Professorship Opens Doors to Collaborative Research with Shanghai

January 5th, 2010 - Media Statement

A City Beach scientist has been awarded an honorary professorship at The Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine which could help spark new research leads into treatments for diabetes and its complications.

Professor Grant Morahan, head of the Centre for Diabetes Research at the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research's (WAIMR) Perth campus, accepted the award on a recent trip to Shanghai.

The honour was awarded for Professor Morahan's scientific achievements and in anticipation of collaboration between the two research groups.

"I'm very proud to receive this honour from my peers in Shanghai, especially as it is a great chance to further research into treating diabetes" said Professor Morahan.

"The scientists at Shanghai University are isolating the active compounds in traditional Chinese medicine, and what we will do is test those compounds for their potential in treating diabetes or diabetes complications."

"Joining with Shanghai University will help to fast-track both our groups' work and opens up new scope to investigate improved treatments for diabetes."

WAIMR director Professor Peter Klinken said he was proud of Professor Morahan's accolade and looked forward to following the collaborative project.

"Collaborations like this are extremely valuable to medical research and help teams get results more quickly and efficiently, so this honour is a very significant one for Professor Morahan and WAIMR," he said.

"Thanks to the work of Professor Morahan and others like him, WA is being recognised internationally as a valuable scientific resource."

For more information please contact:
Carolyn Monaghan
Communications Manager
Mobile: 0448 021 932 (media enquiries only)
Office: (08) 9224 0377
Email: carolyn.monaghan@waimr.uwa.edu.au