Spleen Tyrosine Kinase Signaling Promotes Myeloid Cell Recruitment and Kidney Damage after Renal Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury.

David Nikolic-Paterson et al. published in the American Journal of Pathology.

Read article here.

Gait initiation time is associated with the risk of multiple falls—A population-based study

Velandai Srikanth et al. published in Gait & Posture.

Read article here.

Professor Robert McLachlan recognised in Queen’s Birthday Honours

Renowned endocrinologist, researcher and men’s health advocate, Professor Robert McLachlan has been made a Member of the Order of Australia in the 2016 Queen’s Birthday Honours.

Professor McLachlan was honoured for his service to medicine in the field of endocrinology, particularly to men’s reproductive health, and to medical research.

Professor McLachlan is a physician-scientist who has made significant contributions to translational research in men’s reproductive health since he commenced at Prince Henry’s Institute in 1983. He is also a leading advocate for men’s health on the national stage.

Professor McLachlan has a long history of linking basic research on male fertility regulation to clinical outcomes. This research resulted in major contributions to methods of evaluating spermatogenesis, its endocrine regulation and to developing male hormonal contraception.

Read more here.

MHTP Research Week - change of date to 21-25 November 2016

Department of Medicine 3MT Competition, TODAY

The Department of Medicine will be running its 3 Minute Thesis Competition on 21st June 2016 to determine the finalists to go through to the School of Clinical Sciences 3 Minute Thesis Competition in August. 

The Competition will be held at 11:00am-1:00pm on Tuesday 21 June, in the TRF seminar rooms (ground floor).  Lunch will be provided after the event.  Prize winners (including a People's Choice award) will be announced and presented with their prizes during lunch.

All Department of Medicine staff and students are expected to attend to support our students. This is also a fantastic opportunity to hear about the breadth of research in our Department.

CiiiD seminar "The role of type I IFN receptors in regulating inflammation in vivo", 21 June

Dr Michelle Tate will be speaking at today''s CiiiD seminar on the The role of type I IFN receptors in regulating inflammation in vivo.

The session will be chaired by Dr Virginie Deswaerte and held at 1pm in Seminar Room 1 of TRF.

Hudson Seminar “Unravelling the effects of intrauterine inflammation on lung development”- 24 June

Friday 24 June, 12-1 pm, Lecture Theatre 1, Monash Medical Centre. 

Speaker: Associate Professor Tim Moss, Deputy Director, The Ritchie Centre,
Research Group Head, Perinatal Inflammation

NHMRC Senior Research Fellow

Associate Professor Tim Moss is a developmental physiologist and expert in perinatology. He received his PhD from Monash University in 1999, before establishing the Women and Infants Research Foundation Perinatal Research Laboratories at the University of Western Australia as a leading international centre for perinatal research. He returned to Monash in 2007 and joined the Ritchie Centre at the Hudson Institute in 2010.

Tim’s research is focussed on understanding how exposure to infection or inflammation in utero alters development of the fetus to affect health after birth. His group is also investigating ways to treat or prevent inflammation and its effects on newborns.

Tim is a leader in perinatology. He is a Board Member of the international Fetal and Neonatal Physiological Society and occupies senior positions in the Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand.

Light refreshments to follow presentation outside the Lecture Theatre.

State of the Art Lecture - Haematology Unit - 22/06/2016 - Myeloma: A Cook’s tour and the role of minimal residual disease assessment

Unit:                Haematology Unit

Topic:              Myeloma: A Cook’s tour and the role of minimal residual disease assessment

Presenter:      Dr George Grigoriadis

Date:               Wednesday 22 June 2016

Time:               12.30pm to 1.30pm

Venue:            Main Lecture Theatre, Monash Medical Centre, Clayton.

Bone histology seminar, “Why and Why Not of Hard Tissue Histology”, 23 June

MHP-MHTP Histology node is hosting a seminar on “Why and Why Not of Hard Tissue Histology” on June 23^rd, 9.00 – 12 noon (TRF Seminar Room 3).

