy human stool donations , which is time-consuming and expensive .
Professor Namita Choudhury , discipline leader for Chemical Engineering at RMIT , said the project builds on the team ’ s previous success in developing technology to produce multiple strains of probiotic bacteria in a single bioreactor .
“ The new [ faecal microbiota transplantation ] manufacturing technology will support the growth of many beneficial bacteria strains simultaneously ,” Choudhury said .
“ While individual probiotic bacteria can be cultivated commercially , we need multiple strains in order to restore the complex microbial diversity of the gut when this is lost due to illness , malnutrition or overuse of antibiotics – and we need to produce these varied strains efficiently and cost-effectively .”
The new project draws on innovations in novel bioreactor development by project co-lead Dr Srinivas Mettu and over 25 years of research in the formulation of hydrogels for biomedical and life science applications by fellow co-lead Professor Naba Dutta .
The porous hydrogels are made from sustainable resources and can be designed to support bacteria growth in the bioreactor , mimicking the levels of oxygen and acidity found in the human gut . ■
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