Watch Dr Michael Chae talk about 3D printing
Monday, 13 February 2017
Forensic techniques enable study of cancer cells from archives
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| Dr Luciano Martelotto |
A new technique that enables researchers to study single
cells from older samples taken from people with breast cancer is opening
the door to new findings about genetic changes that make cancer aggressive.
Published last week in Nature Medicine, the research
was led by Dr Luciano Martelotto, who has recently moved to the School of
Clinical Sciences, Monash University as a Senior Research Fellow.
Dr Martelotto is currently working with Associate Professors Arun Azad and Jake Shortt in the development of a high sensitivity next-generation sequencing pipeline for circulating cell-free DNA in prostate cancer and lymphoma.
Read the full research story (courtesy of Memorial Sloan
Kettering Cancer Centre and science writer Julie Grisham) HERE.
Monash cardiologist and researcher selected as Young Leader at CRT17
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| Dr Rob Gooley |
Monash Cardiovascular Research Centre (MCRC) researcher and
MonashHeart cardiologist Dr Rob Gooley has been accepted as a Cardiovascular
Research Technologies (CRT) Young Leader and will serve as faculty at the
annual CRT symposium in Washington D.C. later this month.
The lead cardiologist for structural heart disease at Monash
Health, Dr Gooley provides patients with interventional and percutaneous
structural heart procedures.
“The
CRT Young Leadership program recognises practitioners who are early in their
career but have demonstrated a commitment to advancing the evidence base of
their specialty and shown leadership within the field,” said Dr Gooley.
“The
program exposes recipients to current experts in the field who can provide
guidance and mentorship while developing collaborative relationships.”
The
highly competitive CRT Young Leadership program is open to early career
practitioners globally in the interventional cardiology field. Only twenty
applicants are chosen from the global pool of applicants.
“As a
member of the faculty at CRT2017, I will be responsible for chairing sessions,
providing educational lectures and adjudicating submitted research for award presentations,”
said Dr Gooley.
“In
addition to my involvement in the academic program I will be involved in
workshops to introduce those in the Young Leadership program to current world
leaders, build relationships and encourage future collaborations.”
Dr Gooley’s research is focused on multimodality imaging
assessment of patients—pre and post structural interventions—with an aim of
refining patient selection and improving the safety and efficacy of procedures. This research was also the topic of his PhD,
which he completed at Monash University in December.
Training the gut to cope with exercise enhances performance
 |
| Dr Ricardo Costa |
Monash University research has shown for the first time that
athletes can train their gut to cope with food and fluid intake during
strenuous exercise, resulting in reduced debilitating gastrointestinal symptoms,
improved nutrient uptake, and improved performance.
“In a world-first, we’ve demonstrated the adaptability of
the gastrointestinal tract and determined the impact of two weeks gut-training
protocol on gastrointestinal status, blood glucose availability, fuel kinetics
and running performance,” said lead author Dr Ricardo Costa from the Department of
Nutrition, Dietetics & Food.
Exercise can disturb gut integrity and function, and cause severe
gastrointestinal symptoms including pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea—a
common feature of endurance exercise.
While it is already well established that carbohydrate
intake during extended exercise (two hours or longer) is a key determinant of
endurance exercise performance, the debilitating symptoms make essential eating
and drinking during exercise very difficult.
“In our study, we developed a gut-training protocol that led
to a 60 per cent reduction in gastrointestinal symptoms, and resulted in a five
per cent improvement in exercise performance,” said Dr Costa.
During the randomised controlled two-week gut training
protocol, on a daily basis, participants consumed a carbohydrate gel-disc or matched
placebo every 20 minutes throughout the 1 hour running exercise.
“After two weeks of gut training, the carbohydrate gel-disc
formulation improved gastrointestinal symptoms, reduced carbohydrate
malabsorption, and enhanced blood glucose availability during endurance
running, compared with the placebo,” said Dr Costa.
Dr Costa said the running performance improvements observed
after gut-training are likely due to symptom improvement, but increased glucose
availability may have also contributed.
“These findings suggest that endurance runners may benefit
from a structured gut-training protocol to meet individual needs and tolerance
levels.”
However, Dr Costa is yet to determine whether a greater
nutrient load, for example inclusion of protein and fat within the gut-training
formulation and / or food would result in greater gut-training effects.
“Considering the diversity of responses we observed in our
study, we suggest individualised gut-challenge protocols be an essential part
of an athlete’s nutritional strategy assessment to inform training process,
with the aim of reducing exercise-associated gastrointestinal symptoms and
enhancing exercise performance,” said Dr Costa.
