Epilepsy drug a potential treatment for heart attack and stroke

The molecule t-PA (tissue plasminogen activator) is a natural
blood clot buster and can be elevated with an epilepsy drug,
valproic acid. Image: Emw - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0

by Anne Crawford

Monash University researchers have struck on a novel strategy to counter the blood clotting (thrombosis) that causes conditions including heart attack and ischemic stroke – major causes of death in Australia. Significantly, they have also found that an existing drug, coincidentally used for epilepsy, could potentially be used as a treatment to prevent thrombosis.

Professor Robert Medcalf, who heads the Molecular Neurotrauma and Haemostasis laboratory in the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases (ACBD), said the research started with work exploring the regulation of the molecule t-PA (tissue plasminogen activator), a naturally occurring clot-busting enzyme in the body. The enzyme is rapidly released by the damaged endothelium (lining) of the blood vessel when clotting is initiated to limit the growth of the blood clot.

Journal with heart grows from idea to global circulation

Heart Lung & Circulation

by Anne Crawford

In 1991 a small band of cardiothoracic surgeons had a vision: they would create a new cardiac journal, a platform for young and first-time authors to have their work published. For most Australian, New Zealand and Asian authors at the time there was no stepping-stone to publishing in high-quality international journals.

The surgeons – Professor Frank Rosenfeldt, Associate Professor Alan Gale and Professor Brian Buxton – initially encountered scepticism. There was not enough original cardiac surgical material coming out of a small country like Australia to support a journal, they were told, amongst other criticisms.

Twenty-five years later, worldwide interest in Heart, Lung and Circulation is expanding rapidly – digital download rates doubled in the last five years and in 2015 surpassed 250,000.

Thunderstorm asthma - why does it happen?

Mark Hew explains thunderstorm asthma
to ABC News Breakfast hosts Virginia
Trioli and Michael Rowland. See video

Associate Professor Mark Hew, Head of Allergy, Asthma & Clinical Immunology at The Alfred, explains the phenomenon of  'thunderstorm asthma' and what asthmatics can do to protect themselves.

"The recent thunderstorm asthma event has raised several important questions," A/Prof Hew said.

"How did it happen? It appears that three events need to line-up to trigger thunderstorm asthma.

Congratulations to our recently completed PhD students!

Congratulations to Dr Antony Friedman and Ms Louise Rowntree on their recent awards of the PhD degree. Well done Antony and Louise!

Antony's thesis is titled, "When old drugs become new again - optimising thiopurine metabolism to improve clinical outcomes in patients with inflammatory bowel disease”. He was supervised by Associate Professor Stuart Roberts (Department of Gastroenterology) and Dr Miles Sparrow (Head of Alfred Health's Inflammatory Bowel Disease Service)

Louise's thesis is titled, "The combination of common viral hits and heterologous immunity strongly influences clinical outcomes in 'at risk' lungs”. She was supervised by Dr Nicole Mifsud (Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology), Associate Professor Tom Kotsimbos and Miss Thi Nguyen (Department of Allergy, Immunology and Respiratory Medicine).

CCS Doctoral Student profile - Shauna French

Shauna French and Dr Justin
Hamilton in the lab

by Eliza Watson

Shauna French is a PhD student in the Platelets and Thrombosis Lab at the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases where she is supervised by Dr Justin Hamilton. She studied a Bachelor of Applied Science and Honours at Queensland University of Technology, before  moving to Melbourne for her PhD on defining the role of protease activated receptor 4 in thrombosis.

Welcome to A/Prof Melinda Coughlan!

A/Prof Melinda Coughlan

Welcome to Associate Professor Melinda Coughlan! Melinda is group leader of a research team investigating dietary factors leading to the onset and/or progression of diabetes and its complications. Her team also aims to identify new biochemical targets of therapy for diabetic complications.

Melinda comes to us from the Baker IDI Institute and is supported by a JDRF Type 1 diabetes Clinical Research Network Career Development Award.

Welcome to Eliza Watson, new CCS Communications intern!

Welcome to Eliza Watson, who is joining the CCS Communications team as an intern for one day per week over the summer. She has recently completed her Honours at Monash in the Department of Immunology and Pathology where she was looking into aspects of peanut and bee venom allergy. Eliza is interested in how science can be effectively communicated and is looking forward to learning many new techniques and skills during her internship.

Eliza has already started on a series of CCS PhD student profiles and we will be publishing her stories from this week on! Very pleased to have you on the team Eliza. She can be contacted on email, eliza.watson@monash.edu