SCS eNews: 2017-10-29

Monday, 30 October 2017

Wait a minute! Clamping the umbilical cord later saves preterm babies’ lives

Professor Arvind Sehgal

Thousands of preterm babies could be saved by waiting 60 seconds before clamping the umbilical cord after birth instead of clamping it immediately - according to two international studies, including research from Monash University and Monash Health.

Published today in The New England Journal of Medicine, the international, multicentre randomised controlled trial which recruited more than 1500 preterm infants (the Australian Placental Transfusion Study-APTS) noted less mortality (6.4% in the delayed clamping group compared to 9% in the standard arm).

A systematic review assessed morbidity and mortality outcomes from 18 trials comparing delayed versus immediate cord clamping in nearly 3,000 babies born before 37 weeks’ gestation (including the infants from the APTS study) and found clear evidence that delayed clamping reduced hospital mortality by a third and is safe for mothers and pre-term infants. The findings of this review will be published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

Co-author for the APTS and Head of Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Monash University Professor Euan Wallace said this is a simple change to the immediate care of these tiny, vulnerable babies that can significantly improve their chances of survival.

“Best of all, there is no cost to the change. There are no fancy new drugs or new bits of equipment required. All that is needed is to delay clamping the baby's cord for a minute or so,” Professor Wallace said.

Monash Newborn neonatologist Professor Arvind Sehgal was the APTS site investigator at Monash Children’s Hospital and one of the study authors.

“The study is a significant advance in perinatal medicine and stands to benefit infants of all gestations,” Professor Sehgal said.

“This is the largest study of its kind involving centres from across the globe, and suggests a major change to care at time of birth for preterm infants.”

“The blood stored in the placenta is the baby’s own blood and transfusion of this warm and auto matched blood from the placenta by delaying cord clamping by 60 seconds has shown to significantly improve outcomes.”

“This is a great example of collaborative physiology driven clinical research at the international level which ultimately benefits the most vulnerable infants in our care,” Professor Sehgal said.

The collaborative research effort included the work of Professor Stuart Hooper and Associate Professor Graeme Polglase from The Ritchie Centre (Monash University and the Hudson Institute).

Associate Professor Polglase said birth is such a critical and challenging time principally because the newborn has to initiate its own breathing thus providing the critical oxygen for its organs. However, 1 in 5 babies in Australia need help to transition from a fetus to a newborn.

“This study shows that simply giving the baby a bit more time to breathe before removing it from the life-support of its mother, has amazing immediate and long-term benefits for the newborn,” Associate Professor Polglase said.

The Ritchie Centre has developed new teaching resources for all midwives and doctors to share their research and help change care in all Victorian hospitals.

Centre of Inflammatory Diseases success at ANZSN - a step towards better outcomes for patients with kidney disease

Dr Gan, Dr Hutton, Dr Ooi and Dr Grynberg

Early career Investigators from the Centre of Inflammatory Diseases made their mark at the recent Annual Scientific Meeting of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Nephrology (ANZSN), winning and being first runner up in the awards for early translational research at the Darwin event last month.

Monash University PhD candidates and nephrologists Dr Holly Hutton and Dr Keren Grynberg, and Postdoctoral research fellows Dr Josh Ooi and Dr Poh Yi Gan each received highly competitive awards for their outstanding research.

Consultant nephrologist Dr Hutton was the winner of the Young Investigator Award, the 10th consecutive year a researcher from CID has received this prestigious prize.

The focus of Dr Hutton’s research is MPO-ANCA vasculitis, an autoimmune disease in which the body loses the ability to determine what is 'self'.

“This disease causes the immune system to attack blood vessels, resulting in inflammation and damage to a variety of organs, including the kidneys, lungs and skin,” Dr Hutton said.

Kidney involvement bodes poorly for patients, who may go on to develop end stage kidney disease, and current treatments are non-specific, and have significant side effects.

“My research defined a damaging role for a protein complex called the NLRP3 inflammasome, that helps ‘sound the alarm’ in infection but in inflammatory diseases can have a dark side. I showed that inflammasome activation in the context of vasculitis is damaging,” Dr Hutton said.

“We now have new drugs that block inflammasome activation, potentially providing more targeted, less toxic therapies for patients with vasculitis.”

Fellow PhD candidate and Monash Health nephrologist Dr Grynberg received the first Runner-Up Young Investigator Award in the same category for her research into kidney injury.

“Kidney disease affects one in ten Australian adults and carries a significant personal as well as economic burden,” Dr Grynberg said.

“At present there are no targeted treatments for episodes of sudden kidney failure or its progression to long term kidney disease.”

