Flinders University

Australia

Flinders University is a comprehensive, research-intensive university that embraces both the technological and the social challenges inherent in many problems.

Over recent years, the issue of models of care, such as caring for the elderly, for those with disabilities or those with mental health and wellbeing challenges, have increasingly taken centre stage in our communities.

Flinders has been proactive in combining technological and social research to tackle these issues head-on, with focused research initiatives led by the recently established Caring Futures Institute, the Órama Institute for Mental Health and Wellbeing, the Social Work Innovation Research Living Space and the Flinders Digital Health Research Centre.

Other areas of focus for Flinders’ research are the technological and social challenges we are seeing in industrial production as the world transitions to advanced forms of manufacturing, commonly referred to as Industry 4.0.

The depth and breadth of the direct connections between our researchers and industry are a vital component of our research activities. We work in close partnership with businesses, not-for-profit enterprises and government to ensure that our research results in the types of innovation and transformation that benefit society.

There is no question that the challenges facing the world are great, but our capacity to rise to the challenge is what defines research excellence at Flinders University.

In 1966 when Flinders University was established, founding Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Karmel stated his ambitions for the university "we want to experiment, and experiment bravely". In the spirit of this tradition, we recognise the "brave minds" of our researchers in BRAVE Minds (Edition 2).

1 June 2020 - 31 May 2021

Region: Global
Subject/journal group: All

The table to the right includes counts of all research outputs for Flinders University published between 1 June 2020 - 31 May 2021 which are tracked by the Nature Index.

Hover over the donut graph to view the FC output for each subject. Below, the same research outputs are grouped by subject. Click on the subject to drill-down into a list of articles organized by journal, and then by title.

Note: Articles may be assigned to more than one subject area.

Count	Share
44	8.35

Outputs by subject (Share)

Subject	Count	Share
Life Sciences	27	3.47
Chemistry	6	2.61
Earth & Environmental Sciences	11	1.93
Physical Sciences	3	0.66

Highlight of the month

A gut reaction to microbial metabolites

© KATERYNA KON/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Getty Images

Metabolites produced by gut bacteria can activate nerves that connect the intestines to the brain, a finding that could lead to new treatments for gut microbe-related neurological disorders.

Specialized cells that line the intestines sense nutritional and microbial stimuli. But it was unclear whether these biosensor cells, after detecting microbial cues, then relay those signals to the nervous system.

Working with zebrafish, a team that included scientists from Flinders University found that short, rod-shaped bacteria can indeed trigger nerves in the gut through the production of an amino-acid derivative.

This metabolic by-product engages a receptor on intestinal biosensor cells, leading directly to the stimulation of vagal nerve pathways (that affect brain function) and indirectly to the activation of cholinergic neurons (that affect gut motility) through the secretion of a neurotransmitter hormone.

The metabolite, the researchers showed, can also stimulate the same receptor in human and mouse cells.

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