Associate Professor Richard Young

Richard L Young is an Associate Professor, and Postgraduate and Honours Course Coordinator in the Adelaide Medical School at The University of Adelaide, and a Senior Research Fellow in the South Australian Health & Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI). He is a founding member of the Centre of Research Excellence in Translating Nutritional Science to Good Health at The University of Adelaide, an exceptional framework for translational research in Endocrinology and Gastroenterology.

He leads the Intestinal Nutrient Sensing Group in the Nutrition, Diabetes and Gut Health program of SAHMRI Lifelong Health in translational research focussed on the intestinal sweet taste system (NHMRC Ideas). This system detects sensesall sweet stimuli and in turn, regulates the uptake and disposal of glucose in the body. He has shown how this system is regulated in human health and consequences of its dysregulation in type 2 diabetes, critical illness and obesity. His laboratory research focuses on the vertical integration of signals from intestinal sweet taste receptors and gut bacteria to the whole body, to yield new ways that prevent, and better manage, type 2 diabetes, and which informs the public debate on the health impacts of low-calorie sweeteners.

A/Prof Young collaborates in research investigating other gut sensing and hormone systems, and the intestinal physiology of pregnancy. This research has the potential to usher in novel therapies for obesity and type 2 diabetes, and for maternal and progeny health.