Heads above the crowd
by Michèle Nardelli
Young dynamic UniSA researchers Dr Janna Morrison (Sansom Institute) and Dr Nicole Lamond (Centre for Sleep Research) have been named Tall Poppies in the awards announced this week.
The Tall Poppy Science Awards were established to reward high achievement
by young researchers in the physical, biomedical and applied sciences and in
engineering and biotechnology.
Dr Lamond has more than a passing interest in sleep. Whether she is in the lab or in the field, a key goal of her research is to ensure workers in a range of industries are able to operate safely in the workplace. Just back from Queensland to receive her award, she has spent the past month doing more research on the consequences of sleep loss and the impact of irregular work schedules on sleep, alertness and performance. Much of her research has focused on shift workers such as pilots, train drivers and miners. Her most recent study investigates the recovery of sleep and waking function following moderate (42 hrs) or severe (63 hrs) sleep loss.
Dr
Morrison won a Heart Foundation and Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada
Fellowship in 2003 for research that examines the link between low birth
weights and an increase in both heart diseases and adult diseases generally.
Her research continues to focus on low birth weights, the environment in the
womb and how that may impact on infant and adult health. In 2005 she won a
second Heart Foundation Fellowship to continue her research into the effects
of poor prenatal growth on the development of the heart.