“Inflammation and scarring are the main processes in the kidney that lead to impairment in kidney function.”

Dr Grynberg’s research focuses on a pathway within cells, the JNK pathway, that causes inflammation, scarring and injury in the kidney.

“By blocking this pathway using new medications we hope to protect the kidney from injury in vulnerable situations such as cardiac surgery or during kidney transplants,” Dr Grynberg said.

Meanwhile postdoctoral researcher Dr Ooi took out the ANZSN Basic Science Award. He presented his work that was recently published in the world’s top science journal Nature. The studies showed how a key genetic risk factor for autoimmune disease could protect people from the risk of developing disease.

The work shows the protective power of cells, known as regulatory T cells, that are specific for disease causing proteins.

“Ultimately, I hope my research leads to targeted therapeutic outcomes that limit the use of global immunosuppression,” Dr Ooi said.

In further success, Dr Gan received the first Runner Up in same Basic Science Award for her research that aims to improve outcomes for patients with ANCA-associated glomerulonephritis, an inflammatory autoimmune disease.

“ANCA-associated glomerulonephritis is an important cause of renal failure and current therapies are limited and with significant side effects,” Dr Gan said.

“The recent development of biological therapeutics, such as antibodies against messenger proteins called cytokines, opens the door for more specific treatments for ANCA-associated vasculitis.”

“First, however, we need to understand which cytokines are the key targets. My work has provided proof of principle that these more specific therapies can be applied to this disease.”

Major study of genetics of breast cancer provides new clues to susceptibility to the disease

Professor Melissa Southey

An international collaborative study, including researchers from Monash University are at the forefront of the discovery of seventy-two new genetic variants that predict the risk of developing breast cancer.

The findings, released last week in two papers, are the result of work by the OncoArray Consortium, a huge endeavor involving 550 researchers from about 300 different institutions in six continents. In total, they analysed genetic data from 275,000 women, of whom 146,000 had been diagnosed with breast cancer.

65 of the newly discovered variants are common variants that predict breast cancer risk and a further seven specifically predict risk of oestrogen receptor-negative breast cancer – these are tumours that do not respond to hormonal therapies, such as the drug tamoxifen.

Associate Professor Roger Milne, Head of the Cancer Epidemiology and Intelligence Division at Cancer Council Victoria and one of the lead investigators on the study, said: “These findings add substantially to our understanding of the inherited causes of breast cancer. This study also allowed us to confirm many genetic variants that we had previously suspected were implicated in breast cancer risk. These findings help explain why women with a family history have a higher risk of breast cancer.”

“The findings will also inform improved risk prediction, both for the general population and for BRCA1 mutation carriers, the latter being more likely to develop oestrogen receptor-negative disease,” says Associate Professor Milne, who also holds an honorary appointment at the University of Melbourne. “A better understanding of the biological basis of oestrogen receptor negative breast cancer could lead to more effective preventive interventions and treatments.”

Combining epidemiological data with other data from breast tissue the researchers were able to make plausible predictions about the target genes involved with risk.

“Data from these large international genomic studies, combined with information on other known risk factors, will allow better breast cancer risk assessment and help identify an important group of women in the population who are at high risk of breast cancer. They are also likely to provide a basis for a change in the way we practice breast screening for early detection of breast cancer” said Professor Melissa Southey Chair of Precision Medicine at Monash University.

“In many countries, screening by mammography is offered from age 50; those at increased risk from having a family history can be offered screening earlier, or more often, and those at particularly high risk can be offered screening by MRI, which is more sensitive. This study opens the door for new genetic risk scores to be included in identifying women at increased or high risk,” said Professor Southey.

Cancer Council Victoria’s Professor Graham Giles said: “Given the size of these studies, we expected that we would find a lot of new breast cancer risk variants, but the study tells us a lot more about which genes are involved, revealing many previously unsuspected genes and genetic mechanisms underlying breast cancer. This should provide guidance for a lot of future research.”

Monash professor elected into the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences and awarded a Medical Research Future Fund Practitioner Fellowship.

Professor Helena Teede

Professor Helena Teede was inducted into the esteemed Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (AAHMS) last week in recognition of her outstanding leadership and contributions to health and medical science. This is only the second induction of new Fellows.

“To be recognised among the most inspirational and impactful of our health and medical researchers nationally is a privilege and is collective recognition of an amazing team I have the fortune to work with and of my exceptional mentors,” Professor Teede said.

President of the Academy, Professor Frazer, said health and medical research undertaken by the new Fellows of the Academy, and enabled by government and philanthropic funding, will help to ensure quality and equitable health care as we enter the age of precision medicine.

