Monday, 5 December 2016
Monash leads Federal Government’s NHMRC project grant funding
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| Professor William Sievert |
The Federal Minister for Health, The Hon Sussan Ley announced on
Saturday that Monash University had topped the funding in this year’s project
grants awarded by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).
Monash is to receive a total of $78.7 million, including $62.7 million
in project grants.
The School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health (SCS) and Hudson
Institute of Medical Research together received 15 of the Faculty’s 64 grants,
totalling $10.7 million in new funding for CIA researchers.
Monash Health nephrologist Associate Professor Kevan Polkinghorne received
more than $1 million for his project that will study the impact of fish oil
supplementation on reducing cardiovascular disease events in dialysis
patients.
“If proven beneficial, it will represent an easily accessible and
inexpensive novel therapy to improve the lifespan of dialysis patients,” said
Associate Professor Polkinghorne.
Nearly $500,000 awarded to Head of Haematology Research at the Monash
Health Translation Precinct, Associate Professor Jake Shortt brings hope to
multiple myeloma patients.
“Thalidomide-like
drugs (called IMiDs) are an essential treatment for multiple myeloma, a common
incurable blood cancer,” said Associate Professor Shortt.
“We
have discovered that IMiDs destroy proteins that myeloma cells use to ‘read’
cancer-causing genes in their own DNA.”
“We
will investigate how important the destruction of these ‘gene readers’ is in
myeloma cells, including patient samples—also setting up future studies
targeting ‘gene readers’ using IMiDs in combination with other targeted drugs
in clinical trials.”
Patients suffering liver cirrhosis are also expected to benefit from
nearly $400,000 awarded to Professor William Sievert.
“Globally, liver cirrhosis is the sixth most common cause of life-years
lost to premature mortality and deaths due to liver cirrhosis have increased by
over 45% between 1990 and 2013,” said Professor Sievert, Director of
Gastroenterology and Hepatology Unit at Monash Health.
“We propose a phase 1 clinical trial of human amnion epithelial cells
(hAEC), a placental stem cell derived from the fetus, in patients with
compensated cirrhosis.”
“Our ultimate goal is to develop hAEC as a therapy that will reduce
fibrosis in cirrhotic patients at risk of disease progression and this therapy
has the potential to decrease the global burden of disease and death due to
cirrhosis and its complications.”
Professor Paul Hertzog, Director of the Centre for Innate Immunity and
Infectious Diseases at the Hudson Institute of Medical Research received more
than $1.3 million for his research into interferons (IFNs), a family of proteins with critical
roles in infectious and inflammatory diseases and cancers.
Professor
Hertzog said that currently we do not understand why there are so many type I
IFNs, their different functions and how they are achieved.
“This
project will determine at a fine molecular level how different IFNs interact
with molecules on target cells and transmit particular signals. We will focus
on a novel IFNe that we discovered and these studies will underpin the
development of new therapies.”
Congratulations to all researchers (listed below) at the Monash Health
Translation Precinct (MHTP) who received grants or fellowships in this latest
round. Read full details of their
grants HERE.
Dr David Scott
Professor Stephen Holdsworth
Associate Professor Jake Shortt
Professor Paul Hertzog
Professor Michael Hickey
Professor William Sievert
Associate Professor Evdokia Dimitriadis
Associate Professor Ron Firestein
Dr Colin Clyne
Associate Professor Mark Hedger
Dr Peter Stanton
Professor David Walker
Professor Philip Bardin
Dr Miranda Davies-Tuck
Associate Professor Kevan Polkinghorne
Dr Michelle Tate
Dr Jacqueline Boyle
Professor David Nikolic-Paterson
Monash patients benefit from blood cancer drug for autoimmune disease
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| Publication authors Prof Stephen Opat, Dr Sumita Ratnasingham and Assoc Prof Jake Shortt at the ASH Annual Meeting 3 December 2016 |
In a world-first, a Monash University study has shown an
anti-myeloma drug to be an effective treatment against a range of autoimmune
diseases affecting the blood.
Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TPP) is one such
disease—a rare blood disorder characterised by clotting in small blood vessels.
TPP causes microscopic clots to form throughout the body that can damage organs
including the kidneys, heart and brain.
