Low FODMAP Christmas recipes

It's that time of year! The Department of Gastroenterology team has prepared a selection of Christmas recipes using low FODMAP foods. See download (2.42 mb, pdf) or the department's FODMAP weblink.
Featured recipes:
Balsamic berry and cucumber salad│Grilled prickly pear and orange blossom yoghurt with cardamom shortbread│Roasted red pepper dip│Salmon fillets with pine nut and roasted red pepper salad│Sticky spatchcock with a balsamic green bean salad│Vanilla crepes with fresh strawberries│Mixed berries with black quinoa and raspberry yoghurt│Orange Gingerbread

Nigel Rogasch wins prize for presentation on schizophrenia

PhD student Nigel Rogasch (MAPrc) won $500 for best PhD/Masters student oral presentation in computational neuroscience (judged by Professor Gary Egan and sponsored by The Victorian Life Sciences Computational Institute) at the 4th Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Conference 2013. Nigel's topic was "Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex network properties are altered in schizophrenia: A TMS-EEG study". Congratulations also to Nigel on obtaining an NH&MRC Fellowship through Monash Biomedical Imaging, starting in late January 2014.

MAPrc leads world's largest research study in Body Dysmorphic Disorder

When people think of mental illness related to body image, the first thing that usually comes to mind is anorexia or associated eating disorders. However, it is the lesser known body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) that is five times more prevalent than anorexia and also causes higher levels of psychological impairment. In the largest neuroimaging research on this disorder in the world, Monash Alfred Psychiatry research centre's Doctor of Psychology candidate Ben Buchanan’s findings have been published this month in the prestigious journal Psychological Medicine.

Student Profile: Kathryn Hackman talks about diabetes

Dr Kathryn Hackman is an endocrinologist in the Alfred Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes, and a PhD student in the Central Clinical School. Her research is on diabetes in lung transplant recipients. Her supervisors are Professor Leon Bach (Medicine) and Professor Greg Snell (AIRmed). Dr Hackman won the 3MT competition this year for the Central Clinical School and her presentation can be viewed here: http://youtu.be/Kdz4oXF_kZE
For profile detail see: http://www.med.monash.edu/cecs/education/profiles/hackman.html

Sarah Charnaud: Central Clinical School PhD student profile

See video: 40 sec

Sarah Charnaud is a Research Assistant and a Central Clinical School PhD student based at the Burnet Institute, researching Malaria. Sarah's research is focused on understanding the Malaria parasite and how it survives inside the human body. It invades red blood cells, where disease happens. Her research is particularly focussed on a previously unknown protein which is produced by the parasite and exported into the red blood cell itself.  See Sarah's profile: http://www.med.monash.edu/cecs/education/profiles/charnaud.html and video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-tNO321GXU (Note, low sound so you'll need to turn up the volume to hear it.)

Social media for scientists - is it worth the bother?

What is social media good for? For scientists, that is. A PLOS Biology article says, "...scientists are increasingly using social media as a way to share journal articles, advertise their thoughts and scientific opinions, post updates from conferences and meetings, and circulate information about professional opportunities and upcoming events." The metrics, for all the caveats, indicate that if you tell people about your work, they look at it and are more likely to cite it. See:

• http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/blog/2013/dec/02/why-do-academics-blog-research?CMP=twt_gu
• http://cameronwebb.wordpress.com/2013/06/05/can-social-media-increase-the-exposure-of-newly-published-research/
• http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1001535
• http://melissaterras.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/is-blogging-and-tweeting-about-research.html

Image: nexalogy.com

Monash@Alfred saving trees and money with MACE project

Did you know that Australians use more than 3.5 million tonnes of paper each year? That’s about 40,000 trees!! (For estimation see link). Monash@Alfred is tackling this problem head on with our new printing policy (available at https://sites.google.com/a/monash.edu/monash-alfred-cost-efficiency-project/home).  Enquiries: mace-alfred@monash.edu.