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Research Highlights Centre for Health Exercise and Sports Sciences banner

Bond University Research Centre for Health, Exercise and Sports Science (BURCHESS)

The Bond University Research Centre for Health, Exercise and Sports Science (BURCHESS) was formed in October 2010 to take over the activities of the defunct Bond University Institute for Sport Research Centre. The BURCHESS has been conceptualised to act as a major regional centre for research and consultancy activities associated with sport and exercise science. During 2011 BURCHESS conducted work on a wide range of research projects including:

  • Anti-Doping Research which involves an examination of transcriptional regulation of gene expression in human lymphocytes.  This research has led to the following external grants:
    • Potential application to the detection of recombinant human Growth Hormone (rhGH): A one-year pilot project
    • Application for two new growth hormone-related research projects to World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA; Amount requested $670,000; Successful - $300,000)
    • Partnership for Clean Competition (PCC; Amount requested $1.2m). The latter application was submitted in collaboration with Professor Theodore Friedmann (University of California, San Diego), Director of the WADA Bioinformatics Unit.
  • Applied Sports Science: Dr Chris McLellan and Assoc Prof Justin Keogh both have extensive research programs in applied sports science research, particularly as it relates to the development of muscular hypertrophy, strength and power and the relevance of these physical parameters to sporting performance.  Dr McLellan was the first Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine PhD student to complete his doctorate, this being conferred in 2011.  His thesis explored neuromuscular, biochemical, endocrine and physiological responses of elite Rugby League players to the demands of competitive match-play and has lead to numerous publications in leading strength and conditioning journals.  Assoc Prof Keogh’s research focused on examining how alterations to the resistance training prescription reflecting the performance of different versions of common exercises, performance of “strongman” exercises or augmented feedback altered the acute or chronic adaptations to such training.  Both Dr McLellan and Assoc Prof Keogh supervise many Honours and postgraduate research students nationally and/or internationally in the areas of applied sports science.
  • A new initiative of BURCHESS is the establishment of the BOND SPORT consultancy lead by Assoc Prof Bon Gray and Mr Glen Tunks, intended to co-ordinate sport-related research and consultancy activities across the Bond campus and in the wider community.
  • Other research project areas include:
    • Children: Developing a simple tool for screening children and adolescents with overweight or obesity to guide the referral process for physiotherapy intervention.
    • Older Adults (Gerontology):  Healthier ageing, prevention of falls and prevention of disability in chronic disease prevalent in older adults. Projects in this area have focused on understanding the cause of disability in older age, determining the benefits, barriers, motives and facilitators to a variety of health promoting behaviours such as physical activity in older people and in the development of reliable and valid measurement tools.
    • Physiology of Exercise: Includes research areas such as immunology, exercise physiology and haemorheology. Research is also being undertaken on the effects of exercise on glycaemia in individual’s with Type 2 diabetes, the effects of exercise in menopause and effects on bone and also numerous investigations into the medical and health of Master’s Games athletes.
    • Sports Injuries and Physiotherapy: Current research includes investigation into the effect of head position on neck vessel blood flow, investigation of neural tissue motion using diagnostic ultrasound and specific studies centred around sonography of the shoulder.

Find out more about the Bond University Research Centre for Health, Exercise and Sports Science