“At Monash, we were the first ever to use bortezomib (an
anti-myeloma drug) in a patient with TPP,” said lead researcher and Monash
Health haematologist Associate Professor Jake Shortt.
“Further to the patient’s full recovery and our New
England Journal paper about this in 2013, we have successfully used
bortezomib in a number of patients with a range of nasty autoimmune diseases
affecting the blood.”
Presented as a case series, Associate Professor Shortt’s
research was published this week in the inaugural issue of Blood Advances,
a new peer-reviewed journal published by the American Society of Hematology and
the first journal to join the Blood family in 70 years.
“If you consider that leukaemia and lymphoma are cancers of
the immune system and that autoimmune disease is caused by an overactive immune
system, you can rationalise that anti-lymphoma drugs could be good for
autoimmune disease,” said Associate Professor Shortt, who is also Head of
Haematology Research at the Monash Health Translation Precinct.
Associate Professor Shortt said that the subsequent use of
bortezomib in ten Monash Health patients was carried out ‘off label’ through
compassionate access—a real credit to Monash Health’s attitude towards drug
availability for patients in need.
“Although our paper is a case series rather than a clinical
trial, we have observed high response rates with minimal toxicity,” said
Associate Professor Shortt.
Associate Professor Shortt presented an abstract of this
work at last year’s American Society of Hematology annual meeting, and it was
subsequently listed in the Cleveland Clinics top 10 most compelling 2015 benign
haematology abstracts.
The article published in Blood Advances was also distributed to 27,000 delegates at the American Society of Hematology's Annual Meeting in San Diego last weekend.
Shift workers’ health to benefit from heart disease grant
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| Associate Professor Bonham |
A leading Monash University nutrition scientist has
received the 2016 National Heart Foundation Ross Hohnen Award for Research
Excellence for her project to improve heart health in shift workers.
The award recognises Associate Professor Maxine Bonham’s outstanding and
innovative Vanguard Grant application, with the award providing $10,000 on top
of the $65,000 grant.
Associate Professor Bonham’s research aims to improve shift workers’
heart health through development of a
dietary strategy that modifies the timing and amount of food consumed at night.
“Shift work is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD)
probably as a result of the disruption to normal circadian rhythms experienced
by people who are awake overnight and sleep during the day," said Associate
Professor Bonham.
“Eating throughout the night
contributes significantly to this risk by forcing the body to actively process
food at night when usually we are asleep.”
“The same meal consumed at night
rather than during the day results in higher circulating blood lipids and
glucose which are both independent risk factors for CVD. This becomes more pertinent when we consider
that shift workers eat a substantial proportion of their daily energy intake
during this overnight period.”
Associate Professor Bonham’s study
aims to show that modifying the timing and amount of food consumed at night in
a shift working population will impact favourably on blood lipids and glucose
in the short term with long term benefits in obesity prevention.
“Current dietary recommendations may not be directly applicable to
shift workers owing to the impact of circadian misalignment on physiological
and metabolic processes.”
“Our research will produce evidence to
inform guidelines promoting cardiovascular health for shift workers,” said
Associate Professor Bonham.
Associate
Professor Bonham said she is honoured
to have been awarded both a Vanguard grant and the Ross Hohnen award for
research excellence and acknowledges her colleagues and collaborators Dr
Catherine Huggins, Dr Sletten, Dr Murgia and Associate Professor Young.
Monash Health Translation Precinct (MHTP)
researchers Dr Nadine Andrew and Associate Professor Lisa Moran also received
competitive Heart Foundation research grants this round.
Dr Andrew from the Stroke and Ageing
Research Group was awarded a Vanguard Grant for her project to develop
standardized methods for setting patient centred goals in stroke while
Associate Professor Moran’s (Monash Centre for Health Research and
Implementation) Future Leader Fellowship helps enable her research into
optimizing weight management in women of reproductive age.
Medical students’ research recognised at SCS
 |
| Tristan McCaughey |
Two Bachelor of Medical Science (Hons)
students have been recognised for their outstanding research at the School of
Clinical Sciences at Monash Health (SCS).
Final year medical student Tristan McCaughey
has received the Stephen Holdsworth Award for Medical Student Research 2016
while Jennifer Zhou is the winner of this year’s Shaun Summers Award for
Medical Student Research.
