Professor Melinda Coughlan has a BSc (Biology) with Honours in Nutrition from Deakin University, and a PhD in Metabolism from the University of Melbourne. Her PhD focused on mediators of inflammation and oxidative stress in the development of gestational diabetes (Mercy Hospital for Women). After completing her PhD, Melinda joined the Baker Heart Research Institute as a postdoctoral researcher in Prof Mark Cooper’s Diabetes Complications Division. In 2012, she became the Head of the Glycation, Nutrition and Metabolism Laboratory at the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute. In Nov 2016, she was recruited to Monash University’s School of Translational Medicine as one of the key recruits to help establish the Department of Diabetes. Associate Professor Coughlan holds a REDI Fellowship from the MRFF and has research grants from the NHMRC, JDRF and Diabetes Australia.

Dietary factors in the initiation of diabetes and its complications:

• Maillard reaction products/advanced glycation end-products (AGEs).
• Dietary constituents and incretins (GLP-1).
• Ultraprocessed foods and gut microbial ecology.

Mitochondrial health in diabetes:

• Mapping the mitochondrial bioenergetic signature of individuals with diabetic kidney disease.
• Investigating pathways of mitochondrial quality control.
• Validation of mitochondria-targeted therapies in pre-clinical models.

Identification of novel targets of therapy for chronic kidney disease:

• Multiomic profiling of human renal biospecimens from subjects with diabetes and kidney disease.

Achievements and Awards

• REDI Fellowship (MRFF)
• JDRF Career Development Award
• Nutrition Society of Australia Mid Career Research Award
• Roche-Australian and New Zealand Society of Nephrology Senior Scientist Career Development Award
• Australian Diabetes Society Skip Martin Early Career Fellowship
• National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC) New Investigator Project Grant
• Registered Nutritionist (Nutrition Society of Australia)