The Kolling Institute is a part of the Northern Clinical School, University of Sydney.
History
The Institute of Pathological Research was established in a cottage within the grounds of the Royal North Shore Hospital in 1920 with the appointment of a biochemist. Doctor W. Wilson Ingram was appointed as the first director in 1928. He remained in the post for almost 50 years. During his tenure, he expanded the medical knowledge of diabetes, opening the first clinic for its treatment in Australia[citation needed] . He also accompanied Sir Douglas Mawson on two Antarctic expeditions as medical officer and research scientist between 1929 and 1931.[2]
A new two-story building was officially opened in 1931 and named the Kolling Institute after businessman Charles Kolling following an in memoriam donation from his widow Eva Kolling.[3]
In the last few years, the Kolling Institute has expanded to include other research groups from the Royal North Shore campus. The Kolling Institute was thus rebranded upon relocation to the new Kolling Building in late 2008.[citation needed]
Directors
Dr Max Rudolf "Rudi" Lemberg held an appointment within the institute from 1935 to 1972, establishing a major research focus on porphyrins, structures within molecules which give the red colour to blood and the yellow colour to bile. Rudi Lemberg became a Fellow of the Royal Society and was one of the founders of biochemistry in Australia.[4]
Bill Ingram was succeeded in 1974 by Dr David Nelson who directed the institute until his death in 1989. David Nelson's research focus was in immune responses and allergy, particularly the involvement of the blood coagulation system in these processes.[citation needed]
Professor Robert Baxter became the third director of the Kolling Institute in 1994. Professor Baxter is an international leader in the endocrinology, cell biology and biochemistry of cellular growth factors and is listed as an Institute for Scientific Information highly cited researcher.[citation needed] The existing endocrinology research group (led by Dr Bruce Robinson) expanded into insulin growth factors and IGF binding proteins. Professor Baxter resigned as director in December 2011, and is continuing with his research interests at the institute.[citation needed]
In January 2012, Professor Jonathan Morris commenced as the fourth director of the Kolling Institute. Professor Morris was the associate dean and head of the Northern Clinical School.[citation needed] Professor Morris believed that the future direction of the Kolling lay in the adoption of the academic health centre culture, where medical research breakthroughs lead to direct clinical benefits for patients.[citation needed]
In May 2019, Professor Carolyn Sue became the fifth director of research, Kolling Institute after being interim director for 12 months. Professor Sue is also the director of neurogenetics at Royal North Shore Hospital and director of the National Centre for Adult Stem Cell Research (Sydney). Her focus is on strengthening the institute's research performance in its quest to deliver translational research outcomes for patients.[citation needed]
The Kolling Institute today
Over the decades the Kolling Institute grew substantially and extended into a number of other buildings across the Royal North Shore Hospital campus. In October 2008 Kolling Institute researchers came together in a new research facility known as the Kolling Building.
The Kolling Institute is now a research facility of both the Northern Sydney Local Health District and the University of Sydney. In addition to laboratory-based research in the Kolling Building, its programs include the clinical and public health research activities of its associated divisions. Its activities are substantially funded by competitive grants, supported by donations and other non-competitive funding, and underpinned by the Medical Research Support Program of the NSW Office for Science and Medical Research. The Kolling Institute is accredited by the National Health and Medical Research Council and is a member of the Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes.[citation needed]
Research interests
The Kolling Institute's research interests fall under the following categories:
Over the decades the Kolling Institute grew substantially and extended into a number of other buildings across the Royal North Shore Hospital campus. In late 2008 these dispersed laboratories were consolidated into the new Kolling Building, a purpose-built medical research and education facility which was funded jointly by the NSW Department of Health and the University of Sydney. In addition to four floors for educational activities, the building includes seven research floors, potentially accommodating up to 350 research staff and students.[citation needed]
The Kolling's research focuses on 'lifespan' conditions, including:
The Hormones and Cancer Group amalgamated in 2007 from the merging of research laboratories in Cancer Genetics, Functional Genomics and Growth Research. This reorganisation, following the appointment of Professor Bruce Robinson as dean of the Faculty of Medicine, has united the Kolling's major cancer research teams into a single group.[citation needed]
Research focus
Adrenal Lab
Bill Walsh Cancer Research Labs
Cell Signaling Lab
Cellular and Diagnostic Proteomics Lab
Cerebral Tumour Lab
Functional Genomics Lab
Protein Structure Function Lab
Thyroid Cancer & Mineral Metabolism Lab
Tumour Bank
Tumour Biology Lab
The Institute of Bone and Joint Research
The Institute of Bone & Joint Research (IBJR) was established in 1999 to provide an Institute devoted to advancing the understanding of disorders and diseases of the musculoskeletal system, their diagnosis and treatments.[citation needed]
At the RNSH, basic and clinical research within the IBJR are presently undertaken in the Departments of Orthopaedics and Rheumatology and their associated laboratories. The IBJR joined the Kolling Institute of Medical Research in 2006.[citation needed]
IBJR primary objectives are:
To identify the causes of joint destruction in arthritis and to develop surgical and medical treatments which will restore joint structure and function
To understand the pathophysiology of bone, cartilage and tendon failure in musculoskeletal disorders and devise new approaches for their repair and regeneration
To identify the factors (inherited, occupational, hormonal, etc.) which contribute to the morbidity of bone and joint disease in the Australian community
Apart from supporting research activities in the above areas, the institute also disseminates recent advances in the understanding of the musculoskeletal sciences by organising regular public seminars and scientific symposia where leading specialists present their latest research findings.