The Holdsworth Award is for the best publication arising from BMedSc(Hons) research while the Summers Prize goes to the top academic mark in the student cohort.
The Holdsworth Award is for the best publication arising from BMedSc(Hons) research while the Summers Prize goes to the top academic mark in the student cohort.
Supervised by Associate Professor Alex Hewitt
and Dr Christine Chen, Tristan’s thesis explored ethical considerations of two
emerging genetic biotechnologies.
“My thesis investigated public attitudes
towards human gene editing and sought to develop a new consent model for
research participants donating cells for induced pluripotent stem cell research,”
said Tristan.
Tristan’s project surveyed over 12,000 people
from 185 countries, asking whether respondents agreed with the theoretical
applications of human gene editing.
“We also managed to set a new standard of
informed consent for induced pluripotent stem cell research by developing and
validating a new interactive consent model available to researchers worldwide,”
said Tristan.
 |
| Jennifer Zhou |
“My BMedSc(Hons) research has led to a number
of peer-reviewed publications and I have been fortunate enough to present the
work at conferences both locally and overseas.”
Also in her final year of the MBBS, Jennifer
Zhou’s project characterised the role of two immune cells (CD8+ T cells and
Dendritic cells) in the development of atherosclerosis, the growth of fatty lesions
called ‘plaques’ in the arterial wall.
Rupture of these plaques is the primary pathology underlying heart attacks and strokes—both leading causes of death and disability world-wide.
“Previously, atherosclerotic plaques were thought to be caused by
fatty deposition in the arterial wall, but increasing evidence suggests that
the immune system is also involved in their development,” said Jennifer.
“The results of my study demonstrated that CD8+ T cells and
Dendritic cells do indeed contribute to the formation of larger and more
rupture-prone atherosclerotic lesions.”
Jennifer’s project sheds light on two potentially attractive
therapeutic targets for modulating the immune response in development of
atherosclerosis.
Jennifer
said choosing to do the BMedSc(Hons) was one of the best decisions she’s made
in her time at university.
“I went from
seeing medicine as a set of concrete facts, to realising that every fact I had
learnt at university stemmed from asking questions, from research—the important
backbone of clinical medicine.”
With no prior experience in medical research
and although initially apprehensive, Tristan said his BMedSc(Hons) year enabled
him to develop invaluable skills and gain a completely different perspective on
evidence-based medicine.
“I thank SCS for honouring me with this award—it
is a great privilege to have my work acknowledged, particularly with the high
quality research produced by my BMedSc(Hons) cohort” said Tristan.
Jennifer also thanks her supervisors,
Professor Ban Hock Toh and Alex Bobik and BMedSc(Hons) Coordinator at SCS, Dr
Tony White.
Tristan and Jennifer will receive their
awards at the MUMUS Graduate Brunch at Prize Ceremony on 12 December.
Asia Pacific Lupus Collaboration presented in Washington, D.C.
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| L-R: Yeong Song (South Korea); CC Mok (Hong Kong); Yoshiya Tanaka (Japan); Sang-Cheol Bae (South Korea); Eric Morand in Washington, D.C. last month |
Head of School of Clinical Sciences at Monash
Health (SCS) Professor Eric Morand was an invited speaker at the American
College of Rheumatology (ACR) Annual Meeting last month in Washington, D.C.
Attended by over 10,000 delegates, Professor Morand presented on the Asia Pacific Lupus Collaboration (APLC)
at the Meeting.
The APLC was formed in 2012, and is a
collaboration of expert lupus investigators from 16 research centres across Australia, China, UAE, Dubai, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.
“The APLC is performing the largest
prospective cohort study of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) ever
undertaken,” said Professor Morand, who is also Head of Rheumatology at Monash
Health.
“SLE is more common and more severe in Asia
but prior to the APLC no one had worked to link the many local registries and
clinics.”
“Undertaking SLE research in Asia can expedite
our research because of patient numbers and the severity of cases,” said
Professor Morand.
Professor Morand said the main study being explored by the
APLC is based on validating a definition of a Lupus Low Disease Activity State
(LLDAS) which had been lacking in this field.
Professor Morand and his colleagues have
developed an instrument for measuring treatment response.