Jack Ratliff (Franklin, Tennessee) is presenting an overview on various histological methods used for bone and biomedical implants in bone disease. Primary bone disease such as osteoporosis and arthritis have major impacts on our communities.

Jack runs a Histology consultancy in Franklin and has 19 years’ experience in Histology specializing in resin applications for the histological analysis of bone, biomaterials and medical device implants in musculoskeletal, orthopaedic, periodontal and cardiovascular research.

If you have an interest in bone Histology please join us on Thursday, RSVP to Angela Vais (angela.vais@monash.edu) by Wednesday 22^nd for catering purposes.

Invitation to join Sports and Exercise Medicine Students’ Association (SEMSA)

Sports and Exercise Medicine Students’ Association (SEMSA) is a multidisciplinary health students’ organisation aiming to facilitate education and career development in the field of sports and exercise medicine (SEM).

Our association was founded in March 2016 by a like-minded group of students studying medicine and allied health degrees, who saw the need for an organisation that exposed students to SEM and provided opportunities for personal development within this field.

SEMSA aims to promote SEM as a speciality field not only dealing with management of acute or chronic exercise related injuries, but also promotion of health through increased use of exercise and physical activity. We will hold multiple events during the year including lectures and skills-based workshops. Our launch event titled ‘A Career in SEM’ is due to be held on August 24th with keynote speaker Peter Brukner alongside other SEM professionals. This event will be for registered members only!

We will initially be a club representing students from Victorian universities studying medicine and allied health degrees, a pool of over ten thousand students, and will aim to expand to become a national committee with state subcommittees within three years.

Our team is very excited to see a club dedicated to SEM launched across Victoria and Australia. We hope that it will encourage students to understand the importance of the SEM field and to think about SEM as a career! If you would like to register, contact us at www.semsa.org.au/register or via facebook or twitter (@semsa_vic).

MIME Medtech Industry Innovators Showcase Day - Thurs 23 June

Call for PhD posters.   The MIME Medtech Industry Innovators Showcase Day on Thursday 23 June 2016 is part of our series of forums to bring together clinicians, researchers and industry leaders at the forefront of medtech product innovation, to explore new opportunities for collaboration.  As part of this event MIME will also be holding a poster session for PhD students and ECR.  To participate in the poster session PhD students and ECR will need to respond to susan.newland@monash.edu expressing their interest in participating in the poster session with the following details: 

• First Name
• Surname
• Email address 
• Faculty and department
• Topic of their poster
• Supervisors details

 Prizes will be awarded to the two best posters.

Further details about the free, full-day event including the final program can be found on the MIME website at http://www.monash.edu/mime/events/index.html

"What you can do with a PhD" careers workshop 23 June

See program here.

Professional development opportunity: public engagement masterclass, 12 July

Communicating your research is a challenging task in the increasingly noisy marketplace for ideas.

The Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education has partnered with The Conversation to run a public engagement masterclass.

The class will be headed by Liz Minchin, Senior Editor of The Conversation. The Conversation achieves an average audience of 35 million article views a month through affiliated sites and via global republication in news outlets.

In small groups, participants will pick up practical tips and skills to apply towards 

· how to put your audience first; 

· how to get better at strategically identifying a target audience, such as politicians, other potential new funders, or the general public; and 

· how to get better at adapting your language and story to your target audience.

Monash staff are entitled to a reduced registration fee as the University is a founding partner of The Conversation. More information can be found in the attached flyer here.

A complete list of all University ECR events can be found here http://intranet.monash.edu.au/research/ecr/events/index.html

Research Assistant - Human T lymphocyte / CAR-T cells: Cartherics Pty Ltd

Cartherics is seeking a Research Assistant to help assist with the technology (primarily tissue culture and flow cytometry) underpinning  its very active research program in Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) -T based immunotherapies. CAR-T cells have rapidly evolved as a revolution in anti-cancer treatments.

