Member Spotlight: Connie Ow
Connie Ow is a dedicated Research Officer at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, where she focuses on cardiovascular research. An early-to-mid-career researcher, she explores the link between acute kidney injury and hypertension, driven by a personal connection to her grandmother’s health challenges. With a PhD and two years as a member of Hypertension Australia, Connie has made significant strides in her field. Her innovative work on sodium ascorbate therapy aims to improve outcomes for patients suffering from sepsis and its complications, reflecting her commitment to advancing hypertension management and research.
What inspired your interest in Hypertension?
My choice of research topic for my honours project was profoundly shaped by a comment from my grandmother’s cardiac surgeon: ‘Given her co-morbidities— hypertension, diabetes, stroke, and atherosclerosis—she is at high risk for kidney failure, and the coronary artery bypass graft will likely last less than 10 years.’ As one of the more medically informed people in my family, it became my responsibility to ‘translate’ this information and its implications to my family members. This experience ignited my passion for science and set the course for my cardiovascular research.
Since then, I have focused on exploring the intricate relationship between cardiac and renal dysfunction, specifically investigating the transition of acute kidney injury to chronic kidney disease in vulnerable patient populations illnesses, including sepsis and those that require cardiac surgery requiring cardiopulmonary bypass.
Tell us about your research or initiatives focused on preventing, detecting, and managing high blood pressure and its complications.
As an early-to-mid-career researcher under the mentorship of Professors Yugeesh Lankadeva and Clive May, my research is focused on tackling acute kidney injury (AKI) — frequent and unresolved life-threatening complications arising from sepsis and cardiopulmonary bypass. These complications significantly increase morbidity and mortality in intensive care units. Even short or mild episodes of AKI can predispose survivors to chronic kidney disease (CKD), which poses a significant socioeconomic burden on healthcare systems and greatly reduces patients’ quality of life.
Sepsis remains the leading cause of AKI, affecting approximately 50% of all cases. This high incidence underscores the urgent need for innovative therapies. One of sepsis’ defining features is cardiovascular dysfunction, characterised by hypotension and reduced responsiveness to vasopressors, the drugs used to maintain blood pressure that further complicates clinical management of critically ill patients. Our research has revealed that septic AKI is driven by microcirculatory dysfunction, particularly renal medullary tissue hypoperfusion and hypoxia. Developing therapies to restore vascular sensitivity to vasopressors, improving vital organ blood flow, and addressing microcirculatory dysfunction in the renal medulla could greatly enhance clinical management for patients with sepsis.
In collaboration with a multidisciplinary team of scientists, clinicians, and individuals with lived experience of sepsis, we have co-designed an innovative therapy that has shown great promise. In a landmark study, we found that intravenous sodium ascorbate administration in a clinically relevant sheep model of sepsis significantly reduced vasopressor requirements, improved renal medullary perfusion, alleviated hypoxia, and reversed AKI. This therapy has been translated to human clinical trials, starting with a phase Ia double-blind randomised trial in 30 patients with septic shock, demonstrating safety, feasibility, and promising signals of reduced vasopressor dependence for blood pressure management and improved kidney function.
Our work has now progressed to phase Ib and phase II multi-centre clinical trials across Australia. I am currently leading a program of research to investigate the long-term benefits of sodium ascorbate on kidney health after resolution of sepsis, particularly exploring whether it reduces the progression of septic AKI to CKD.
My mission: Improving cardiovascular and kidney health outcomes for patients with sepsis.
Have you received any awards, grants, or publications for your work related to Hypertension?
Awards
Best Early Career Oral Presentation Award from Hypertension Australia Annual Scientific Meeting 2023
Grants
- NHMRC, Medical Research Future Fund (2023-2028) – Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (Japan)
- Grant-in-aid for Early Career Researchers (2019-2020)
Publications
1) Ow CPC, Hulst AH, May CN, Hood SG, Plummer MP, Hermanides J, van Raalte DH, Deane AM, Bellomo R, Lankadeva YR. Effects of sodium-glucose transporter-2 inhibition on systemic hemodynamics, renal function, and intra-renal oxygenation in sepsis-associated acute kidney injury. Intensive Care Med Exp 12: 64, 2024
2) May CN, Ow CPC, Pustovit RV, Lane DJR, Jufar AH, Trask-Marino A, Peiris RM, Gunn A, Booth LC, Plummer MP, Bellomo R, Lankadeva YR. Reversal of cerebral ischaemia and hypoxia and of sickness behaviour by megadose sodium ascorbate in ovine Gram-negative sepsis. Br J Anaesth 133 (2): 316-325, 2024
3) Evans RG, Cochrane AD, Hood SG, Marino B, Iguchi N, Bellomo R, McCall PR, Okazaki N, Jufar AH, Miles LF, Furukawa T, Ow CPC, Raman J, May CN and Lankadeva YR. Differential responses of cerebral and renal oxygenation to altered perfusion conditions during experimental cardiopulmonary bypass in sheep. Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiol, 51 (4): e13852, 2024.
4) Yanase F, Spano S, Maeda A, Chaba A, Naorungroj T, Ow CPC, Lankadeva YR, May CN, Betrie AH, Lane DJR, Eastwood GM, Plummer MP and Bellomo R. Mega-dose sodium ascorbate: a pilot, single-dose, physiological effect, double-blind, randomized, controlled trial. Crit Care 27(1): 371, 2023.
5) Lankadeva YR, Lane DJ, Ow CPC, Story DA, Plummer MP, May CN. LOVIT or leave it: The vitamin C debate continues. Crit Care Resus 25(2): 63-64, 2023.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
I am an avid gamer. I spend my free time on massive multiplayer online role-playing games like World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy and city-building games like Civilization and Settler. I also like watching anime, soccer, tennis and badminton.
Do you have any travel adventures or bucket list destinations you're hoping to experience?
I am also a little bit of a history buff and would love to delve into the historical and archaeological amazements of Europe and Central Asia.
What's the last great book you read, movie you saw, or show you watched?
I enjoy watching criminal procedural dramas and historical documentaries. I often have ‘Criminal Minds, CSI: SVU, Bones’ playing as background ‘music’ while I am analysing data. The latest movie I have watched is Oppenheimer, a nice insight into the scientific angle of WW2.