“The APLC had multiple posters on their work
at the ACR Annual Meeting, and found that several other large cohorts have
tested and validated the measure,” said Professor Morand.
“The measure was tested in a major
pharmaceutical company database from a clinical trial and found to have
excellent discrimination of active treatment against placebos, something the
field of SLE has awaited for many years.”
As a result of Professor Morand’s
presentation last month in Washington DC, further new sites and countries have
requested to join the APLC.
Casual Timesheet Submission and Approval Deadlines for Final Pay of 2016
As we approach
the end-of-year closedown period (the last day of work is Wednesday
21st December 2016 and the first day back is Tuesday 3rd January
2017), we remind employees and supervisors to make sure all staff timesheets
are submitted and approved to ensure staff payment prior to closedown.
Employees have
been advised to submit timesheets via ESS and PDF by 11:00 am on Wednesday
14th December 2016, and to then inform their supervisor to approve
their timesheets.
Supervisors will
need to log into ESS between 12:00 midday and 2:00 pm on Wednesday 14th
December 2016 to approve any outstanding timesheets. It is imperative that
the supervisor approves before 2:00 pm so that the final approver can
login between 2:00 pm and 4:00 pm to make the final submission.
If a supervisor
will be away or have limited internet access on this date, they may wish to
organise with their Timesheet Administrator (in SCS these are the Head of
Department PAs) for an alternative person to approve during their absence. For
this end-of-year payment, if your staff's timesheets are not approved, they
will not be escalated to the final approval.
The final pay
for 2016 will be Saturday 17th December 2016.
First pay of 2017
Any electronic
timesheets that are not submitted and approved by this deadline will be
processed for payment on Thursday 5th January 2017.
Monash HR will
reopen on Tuesday 3rd January 2017.
More information
is available on the HR Intranet:
If you have any
questions, please visit ask.monash or
call Access HR on 990-20400.
What's on for 6-9 Dec 2016
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 found at the right hand side corner below the calendar.What's on for 6-9 Dec 2016
| Tue | 06/12/2016 | ► | 12:00 | CID - Weekly Seminar Series | |
| ► | 13:00 | CiiiD Seminar Series | |||
| Fri | 09/11/2016 | ► | 13:00 |
|
Forthcoming events
| Tue | 13/12/2016 | ► | 12:00 | CID - Weekly Seminar Series |
| ► | 13:00 | CiiiD Seminar Series | ||
| Wed | 14/12/2016 | ► | 14:00 | MRO Research Fellowship & Practitioner Fellowship Information Session |
| Fri | 16/12/2016 | ► | 11:30 | SCS staff meeting and Christmas trivia lunch |
PhD Confirmation of Candidature - Dr. Jasna Aleksova, 9 Dec
All staff and students are invited to attend Dr Jasna Aleksova's confirmation of candidature.
1pm, 9 December, Surgery Seminar Room,
Level 5, Block E, MMC
Level 5, Block E, MMC
Thesis title: Bone and Muscle Health Across the Spectrum of Chronic Kidney Disease and Renal Transplantation
Synopsis: Fractures in patients with chronic kidney disease and post-renal transplantation are common and associated high morbidity and mortality. The aim of my PhD is to evaluate the clinical and biochemical risk factors that may contribute to fracture risk and to assess the utility of novel imaging modalities that may improve the evaluation and risk stratification of patients across the spectrum of CKD and renal transplantation.
Supervisors: Clinical A/Professor Frances Milat, Professor Rob McLachlan, Professor Peter Ebeling and Professor Peter Kerr.
Panel Chair: Dr. David Nikolic-Paterson.
Independent assessors: Professor Peter Fuller and Professor Mathew Gillespie.
Writing and Communication - Support Services for Graduate Research Students
Writing
and communication are not only essential aspects of the graduate research
student training process, but are skills for life.
Monash
University provides a range of workshops and online resources to support
students with writing and oral communication of research. Below we provide a
list of support programs available should you need further development of these
skill sets.
