Professor Stuart Brierley

Professor Stuart Brierley is Director of the Visceral Pain Research Group, Director of the Hopwood Centre for Neurobiology, and Co-Theme Leader of Lifelong Health at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI). He is an NHMRC Investigator L1 recipient (2022-2026).

He received an NHMRC Research Excellence Award for being the top-ranked NHMRC CDF-II Fellow in the 2016 round and was a South Australian Tall Poppy Science Awardee in 2011. He is a finalist for the ‘South Australian Scientist of the Year’ in the 2026 South Australian Science Excellence and Innovation Awards. Since 2020 he has been named in the Stanford University / Elsevier World Top 2% Scientist Rankings.

Professor Brierley is an international expert on the 'gut-brain axis' and chronic visceral pain mechanisms. His research comprises discovery and translational science investigating the nerve pathways innervating visceral organs to determine the causes of, and treatments for, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), bladder pain syndrome and endometriosis. His research focuses on the role of different nerve pathways innervating the viscera, the channels and receptors underlying their function, the influence of microbiome and the immune system, and how these mechanisms are changed during acute and chronic visceral pain.

Professor Brierley has a proven track record of publishing innovative, technically demanding research in the fields of gastroenterology, pain, neuroscience and pharmacology. He has published 141 papers in high impact journals, such as Nature (x6), Science (x2), Cell, Nature Communications, Gastroenterology (x7), Gut (x11), PNAS (x2), JCI Insight (x3), Pain (x13) & J Neuroscience (x2). He also has invited reviews in Nature Reviews Gastroenterology Hepatology (x2), Annual Reviews of Physiology & Gastroenterology. Since 2020 he has been named in the Stanford University / Elsevier Top 2% World Scientist Rankings.

Professor Brierley has been awarded >$51.9M in research funding (since 2004) including NHMRC fellowships (x5, Investigator L2, Investigator L1, CDFII, CDF1 and Biomedical), NHMRC Project grants (x13), NHMRC Development grants (x2), NHMRC-ERA NEURON (x1), NHMRC Synergy grant (x1), NIH RO1 grant (x1), NIH HEAL/SPARC grants (x2), MRFF (x1), ARC Discovery (x2) & ARC LIEF (x3).

Professor Brierley has a strong track record of industry collaboration. His collaborations with industry partners Ironwood Pharmaceuticals identified the mechanism of pain relief of a new drug (Linaclotide) in treating patients with IBS with constipation (IBS-C). Linaclotide, a guanylate cyclase-C agonist is effective in relieving abdominal pain associated with IBS-C and is available and registered for use by IBS-C patients in the USA, Europe, Asia, and Australia.

Over the last 10 years he has worked with Ironwood, Takeda, GSK, Ferring, Allergan, Arena, Thetis, Escient, Sosei Heptares, Nxera, Nocion and Zealand Pharmaceuticals for testing and developing novel visceral pain treatments.

For a current list of publications see:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=brierley-sm.

Key appointments:

NHMRC Investigator Fellow L2 (2027-2031) NHMRC Investigator Fellow L1 (2022-2026)
Member, ROME V International Committee for Disorders of Brain-Gut Interaction (2022- )
President, Australasian Neurogastroenterology and Motility Association (ANGMA, 2020-2022)
Co-Chair, 2021 Federation of Neurogastroenterology and Motility (FNM), Adelaide
NHMRC RD Wright Biomedical Fellow (CDF-II 2017-2020)
NHMRC RD Wright Biomedical Fellow (CDF-I 2013-2016)
NHMRC Australian Biomedical Fellow (2008-2012)

Key Awards:
Senior Researcher of 2021, Flinders University College of Medicine and Public Health
Mid-Career Researcher of 2018, Flinders University College of Medicine and Public Health
2017 NHMRC Research Excellence Award for being the top-ranked CDF-II Fellow
2011 South Australian Tall Poppy