Monash research to improve health outcomes for Aboriginal people with traumatic brain injury
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| Associate Professor Cadilhac |
A successful National Health & Medical Research Council
(NHMRC) partnership grant will enable Associate Professor Dominique Cadilhac and
the other lead investigators to implement the first culturally secure
intervention package for Aboriginal survivors of brain impairment in Australia.
The five year partnership grant worth $906,444 will
facilitate collaborations between Monash University and Edith Cowan University,
and enable Associate Professor Cadilhac from the Stroke and Ageing Group,
School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health (SCS) to expand her research
contributions in this area.
“Aboriginal Australians experience stroke up to three times
more frequently than non-Aboriginal Australians, with traumatic brain injury
due to assault occurring up to 21 times more often,” said Associate Professor Cadilhac.
“Yet Aboriginal people remain under-represented in
rehabilitation programs.”
“The aims of this project are to improve accessibility to
rehabilitation services for all Aboriginal people post brain injury in Western
Australia, improve health outcomes for this population, and establish an
economic model that will contribute to sustainability and planning of future
services.”
The study includes a randomised control trial design to test
a complex intervention that will be developed, following on from the research
team’s Missing Voices study. In this latter study, led by Prof Beth Armstrong, the
extent and impact of communication disorders after brain injury in Aboriginal
people across Western Australia were investigated and this provided promising
pilot data in support of the current successful application.
Associate Professor Cadilhac said the study will consist of
cultural security training for hospital staff tailored to the delivery of services
to Aboriginal people with brain injury; the use of culturally appropriate
educational materials; and introduction of a specialist Aboriginal Brain Injury
Coordinator to provide an in-reach service to participating hospitals as well
as coordination of care and advocacy after hospital discharge.
“The service and costing models developed in the project
will provide a basis for future planning of brain injury services, as well as
services for a variety of other conditions in Western Australia and nationally.”
Seed funding will enable research to develop a miniature immune system in a micro particle
 |
| Dr Sarah Jones |
Dr Sarah
Jones has received a grant from the Rebecca L Cooper Medical
Research Foundation, providing $25,000 seed funding to create an immune system
in a micro particle in collaboration with Associate Professor John Forsythe at
Monash Engineering.
“Excitement
in medical research peaks when old problems of biology can be solved by modern
techniques,” said Dr Jones, postdoctoral research fellow in the Lupus and
Arthritis Research Group, Centre for Inflammatory Diseases.
The
re-creation of organs in the lab setting, termed “organoids”, is a key
technique that is allowing major advances to be made in medical research.
“We have
designed a way to create a miniature immune system organoid, encapsulated in a
microparticle, called an Immunosphere,” said Dr Jones.
“Within
the Immunosphere we will be able to recapitulate the events that occur to
produce antibodies, which are critical for immunity against invading pathogens
and which are damaging in the case of autoimmune diseases.”
Dr Jones
said the Immunosphere will provide a model system for studying antibody
production which, despite its importance for human health, has previously been
inherently difficult to study.
The
Immunosphere will also be a platform for testing new drugs designed to improve
antibody production to achieve better outcomes from vaccination, or to block it
for treatment of autoimmune diseases, which are currently common, serious and
incurable.
“The
potential applications for the Immunosphere system are extremely important and very
exciting,” said Dr Jones.
Michaela Finsterbusch wins VIIN Career Development Award
 |
| Dr Michaela Finsterbusch |
Michaela, a research fellow in the Centre for Inflammatory Diseases, School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health, will speak at the Lorne Infection and Immunity Conference this week about monocytes contributing to neutrophil-dependent kidney injury in acute glomerulonephritis.
The VIIN Career Development Award covers Michaela's registration at the conference.
Walk for Monash Children's Hospital, 5 March
Our researchers including Dr Jason Cain’s group in the Centre for Cancer Research and Professor Rosemary Horne’s infant and child health group in the Ritchie Centre undertake amazing research with the help of clinical collaborations and links with Monash Children’s Hospital.
Choose from a 1km / 5km / 10km walk or a 5km / 10km run. This is a family friendly, non-competitive event for all ages!
There will be lots of activities on the day with an animal farm, Kid Zone, and FREE massages as well as fantastic food trucks and entertainment.
It would be great to see as many staff and students as possible there!
Victorian Health and Medical Research Fellowships - EOI APPLICATIONS DUE 15 FEBRUARY 2017
Biomedical
Research Victoria is pleased to announce that the call for applications is now
open for the inaugural Victorian
Health and Medical Research Fellowships, an initiative of
the Victorian Government's Healthier Lives, Stronger Economy: Victoria's Health and Medical
Research Strategy 2016-2020.Intended to support Victoria’s mid-career health and medical researchers, three individual four-year Fellowships of up to $200,000 per annum will be awarded to health and medical researchers undertaking high quality, transdisciplinary research with a translational focus in the areas of bioinformatics, genomics and/or health services research.
How to
apply: Visit: www.biomedvic.org.au/fellowships/
The application process involves two steps:
Step one: Confirm your eligibility against the criteria outlined in the Fellowship Application Guide and then complete an online Short Form Application by 2pm Wednesday 15 February 2017.
Step two: Eligible applicants will be notified by Wednesday 1 March 2017 and invited to prepare and submit a Full Application by midnight Sunday 2 April 2017.
Full Applications will be considered by a panel of independent experts who will recommend a short list of candidates to the Victorian Government’s Science, Medical Research and Technology Panel for further deliberation and decision.
Researchers interested to apply for the Victorian Health and Medical Research Fellowships must have a minimum of five years and a maximum of 12 years post-doctoral work experience at the closing date for Full Applications.
ARC LIEF 2018 (LE18) - Now Open in RMS
| Linkage
Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) Proposals for funding
commencing in 2018 are now open in RMS.
The ARC closing date
for submission of Proposals is 5.00pm,
Wednesday, 5 April 2017.
Documentation relating to the LIEF scheme,
including Frequently Asked Questions and Instructions to Applicants is
available on the ARC website.
Please start your proposal
in RMS as soon as possible so we know that you intend
to apply. A Pure Application Record will also need to be created in myResearch/Pure (for
guidance refer to: Creating an Application Record)
|
Key Dates:
LE18
|
MRO close date
|
ARC close date
|
Funding Rules available 22 Sept 2016
|
||
Open in RMS 8 February 2017
|
||
Proposal closing date
|
22 March 2017
|
5pm 5 April 2017
|
Request Not to Assess
|
15 March 2017
|
5pm 22 March 2017
|
Rejoinder Process
|
tba
|
tba
|
Announcement
|
Sept 2017
|
|
For
queries about the scheme, please contact mro-arc@monash.edu.
Vice-Chancellors Research Pitch Challenge
PhD students and early/mid-career
researchers are encouraged to showcase their work at the Higher Education Conference
2017 to be held on 1-3 March at the National Convention
Centre, Canberra.
Applicants will be showcased at the
2017 conference via a 'digital poster display', allowing all delegates to view
and vote. This will be an opportunity for PhD and early/mid-career researchers
to showcase their work to higher-education leaders, including Vice-Chancellors,
industry and government ministers. There
is a $1,500 prize for the winner and all applicants are eligible for heavily
discounted tickets to attend the conference.
Please use the following link for
more details:
Young Tall Poppy Science Awards for 2017 - Information Session (Tuesday 28 February)
Nominations for
the annual Young Tall Poppy Science Awards for
2017 open at 9:00am on 27th February
and close at 11:59pm on 9th April.These awards recognise excellence in early career research across all the sciences including biomedical, engineering, mathematics, technology; alongside a passion and capacity to communicate science to the community. Further details are available at http://www.aips.net.au/tall-poppies/tall-poppy-campaign/young-tall-poppy-science-awards/ Additional information is also available on Research Professional.
Mind Your Way has had great results in the past with boosting Monash University's success in these awards, and they are keen to continue that trend this year. The services provided by their team include narrative coaching and grammar editing.
An information session at Clayton campus will be held for anyone interested in applying for the Young Tall Poppy Science Awards.
Date: Tuesday 28 February 2017
Time: 1:30pm - 3:00pm
Venue: Clayton campus, 35 Rainforest
Walk (formerly Building 13D, Biochemistry), Room D523, Level 5
RSVP: To Christina Majoinen at christina@mindyourway.com.au and copy medicine.research@monash.edu by
Friday 24 February 2017.
Zoom is
available for those not on the Clayton campus (a link will be sent closer to
the event).
Benefits of
attending:
· Hear strategies for
writing a successful Tall Poppy application
· Understand the
double-review editing process for making your application shine
· Receive copies of
previous successful applications to use as a model for your own application
Cell therapies platform fully open for business in the MHTP Translational Research Facility
 |
| Dr Gordon McPhee, Cell Therapies Platform Manager |
The GeSim Bioprinter enables scientists to generate fine biocompatible
scaffolds to support 3D cell and tissue cultures, potentially replacing cartilage
and bone in the human body.