Monash
Graduate Education - Graduate Researcher Development
Monash
Graduate Education deliver professional development training modules and
workshops to assist with writing and communication. Key training modules can be
found under the learning domains – Research Essentials and Publishing,
Communication and Dissemination. To see a current list of these activities
please click here
English
Connect
English
Connect provides specifically tailored programs. These have been developed in
consultation with international students to ensure that they cover those areas
most relevant to student needs. For more information on programs designed to
improve reading, writing and conversational skills please visit: https://www.monash.edu/English-connect
Monash
University Library
Librarians
and learning skills advisers work closely with Faculties to provide a range of
services to improve research and learning skills that are discipline specific.
For more information please visit:
- http://www.monash.edu/library/skills/
- http://www.monash.edu/rlo
- http://guides.lib.monash.edu/gradres
- http://www.monash.edu.au/lls/hdr/
For
a list of workshops currently available, please visit: https://my.monash.edu.au/news-and-events/bookings/library/
Professional Editing
AssistanceIf you are planning to use a professional editor for your thesis, please see the Guidelines for Editing Research Theses, which form part of the Australian Standards for Editing Practices.
Where a thesis or dissertation is to have input from a professional editor, the student must obtain written permission from the main supervisor. The student should supply the editor a copy of this permission, along with the thesis or manuscript for editing. For more information, please see section 7.1 of the Doctoral Degrees Handbook:
(http://www.monash.edu/graduate-research/faqs-and-resources/content/chapter-seven/7-1)
The Monash Postgraduate Association (MPA) has a detailed guide of thesis proof reading services, which contains a list of proof-readers and editors: http://mpa.monash.edu.au/downloads/proof-reading.pdf
MRO Seminar: Project Grant Information Session
The Monash Research Office (MRO) will be holding an
information session on 18 January 2017 for those considering applying
for a NHMRC Project Grant in 2017.
This session will discuss matters relating to eligibility
and compliance with NHMRC funding rules for this scheme and maybe of interest
to New Investigators.
It will also cover new MRO compliance checking and
faculty approval processes using the new online system, Pure.
There will be the opportunity for questions at the end of
the presentation.
Date: 18 January 2017
Time: 3.30pm - 4.30pm
Location: Central 1 Lecture Theatre, 25 Exhibition
Walk, Clayton campus
Please register your attendance: here
If you are unable to attend, the session will be recorded
for later viewing.
The session will be video-conferenced to the following
locations:
AMREP: Board Room 1, Level 6, The Alfred Centre.
MTHP & Hudson Institute: Board Room, Level 7,
Translational Research Facility (TRF) building
Parkville: Dean's Meeting Room, Level G,
Building 404.
If you require any further information regarding these
sessions, please do not hesitate to contact us on mhs@monash.edu or 9902 4427.
MHTP Biostatistics service
As you plan your research for 2017 don't forget that our in-house Biostatistician, StellaMay Gwini, can provide the following
support for your research projects:
1. Advice on study design and refining of research
questions/aims/hypotheses/objectives for different study designs (e.g. clinical
trials, case-control studies, cohort studies, surveys, mixed methods research)
2. Sample size calculations
3. Advice on data collection and database design
4. Data analysis
5. Randomisation
StellaMay's office
is on level 4, Translational Research Facility (TRF). You can contact StellaMay
at stella.gwini@monash.edu to make an appointment to discuss your research project.
Call for Late Breaking Abstracts - Lorne Infection and Immunity Conference
LATE BREAKING ORAL ABSTRACT SUBMISSION DEADLINE
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United Energy- Scheduled Works Sunday 11th between 7:30am and 4pm
United Energy have advised us that they are to perform
essential maintenance on their High Voltage network on Sunday 11th December,
2016 between 7:30am and 4pm.
Block E and the TRF are on a dual feed, Monash Health
Engineering will switch over to the reserve High Voltage feeder before the
works start, and then switch back to dual feeders after completion. There
should be no noticeable disruption to the continuous supply of electricity
within these buildings.
Building 261 and Building 262 are independently fed from the
grid, these buildings will be impacted relying on generator power
to essential (red) coloured power points. We have requested that the University
run a systems check on the generators for 261 and 262 to ensure that they fire
up on the day and ensure that they are fuelled up
Communications will be repeated throughout the course of
next week as a reminder with a more detailed plan of what staff will need to
do.
Safety alert - Christmas Lights
Read more HERE.
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