Cartherics has two fundamental T cell based platforms. The first is to expand in tissue culture conditions, sufficient numbers of human blood T cells having a T cell receptor (TCR) specific for a particular cancer antigen. Their function will be initially tested by in vitro cell cytotoxicity assays. These will then be infused into patients bearing that cancer, in a Phase I trial to demonstrate both safety and also any potential anti-cancer efficacy. If successful these cells can then be genetically engineered to express additional CAR’s encompassing antibodies to other cancer antigens to enhance their killing efficacy. The second platform is to use induced pluripotential stem cells (iPSC) to embed a TCR specificity. These T-iPSC will then be transfected with specific CAR’s encoded within viral vectors, and induced to differentiate into cytotoxic T cells.

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Australian Institute of Tropical Health & Medicine, James Cook University, Cairns, Australia

The Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine (AITHM) is a newly established health research institute within James Cook University, Australia. AITHM’s focus is on research in tropical health and medicine across a wide range of disciplines.

An opportunity exists for a postdoctoral position in the molecular immunology of infectious and chronic diseases, including malaria.

myResearch Transition Timetable - Updated Information

The myResearch transition timetable has been updated with information on key dates associated with transition arrangements for Monash Research Office (MRO) Coversheet and Human Ethics Applications.

MRO Coversheet

Friday 1 July - Monday 11 July 2016 (inclusive)

Researchers should continue to use the existing MRO coversheets for applications being submitted between 1-11 July.  This includes the existing process of obtaining signatures and forwarding the completed and signed coversheet to the MRO.  

MRO staff will then enter these details into Pure once it goes live on 12 July.

From 12 July, the MRO coversheet will no longer be available and all researchers are required to enter their application details via the ‘Create an application’ process in Pure.

Human Ethics Applications 

Thursday 7 July - Monday 11 July (inclusive)

The last day for accepting new applications on the current PDF forms is Wednesday 6 July 2016.   Please note that the MRO can only accept a maximum of 20 HREC Review applications for meeting C4/2016. Applications will be processed in order of receipt and those received after the maximum number will be asked to resubmit in ERM after 12 July.  

Projects under review prior to 6 July 2016 will be finalised using the current process.

No new applications will be accepted during the period 7-11 July, as the MRO prepare for the release of the new application form in Ethics Review Manager (ERM) on 12 July.

Please note: The questions on the new form are almost identical to the questions on the current PDF forms, so the PDF form can be used for planning purposes. The information can then be copied into the new form when that is available from 12 July.

Amendments, progress reports and any other correspondence relating to existing approved projects will continue to be processed using the PDF forms, until the existing projects are able to be imported into ERM.

Importing existing projects into ERM is planned for the second half of this year and researchers will be informed when they can access their projects in ERM.

For further information or queries, please contact myresearch@monash.edu.

Monash Human Ethics Update - myResearch Transition Dates

The next phase of myResearch will go live on 12 July 2016 with the release of application forms for human ethics in Infonetica Ethics Review Manager (ERM).  The system will initially be used for submitting new applications only. 

New applications

-        To assist researchers with planning their applications, please note the dates below:

Wednesday 6 July	Last day for accepting new applications on the current PDF forms. Please note that we can only accept a maximum of 20 HREC Review applications for meeting C4/2016. Applications will be processed in order of receipt and those received after the maximum number will be asked to resubmit in ERM after the 12th of July.
Thursday 7 July – Monday 11 July  (inclusive)	No new applications will be accepted, as we prepare for the release of the new form in ERM.
12 July 2016 onwards	All new human ethics applications must be submitted in ERM. PDF forms will no longer be accepted for new applications.

-        The questions on the new form are almost identical to the questions on the current PDF forms, so the PDF form can be used for planning purposes if you wish. The information can then be copied into the new form when that is available.