Alternatively, a nano printer is well suited to localising
matrix proteins within advanced materials for medical device or biosensor
applications. As with all Cell Therapies Platform equipment, the setup is fully
GMP compliant, enabling researchers to develop their programs towards clinical
trials with confidence.
MHTP Platform Strategic Initiatives Manager,
Mrs Vivien Vasic, says the Cell Therapies Platform represents an end-to-end story
for regenerative medicine.
‘One stop shop’ for cell therapy manufacture and
regenerative medicine
“This truly is a ‘one-stop shop’ facility for regenerative
medicine, and one of the few Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) compliant cell
therapies environments in Australia,” Mrs Vasic said.
“The Cell Therapies Platform is a major new initiative
within the MHTP and has been purposefully designed to underpin clinical
translation of cell therapies and regenerative medicine.”
The facilities available to scientists and commercial users
at the MHTP Cell Therapies Platform are:
Bone Density, Muscle Quality and Body Composition Assessments at Clayton – DXA and pQCT
 |
| Bone and Muscle Research Group |
The Bone and Muscle Research Group Clinical Imaging
Service is now up and running!
We aim to provide cost-effective service for researchers
exploring bone and muscle health.
Our specialised dual xray absorptiometry (DXA) and peripheral
quantitative computed tomography (pQCT) machines assess and quantify bone density,
body composition, bone geometry, visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue, and
more. This may be particularly useful in studies with paediatric, obese or
elderly patients or those with endocrine, rheumatic or metabolic conditions.
For more information, to access the Clinical Imaging Service or
to collaborate with the Bone and Muscle Research Group, contact Dr David
Scott:
Ph. 8572 2397 | E. david.scott@monash.edu
"Epigenetic pathways as targets in human disease", 16 February
This week's Hudson seminar will be held Thursday 16th February from 12.00-1.00pm at TRF Building, Level 2
Seminar rooms 1 & 2.
Our speaker will be Professor
Shelley Berger, Daniel S. Och University Professor at
University of Pennsylvania and Director of Epigenetics Institute, Penn School
of Medicine.
A light lunch and refreshments
will follow the presentation.
Shelley Berger, Ph.D., is engaged in studies of chromatin and epigenetic regulation of the eukaryotic genome. Dr. Berger’s lab has become increasingly focused on the study of mammalian biology and human diseases, including cancer and other diseases associated with aging, as well as epigenetic control of learning, memory and behavior. The lab has been published in high impact journals, such as Cell, Nature, Science, and Genes & Development. Her work on epigenetics of behavior has been covered in The New York Times and The New Yorker. Dr. Berger is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Association for Advancement of Science.
PhD confirmation, Champa Nataraja, 21 February
All staff and students are invited to Champa Nataraja's PhD confirmation.12pm, Tuesday 21 February, Seminar Room 1, Level 2, TRF
Thesis
title: GILZ regulates type 1 IFN production
in SLE and represents an effective, metabolically inert alternative to GCs for
the treatment of SLE.
Synopsis:
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a clinically diverse autoimmune disease
characterized by the loss of tolerance to nuclear self-antigens and autoantibody
production, and type 1 Interferon play a critical role in SLE
pathogenesis. The majority of patients with SLE are typically treated with
Glucocorticoids (GCs) due to their broad anti-inflammatory effect but result in
significant metabolic adverse effects that contribute to increased morbidity
and mortality in SLE.There is a critical need for alternative therapies to
glucocorticoids that can exert similar anti-inflammatory effects, such as
inhibition of type I interferon production, but without causing the metabolic
adverse effects of GC. GILZ (Glucocorticoid-induced leucine zipper),
a GC-inducible protein, may represent such an alternative. Thus, I
aim to determine that GILZ regulates type 1 IFN production and is metabolically
inert distinct from GCs. This work will validate GILZ as a therapeutic target
in SLE and potentially lead to a therapy reducing dependence on GC in SLE
treatment.
Supervisors:
Prof Eric Morand, Dr Sarah Jones and Prof Michelle Leech
Panel
Chair: Dr George Grigoriadis
Independent
assessors: Dr Alberta Hoi, Prof Philip Hodgkin
Introduction to Bioinformatics at MHTP, 22 February
 |
| MHTP Bioinformatics team |
Wed 22 Feb, 2.30pm - Seminar room 2, level 2, TRF
Presented by Wishva Herath, on behalf of the MHTP
Bioinformatics team (Roxane Legaie, Ross Chapman, Helen Cumming, Jamie Gearing,
Isaac Woodhouse, Andrew Perry and Claire Sun).
