SCS eNews: 2015-10-11

Monday, 12 October 2015

New text book addressing clinical problems in surgery

Hot off the press, the most up to date problem-based text book addressing clinical problems in surgery is now available.

All editors and most of the contributors of the third edition of Hunt and Marshall's Clinical Problems in Surgery are staff in the School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health (SCS), including Head, Department of Surgery, Professor Julian Smith.

"While this text is directed at medical students, it is also very useful for junior doctors," said Professor Smith.

"Rather than a systems-based text book about surgery, Hunt and Marshall's Clinical Problems in Surgery takes a problem-oriented approach."

For the first time, this edition is also available as an ebook.

Hunt and Marshall's Clinical Problems in General Surgery was first published in 1991. Both Phillip Hunt and Vernon Marshall were senior members of the Department of Surgery at Monash University. Sadly, Phillip Hunt passed away a few years ago. Vernon Marshall is still active through the Australian Medical Council in the education of international medical graduates.

Down Syndrome associated with high risk of stroke

Assoc Professor Srikanth

People with Down Syndrome are at significantly higher risk of stroke compared to the wider population, according to multi-disciplinary research undertaken at Monash University.

Improved medical care over the last 50 years has markedly increased life expectancy in people with Down Syndrome from around twelve years to approximately 60 years. With increased survival into late adulthood, there is now a greater recognition for the prevention and treatment of ageing-related diseases in people with Down Syndrome.

The collaborative research study led by Professor Chris Sobey, Head of Cardiovascular Disease Program, Biomedicine Discovery Institute and Associate Professor Velandai Srikanth, Head of Strokeand Ageing Research, provides the first estimates of the risk of stroke and heart attacks in people with Down Syndrome at a population-level.

“We found that people with Down Syndrome have a three-fold increase in the risk of stroke compared with the wider population without Down Syndrome,” said Professor Sobey.

“Interestingly, this increased stroke risk is greater in women and among those aged over 50.”

Published last week in PLOS One, the study analysed hospitalisation data from 4000 adults with Down Syndrome, comparing them with 16,000 age-matched adults without Down Syndrome.

“Our analysis suggests that ischaemic stroke (caused by blockage of a brain artery) in people with Down Syndrome may occur because of a blood clot arising from the heart,” said Associate Professor Srikanth.

“People with Down Syndrome are prone to heart structural problems at birth, and it is possible that these problems may predispose them to clots travelling up from the heart to block an artery in the brain.”

Associate Professor Srikanth is keen to note that this theory requires confirmation by further research.

“Surprisingly, our study also found that men (but not women) with Down Syndrome have a lower risk of heart attacks compared with the general population,” added Associate Professor Srikanth.

“The lower risk of heart attacks in males is difficult to explain with our data alone, and therefore raises some interesting avenues for further translational research both in the clinical arena and in the basic laboratory.”

“Before we started this research, we were surprised to find little or no information existed about the risk of disease in people with Down Syndrome,” said Professor Sobey from the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute.

“We chose to collaborate with clinical researchers at the Monash Health Translation Precinct in order to translate our theories previously raised in mouse models.”

“Our results will raise the awareness of the risk of stroke in people with Down Syndrome, and encourage further study of the reasons underlying this increased risk,” added Professor Sobey.

This study also highlights the potential of translational research at the Monash Partners NHMRC Advanced Health Research and Translational Centre.

Congratulations Dr Ryan Hodges

Congratulations to Dr Ryan Hodges who was recently awarded the RANZCOG Foundation Fotheringham Research Fellowship for "Fetoscopic Surgery for Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia".

The Fotheringham Research Fellowship is funded by the Fotheringham Trust, founded in 1957 by generous gifts from the late Mrs May H Fotheringham of South Australia.

The purpose of the Fotheringham Research Fellowship is for research in all aspects of obstetrics and gynaecology and related disciplines.

