Dr. Sheila Van Holst Pellekaan
- Position: Visiting Senior Research Fellow
- Room: 243, Biological Sciences
- Phone: (+61 2) 9385 3840
- Fax: (+61 2) 9385 1483
- email: s.vanholst@unsw.edu.au
Current Research Project
Western NSW Families, Genes Health and Well-being
Investigators: Sheila van Holst Pellekaan (BABS, UNSW); Alan Wilton (BABS, UNSW); Nicholas Martin (QIMR); Peter Visscher (QIMR); Robert Moyzis (UC,Irvine); Joanna Lind (UWS); Richard Weston (Maari Ma Health).
Aims:
- To explore the genetic variability in families that include Aboriginal Australian people from the Darling River region of western New South Wales. We aim to use Illumina and Affymetrix SNP 6.0 gene technology to acquire genome information for data analysis.
- To analyse the results of the pilot project to assess how the variability may relate to health, lifestyle and wellness. This would be done within a larger project developed with community involvement by collaboration with local health care services and continued consultation with Aboriginal elders in the region.
This research also requires ethical clearance from the NSW Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council Ethics Committee and extensive public relations work with the Aboriginal people and communities involved. This is achieved by personal visits for discussion with participants and local community organisations and the provision of community reports.
Publications
- van Holst Pellekaan, SM (2008)
- The first boat people.
- American Journal of Human Biology: 20: 195-196
- van Holst Pellekaan, SM (2008)
- Origins of the Australian and New Guinea Aborigines
- In: Encyclopaedia of Life Sciences (Eds) John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, pp:DO1: 10.1002/9780470015902.a00208
- van Holst Pellekaan, SM, Harding, R. (2006)
- Excavating the mitochondrial genome identifies major haplogroups in Aboriginal Australians
- Before Farming (1)
- van Holst Pellekaan, SM (2006)
- MtDNA diversity in Aboriginal Australians and near neighbours.
- Homo-Journal of Comparative Human Biology, 57(3), 241
- van Holst Pellekaan, SM, Ingman, M, Roberts-Thomson, J., Harding, R. (2006)
- Mitochondrial genomics identifies major haplogroups in Aboriginal Australians
- American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 131(2), 282-294
- van Holst Pellekaan, SM, Clague, L. (2005)
- Toward health and wellbeing for indigenous Australians
- Postgraduate Medical Journal, 81(960), 618-624