The full list of new Fellows, together with their citations on election, is available on the website: http://www.aahms.org/fellowship/

Professor Teede was also awarded a five year Practitioner fellowship in recognition of her research and translation through to health impact.

“This fellowship will support leadership roles in women’s health and health care improvement with a strong focus on delivery of research evidence into practice to deliver direct health benefit both in Australia and internationally,” Professor Teede said.

Professor Teede is a clinician at Monash Health, the Director of the Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation and Executive Director of Monash Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre.

Dr Jaclyn Pearson named L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science 2017 Australian Fellow

Dr Jaclyn Pearson

Dr Jaclyn Pearson from the Centre for Innate Immunity and Infectious Diseases has been named as a L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science 2017 Australian Fellow. The prestigious fellowship recognises Dr Pearson’s contribution to science and will support her career progression.

Dr Jaclyn Pearson stems her fascination of science to a laboratory class in her undergraduate studies at University of Western Australia. As she first looked down the microscope at the tiny stained bacteria, Jaclyn was amazed at how such a small organism could cause so much harm (or benefit) to human health. Distracted by her love of music, Jaclyn took time away from science to tour with her chart-topping rock band, until finally she returned to her passion of science, specifically microbiology.

For the past eight years, Jaclyn has been a valued researcher at Doherty Institute at The University of Melbourne and the Royal Melbourne Hospital, leading world-class research published in the prestigious journal ‘Nature’ and several other leading microbiology journals. Jaclyn is an NHMRC Peter Doherty Early Career Research Fellow and recently accepted a position as a Research Group Head at Hudson Institute/ Monash University where she will lead her own independent research team.

Jaclyn’s key research interest is of the microorganisms of the gastrointestinal tract, specifically in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). This autoimmune disease is a major global health concern, with Australia having one of the highest prevalences in the world. Many studies have tried to identify the underlying mechanisms of IBD, but given the complexity of immune responses in the gut environment, much remains unknown and current treatments are only partially successful.

In her new role, Jaclyn plans to study the dysregulated immune response seen in IBD and understand how the gut microorganisms play a role in disease severity. Jaclyn will draw on her expertise in microbial models to study the immune response and to characterise the microorganisms within the gut during infection, to understand the most critical contributing factors to IBD.

Jaclyn has previously identified that gut pathogens specifically target host mediators of inflammation and programmed cell death (apoptosis) for modification, disabling their normal function to promote the bacterial infection and spreading. Therefore, Jaclyn will look at a group of host proteins known to be key immune signalling factors that mediate inflammation, apoptosis and necroptosis, and determine which host proteins are essential in protecting against gut infection, and understand how they contribute to the maintenance of gut homeostasis.

Jaclyn’s findings will improve our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of IBD and inform future therapeutic development. Her work could identify host factors that influence the development andseverity of inflammatory disorders of the bowel.

Story courtesy of Hudson Communications.

Simple therapy could help children with obstructive sleep apnoea

Dr Lisa Walter

Changing sleeping positions in pre-school aged children with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) could improve their learning, behaviour and cardiovascular outcomes.

The study, published by a team of Hudson Institute, Monash University and Monash Health researchers in the journal Sleep Medicine, suggests that ‘positional therapy’, which is used in adults with OSA, could also benefit children with the condition.

Positional therapy used in adults includes simple devices such as shirts with tennis balls sewn into the back or bands with foam filling in the back, to more sophisticated chest vests, chest straps, neck braces, and electronic devices, which vibrate when the wearer is on his/her back. Devices suitable for use in children would need to be developed.

Dr Lisa Walter, a postdoctoral sleep researcher in The Ritchie Centre, Hudson Institute of Medical Research, says the study examined the heart rates, blood pressure and the autonomic nervous system’s control of heart rate in children with OSA in different sleeping positions.

“A simple strategy aimed at keeping children with obstructive sleep apnoea from sleeping on their back and instead encourages them to sleep on their side or front may reduce the severity of the condition and improve their learning, behaviour and cardiovascular outcomes,” Dr Walter said.

The study found the adverse effects of OSA were more severe and the control of the normal fluctuations in heart rate was reduced in children affected by OSA when they slept on their back.

Dr Walter said the therapy could be especially effective for children with milder forms of the condition, who haven’t undergone the most common treatment of removal of tonsils and adenoids.
The next step is more research in a wider age range of children which could lead to a clinical trial of positional therapy to investigate the effectiveness of this type of therapy in reducing OSA in children.

