Discipline of Physiology
The Discipline of Physiology is part of the School of Medical Sciences and is the focus of teaching and research in the physiological sciences at The University of Sydney.
Its research staff and students are located primarily at the Camperdown Campus of the University, in the Anderson Stuart Building and in the Medical Foundation Building. Academics in the discipline teach undergraduate programs in the Faculty of Science, and the Graduate Medical Program.
The research interests of the faculty span a broad range of topics in the physiological sciences, with particular research focus on neuroscience, cardiovascular physiology, reproductive physiology, and endocrine function. Techniques used in our laboratories include imaging, electrophysiology, molecular biology, and human and animal behaviour.
Latest news & events
Hypertension breakthrough
Using genomics technology, Professor Brian Morris' group have discovered all of the genes and microRNAs abnormally expressed in kidneys from subjects with essential hypertension. This also revealed the pathways involved. Since a kidney defect has long been suspected as being the cause of hypertension, the findings represent a major breakthrough. As it turned out, one of the genes encoded renin, which Brian had been studying for over 40 years. Transfection experiments in kidney cells with PhD student Francine Marques suggested that the 6-fold over-expression of renin seen was caused by loss of expression of two microRNAs that they showed normally target the renin messenger RNA for degradation. The findings appeared in the Dec 2011 issue of 'Hypertension' and were widely reported in the news media including the Sydney Morning Herald and the Daily Mail.
Francine Marques was awarded the Bosch Institute's 2011 Bercovici Medal for this work. She also received the award for the best student oral presentation at the 2011 High Blood Pressure Research Council of Australia meeting in December; this award included being the Council's nominee to present her paper at the British Hypertension Society meeting in Cambridge in 2012.