Inflammatory Origins

Understanding causes of infection and inflammation and their effects on heart, metabolic and dental health for earlier and more effective prevention.

The Inflammatory Origins group tackles these three related challenges for childhood and lifelong health.

  • Why do only a minority of children develop severe infection and inflammation, despite all children being exposed to potentially life-threatening germs and other exposures?
  • How does inflammation and infection in childhood impact the development of cardiovascular and metabolic disease (heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and obesity), which start in early life and are leading causes of illness and death in Australia and worldwide?
  • How does inflammation and lifestyle factors impact oral health during childhood?

We have a multi-disciplinary approach, reflected in our researchers' diverse scientific and clinical expertise, spanning oral health to immunology. The Inflammatory Origins Group places considerable importance and resources on the career development of early and mid-career researchers.

Our vision

Reduce the burden of infection, inflammation and social inequalities in children by translating new findings into earlier and effective prevention of cardiovascular, metabolic and oral disease across the life course.

Our mission

To understand how inflammation and infection shape cardiovascular, metabolic and oral health across the life course by integrating total population data linkage, longitudinal population-based and high-risk cohort studies, mechanistic and omics data, and molecular immunology. These diseases develop throughout life, offering an under-used opportunity for early and effective prevention.

Our key research areas

  • Infection and inflammation
  • Cardiovascular disease risk across the life course
  • Obesity and metabolic health, including the effects of new treatments
  • Multi-omics and molecular immunology
  • Dental health in early life
  • Mechanisms underlying social inequalities in health
  • Kawasaki Disease
  • Translation of key epidemiological and mechanistic findings into policy and practice.

Watch more on our work

See Professor David Burgner elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (AAHMS) in 2022 (0-0.25 sec).

Further reading