Congratulations to our eight RTP scholarship recipients!

L-R: (top) Crystal Li, Jack Edwards, Ella Rowsthorn, Tamsin Hilliard;
(bottom) Ishith Seth, Aaron Jurriens, Catherine Ives, Mikaela Patros

Professors Nicola Harris and Nigel Jones are Central Clinical School's graduate research student coordinators. They report on the great success in the latest domestic scholarship round, with the following eight students receiving Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarships: 

• Crystal Li* from the Department of Neuroscience, supervised by Prof Richelle Mychasiuk and Prof Luke Henderson, who will study Mechanisms of chronic pain: Contributions from the cerebellum
• Jack Edwards*, Department of Immunology and Pathology, supervised by A/Prof Sashendra Senthi, A/Prof Menno van Zelm, thesis title: Immunophenotyping for biomarker discovery during cancer therapy

Monash CCS inaugural Student Careers Expo

The CCS careers expo was well attended and students were very
positive about the experience.

by Jurie Tashkandi, PhD student, ACBD

The CCS Graduate Research Student Committee (CGRSC), in collaboration with the Monash Graduate Association (MGA), hosted the Monash CCS inaugural Careers Expo in the Alfred Innovation & Education Hub last Thursday, 4 August 2022. Over 30 exhibitors from 20 unique departments and organisations were in attendance. This included representatives from Pearson Clinical Assessment, CSIRO, CSL, Cell Therapies, E&Y and Deloitte, just to name a few.

Participants sought: Dietary strategies to provide relief from gastrointestinal symptoms associated with endometriosis

Endometriosis is a common condition affecting up to 10% of women of reproductive age. Common symptoms include pelvic pain, dysmenorrhea and dyspareunia. However, gastrointestinal (GI) complaints are also common, affecting up to 90% of patients. Diet is commonly used to manage these GI symptoms, but very little research has examined whether they are effective.

Participants are sought for our study, which will compare the effect of diet on GI symptoms associated with endometriosis. Participants are supplied with most meals and snacks for 2x28 day intervals and dietitian support provided.

Genetic risk factor for clotting after COVID-19 infection

Which people who catch COVID-19 have a higher risk of
developing blood clots? A Monash-Baker study investigated.

With blood clots caused by COVID-19 already associated with a higher risk of death, it is important to understand which groups are vulnerable and how best to treat them. 

New information is emerging on COVID-associated blood clots in people with inherited thrombotic conditions such as the common Factor V Leiden, which affects about in one in every 20 or 25 people in Australia.

Paper analyses tools tracking MS progression

Katherine Kenyon is first author on a paper reviewing tools for
monitoring symptoms in MS.

by Anne Crawford

Monitoring symptoms is crucial for the effective management of Multiple Sclerosis (MS), a debilitating neurological disease that is one of the leading causes of disability in young and middle-aged adults.  

Central Clinical School PhD student Katherine Kenyon has published a paper in ‘The Cerebellum’, reviewing tools used by clinicians and researchers to do this. 

Phage attack!

Click here to start playing

Does anyone have fond memories of the arcade game 'Space Invaders' from the 1980s? Or if you are too young, you can give this version, "Phage Attack", a go. It was developed by Jerome Mutterer, who says, "I used @p5xjs to make this very nice journal cover playable. Try it here: https://editor.p5js.org/jmutterer/full/1jNvJggiU." (Source: Tweet)

Follow:

• Cell Press twitter.com/CellCellPress
• Jerome Mutterer twitter.com/jmutterer 
• @p5xjs: An open source JavaScript framework that makes creating visual media accessible and inclusive. 

In the Cell cover, phage specificity in suppressing microbiome commensals of choice is visualized by the popular space invader video game. Image credit: Yael Leibovitch and Simone Dell’Ariccia.

Participants sought: Skin testing for measuring immunity in healthy adults

Participants sought for immune system research, see more

Can you help us compare the immune system of young and older adults with skin patch testing?

We would appreciate 2 hours of your time spread across 4 visits to the Alfred Centre (99 Commercial Road, Melbourne 3004) for this research. We are looking for healthy people aged 18-35 years or 65 years and over who do not: