Dr Michael Roche awarded prestigious Frank Fenner NHMRC Early Career Fellowship

Dr Michael Roche has been awarded the prestigious Frank Fenner NHMRC Early Career Fellowship. The Frank Fenner Early Career Fellowship is awarded to the highest ranked applicant from the Biomedical or Public Health Early Career Fellowship category whose research focus is in an area of international Public Health application, and best reflects the qualities exemplified in Professor Fenner’s career. Having recently completed his PhD through Monash University's Department of Medicine while being supervised by Burnet’s Professor Paul Gorry, Dr Roche will now work with Professor Gorry and Professor Sharon Lewin on HIV-1 macrophage reservoirs. See Burnet story for more detail. Photo: Burnet Institute.

India, Australia team up for trauma care system

With over five million deaths reported each year due to injuries, a collaboration was announced between India and Australia to develop world class trauma care system. Both countries are investing over $2.6 million in the Australia-India Trauma Systems Collaboration (AITSC). Australian High Commissioner Patrick Suckling inaugurated the AITSC on Friday 8 November. Led by the National Trauma Research Institute, a partnership between the Alfred Hospital and Monash University in Melbourne, and the JPN Apex Trauma Centre at AIIMS, the program brings together some of the world’s leaders in trauma care. Story link. Video link. See also AITSC page, NTRI page and http://news.webindia123.com/news/Articles/India/20131109/2280839.html

Video: David Curtis and haematology research at the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases (ACBD)

Associate Professor David Curtis, Head of the Blood Cancer Division, Australian Centre for Blood Diseases, talks about latest research in haematology at the ACBD, Central Clinical School, Monash University in this video. His group researches how to kill cancer stem cells. See main areas of ACBD research.

ARC grant successes for Central Clinical School: Justin Hamilton (ACBD) and Seb Dworkin (Medicine)

Australian Research Council grant successes for Central Clinical School were:

Dr Justin Hamilton, Australian Centre for Blood Diseases, has won a Future Fellowship totalling $745,744 over 5 years.

Dr Sebastian Dworkin, Department of Medicine, was awarded a Discovery Early Career Researcher Award totalling $383,066 over 3 years 

See detail of their projects below.

Monash Uni Low FODMAP Diet app launched for Android users

An Android version of the highly successful Monash University FODMAP smartphone application is now available, see link.

Last December the FODMAP app for the iPhone platform was launched by the research team at the Department of Gastroenterology at Monash University, providing accurate information about foods that trigger irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) for the first time using this technology.

AIDS 2014 20th International Conference update - Co-Chair Professor Sharon Lewin

Prof Sharon Lewin, Head, Department of Infectious Diseases, will be the local co-chair for the largest medical conference ever to be held in Australia, AIDS 2014. Organised by the International AIDS Society (IAS) in partnership with the United Nations and various government and civil organisations, AIDS 2014 is expected to bring more than 18,000 researchers, clinicians and other stakeholders to Melbourne in July 2014. The International co-chair will be Nobel Laureate Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, president elect of the IAS. For detail, see video or story: Monash researcher to chair historic AIDS conference.

Monash study identifies factors underlying ineffective response to HIV treatment

Professor Jennifer Hoy

A new study has looked at the factors which may decrease the chances of HIV treatment being successful. Patients with HIV are treated with antiretroviral therapy (ART), which has proven effective at improving their long-term outcomes and survival. The study, by A/Prof Allen Cheng, Dr Olga Vujovic and Prof Jennifer Hoy with the Monash Department of Infectious Diseases, aimed to discover the factors which lead to virological failure. See more detail at SPHPM blog story.