Alfred Research Alliance (A+) launches 24-27 Sept 2018

Special Edition + AMREP is changing + Conversations in the Courtyard + Welcome to the Future + Speed Dating for Researchers View this email in your browser

HERE'S SOMETHING NEW AMREP Steps into the Future... In the next few days, you'll see this A+ logo starting to make an appearance around the precinct. It's all part of the biggest changes AMREP has seen in years: A new commitment, a new name, and a totally new image. Next week, AMREP steps into the future as the Alfred Research Alliance.

Recent CCS publications: 8 - 14 September 2018

A/Prof David Curtis, ACBD, is a co-
author on a paper on red cell production

Recent publications for Central Clinical School affiliated authors in the following departments. Note, browse down this entry for complete publications list. Linked headings for each section are to the departments' home pages.

• Australian Centre for Blood Diseases
• Immunology and Pathology
• Infectious Diseases
• Medicine
• Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre (MAPrc)
• Neuroscience
• Surgery (including CORE)

The rubber hand illusion and deep brain stimulation in Parkinson's disease

Professor Dominic Thyagarajan

Professor Dominic Thyagarajan heads a group investigating movement disorders in the newly launched Department of Neuroscience. Here, he writes of a study published 14 September 2018 in Nature’s Scientific Reports that enlisted the intriguing Rubber Hand Illusion technique and deep brain stimulation to investigate impaired motor function in Parkinson’s disease.

Congratulations to MRFF grant winners Andrew Spencer and Andrew Perkins!

Prof Andrew Spencer

Prof Andrew Perkins

Congratulations to Professors Andrew Perkins and Andrew Spencer, both of the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases, for their new funding under the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF).

Professor Andrew Perkins' grant of $1.73M is for improving survival in myelofibrosis (MF) using genetic profiling. MF is a rare incurable blood cancer. It can develop from a pre-existing myeloproliferative disorder. Patients with high risk MF have a median survival of less than 3 years and some less than 5 years.

Congratulations Dr Pablo Casillas-Espinosa and Dr Rhys Brady!

Dr Pablo Casillas-Espinosa

Congratulations to Dr Pablo Casillas-Espinosa and Dr Rhys Brady for their respective awards from the American Epilepsy Society and the Scientific Program Committee.

Dr Pablo Casillas-Espinosa was awarded the 2018 Suzanne and Peter Berry International Travel Award, whilst Dr Rhys Brady received the 2018 Young Investigator Award.

Welcome to Professor Meng Law, Department of Neuroscience!

Professor Meng Law, new research
group leader in Dept of Neuroscience

Welcome to our new research group leader, Professor Meng Law!

Meng undertook his undergraduate and specialty training here but has been working in the USA for almost 20 years.  He comes to us most recently from the USC Keck Medical Centre in Los Angeles, where he has been since 2009.  He is the Director of Neuroradiology, Neuroradiology Fellowship Program Director, Director of NIA USC Alzheimer Disease Research Center, Neuroimaging Core and Medical Director of the Stevens Institute of Neuroimaging and Informatics there and also the Professor of Radiology, Neurology & Neurological Surgery USC Keck School of Medicine as well as Professor of Biomedical Engineering USC Viterbi School of Engineering. 

Improving gender imbalance at The Conversation

Could your research be the next big thing on
The Conversation?

The Conversation is hoping to improve a gender imbalance in the authors of their stories. They recently reported that less than 30% of pitches for their Science and Technology section came from women.