Six Alfred Research Alliance researchers receive NHMRC Postgraduate Scholarships

Six researchers from the Alfred Research Alliance have received an NHMRC Postgraduate Scholarship, announced 11 January 2022 by The Hon Greg Hunt MP, Minister for Health and Aged Care. Ranging from $67,346 to $135,002 each, the scholarships cover a range of research areas including sexual health, gastroenterology, maternal and child health, pandemic modelling and mental health.

New study could inform treatment and prevent heart attack in diabetic patients

L-R: Dr Yung Chih Chen, Professor Karin Jandeleit-Dahm
and Professor Karlheinz Peter

A new study by researchers at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute and Monash University could help inform treatment and prevent serious events such as a heart attack or death in diabetic patients at high risk of serious cardiovascular events.

The chilling links between diabetes and cardiovascular disease are clear, and this latest study shows, for the first time, the potential of the SGLT2 inhibitor, dapagliflozin, to stabilise vulnerable plaque in patients with diabetes to prevent plaque rupture and a heart attack.

'Brain fog' during menopause is real – it can disrupt women's work and spark dementia fears

For nearly two-thirds of women, menopause comes with an undesirable change in memory.

Despite great progress in understanding the medical aspects of menopause – a natural part of life that occurs when a woman has not had a menstrual period for 12 months – we are only beginning to recognise the experience and impact of cognitive changes during menopause.

See The Conversation article (December 14) by Caroline Gurvich, Chen Zu and Shalini Arunogiri.

Central Clinical School's 2021 wrap by Professor Terry O'Brien

Hear about the highs and lows of 2021 for Central Clinical School from our Head, Professor Terry O'Brien. Another big year, the second of the pandemic.

See the video or flick through the slide deck, embedded on our CCS intranet page:

• sites.google.com/a/monash.edu/ccsintranet/research/year-in-review-presentation

Bioengineered skin breakthrough to revolutionise burns treatment

Dr Cheng Lo in theatre with a burns patient

Researchers from The Alfred and the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences are developing bio-engineered skin that will undergo a large trial in third-degree burn patients, starting in 2023.

Victorian Adult Burns Centre director Adjunct Associate Professor Heather Cleland and head of the skin bioengineering laboratory Adjunct Associate Professor Shiva Akbarzadeh spoke to the Herald Sun about the cutting-edge technique. A/Prof Cleland also spoke on ABC Radio's Mornings program.

Monash Trauma group researchers explore the influence of the gut microbiome and repetitive traumatic brain injury on adolescent bone development

by Ms Kerrui Wong, Ms Marissa Sgro and Dr Loretta Piccenna

Adolescence is a sensitive period for bone development. Changes during this critical period may lead to significant long-term complications, for example osteopenia and osteoporosis later in life. New research from the Monash Trauma group in the Department of Neuroscience at the Central Clinical School indicates that weakening of the gut microbiome with antibiotic treatment and repetitive mild traumatic brain injury each individually stunted bone growth and volume, and did so in a sex-dependent manner during adolescence. 

Scans of the femur bone density and volume with different treatments using microcomputed tomography

Vanguard Grant for novel method of measuring oxidative stress in diabetic vascular disease

Dr Tomasz Block explains the utilisation of an immune
cell biomarker to measure oxidative stress in patients
with diabetic vascular disease. See video

Congratulations to Dr Tomasz Block, who has been awarded a Vanguard Grant from the Heart Foundation, for $75,000.

Dr Block is an Advanced Trainee in Endocrinology at Monash Health commencing in 2022 and a current Adjunct Research Associate, in the Diabetes and Kidney Disease (Jandeleit-Dahm) research group in the Department of Diabetes at the Central Clinical School. He will utilise this opportunity to expand on novel clinical research based on exciting preliminary results from a pilot study presented at both national and international congresses.