Sara Mokhtar wins Central Clinical School 3 Minute Thesis

Sara Mokhtar

Central Clinical School held its annual 3 Minute Thesis competition on August 12 with five participants presenting their research in under three minutes. Sara Mokhtar won the competition with her accessible description of her thesis which is about amyloid beta protein phosphorylation of CRMP-2 and its regulation of neuritic dystrophy in Alzheimer's disease. Sara used the elegant and accurate analogy of a barren tree in Autumn to describe the brain of a patient suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Sara will now go on to compete in the faculty 3MT competition which will be held 22 August. Well done Sara!

• CCS 3MT photo gallery  
• See more information about the 22 Aug Faculty event.

Over 200 students attend AMREP Student Information Evening

AMREP held its annual student information night for 2015 intake last night, presenting future students with information about studying honours at AMREP. Over 200 students attended the evening, gaining information about potential projects available for them to undertake in various schools such as the Central Clinical School.
Students were given the opportunity to meet potential supervisors for honours projects and they were also able to speak with current honours students who attended the night, a great resource for those interested in finding out more about the degree. Thank you to all who attended and made the night a resounding success!

• View photos from the night
• CCS Honours

Prebiotic diet 'could revolutionise our health': Catalyst ABC TV 14 & 21 Aug 2014

Vegetables high in prebiotic fibre

ABC Catalyst are doing a special two part program called 'Gut Reaction', broadcast Thursday 14 and 21 August 2014. Could our food be making us sick - very sick? And could changing our diet make us better? Part 2 broadcast this evening (21 Aug) features a young, fit, active and apparently healthy man, Gideon Cordover, who trials a prebiotic fibre-rich diet designed by dietitian and nutrition researcher Dr Jane Muir and prepared by Masters student Trish Veitch, from the Monash Department of Gastroenterology. Gideon has been eating an unhealthy diet predominantly of fast food. In the words of the Catalyst promo, "changing the foods we eat could revolutionise our health and treat disease." 

AITSC Improving Trauma Care Roundtable

Last week Australia-India Trauma Systems Collaboration (AITSC) hosted its Improving Trauma Care Roundtable at the AMREP theatre. The interactive forum brought together practitioners, researchers and policy makers from Australia and India, and was a wonderful opportunity to engage and learn about the challenges of improving trauma care and how the AITSC is addressing these challenges. Improved trauma systems are a part of the solution to the global injury epidemic and have been very successful in Victoria. The roundtable discussed whether they could work to reduce the 5 million trauma deaths elsewhere in the world. Many thanks to those who attended the session, and a special thanks to our Indian delegates and speakers.

Congratulations to Eleanor Woolveridge

Prof Stephen Jane congratulating

Eleanor Woolveridge on her award

MBBS student Eleanor Woolveridge has received a scholarship from The Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia for her project about the clinical relevance of concentrations of BAFF/APRIL heterotrimers in the serum and urine of patients diagnosed with Primary Sjogrens Syndrome (pSS). pSS is an autoimmune disease, in which lymphocytes get into salivary glands and tear ducts. The scholarship is offered annually for projects associated with pathology, jointly developed by a student and supervisor. Eleanor's supervisors were Prof Fabienne Mackay (Head, Department of Immunonology), Dr Andrew Wei and Dr Fabien Vincent. Well done Eleanor!

Central Clinical School short course: Introduction to Clinical Trials

Our first group of participants

Central Clinical School held a four day short course at the end of July, introducing participants to clinical trials, developing a clinical research question and creating a concise protocol that includes literature review and study design. The short course was the first pilot of units to be offered in the Translational Research PhD from 2015 and was aimed at medical doctors, biomedical scientists, nurses, physiotherapists, clinicians, epidemiologists, psychologists, pharmacists, biochemists and public health researchers.

The course received good feedback from participants. All attendees said that they would recommend the course to a colleague.
Links

• More pilot courses
• more photos.

64th Lindau Nobel Laureates Meeting

The Australian delegation with
Minister Andrew Robb
(Photo: David Fisher)

Central Clinical School's Rebecca Segrave recently attended the 64th Lindau Nobel Laureates Meeting in Germany, along with 37 Nobel laureates in science and 600 early career researchers from all over the world. She is featured in ABC's Science Show which can be viewed here. According to Rebecca, the week was an inspirational one.
"The week has exceeded every expectation that I had. It has been inspirational. I'd seen the motto or the slogan—inspire, educate, connect—but I didn't really identify with it, and all of those things have been true for all of us and I think that is what has made the meeting. We are inspired in a way we never imagined we would be..."