Ride2Work Day - Wednesday 14 October - Riders Join the MHTP team for Breakfast

Come join Australia's biggest celebration of commuter riding, Ride2Work Day on Wednesday 14 October. We have again decided to register an MHTP team! This might be your chance to try riding for the first time - we are happy to help you with maps and advice. You can also see more on the Bicycle Network site HERE

Those registering are invited to a FREE BREAKFAST sponsored by Zouki !!! From 8:30am onwards in the de Kretser Concourse (just across the tunnel in the Hudson building).

RSVP to Katherine Greenberg or Ann Scott.

To register on the Bicycle Network site HERE and complete your details with 'Travelling to' - "MHTP" & street address - "27-31 Wright St, Clayton".

Winners School of Clinical Sciences BMedSc (Hons) Conference Attendance Prize 2015

In 2015 the School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health (SCS) received an anonymous donation of $2443 and have put this toward a number of student prizes to contribute to the costs of attending a conference to present the findings of BMedSc projects.

We received 12 applications to be considered for the travel prize. We were very impressed with, and proud of, the depth and breadth of topics covered by BMedSc students. Actually they were all very strong applications. 7 winners of the travel prizes were chosen:

Six prizes to the value of $400

Shuyu Wang. "Epilepsy of Infancy with Migrating Focal Seizures: clinical and genetic analysis of a rare, devastating syndrome in a large cohort of patients". Poster presentation to the Epilepsy Society of Australia meeting. Oct 2015. Adelaide, Australia. Supervised by A/Prof Jim Buttery.

Johnson Ja. "Clinical and familial characterisation of paediatric out-of hospital cardiac arrest survivors". Oral presentation to the Heart Rhythm Congress. Oct 2015. Birmingham, UK. Supervised by Prof James Cameron.

Charlie Wang. "Acute pulmonary embolism in children". Poster presentation to the International Society for Thrombosis and Haemostasis. June 2015. Toronto, Canada. Supervised by A/Prof Andrew Cochrane.

Benjamin McElwee. "Current Utilisation of Diagnostic Imaging for patients with suspected cervical spine injury in the emergency department: A retrospective cohort study." Poster presentation to the Australian College of Emergency Medicine annual scientific meeting. Nov 2015. Brisbane, Australia. Supervised by Dr Diana Egerton-Warburton.

Hector Thomson. "Paediatric anaphylaxis: Are we observing current guidelines?". Poster presentation to the Australian College of Emergency Medicine annual scientific meeting. Nov 2015. Brisbane, Australia. Supervised by Dr Simon Craig.

Tristan McCaughey. "Avoiding HeLa: incorporating a video animation to improve informed consent for induced pluripotent stem cell research" Oral presentation to Translation in Healthcare conference. June 2015. Oxford, UK. Supervised by Dr Christine Chen.

One prize to the value of $50

Zarraar Zia. "The impact of sleep during the last trimester of pregnancy and birth weight". Oral presentation to the Australasian Chronobiology Society 12th annual scientific meeting. Oct 2015. Melbourne, Australia. Supervised by Prof Helen Truby.

Congratulations to the successful prize winners.

Kind regards

Tony White

Dragon's Den opportunity

ALL current and former SCS medical students.....do you want to

build your CV?
help future students?
enhance medical education?
make a meaningful contribution to patient care?

The SCS Dragon's Den is your chance...we want you to pitch us your ideas!!

SCS is looking to enhance and improve our current clinical program, in particular the Year IIIB academic program. Novel, exciting, clinically focused and patient and student centred ideas will be looked upon favourably.

1st stage: applicants (individual or in group) are asked to submit a 1 page summary of their idea. Following shortlisting, successful submissions will be asked to make a short presentation to a panel of stakeholders.

Prizes ($200-1000) and acknowledgements will be awarded to the winner/s and top finalists.

1st stage submission will close on 30 October. Link to application form is here: http://goo.gl/forms/iQJY0uiDYV

Any questions, please contact Sally Ayoub.

