Monash University PhD candidate and medical student Aidan Kashyap |
PhD student Aidan Kashyap, who is progressing research to
help babies born with underdeveloped lungs, was awarded a Young Scientist
Research Prize in Biomedical Sciences by the Royal Society of Victoria on 16
August.
The awards recognise excellence in Victoria’s early career
scientists. Prizes were open to Victorian students in their final year of PhD
candidature, in biomedical and health sciences, biological sciences (non-human),
earth sciences and physical sciences.
In a 15 minute presentation at the Royal Society of
Victoria's Hall, Aidan explained how his research is finding therapies to help
babies who struggle to breathe at birth due to underdeveloped lungs, a
condition known as congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH).
Aidan is co-supervised by A/Prof Ryan Hodges and Dr Philip
DeKoninck from the Fetal Therapy
group, and Prof Stuart Hooper and Dr Kelly Crossley, from the Fetal and Neonatal Health group at
The Ritchie Centre, so is in a unique position to investigate novel therapies
to treat these babies both before and after birth.
The finalists were judged not only on the scientific methodology
and significance of their work, but also their ability to make their work accessible
to a general audience.
Winners were announced at a function following the
presentations. Aidan received a prize of $1250 as the winner in his category.
“During my PhD, we have investigated three therapies that
will each help babies with CDH in a different way – a fetal surgical procedure
to increase lung growth, an antenatal medical therapy to improve lung blood
vessel development, and delaying umbilical cord clamping to enable a smoother
transition to newborn life,” Aidan said.
“It was very exciting to be able to share our experimental
results with the Royal Society, and to hear about the fascinating work of the
other finalists.”
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