CCS Recent Publications: 30th April - 6th May

Due to staff illness, this week's recent publications will be included in the next edition of the CCS News.

Revealing the mysterious ways the gut affects kidney disease

by Anne Crawford

Dr Matthew Snelson

Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is estimated to affect 13 per cent of the population globally. It is associated with a two- to three-fold increased risk of death caused by the disease itself and also carries a higher risk to patients of dying from heart disease or stroke.

Patients with CKD have increased levels of uremic toxins – toxins produced by bacteria in the gut that are normally excreted in the urine in healthy people but which build up in those with CKD.

A recent PhD graduate of Monash University’s Central Clinical School has conducted a review of literature to understand how this happens as a base to eventually finding ways of preventing it by creating new therapeutics.

Dr Matthew Snelson, a winner of the CCS’s 3MT (three minute thesis) award, became interested in CKD as a clinical dietitian working in Perth. “I was very interested in the role of gut microbiota and the mechanisms by which diet affects disease outcomes,” he said. “The emerging evidence looking at the link between the gut and the kidney was a really interesting area.”

Study reveals new mechanism of gonorrhoea transmission

A/Prof Eric Chow from the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre was in the Washington Post recently following publication of a paper on which he was lead author. The paper, published in Sexually Transmitted Infections, found that kissing with tongue may be a way to transmit oropharyngeal gonorrhoea, or oral gonorrhoea, particularly among gay and bisexual men. The study team featured a number of other Central Clinical School researchers.

CCS Travel Grant Outcome - 2019 Round 1

CCS is pleased to announce the successful recipients of the 2019 Round 1 Travel Grant. Congratulations to all.

For information and guidelines on the scheme, visit https://sites.google.com/a/monash.edu/ccsintranet/research/funding/opportunities

Translational Research Symposium Speaker Spotlight: Professor Mark Shackleton

Professor Mark Shackleton

Monash University's 5th annual Translational Research Symposium is being hosted by its three metropolitan clinical schools on 21 June 2019. The symposium will host a diverse group of medical researchers presenting their work into translational research. RSVP here.

Professor Mark Shackleton is Director of Oncology at Alfred Health and Professor of Oncology in the Department of Medicine, Monash University.

Focus on Diabetes: Sunway Biomedical Symposium

Prof. Paul Zimmet
attended the recent Sunway Biomedical Symposium.

Professor Mark Cooper and Professor Paul Zimmet recently attended the Sunway Biomedical Symposium in Malaysia.  Leading academics from the University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine and Health Sciences and Monash University came together for the two-day symposium. With a focus on diabetes mellitus, the theme was "Diabetes: Disarming the Silent Killer".

The major cost of diabetes is its complications. Professor Cooper’s presentation highlighted new approaches to these complications such as SGLT2 Inhibitors and GLP-1 analysis, which appear to offer end-organ protection independent of their glucose lowering effects.

PrEPX Study reveals increase in STIs

A/Prof Edwina Wright, Principal Investigator of the recent PrEPX study

A recent study of men using HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has explored the changes in sexually transmitted infection (STI) incidence following initiation of the preventative treatment.  The data collated from almost 3000 participants in the PrEPX study revealed a 20% increase in STI rates. Interestingly, condom use did not play a part in acquiring an STI when using PrEP, despite being an initial concern for those commencing the treatment. Instead, participants reporting higher numbers of sex partners and participation in group sex were at a greater risk.