This research was a collaboration between researchers at The Ritchie Centre, Hudson Institute of Medical Research; the Department of Paediatrics, Monash University; and the Melbourne Children’s Sleep Centre, Monash Children’s Hospital.

SCS trivia quiz

CID seminar, "Human amniotic epithelial cells, a potential therapy for liver injury", 31 October

Presented by Majid Alhomrani, PhD student

Tuesday 31 October, 12-1pm, Seminar Room 1, TRF

Chronic liver diseases are characterised by progressive hepatocyte injury, which results in wound healing responses, inflammation and the accumulation of extracellular matrix (ECM). The size of the population affected with chronic liver disease has been disproportionally increased, and the costs of this increase are enormous. There are many causes of chronic liver disease including viral hepatitis, alcoholic liver disease and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Currently, the only effective treatment for end-stage liver disease is orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). Human Amniotic Epithelial Cells (hAECs) are isolated from the amnion of the placenta in sufficient numbers for clinical use, and bear many characteristics of traditional stem cells including pluripotent ability, low immunogenicity, anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic effects. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are complex membrane enclosed nanoparticles that carry a cargo of select proteins, RNAs, and lipids. I will explore the therapeutic efficacy of hAECs and hAEC-EV in reducing hepatic fibrosis. Mr Majid Alhomrani is a scientist at Monash University where he is currently in his third year of PhD.

Seminar by Chief Medical Advisor of Australian Digital Health Agency - WEDNESDAY 1 NOVEMBER

The Faculty of Information Technology is hosting a seminar THIS WEEK by Meredith Makeham, the Chief Medical Advisor of the Australian Digital Health Agency on Wednesday 1 November at 3pm in Room G12A,14 Rainforest Walk (Building 26), Clayton campus.

This is likely to be of interest to researchers working on digital health.

Please register by clicking here.

Unconventional Thinking: the history, research and development of partial agonists, 31 October

To join this meeting on a computer or mobile phone: https://bluejeans.com/629419000/

Schwartz Rounds, "The patient I will never forget", 1 November

Associate Professor Leeroy William

The Schwartz Rounds is in place of regular Grand Rounds on Wednesday 1 November - Seminar Room, Level 4, MMC.

The Schwartz Rounds is a multidisciplinary forum where clinical and non-clinical staff can discuss the social and emotional issues that arise in caring for patients

Panelists: Dr Kate Moore, Paul Cashin, Janet Walker and Mignonne Meerwold

Facilitated by A/Prof Leeroy William and Shannon Wight

Festschrift for Bryan Williams, 4 November

The Festschrift to celebrate Professor Bryan Williams' career in science will be held on Saturday 4 November in the Translational Research Facility, Monash Health Translation Precinct.

A number of eminent international guests will be speaking, who are past colleagues or students of Bryan’s. There will also be presentations from local speakers from Hudson Institute and Monash University. The program is attached HERE.

Please register at the Eventbrite link below, for catering purposes, by Tuesday 31 October.

Registration link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/festschrift-for-professor-bryan-williams-tickets-36376409821

Milestone, Molly Johnston: A Critical analysis of policies that govern ooccyte preservation in Australia, 1 November

All staff and students are invited to Molly Johnston's milestone seminar.

1 November, 2pm, Ritchie Centre Seminar Room, Level 5, O & G, E block, MMC

Supervisors: Dr Sally Catt, Dr Giuliana Fuscaldo & Dr Nadine Richings

Panel Chair: Dr Catherine Huggins Panel Members: Dr Karin Hammarberg and Dr Megan Munsie

Hudson Seminar Series - Prof Jonathan Baell, 2nd November

This week's Hudson seminar will be held Thursday 2nd November 2017 12pm-1pm in Seminar Rooms 1 & 2, Level 2, TRF Building.

Our speaker will be Professor Jonathan Baell, Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS), Monash University.

He will be presenting “Histone acetyltransferase inhibitors, from screening to optimization - a tricky track”

Prof. Jonathan Baell is a Larkins Fellow, Director of the Australian Translational Medicinal Chemistry Facility and an NHMRC Principal Research Fellow, at Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS). He obtained his PhD in 1992 under Professors Peter Andrews and Paul Alewood. Then he obtained a senior position in Australia’s prestigious National Scientific Organisation, CSIRO, where later at the age of 28 he became CSIRO’s youngest Senior Research Scientist. After a decade as Head of Medicinal Chemistry at Australia’s Premier Medical Research Institute, WEHI, he was appointed as a research professor at MIPS, which in 2017 was ranked #2 in the world for Pharmacy and Pharmacology (QS World University Rankings).