Projects currently under review:

-        Projects under review prior to 6 July 2016 will be finalised using the current process.

Existing approved projects:

-        Amendments, progress reports and any other correspondence relating to existing approved projects will continue to be processed using the PDF forms, until the existing projects are able to be imported into ERM. 

-        Importing existing projects into ERM is planned for the second half of this year and researchers will be informed when they can access their projects in ERM.

Please direct queries to Souheir Houssami by email muhrec@monash.edu

​ or ​phone (03) 990 52052.

Summer Research Scholarships - Round 1 - Advertising projects

The online submission form for advertising your Round 1 Summer projects is now open and closes Tuesday 5 July (5pm). If you have never submitted a project before and would like to for this period, please email me your authcate username so I give you access to the form.  If you already have access you can begin to enter your project details at the following link:

http://intranet.monash.edu.au/student-services/scholarships/research-projects

Advertising NEW projects 

Projects submitted on this form will be automatically deployed to the website and available for students to view once applications open. Once you submit a project, you will be given the option to view the project on the scholarships website 

·         Follow the instructions

For re-advertising projects from a previous round

If you have already submitted projects over previous rounds and want to re-advertise the same project, there is no need to re-enter all the details.

·         Once you log in, select “Manage your submitted research projects”. Your previous projects will all be listed. 
·         Select the project you wish to re-advertise.
·         Make any changes (if necessary)
·         Scroll to the bottom of the form and you will see the following statement:   This project was used in a previous round. Saving changes to this form will republish this project for applications opening: Monday 11 July 2016.
·         Select “Save changes” 

The website for the listing of projects available will also be live from Monday 11 July 2016 and will accessible at:
http://www.monash.edu.au/students/scholarships/research-projects/index.html

Students will be able to view and apply for all projects from Monday 11 July until Friday 29 July (5pm).

Once students submit an application they will be sent an email with a summary of their application including the 3 preferences that they have chosen.

Narcotic Drugs Amendment Act 2016

On 30 October 2016, or on an earlier proclaimed date, the Narcotic Drugs Amendment Act 2016 (Cth) will come into full effect.  The amendment Act will provide a legislative framework for the cultivation, manufacture and use of cannabis for medicinal purposes. 

Specifically, the Bill would:-

(a) ensure that any therapeutic product, including medicinal cannabis, meets Australia's strict international obligations safe-guarding its production, manufacture and distribution for medical and scientific purposes only;
(b) establish a licensing scheme for the cultivation of cannabis for medicinal and related scientific purposes;
(c) update existing manufacturing provisions to mirror the cannabis licence provisions;
(d) confer decision-making powers on the relevant Secretary so that an internal review provision, undertaken by the relevant Minister, can be facilitated; and
(e) make other and related amendments.

Dr Simon Barrett, Manager, Research Ethics & Compliance has indicated that your areas may be involved, (or could be involved in the future) in research relating to the manufacture/trial of use of cannabis for medical purposes.

The Risk and Compliance Unit would be interested to discuss your involvement in such research and determine how this Amendment to the Narcotic Drugs Act applies to your area, if at all.

Kevin Sweeney and/or Tina Valentine would be happy to catch up by phone or meet at a time convenient with you.  Alternately, if there is no research currently being conducted which is impacted by the Amendment Act, nor is it likely in the future, please respond accordingly by email to tina.valentine@monash.edu.

For further information, please contact Tina Valentine, Risk and Compliance Adviser, Risk and Compliance Unit by email to tina.valentine@monash.edu or phone (03) 990 56847.

veski: 2016 Victoria Prize for Science & Innovation and Victoria Fellowships - FINAL CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

A reminder that t​he Minister for Small Business, Innovation and Trade, the Hon Philip Dalidakis, has opened two of Victoria’s most prestigious science and innovation programs in the life and physical sciences.

Applications and nominations must be received by 2.00pm on Thursday 23 June 2016 via the veski website.