Shantel Duffy

Brain & Mind Research Institute
University of Sydney, NSW
Rotary Club of Parkes, District 9700
Depression 2011

Shantel Duffy grew up in Grose Vale, a small semi-rural town in the foothills of the Blue Mountains. She attended her local public school and completed her HSC in 2004. Shantel was a talented student and always aspired to attend university. She had a passion for mathematics and science, but always wanted to work with people in the health care setting. Shantel was fascinated with nutrition and the effect of food on the human body, and as such started a degree in exercise sport science and nutrition after finishing her HSC.  
 
In 2009 Shantel graduated from her undergraduate degree. While completing this degree Shantel developed a fascination for physiology and the functioning of the human body. After a brief foray in the fitness industry she decided to take her knowledge and interest in physiology to a new profession and began a Master of Diagnostic Radiography. Shantel’s academic achievements during the first semester of her Master’s degree provided the opportunity to complete her Honours year as a part of her Masters, which introduced her to the complexities and challenges of research. During this time, Shantel was also able to gain hands on experience by working in a hospital in Western Sydney before graduating in 2011.
 
Although Shantel enjoyed working in a busy hospital, she thrived in the research setting, and even before graduating from her Master’s degree with Honours First Class, began seeking PhD opportunities.
 
Shantel’s honours supervisor, Dr Roger Bourne, was working with the Ageing Brain Centre at the Brain and Mind Research Institute where a new 3T MRI scanner had just been installed. A trial investigating the effect of fish oil on the development of depression was in the final stages of planning and an opening for a PhD student became available. Having not only a back ground in medical and radiation sciences but also in nutrition, Shantel jumped at the opportunity to be involved with such a project. Her PhD aims to determine the mechanisms behind the anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects of fish oil using in vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Shantel hopes that her research will result in a natural, cost effective and readily available preventative treatment for depression that will improve the lives of ageing Australians.

SUMMARY OF PROJECT:
Understanding the ‘in-vivo’ mechanisms underpinning the anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects of omega-3 fatty acids: a Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy study.
This project aims to determine the mechanisms underpinning the neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory effects of omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil) on the brain. Using sophisticated brain scanning techniques, this study will investigate whether fish oil has anti-inflammatory effects on the brain and measure brain connectivity by assessing white matter integrity. Changes in brain metabolism will be measured using magnetic resonance imaging. The project will also determine whether fish oil has beneficial effects on cognition (ie. memory and thinking) and mood and whether the optimal effects of fish oil supplementation are related to the duration of supplementation.
 
The study is a double-blind randomised controlled trial involving the dietary supplementation of omega-3 fatty acids and a placebo condition. There will be three principal occasions of measurement over the 12-month treatment period: baseline, 3-months, and 12-months. Participants will be asked to complete self report surveys, blood tests, neuropsychological assessments, medical examinations and brain scans. Brain scan measures will include Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, Structural Neuroimaging and Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI). Two hundred older people (aged 60-74 years) will be recruited through the existing Beyond Ageing cohort, a group who are ‘at risk’ of depression and/or cognitive decline. It is anticipated that recruitment for the study will begin in May 2011.  
 
This will be the first community based prevention trial using fish oils and targets the long-neglected area of the prevention of depression in older adults. It has advantages over previous trials in this area as the focus of this trial is on understanding the mechanisms of action of this easily accessible, low cost and safe dietary supplement. This study is opportunistic as it capitalises on an already committed cohort of older adults at high risk for depression and cognitive decline. Due to the increasing ageing population and large expected increase in dementia prevalence rates in Australia, the findings of this study have enormous significance, since prevention of such large-scale problems with such cost-effective interventions have broader public health advantages. Understanding the science of how such interventions work, will ultimately assist in the refinement of such interventions and will be informative for a broad range of health conditions.