Congratulations to Dr Sarah Rotstein on inaugural Teacher Innovation & Impact Award!

Dr Sarah Rotstein (left) receiving her award
 from Professor Robyn Slattery

The inaugural Teacher Innovation and Impact (TII) award was won by Dr Sarah Rotstein of the Monash Alfred Psychiatry research centre.

The TII award recognizes the innovations educators are making in their teaching practice and delivery that have a positive impact on the student learning experience.

Dr Rotstein developed an innovative approach to teaching the correct terminology to be used in the Mental State Examinations (MSE). Rather than ask psychology students to simply memorize the terminology Dr Rotstein created a fun and engaging approach known as ‘Phenomenology Charades’.

Professor Robyn Slattery, Director of non-medical education at Central Clinical School, created the award to inspire all CCS educators, both medical and non-medical, to innovate, measure the impact of their innovation and of course, apply for the award in 2019!

Congratulations to multiple CCS winners on Nutrition Society awards!

Matt Snelson (left) and Daniel So (right) with their NSA awards

CCS departments of Gastroenterology and Diabetes researchers and PhD students attended the Nutrition Society of Australia’s Annual Scientific Meeting held in Canberra held 28-30 November 2018 and won various awards.

Congratuations to Steven Petratos on MS Research Australia grant win!

Congratulations to Dr Steven Petratos (pictured), who has been awarded a $25,000 Incubator Grant from MS Research Australia for his research project, titled "Development of small molecules for neuroprotection and repair during progressive multiple sclerosis".

See more about Dr Petratos' research at:
www.monash.edu/medicine/ccs/neuroscience/research/petratos-group

Photo of the week: Drs Akram Zamani and Evelyn Tsantikos win seed grant funding!

Congratulations to Dr Akram Zamani (left) and Dr Evelyn Tsantikos (right), who are recipients of the AMREP 2018 Collaborative Seed grant award for their research project, "A new player in microglial activation driving inflammation and pathology in traumatic brain injury [TBI]."

TBI is a complex and poorly-understood pathology with long-term consequences, affecting the lives of children and young people well into adulthood. Identifying disease pathways that can provide scope for improved treatments is of utmost necessity and importance. This study will focus on how microglia - cells which provide the first and main form of active immune defence - act in the normal brain, and the researchers will then examine howthese cells respond to a brain injury.

Dr Zamani is a Postdoctoral Research fellow in Dr Bridgette Semple's Pediatric Neurotrauma Group, Department of Neuroscience; and Dr Tsantikos is a Research Officer in Associate Professor Margaret Hibb's Leukocyte Signalling Laboratory, which studies signalling pathways that play a role in immune system development, function and disease. Find out more about the AMREP collaborative seed grants: www.monash.edu/medicine/ccs/research/emcr/seed-grants

What's on at CCS 3-7 Dec 2018

Dr Keith Potent presenting at the
recent CCS GR symposium. He is 
giving his PhD confirmation talk at
10.30 am on Monday 3 Dec 2018

Central Clinical School (CCS) has regular seminar series and postgraduate presentations. Event notices are posted on the CCS Events calendar.

CCS staff and students can see details of both public and local events (including professional development courses, trade fairs and Graduate Research Student calendars) and deadlines, at the CCS intranet's Announcements page.

See CCS seminar index:  www.monash.edu/medicine/ccs/headlines/events-calendar

What's on at CCS 3-7 Dec 2018

Mon	03/12/2018	►	10:30	PhD Confirmation Milestone: Dr Keith Potent
Thur	06/12/2018	►	12:00	Alfred Grand Rounds
Fri	07/12/2018	►	11:00	PhD Mid Candidature Milestone: Rania Hashad

Recent CCS publications: 25-30 November 2018

Mr James Lee was published this 
week in the World Journal of Surgery

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 (ACBD)
• Allergy, Immunology and Respiratory Medicine (AIRMed)
• Anaesthesia 
• Immunology and Pathology
• MAPrc
• Neuroscience
• Surgery

World first study of infant and newborn airways microbiome throws light on origins of asthma

Professor Ben Marsland

A world first study of the bacteria living in the lower respiratory tract of “healthy” newborns and young babies has shown that bacterial communities form within the first 2 months post-natally, and that these bacteria interact with the immune system in ways that could potentially influence its development.

The study, led by Professor Ben Marsland, a veski Innovation Fellow in the Department of Immunology and Pathology at Central Clinical School, Monash University, is published today in the journal Cell Host and Microbe.