Workshop - Developing your CV - 21 October

All ECRs are welcome to attend the upcoming event: CV Workshop - Developing your CV. In this workshop we will hear from special guests about how best to sell yourself for upcoming grant and fellowship applications. We will focus on how to make the most of your previous achievements and experiences.
Event details:
Date: 21 October
Time: 12-1pm
Venue: Level 3 Boardrooms, 'MIMR' building
RSVP link
Program flyer (143 KB Pdf)
Refreshments provided (on De Krester Concourse)

Faculty ECR Symposium (9 November) – Registrations NOW OPEN!

The Faculty of Medicine Nursing and Health Sciences (FMNHS) will be holding their biannual Early Career Researcher (ECR) Symposium on Monday 9^th November 2015 at the Caulfield campus.

Registration is now open and will close on Monday 26^th October 2015. Registration cost for the event is $50. Schools and Departments have been encouraged to support the cost of attendance from their Professional Development budgets.

The 2015 ECR Symposium is aimed at ECRs with an interest in developing and strengthening their research careers, with a particular focus on “Selling Yourself” and will feature (see draft program here):

Round 1/2016 scholarship applications close at 5pm AEDT on Saturday 31 October 2015 – instructions and online applications at http://www.monash.edu/migr/future-students/apply.

Applicants are required to upload two written referee reports from referees who are qualified to comment on your work during the research/qualifications most relevant to this application and your capacity for research. All written reports must be provided using the Referee Report form. Note: For currently enrolled Monash HDR students, one of the reports must be obtained from your current main supervisor.

Research degree applications may only be submitted once you have obtained an invitation to apply. For Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences applicants, this means you are required to provide evidence of your contact with a prospective supervisor which is necessary to upload to your online application (under section Research Program). You can ask your proposed supervisor to sign your completed Expression of Interest (EOI) form or alternatively you can upload copies of your email correspondence which demonstrates in principle support.

Postgraduate Student Open Forum #3 - Weds 4 Nov, 11.00am

The next SCS postgraduate student Open Forum #3 will focus on:
Part 1: Giving and Receiving Feedback and
Part 2: Preparing for the Candidature Confirmation Milestone: Writing your Literature Review and Progress Report.

Forum will be held:

Date: Wednesday 4th November
Time: 11.00am - 12.00pm
Location: Level 3 Boardrooms, Hudson Institute of Medical Research, 27-31 Wright Street Clayton

Feel free to bring along other topics you would like to discuss at the forum.

Also Re-enrolment for 2016 opens on Monday 12 October 2015 and closes on Friday 27 November 2015.

Student Society OGM and Movie Night

The Hudson Institute Student Society is hosting two events this week:

Ordinary General Meeting (OGM) - to vote in favour of our name change and amended constitution.

Wednesday, October 14 at 12pm, Level 3 boardrooms (next to De Kretser concourse)

All students are invited to attend. We will be providing a FREE pizza lunch and drinks so don't miss out!

Movie night: Shutter Island

Thursday, October 15 at 5:30pm, De Kretser concourse, Level 3

All staff and students are invited to attend. Tickets can be pre-purchased before the night: $5 students / $7 staff (or $8 / $10 at the door)

Did you know that SCS events, lectures, seminars and more are scheduled in the SCS calendar? You can subscribe to our calendar, ensuring you will receive invitations and never miss another event or meeting.

Just click on any of the scheduled events and you can easily add it to your own calendar.

The SCS calendar is on the front page of SCS eNews: (scsenews.blogspot.com.au). You can also add the SCS calendar to your list of calendars by clicking on the +Google calendar button.

Please ask Katherine (katherine.greenberg@monash.edu) or Vithya (vithya.premkumar@monash.edu) if you have any questions.

Click on the events listed below, to find more details about each event.

What's on for the week (12-18 Oct)

Tue	13/10/2015	09:30	►	Procure to Payment information session
		13:00	►	CiiiD Seminar Series
Wed	14/10/2015	09:00	►	Procure to Payment information session
		12:00	►	Student Society Ordinary General Meeting
		12:30	►	Grand Rounds: Drug induced lung disease, old and new agents, a clinico-radiologic review
Thu	15/10/2015	11:00	►	Procure to Payment information session
		16:00	►	“New approaches to target the dysregulated epigenomicstate in cancer”
		17:30	►	Hudson Institute Student Society movie night
Fri	16/10/2015	14:30	►	Procure to Payment information sessions

CID Seminar TOMORROW: The molecular basis underpinning the association between MHC class II and autoimmune disease

The next CID Seminar will be held on Tuesday 13th October from 12:00-13:00 in the Medicine Seminar Room Located on Level 5, Block E MMC.

Dr Joshua Ooi will be presenting: "The molecular basis underpinning the association between MHC class II and autoimmune disease".

Grand Rounds Presentation: "Drug induced lung disease, old and new agents, a clinico-radiologic review" 14 October

Presented by Associate Professor Michael Farmer and Associate Professor Parm Naidoo.

Wednesday 14 October, 12.30-1.30pm
Main Lecture Theatre, Monash Medical Centre

“New approaches to target the dysregulated epigenomicstate in cancer” - Thursday 15 October

This week's Hudson seminar will be presented by Associate Professor Ron Firestein.

Thursday 15 October, 4-5pm, Lecture Theatre 1, Monash Medical Centre.

Flyer with details here.

Monash Animal Ethics Information Session - Thursday 29 October 2015

“Animal Use in Research & Teaching”

Monash University requires that:

• All new research staff and students using live animals complete the information session “Animal Use in Research and Teaching”.

• Investigators must have successfully completed the relevant training to be named on an animal ethics application.

Date: Thursday 29 October 2015

Time: 10am – 12:30pm

Venue: Lecture Theatre S2, 16 Rainforest Walk (Building 25), Clayton Campus

“Improving Men’s Health – Research Horizons in Andrology" 28 November

Prof Marilyn Renfree
will deliver plenary talk

The Monash University–Justus Liebig University International Research Training Group Men’s Health Symposium 2015

Saturday 28 November, 8.30am - 6.00pm
Main Lecture Theatre, Monash Medical Centre

Symposium topics:
Inflammation, Infection and Immunity in the Male Tract
Offspring Health, Genetics and Epigenetics
Men’s Health and Hormones
Cancer in the Male Tract and Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia

Please register here. More information here.

MRO Closing Dates for 2016 NHMRC Funding Calendar

Please find attached here the MRO closing dates for the 2016 NHMRC funding calendar.

Applications Open in RGMS Date

As applications open in RGMS , the MRO will send you a notification. The webpage will then be updated with important information about the scheme, the key changes, internal

submission process and key dates.

Minimum Data Due Date

Please take note of the minimum data requirement deadlines. CIAs must have commenced their applications and entered the minimum data in RGMS by 5pm AEST/AEDT on the specified due date. Specific instructions will be made available in the scheme-specific Funding Rules and Advice and Instructions to Applicants when applications open. Applications that fail to meet these requirements will not be accepted. Communication from MRO about the scheme, after this date, will be sent directly to applicants that have initiated their application in RGMS.

MRO Closing Dates

The MRO closing date is for compliance checking. This date is when the MRO Medical and Health Sciences team will commence checking of applications for eligibility, compliance and completeness. Applications will be checked in the order that they are received. Information about how applicants can submit their application for compliance checking, and the key dates that will follow, will be detailed in the MRO submission process.

The Importance of a Compliance Check

As the University's NHMRC's Research Administration Office (RAO), the MRO Medical and Health Sciences team offers a compliance checking service to ensure that your application is eligible, compliant and complete. In this year's NHMRC Project Grant round, a number of applications from other institutions were removed from assessment due to non-compliant issues (e.g. incorrect font size in the Grant Proposal). MRO encourage you to submit your application to

them for compliance checking. They are here to support you!

Additional Support from MRO

For select schemes, the MRO Research Development team will be offering additional support. Further information will be sent by the team directly and they can be contacted via mro.researchdevelopment@monash.edu.

MRO look forward to working with you again in the next NHMRC round. Please do not hesitate to contact the Medical and Health Sciences team (

mhs@monash.edu) if you have any queries.