His interests are in the design of quality of HTS libraries, medicinal chemistry hit-to-lead and lead optimization, and computer-aided peptidomimetic design in order to generate compounds with potential therapeutic utility and of value. Of his more than 100 publication, he has papers in Nature, Nature Chemical Biology and Journal of Medicinal Chemistry (10) and perhaps more usefully in this translational environment, has over 40 granted pharmaceutical patents making key contributions to a number of compounds in various stages of development, from preclinical to one currently in phase I clinical trials for anxiolysis, and has consulted widely for the Australian Biotechnology Industry. In 2005 he was awarded the 2004 Biota Medal, a National Award for Excellence in Medicinal Chemistry for an early to mid-career researcher. His 2010 HTS publication on Pan Assay Interference Compounds, or PAINS, and has been most highly cited primary research article in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry over a 3-year period. He is an Editorial Advisory Board Members on several high profile journals in his discipline, such as Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, and is Senior Editor of Future Medicinal Chemistry.

FUNDAMENTALS IN OBSTETRIC CARE, 17-18 November

Jarrod McKenna MRS confirmation milestone, “Assisted reproductive techniques in the Spiny Mouse”, 17 November

All staff and students are invited to Jarrod McKenna's Masters in Reproductive Sciences confirmation milestone.

2-3pm, 17 November, The Ritchie Centre Seminar Room, Level 5, Monash Medical Centre

Project title: “Assisted reproductive techniques in the Spiny Mouse”

Synopsis: My aims are to define and optimise cryopreservation protocol for spiny mouse gametes, as well as successfully complete IVF and ICSI.

Primary supervisor: Associate Professor Peter Temple-smith

Implementation Science Masterclass: Managing Change for Direct Health Impact, 23-24 November

Please register HERE: http://www.cvent.com/d/1tqnks/4W

Monash Animal Research Ethics Update – October 2017

Contents:

1. Animal Ethics Information Sessions - new date

2. Updated Forms - important information

3. Laboratory and Animal Facilities - clutter and cleanliness

4. Cage Labels - check the ethics number

5. Updated Scientific License Numbers

6. On-Line Animal Ethics Applications – Infonetica - NOT Released Yet

7. Animal Ethics Office News

8. Use of Animals in Teaching

9. Reminders

10. On-Line Animal Ethics Resources

11. Animal Ethics Regulations, Guidelines, Codes, Training & Information

Available from the web at:

http://www.intranet.monash/researchadmin/start/ethics/animal/moreinfo/updates

Faculty Guidelines for PURE Researcher Profiles

Activities in PURE can be used to capture a range of engagements and achievements, and have them appear on your external profile and CV. Activities include editorial and peer review roles related to publishing, participation in conferences, and other distinctions. Prize and Press/Media are included as separate category types, allowing researchers to showcase prestigious prizes and awards, and the public dissemination of their work. For each of these types of activities there are defined sub-types to help you be as specific as possible when selecting the most appropriate activity.

It is important to give as much information as possible to ensure that the information which appears on your researcher profile/CV is meaningful. As such, the Faculty Research Office (FRO) has prepared the attached guidelines to assist researchers with populating the Activities, Prize and Press/Media category types and sub-types in PURE. These guidelines provide examples of common engagements and achievements that researchers should consider promoting via their external profile and CV.

There is a myResearch Quick Reference Guide (QRG) that provides instructions on how to add details of your engagements and achievements to PURE.

If you have any questions about the information in the faculty guidelines, please contact the FRO by email to medicine.research@monash.edu or phone 990 55035.

Pitching a Startup: Preparation, Not Perspiration, 4 December

Mon. 4 December, 5:30 pm – 8:00 pm

RMIT University, Melbourne City Campus

Building 80, Level 09, Room 12

445 Swanston Street

Want to learn how to pitch like a pro?

If you are looking to:

feel more confident and articulate when communicating your ideas, solution or startup
learn how to refine your pitch

Presented by Amir Zalcenstein, One Ventures

Amir Zalcenstein relocated to Melbourne from Israel in 2014. Prior to joining OneVentures and while in Israel, Amir was Head of Business Development for BiondVax, a publicly traded company developing a Universal Flu Vaccine. Prior, Amir served as CEO of Amorphical (developing the next generation of Calcium-based therapies) and SoluBest, a drug delivery company advancing a proprietary technology for oral delivery of insoluble drugs.
Amir holds a PhD in Molecular Biology from the Weizmann Institute of Science and an Executive MBA from Technion, Israel.

Free event.