2021 PhD Scholarship

Years funded: 2022-2023

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is Australia’s leading cause of death, but our diagnostic methods are flawed. Data are emerging for new technology - dynamic chemical imaging (DCI) – which combines artificial intelligence, laser beams and non-harmful radiation to provide diagnoses in real time. Dr Sharma and team, plan to build and validate this technology for CVD: in particular diagnosing heart damage, weak sternums and irregular heart rhythms, with life-saving potential for more than 1 million Australians diagnosed CVD each year.

This will involve:

(a) building a DCI probe that can be used clinically

(b) validating it on high-risk cardiovascular tissue- Heart tissue

Sternum
Arrhythmia
Amyloid

(c) Assessing its impact on cardiac surgery

Avoiding biopsies to assess heart muscle, allowing targeted operations for transplant or revascularisation
Reducing infection rates by early detection of at-risk sternal bones
Reducing arrhythmia, particularly post cardiac surgery, by identifying at-risk hearts and implementing prophylactic measures