Sleep safe space alternatives for Aboriginal families Dr Nina Sivertsen, an international Indigenous nurse and lecturer with the SoNM is working on a project aiming to collaboratively explore the use of a culturally safe sleep alternative, using the PÄ“pi-Pod as an option for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families in the metropolitan region in Adelaide. The project is funded by a Flinders Seeding Grant and runs in partnership with Associate Professor Julian Grant, a Community Advisory Group, Aboriginal Services and Child and Family Health Service at WCHN, SIDS and Kids SA and AHCSA. ATSI infants are over-represented in sudden and unexpected infant death rates with up to four times the rate of non-Indigenous infants. In SA between 2005 and 2013 there were 29 deaths of Aboriginal infants where unsafe sleeping environments were noted. While many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families currently use a range of safe options such as cots, many families
face cultural and economic barriers to accessing these options. This research will be of practice significance trialing an innovative strategy that aims to reduce Indigenous infant mortality by combining practical realtime support with a health promotion intervention and family roles using existing community networks accessed by Indigenous families. The findings will be significant for National and SA Government Policy, informing and underpinning strategies that will improve the SA Safe Infant Sleeping Standards best practice indicators. These indicators currently do not recommend co-sleeping or accommodate culturally safe practices for Aboriginal families leaving individuals, families and health professionals without best practice alternatives. The findings will enable policy makers to see sleeping practices and a safe sleep alternative from the standpoint of Aboriginal families.
Dr Nina Sivertsen
Nina.Sivertsen@flinders.edu.au
Unique cell screening facility at Flinders Cell Screen SA (CeSSA) is a core facility in the Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer that provides the instruments researchers need to conduct their experiments in an automated way and in high number.
Researchers can test thousands of compounds or modify the expression of thousands of genes on models of human disease, or use the facility to develop advanced assays that may later be used in larger experiments.
CeSSA is the only core facility of its type in South Australia. The CeSSA facility can be used for large or small experiments. A robotic arm moves samples between several state-of-the-art instruments, including a high-content microscope and multimode plate reader.
CeSSA works with researchers from all institutes and universities and has a diverse range of projects being undertaken in the laboratory. An ultimate aim of the facility is to be involved in personalised medicine approaches – in which drugs are tested on samples prepared from individual patients to identify patient-
specific treatment options. CeSSA was funded by the ARC, Flinders Medical Centre Foundation and AIB Labs. If you think your research and experiments could benefit from automation, including automation of image analysis, or if you are interested in finding out more about compound or nucleic acid library screening please contact Dr Amanda Aloia. Further information about CeSSA can also be found at www.flinders.edu.au/medicine/ research/facilities/cell-screen-sa.cfm. Amanda.Aloia@flinders.edu.au
Dr Amanda Aloia at the CeSSA facility
research pulse | 5