The Bone and Joint group investigates diseases of the bone, cartilage, tendons, ligaments and joints, with particular research interests in osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis and spinal diseases.
Laboratories in IBJR
A3BC
Back Pain Research
Department of Rheumatology
Northern Metabolic Bone Centre Trust
Murray Maxwell Biomechanics Laboratory
Orthopaedics department
Osteoarthritis Research
Raymond Purves Bone and Joint Research Laboratory
Sutton Arthritis Research Laboratory
Cardiology
Researches cardiovascular disease with particular strengths in cellular electrophysiology and the use of translational models to understand heart failure and repair mechanisms.
Cardiac Technology Lab – Head of Research: Prof Stephen Hunyor
Cardiac Surgery – Head of Research: Dr Ross Smith
Northern Heart Research Centre – Head of Research: Prof Helge Rasmussen
Vascular Biology Lab – Head of Research: Dr Michael Ward
Headed by Professor Carolyn Sue, the Neurogenetics group studies disease mechanisms involved in inherited neurological disorders with a particular interest in mitochondrial function and movement disorders (e.g. Parkinson's disease).
Pain management
Established in 1990, the Pain Management Research Institute (PMRI) is a joint initiative between the University of Sydney and Royal North Shore Hospital. PMRI is a division of the Kolling Institute of Medical Research, which has the broad goal of improving human health.
Headed by Professor Michael Cousins, Pain Management aims to develop treatments for a range of severe, persistent pain problems (e.g. due to injury, cancer, inflammation). This involves basic research to understand the structural, molecular and physiological changes in the nervous system, and clinical and epidemiological studies.
PMRI consists of a multidisciplinary group of health professionals and research staff who are collaborating in education and research to improve pain treatment in adults and children.
Staff include:
Medical specialists in pain medicine, psychiatry, rheumatology, palliative care
Registered nurses
Clinical psychologists
Allied health professionals such as physiotherapists and occupational therapists
Basic and applied scientists
PMRI works in close collaboration with the Pain Management & Research Centre (PMRC), which treats patients with acute pain, cancer pain, and chronic non-cancer pain. PMRI's internationally recognised research about has improved the lives of thousands of Australians by reducing their acute, chronic and cancer pain. PMRI conducts basic and clinical research programs and also operates a national and international educational program leading to a Masters qualification in Pain Management.
Laboratories:
Brain, Behaviour & Society Research Lab
Cellular Physiology Research Lab
Opioids & Neuropathic Pain Lab
Peripheral Mechanisms and Injury Lab
Spinal Cord Pain
Renal research
Headed by Professor Carol Pollock, Renal Research conducts research into the molecular mechanisms underpinning progressive kidney disease using cell culture models of diabetes and studies of patients with diabetes.
The laboratory uses a number of approaches, including studying the single cell, cells in culture, animal models of diabetes through to studies on people with diabetes. Work from Renal Research has highlighted the parallels between developmental biology and cancer cell biology in progressive kidney disease. In 2007 a key focus of our work has been to elucidate the cellular abnormalities inherent in epithelial to mesenchymal transition (common to cancer cell biology) and the recapitulation of developmental signaling processes in kidney disease.
Reproduction and endocrine (perinatal)
Headed by Professor Jonathan Morris, Perinatal Research aims to improve the health and wellbeing of mothers and babies through biomedical, clinical and population health research.[citation needed]
The Sydney Deafness Research Centre (SDRC) is a research facility located on a hospital campus, the Kolling Building, part of the University of Sydney (Northern Campus).
The SDRC team is led by Clinical Associate Professor Nirmal Patel, a surgeon scientist with a particular interest in cochlear implantation. Nirmal is an ear surgeon at the Royal North Shore and North Shore Private Hospitals campus. He spends his non-clinical time with the SDRC team overseeing the research and deafness alleviation programme of the SDRC.[citation needed] Nirmal completed a Master of Surgery by Research Thesis through the New York University/ University of New South Wales in the field of gene and stem cell therapy of the inner ear. Nirmal also actively teaches audiology students, medical students, ENT registrars and audiologists on a weekly basis.[citation needed]
Other research areas
Ageing and pharmacology (geriatric pharmacology and hepatology)
