Dr Kay Nguo |
Monash
researcher Dr Kay Nguo has been awarded the Golden Key Asia-Pacific
Alumni Professional Development Grant to develop her skills in the use of stable isotopes in metabolic research.
Having
completed her PhD at Monash University’s Department of Nutrition, Dietetics and
Food last year, Dr Nguo is now a postdoctoral researcher. She will use this grant towards attendance at
the 4th International Conference on Recent Advances and
Controversies in Measuring Energy Metabolism (RACMEM) in Switzerland.
“A primary element of my position at Monash University is working with
a dual inlet Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer (IRMS) to analyse stable isotopes
(oxygen 18 and deuterium) for the determination of body composition and energy
expenditure in humans,” Dr Nguo said.
This gold standard technique is called Doubly Labelled Water (DLW), a
measurement used to determine energy expenditure in free living
individuals.
“There are few nutrition
scientists with knowledge of the DLW technique in Australia, so this training
will have broader benefits in that it will help to greatly increase our
capacity to further explore and conduct metabolic research and to undertake
analysis relevant to others in the field.”
As far as we know, only two universities in Australia have
capabilities to specifically perform DLW, and Monash University will be the
first facility in Victoria.
Dr Nguo said attendance at the conference will help her acquire
the skills to conduct nutrition research projects that require accurate
measurement of energy expenditure and total body water in humans for the
exploration of the concepts surrounding energy balance.
Earlier this year, Dr Nguo was also awarded
the Australia
Nutrition Trust Fund (ANTF) Travelling Fellowship to visit Professor Dale
Schoeller at the University of Wisconsin, USA.
“An
internationally recognised expert in energy metabolism and body composition,
Professor Schoeller was the first person to apply the doubly labelled water
technique for the measurement of energy expenditure in humans in 1982,” Dr Nguo
said.
Dr Nguo acknowledges Professor Helen Truby, Head of the Department
of Nutrition, Dietetics and Food for her support and the opportunity to be
involved in this research.
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