Nomination to Participate in Peer Review for 2016 NHMRC Application Rounds

The opportunity to self-nominate to be considered for participation on a NHMRC Peer Review Panel in 2016 is now open. Researchers are invited to self-nominate for the following schemes:

Career Development Fellowships
Centres of Research Excellence
Development Grants
Early Career Fellowships
Partnership Projects
Postgraduate Scholarships
Practitioner Fellowships
Program Grants
Project Grants
Research Fellowships
Translating Research into Practice Fellowships

A guide to assist researchers in determining the most appropriate funding scheme(s) to which they might contribute their expertise and experience is available from the NHMRC Website.

Instructions on how to nominate within RGMS are available here.

Nominations will close on Friday 30 October

ARC Industrial Transformation Research Programme (ITRP) - Updated FAQ

This information is for anyone involved in developing proposals for Industrial Transformation Research Hubs (ITRH 2015) or Industrial Transformation Training Centres (ITTC 2016).

Please be aware that the ARC has updated the Frequently Asked Questions for schemes under the Linkage Programme. See link for updated document.

The updated document includes one additional FAQ which is relevant for ITRH and ITTC applications.

The Fiscal Year 2015 (FY15) Defense Appropriations Act provides $16 million (M) to the Department of Defense Neurotoxin Exposure Treatment Parkinson’s Research (NETPR) Program to provide support for research of exceptional scientific merit leading to an understanding of the cause, prevention, and treatment of the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the Substantia nigra that result in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Applications to the FY15 NETPR Program will be solicited by the U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity (USAMRAA). The executing agent for the anticipated Program Announcements/Funding Opportunities is the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP).

This information is for anyone involved in developing proposals for Industrial Transformation Research Hubs (ITRH 2015) or Industrial Transformation Training Centres (ITTC 2016).

Please be aware that the ARC has updated the FrequentlyAsked Questions attached here for schemes under the Linkage Programme.

The updated document includes one additional FAQ which is relevant for ITRH and ITTC applications.

Are you looking for possibilities to fund a study or research stay in Germany?

The DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) is Germany's largest scholarship-awarding organisation and runs several programs to support academic exchange between Germany and all parts of the world. These programs range from short-term exchanges for research or teaching purposes to doctoral scholarships lasting several years. The scholarships offered by the DAAD are awarded to younger university graduates from all academic disciplines as well as from the fields of music and art. Support is also available for young academics and scientists, university teachers and groups completing study visits under the guidance of a university teacher. This support is largely financed from public funds made available by the German Federal Foreign Office.

For more information please refer to the DAAD Information Centre Sydney website

Applications for ARC Australian Laureate Fellowships are now open in RMS and close 5pm on Tuesday 17 November 2015.

See links for: Funding Rules, ARC Medical Policy, Instructions to Applicants and Frequently Asked Questions, Changes to Funding Rules, FAQs Cross Scheme Eligibility
Please start your proposal in RMS as soon as possible so we know that you intend to apply.
The MRO intranet page for FL16 will soon be updated with certifications and templates to assist you with completing your application.
The MRO Research Development Team will assist with application preparation, structure and content. They can be contacted at mro.researchdevelopment@monash.edu. If you haven't already informed the team of your intention to apply, please do so ASAP.
Please direct any other questions that you have to the ARC Pre-award team at arc@monash.edu

FL16 closing dates:

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is inviting applications that address specific challenges defined in the grant programs below. For details and application instructions, please visit the new Grand Challenges website. Please note that descriptions of the challenges are available on the website in Chinese, French, Portuguese and Spanish.

1) Grand Challenges Explorations is seeking innovative global health and development solutions and is now accepting proposals for its latest application round. Applicants can be at any experience level; in any discipline; and from any organization, including colleges and universities, government laboratories, research institutions, non-profit organizations, and for-profit companies. Initial grants will be US $100,000 each, and projects showing promise will have the opportunity to receive additional funding of up to US $1 million.

Proposals are being accepted online until 11 November, 2015 for the following challenges: