Clinical trials are essential in developing new, improved, and more effective treatments and interventions. Without trials, researchers and professionals in the field cannot properly determine whether these new treatments and interventions are safe and effective.
Furthermore, when larger group testing occurs, this allows researchers to identify and ensure that any improvements resulting from the intervention occurs for as many people as possible and are not just occurring in one individual.
Ahead of the J.P. Morgan Health Conference in San Francisco in January 2023, Australian Health Journal met with Clinials CEO & Founder Maree Beare about developing the next generation recruitment platform and digital marketing service for clinical research. Maree talks about the reasons why clinical trials can fail and the importance of bringing participants much more closer to researchers.
With this need, the Clinials platform is geared towards patient centric trials and reducing site burden. The aim is to accelerate lifesaving medicines coming to market by connecting participants and researchers. The platform allows participants to come to researchers with their eligibility in hand among other capabilities.
Supporting CRO’s, sites and sponsors, the Clinials platform uses AI to convert complex trial protocol into plain language and pre-screening questions. This gives researchers the tools to communicate with their participants meaningfully. The plain language text can be used in a variety of situations like researcher led advertising, landing pages and plain language summaries.
-
Understanding extracellular vesicles in cancer therapy research
Joy Wolfram is an Associate Professor at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology and the School of Chemical Engineering at the University of Queensland in Australia. Originally from Finland, she earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biology before transitioning to engineering with a PhD in nanotechnology completed in China. Wolfram has over a decade of experience working in hospitals in the United States before joining the University of Queensland.
Her research focuses on extracellular vesicles, which are crucial for cell communication both locally within tissues and over longer distances between organs. Her lab studies the roles of these vesicles in both health and disease, particularly in cancer. They investigate the harmful messages released by cancer cells that aid in tumour growth, specifically in breast cancer, while also exploring how to harness beneficial extracellular vesicles from healthy individuals as potential therapeutics.
-
Surgical Site Infection (SSI) Synopsis, including modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors
Talking to the Australian Health Journal, Professor Russo states there is a particular concern in joint operations, such as hip or knee replacements, as infections in these areas can have severe consequences, including the removal of the infected joint, prolonged treatment, and significant costs for both hospitals and patients. Despite the substantial impact of surgical site infections, Australia lacks a national surveillance program for these infections, making it challenging to obtain accurate data. However, an estimate suggests that around 45,000 surgical site infections occur annually in Australia, resulting in approximately 900 deaths.
-
Awareness, diagnosis and treatment of Congenital Hypothyroidism
Australian Health Journal spoke to Associate Professor MIchelle Jack about congenital hypothyroidism and newborn screening and her concerns in the varying thresholds for across different states in Australia. Despite the existence of newborn screening programs since the 1970s, there is still controversy surrounding the appropriate screening levels. Congenital hypothyroidism, affecting about one in 3500 infants, can lead to severe intellectual and physical impairment if not diagnosed early. The condition is mainly caused by the thyroid gland’s failure to develop properly, resulting in insufficient thyroid hormone production.
