Dr Michael James Christopher

Biography

He have 20 years combined experience with St. Vincent’s Health Melbourne — studied insulin resistance/diabetes defects using animal and human models — and the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute — developed and studied targeted lipidomics/gene expression abnormalities in plasma and tissues in obese/diabetic mice and humans. During his PhD (2011–15, Metabolomics Laboratory, Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute) he examined the biological interplay and contribution of lipids to the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes. His methodology was established using mass spectrometry to measure lipids implicated in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes, and then lipid abnormalities were examined in plasma and tissues in an obese/diabetic db/db mouse model and a comparable human cohort study. Correlation analyses of activated genes and lipids in livers of db/db mouse identified lipids/genes as risk factors and targets for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. He is currently employed as a Postdoctoral Scientist as part of a collaborative birth cohort study (GUSTO) centered in Singapore which is examining foetal and early life metabolic and associated disease outcomes in Asian populations.

Research Interest

Metabolomics