Monash FODMAP research in prestigious Gastroenterology journal

The most recent issue of U.S. based Gastroenterology, the top and most influential journal in the field, has three articles and one reply by Department of Gastroenterology researchers. Prof Peter Gibson is Head of Department, Dr Jane Muir is Head of Translational Nutrition research group, and Emma Halmos has recently submitted her PhD thesis. 

References

• Emma P. Halmos, Victoria A. Power, Susan J. Shepherd, Peter R. Gibson, Jane G. Muir. A diet low in FODMAPs reduces symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome Link.

Immunology: Ten of the Best Research Projects 2013, NHMRC

L to R: Ms Melanie Le Page, Dr William Figgett, Professor Fabienne Mackay, Mr Damien Saulep-Easton, Ms Pin Shie Quah, Dr Fabien Vincent, Ms Indzi Katik. Photo: NHMRC

A Central Clinical School research team led by Professor Fabienne Mackay, Head of Department of Immunology, has been recognised by the National Health and Medical Research Council as one of its 'Ten of the Best Research Projects 2013' from among the thousands of NHMRC funded medical research projects underway in Australia. Prof Mackay and her team have been recognised by the NHMRC for their work towards understanding the complexities of the autoimmune disease Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE).  Monash story link. NH&MRC  link

2013 Rosengarten prize for surgery for Drs Samuel Joseph and Charles Milne

The two winners for the 2013 Rosengarten Prize were:

Dr Charles Milne – Vascular Unit– Abstract Title: Ultrasound Guided Thrombin Injection for Pseudo aneurysms

Dr Samuel Joseph – Orthopaedics Unit – Abstract Title: Nail Fit: A New Predictor of Fixation Failure in Pertrochanteric Fractures

Photo L-R: Prof Jeffrey Rosenfeld, Dr Charles Milne, Mrs Candice Rosengarten, Dr Samuel Joseph, Heather McGuirk (Johnson & Johnson Medical), Mr Stewart Skinner - Chairman

For more about the prize: Link

Central Clinical School publications 4 Nov - 2 Dec 2013

Central Clinical School departments and centres recorded 48 publications during the period 4 November to 2 December 2013. Department publications are listed under their headings: ACBD, AIRmed, Gastroenterology, Immunology, Infectious Diseases, MAPrc, Medicine, Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, Surgery, and the Van Cleef Centre for Nervous Diseases. See detail below. Links go to the Scopus abstracts with full bibliographical details.

Heatwaves increase hospital admissions: What happened at The Alfred Hospital in 2009

In January 2009, Melbourne experienced a heatwave of three consecutive days above 43°C and six consecutive minimum temperatures above 20°C. During this time The Alfred Hospital "experienced an acute increase in [Emergency Department] presentations and a near-doubling of general medical admissions". The authors conclude that, as "heatwaves become more likely, we must be prepared to respond proactively in the community ... and reactively in hospitals".  Article: http://ow.ly/rU8hK

"Treatment as Prevention" - Australian doctors surveyed on care for HIV+ patients

A study exploring Australian prescribers' attitudes towards Treatment as Prevention (TasP) and their practices around initiating combination antiretroviral treatment (cART) for HIV has been recently published by Department of Infectious Diseases researchers. TasP is a strategy to reduce the level of virus in an infected individual, and thereby reduce risk of transmission to others. Australian GPs and physicians focus primarily on clinical benefit to individual patients rather than any population benefit. Virus load at which cART was initiated also varied. Article link: http://ow.ly/rU6pO.

Head injury prevention for bicyclists: Helmets make a difference

Helmets are still vital to the safety of cyclists according to an article recently published in the Medical Journal of Australia. Peter A Cameron (Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine), Frank McDermott (Department of Surgery) and Jeffrey V Rosenfeld (Department of Surgery) write that with the increase of cyclists on the road, helmets are becoming more and more important. To read the full article see: http://ow.ly/rRUmu 

