Walking the walk: using gait to gauge dementia

by Anne Crawford

Monash University Central and Peninsula Clinical School researchers have shown that a person’s gait can predict whether they are headed for dementias such as Alzheimer’s disease, and which specific brain functions are involved in this cognitive decline.

Associate Professor Michele Callisaya and Professor Velandai Srikanth, supervising first author PhD student Ms Oshadi Jayakody from the University of Tasmania, investigated whether variability from one step to the next during walking, and gait speed, were related to cognitive decline over time. Their study was published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Reminder: Translational Research Symposium on Friday 21st June

We're sending this newsletter out a day early to remind readers that the 5th annual Translational Research in Medicine Symposium offers an outstanding scientific program. It features leading translational medical researchers from Monash University and Melbourne’s premier research institutes. 

• Date: Friday 21st June, 2019
• Time: 8.30am registration. Symposium runs from 9am-4:30pm, followed by drinks from 4:30pm - 5:30pm
• Venue: A+ Education Centre Lecture Theatre, adjacent to the Baker Institute at 75 Commercial Road, Melbourne 3004, 200 metres east of the main  Alfred Hospital entrance. 
• Cost: Free
• Enquiries: Dr Steven Petratos, ph +61 3 9902 0191 / Steven.Petratos@monash.edu

Visit here for more details.

Novel radiotherapy technique may advance fight against cancer

A/Prof Sasha Senthi led the study with
colleagues at the Australian Synchotron

by Anne Crawford

Microbeam radiation therapy (MRT), a novel technology delivering small beams of radiation 50 times stronger than standard treatment safely, is a step closer  following a study led by a Monash University researcher.

Associate Professor Sasha Senthi, radiation oncologist at the Alfred Hospital, was senior author on a study determining the best use of MRT against cancer at the Australian Synchrotron. MRT delivers an array of ultra-high dose beams of radiation a few microns wide – the size of some human cells – while maintaining low doses in between.

“Standard radiotherapy is delivered in an equal, homogenous dose throughout the patient,” Associate Professor Senthi said. “With MRT it is heterogenous and you have these peaks and valleys. Within the peaks, almost no cell survives. In the valleys, the normal cells that survive repair their damage and heal damaged areas, which tumour tissues cannot do,” he said.

CCS Recent Publications: 11th June - 17th June

Recent publications for Central Clinical School feature affiliated authors in the following departments:

Dr Anna Kalff is first author
on a myeloma study with
fellow Spencer Group members

• Surgery
• Infectious Diseases
• Melbourne Sexual Health Centre
• ACBD
• Peninsula Clinical School
• MAPrc

Congratulations to staff awarded Queen's Birthday Honours!

Central Clinical School had a number of staff awarded Queen's Birthday Honours over the long weekend. We're exceedingly proud of them and the service they've provided to the School and the community through their research, clinical practice and teaching.

Clot-busting drug may affect stroke patients’ immune system: study

by Anne Crawford

A study by Monash University’s Australian Centre for Blood Diseases (ACBD) into a drug commonly used to remove blot clots in stroke suggests it may weaken the immune system.

The study, published in Frontiers in Immunology, found that t-PA (tissue-type
plasminogen activator) affected several aspects related to the immune system in a mouse model of acute ischemic stroke (AIS). Ischemic stroke is caused when a blood vessel supplying blood to the brain is obstructed by a clot, and accounts for 80 per cent of all types of stroke. It is a leading cause of disability and mortality worldwide.

3MT Comp Winners!

CCS Competition winner Lakshanie Wickramasinghe

The School's annual Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition took place here on May 27, pitting seven brave young researchers against each other in a bid to explain their research in plain English, and in only three minutes. The competition is a wonderful opportunity to practice sharing complex but vital research with a lay audience.