Michael Stark

Professor Michael Stark

Professor

Robinson Research Institute

Division of Research and Innovation

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.


Professor Michael Stark - Women's and Children's Hospital.

As Deputy Director of the RRI and Research Group Leader of the Neonatal Medicine Group Professor Stark's research is centred on improving neonatal survival free of neurodevelopmental impairment. He leads a multi-disciplinary team of clinician and basic scientists, with projects encompassing pre-clinical research, large-scale perinatal randomised controlled trials and research implementation and evaluation. The current focus of this research is 1) better understanding fundamental oxygen physiology in the very preterm newborn with a specific focus on early acquired neonatal brain injury 2) development of novel approaches to transfusion in the high risk preterm newborn, in conjunction with the Australian Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service, to minimise the risk of transfusion related immunomodulation, morbidity and mortality during the neonatal period and 3) patient specific approaches to nutrition in the critically ill newborn designed to promote a self-healing phenotype, reducing inflammation, and improving both short and longer term health outcomes.

Neonatal Medicine, Developmental Physiology, Early Origins of Health

Professor Stark leads the Clinical Trials and Translation Foundation Research Stream within the Robinson Research Institute which aims to deliver world-class advances in human reproduction, and maternal and child health, to inform clinical care, policy, and practice. As Head of the Neonatal Medicine Research Group, Professor Stark leads a multi-disciplinary team conducting pre-clinical and clinical studies focusing on improving health outcomes of preterm newborns. These studies include NHMRC and MRFF funded discovery science and multi-centre randomised trials and prospective cohort trials. Particular areas of interest include oxygen physiology with a focus on perinatal brain injury, transfusion medicine, and new approaches to prevent lung disease in newborns born preterm. The projects will involve students becoming active members of the research team within the neonatal intensive care unit in addition to laboratory based studies with a strong pre-clinical, clinical and translational focus. 

Projects available:

Research Project 1

Title: Defining a safe operating reference range for brain oxygen in very preterm babies at risk of brain injury: An exploratory study

Project description: Preterm babies are particularly vulnerable to brain injury which is a recognised lifelong complication for babies born prematurely. Although this injury is likely to be multifactorial in origin, abnormalities of oxygen handling are known to be important with injury related to variance in either direction. Both low and high brain oxygen content can cause oxidative stress and injury. Hypoxia, or low blood oxygen, results in brain damage from cellular injury and death whereas, hyperoxia, or high brain oxygen content, results in oxygen free radical production with damage to DNA.

Unfortunately, death and impairment from brain damage remain common outcomes for the very preterm babies despite significant resources. Managing oxygen is critically important with current systems failing to adequately measure overall oxygen status. This study will develop a simple, non-invasive method for measuring oxygen levels that is consistent with physiology but also works within the context of current clinical care.

Projects available for: Honours; HDR
Location: The Robinson Research Institute, Norwich Building; Women’s & Children’s Hospital
Research project start: Semester 1 and 2
Special requirements: Police Clearance, Working With Children

Research Project 2

Title: Does late amino acid administration improve outcomes in babies needing surgery? The DELA3Y Trial 

Project description: Congenital anomalies requiring major abdominal or thoracic (excluding cardiac) surgery in the neonatal period have an incidence ranging from 1 in 2500 to 1 in 10,000 yet comprise approximately 17% of all late preterm and term newborns admitted to Australian NICUs per annum. In this group, normal feeding is difficult in the peri-and post-operative period, requiring the use of early intravenous parenteral nutrition (PN) consisting of carbohydrate, lipid, and amino acid constituent parts. Evidence in critically ill children challenges this suggesting potential benefit from delayed provision of amino acids in the acute phase of a critical illness with reductions in the length of intensive care admission by 30% and duration of ventilation by 40%. These effects may be greatest in the youngest patients. Confirmation of this response in a well-designed, prospective randomised controlled trial of ill surgical newborns is a critical step towards practice change and improvements in both short- and longer-term clinical outcomes. This study is multicentre, parallel-group, superiority, blinded, randomised controlled trial to investigate whether delayed compared to early provision of the amino acid component of PN in late-preterm and term newborns requiring major surgery in the immediate neonatal period will shorten the duration of neonatal intensive care admission. 

Projects available for: Honours; HDR
Location: The Robinson Research Institute, Norwich Building; Women’s & Children’s Hospital
Research project start: Semester 1 and 2
Special requirements: Police Clearance, Working With Children

Research project 3

Title: MOM NOSE BEST: Mothers Own Breast Milk Intranasally or Standard Care in Preterm Babies with Intraventricular Haemorrhage 

Project Description: High-grade germinal matrix haemorrhage-intraventricular haemorrhage (GMH-IVH) has an incidence of 1 per 2000 live births and despite continuing improvements in neonatal intensive care, the burden of GMH-IVH remains at best unchanged with recent data even reporting increases in incidence. GMH-IVH is the leading cause of preterm death while in survivors it is associated with significant morbidity such as posthemorrhagic ventricular dilatation (PHVD) and haemorrhagic parenchymal infarction (HPI). There are currently no readily available treatment options to treat GMH-IVH and prevent progression to PHVD. Emerging evidence suggests that intranasal maternal breastmilk represent a promising novel therapy for prevention of PHVD in infants with GMH-IVH. Fresh human breast milk is a rich source of live stem cells, including pluripotent stem cells, mesenchymal (MSCs) and neural/progenitor stem cells (Hoban 2014, Zhang 2025). Their beneficial actions in brain injury include migration to site of injury, secretion of neurotrophic factors, induction of cell proliferation, immunomodulation, and reduction of cell death. This study is a multicentre randomised controlled trial, the first using MOM, in preterm infants with GMH-IVH. Preterm infants with any grade GMH-IVH will be randomly assigned, at time of GMH-IVH detection, to receive standard care or standard care and intranasal fresh MOM.  We hypothesise that intranasal MOM will reduce incidence of PHVD, measured with routine serial cranial ultrasound by clinicians blind to treatment allocation. Secondary outcomes will include additional measures of brain injury on cranial ultrasound, intervention for PHVD, preterm morbidities, and neurodevelopmental assessment at 3 and 12 months. 

