Rate My Professor Grace Burns

Dr. Grace Burns is a postdoctoral researcher and casual academic in the School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing, at the University of Newcastle, Australia. She earned a Bachelor of Medical Science (Pathology)/Bachelor of Forensic Biotechnology double degree from Charles Sturt University in 2015, a Bachelor of Biomedical Science (Honours First Class) from the University of Newcastle in 2016 investigating immune responses to food proteins following antibiotic treatment, and a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Newcastle in 2021, characterizing the immunopathology of functional dyspepsia. Her research specializes in immunology and microbiology, focusing on the immune system's role in gastrointestinal diseases. She examines how small intestinal homeostatic imbalances contribute to inappropriate responses to luminal antigens, particularly in functional dyspepsia (FD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Key findings include links between duodenal microbiota alterations and immune activation in FD patients, potential diagnostic biomarkers replacing symptom-based diagnosis, and altered immune cell populations distinguishing FD mechanisms from controls. Fields of research encompass cellular immunology, gastroenterology and hepatology.

Grace's career includes roles as Research Assistant (2020-2021) and current positions in the Centre for Research Excellence in Digestive Health. She has secured awards such as Travel Grants from United European Gastroenterology Week (2019), Priority Research Centre for Digestive Health & Neurogastroenterology (2019, 2018), Tubingen Australia Psycho-Neuro-Gastroenterology Summer School (2019), Poster of Distinction at Experimental Biology Conference (2018), and Honours Scholarship (2016). Notable publications are 'Evidence for Local and Systemic Immune Activation in Functional Dyspepsia and the Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Systematic Review' (2019, American Journal of Gastroenterology), 'Immune Activation in Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders' (2019), 'Physiological mechanisms of unexplained (functional) gastrointestinal disorders' (2021, Journal of Physiology-London), 'Immune responses in the irritable bowel syndromes: time to consider the small intestine' (2022, BMC Medicine), 'Understanding food allergy through neuroimmune interactions in the gastrointestinal tract' (2023, Annals of Allergy Asthma & Immunology), and 'Type 2 and type 17 effector cells are increased in the duodenal mucosa but not peripheral blood of patients with functional dyspepsia' (2023, Frontiers in Immunology). With over 1,000 citations, her contributions advance understanding of host-microbiome-immune interactions in functional gastrointestinal disorders. She co-supervises PhD students, has mentored six Honours students to first-class results, peer-reviews for gastroenterology journals, and delivers community seminars on gut health.