Recently brought together, the bioinformaticians at MHTP
will showcase their skills and capabilities in order to raise awareness about
the need for cutting-edge bioinformatics practices, the resources required for
the analysis of such "Big Data", as well as the support they can
provide to the local research community.
The talk will be followed with an open discussion where
everyone is invited to ask questions and provide feedback on what their
bioinformatics needs are or will be.
Researchers are also encouraged to fill in our pre-survey to
help us tailor our future events: https://goo.gl/forms/QjtffgK4P1xb7w4a2
For more information or to join the bioinformatics team
please contact: roxane.legaie@monash.edu
SHARED MEDICAL APPOINTMENTS (SMA) WORKSHOP FOR PRACTITIONERS & FACILITATORS, 25 March
Become an
ASLM Registered SMA Practitioner or Facilitator by attending the Shared
Medical Appointments (SMAs) workshop and follow-up assessment on Saturday
25 March, 9.30am-4pm
Traditionally, medical consultations have been
carried out in a 1:1 situation; an ‘expert’ (doctor) consulting with one
patient. This has served us well, and still does with injuries and infectious
diseases. But the rise in chronic diseases with the modernisation of society
has dramatically altered the clinical landscape.
Also known as ‘Group Visits’ or ‘Group Medical
Appointments’ in the US, an SMA is, “A series of consecutive
individual medical consultations in a supportive group setting where all can listen,
interact, and learn.” As such an SMA is a both an individual
consultation and a group education session.
The minimal ‘team’ for an SMA is a
doctor and a trained facilitator. In an SMA, the doctor carries out
his/her doctoring, but with other patients watching. The facilitator
introduces the group, writes records and questions on a board, assists the
doctor with information, controls the group dynamics, and in some cases writes
the medical records.
Doctors, allied health practitioners, ancillary
staff and researchers interested in new models of patient care will benefit
from attending. 40 Category 1 points will be available for GPs and allied
health CPD points should be available to most other practitioners.
Those interested please register on the following
website
$440 non-members | $330 members | $55 early
bird discount until 28 February
The workshop will be hosted at Monash Centre
for Health Research and Implementation (MCHRI) and conducted in collaboration
with the Australian Society of Lifestyle Medicine (ASLM). The workshop is
especially relevant for those wishing to be registered as trained in the
ASLM SMA protocol.
If you have any queries, please email to MCHRI-SMA@monash.edu
Read the full article at http://lifestylemedicine.org.au/content/the-doctor-will-see-you-all-now/
Watch a video of an SMA in action
at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7tiCU0t5zc
Staff OHS training, 23 Feb
OHS training opportunity details:
Date: 23 February 2017
Time:
Time:
- 10.00am-1.00pm: Student Project Safety (Risk Management) - compulsory for students (once only)
- 2.00pm-4.00pm: Biosafety level 1 (Microbiologicals) - for clinical and lab researchers
- 4.00pm-5.30pm: Biosafety level 2 (OGTR / AQIS)
Venue: TRF building seminar reoom 1, Monash Medical Centre
Registration and further information is here. Students - please register via your student authcate account (not a staff account). Places are limited so please register as soon as possible.
Is my OHS training up to date?
You can check your training portfolio in ESS via My Monash Training Qualifications.
What training do I need to do?
Please refer to the OHS training guide or email clare.westhorpe@monash.edu
SCS OHS Committee meeting: Call for agenda items
The next SCS OHS committee meeting will be held on the 1st
March, 2017.
Please send any items for discussion to clare.westhorpe@monash.edu.
Meeting minutes are available on the intranet here.
2017 SPHPM Professional Education Program - Upskill now!
Are
you, your staff or someone you know looking to upskill? Discover a new passion? or Meet inspiring people? The School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine (SPHPM) Short Courses provide short-term, intensive educational opportunities for those seeking professional development, or as an alternative to full-time studies.
See more information HERE.
Reach your potential and achieve your career aspirations
Set your myPlan
goals by 28 February by clicking here.
To assist in completing your myPlan, please visit Performance Development at Monash: getting started user guides, quick reference resources, performance development at a glance, and details about Monash’s Strategic Planning Framework.
Whilst all staff are encouraged to participate, some exemptions may apply so please check the performance development procedures.
If you have any questions, please email myPlan@monash.edu or call Access HR on 9902 0400.
An evaluation of the use and efficacy of a sensory room within an adolescent psychiatric inpatient unit
Read article here.
Treatment of preeclampsia with hydroxychloroquine: a review
Read article here.
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