Projects available for: Honours; HDR
Location: The Robinson Research Institute, Norwich Building; Women’s & Children’s Hospital, Flinders Medical Centre
Research project start: Semester 1 and 2
Special requirements: Police Clearance, Working With Children

2026-

2030

NHMRC Clinical Trials and Cohort Studies GNT2043361 AI BabyCCINO: An adaptive platform trial of caffeine dosing to improve outcomes for very preterm infants $3,014,066
2025-2028 NHMRC Ideas Grant GNT2038332 CIC A new paradigm to mature the preterm lung without damaging the brain $2,308,299
2025-2026 Channel 7 Research Foundation   CIC Turning of the danger signal: reducing ventilator induced lung injury in preterm infants $99,973
2024-2025 Channel 7 Research Foundation   CIC A novel prophylactic for the prevention of ventilator induced lung injury in preterm infants $99,987
2025-2028 Women’s and Children’s Research Foundation BLOOM Grant   AI Overcoming barriers to clinical practice: meeting the omega-3 fat DHA requirements of infants born very preterm with personalised feeding protocols $1.226.330
2024-2028 NHMRC Clinical Trials and Cohort Studies GNT2032384 AI PROMOAT: An adaptive platform trial of antibiotic therapy to improve outcomes from preterm prelabour rupture of membranes $4,388,940
2024-2026 NHMRC Ideas Grant GNT2027979 CIB Early transfusion to support blood volume in preterm piglets $1,032,160
2022-2027 MRFF Clinician Researchers: Applied Research in Health 

MRFAR000054

CIJ

Transforming Clinical Research to Improve Outcomes for Preterm Infants

 

$2,700,000
2021-2026 NHMRC Clinical Trials and Cohort Studies GNT2001391 AI Cognitive improvement through early restoration of circadian rhythms in very preterm infants via environmental modification: The CIRCA DIEM Study $3,077,039
2020-2021– Channel 7 Research Foundation Project Grant   CIC

Protecting babies of asthmatic women from lung disease

 

$100,000
2020-2026 NHMRC Clinical Trials and Cohort Studies  GNT1183561 CIA The effect of transfusion with washed versus unwashed red blood cells to modify neonatal morbidity and mortality: A randomised controlled trial $2,070,000

Professor Stark is actively involved in the neonatal undergraduate teaching programmes (Year 5) for the University of Adelaide and provides course content and teaching to the Reproductive Health (Year 3) and Advanced Health Sciences (year 3) undergraduate science courses. He has supervised 11 advanced trainees in neonatal medicine who now hold Staff Specialist positions in Tertiary Neonatal Medicine Centres throughout Australia and internationally. Professor Stark currently leads a multi-disciplinary team focusing on pre-clinical and perinatal clinical trials (basic scientists, allied health practitioners, trials co-ordinators and medical practitioners). He has successful supervised 5 PhD, 1 MPhil and 5 honours students to completion. He currently supervises 3 PhD students (Principal) and 1 MPhil student. 

  • Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2025 Principal Supervisor Oxygen Physiology in Preterm Infants Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mr Chad Andersen
    2024 Principal Supervisor The effect of allogenic red blood cell transfusion on oxygen physiology in the preterm newborn Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Danielle Nicole Bailey
    2023 Principal Supervisor Neonatal Encephalopathy and Early Onset Sepsis Master of Philosophy (Medical Science) Master Part Time Dr Kristina Kaye Sibbin
    2022 Principal Supervisor Evaluating overnight oximetry and cerebral oxygenation in term or near-term infants with unexplained oxygen requirements. Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Amelia Namrata Noone
  • Past Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2023 - 2024 Principal Supervisor Evaluating the use and effects of domperidone in the treatment of lactation insufficiency Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Grace McKenzie Holland
    2021 - 2024 Principal Supervisor Evaluating the Impact of Maternal Asthma on Neonatal and Childhood Lung Function and Its Underlying Mechanisms Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Joshua Luke Robinson
    2018 - 2022 Principal Supervisor Neuroprotection in Neonatal Encephalopathy: Extending our Understanding Beyond Cooling in the NICU Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Miss Kathryn Anne Martinello
    2018 - 2021 Co-Supervisor HMGB1- An Immunotherapeutic Target for the Treatment of Neonatal Sepsis and Associated Neuroinflammation Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Nerissa Lakhan
    2016 - 2019 Co-Supervisor GBS STUDY: Assessing Disease Burden and Risk Factors for Neonatal Group B Streptococcal Infection to Inform the Best Strategies to Prevent Life Threatening Infections in Newborns Master of Philosophy (Clinical Science) Master Full Time Dr Marianne Yanni
  • Editorial Boards

    Date Role Editorial Board Name Institution Country
    2022 - ongoing Associate Editor Childhood: a global journal of child research The Robinson Research Institute Australia
    2022 - ongoing Associate Editor Frontiers in Pediatrics The Robinson Research Institute Australia
    2016 - ongoing Associate Editor Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health - Australia
    2013 - ongoing Associate Editor Placenta - -

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