Success at The Australian Physiotherapy National Conference

Ben Tarrant and Louise Fuller won awards at The Australian physiotherapy  national  conference that was held in Melbourne recently. Over 2000 physios attend this conference and abstract acceptance is highly competitive. Ben Tarrant was awarded 'Best 5x5' presentation in the paediatric section with 'Physical Outcomes post paediatric lung transplantation ‐ implications of extra corporeal membrane oxygenation' (5 slides in 5 mins). Louise Fuller won best presentation for the Clinicians award in cardiorespiratory section with 'Patients' expectations and experiences of rehabilitation after lung transplantation ‐ a qualitative study'. This is the first time that two physios from one stream at The Alfred have won awards at a national conference! For more AIRmed news see: www.med.monash.edu.au/cecs/airmed/news/newsarchive.html

Student Profile: Miriel Ho's research on bone marrow

Miriel Ho is a PhD student at the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases and she is researching the relationship between bone and bone marrow interface with haematopoiesis.  Miriel's research looks particularly at the development of bone marrow in relation to bone formation. Her supervisors are Professor Hatem Salem and Professor Robert Medcalf. To view her full profile see: http://www.med.monash.edu/cecs/education/profiles/ho.html

Low FODMAP Christmas recipes

It's that time of year! The Department of Gastroenterology team has prepared a selection of Christmas recipes using low FODMAP foods. See download (2.42 mb, pdf) or the department's FODMAP weblink.
Featured recipes:
Balsamic berry and cucumber salad│Grilled prickly pear and orange blossom yoghurt with cardamom shortbread│Roasted red pepper dip│Salmon fillets with pine nut and roasted red pepper salad│Sticky spatchcock with a balsamic green bean salad│Vanilla crepes with fresh strawberries│Mixed berries with black quinoa and raspberry yoghurt│Orange Gingerbread

Nigel Rogasch wins prize for presentation on schizophrenia

PhD student Nigel Rogasch (MAPrc) won $500 for best PhD/Masters student oral presentation in computational neuroscience (judged by Professor Gary Egan and sponsored by The Victorian Life Sciences Computational Institute) at the 4th Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Conference 2013. Nigel's topic was "Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex network properties are altered in schizophrenia: A TMS-EEG study". Congratulations also to Nigel on obtaining an NH&MRC Fellowship through Monash Biomedical Imaging, starting in late January 2014.

MAPrc leads world's largest research study in Body Dysmorphic Disorder

When people think of mental illness related to body image, the first thing that usually comes to mind is anorexia or associated eating disorders. However, it is the lesser known body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) that is five times more prevalent than anorexia and also causes higher levels of psychological impairment. In the largest neuroimaging research on this disorder in the world, Monash Alfred Psychiatry research centre's Doctor of Psychology candidate Ben Buchanan’s findings have been published this month in the prestigious journal Psychological Medicine.

Student Profile: Kathryn Hackman talks about diabetes

Dr Kathryn Hackman is an endocrinologist in the Alfred Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes, and a PhD student in the Central Clinical School. Her research is on diabetes in lung transplant recipients. Her supervisors are Professor Leon Bach (Medicine) and Professor Greg Snell (AIRmed). Dr Hackman won the 3MT competition this year for the Central Clinical School and her presentation can be viewed here: http://youtu.be/Kdz4oXF_kZE
For profile detail see: http://www.med.monash.edu/cecs/education/profiles/hackman.html

Sarah Charnaud: Central Clinical School PhD student profile

See video: 40 sec

Sarah Charnaud is a Research Assistant and a Central Clinical School PhD student based at the Burnet Institute, researching Malaria. Sarah's research is focused on understanding the Malaria parasite and how it survives inside the human body. It invades red blood cells, where disease happens. Her research is particularly focussed on a previously unknown protein which is produced by the parasite and exported into the red blood cell itself.  See Sarah's profile: http://www.med.monash.edu/cecs/education/profiles/charnaud.html and video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-tNO321GXU (Note, low sound so you'll need to turn up the volume to hear it.)

Social media for scientists - is it worth the bother?

What is social media good for? For scientists, that is. A PLOS Biology article says, "...scientists are increasingly using social media as a way to share journal articles, advertise their thoughts and scientific opinions, post updates from conferences and meetings, and circulate information about professional opportunities and upcoming events." The metrics, for all the caveats, indicate that if you tell people about your work, they look at it and are more likely to cite it. See:

• http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/blog/2013/dec/02/why-do-academics-blog-research?CMP=twt_gu
• http://cameronwebb.wordpress.com/2013/06/05/can-social-media-increase-the-exposure-of-newly-published-research/
• http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1001535
• http://melissaterras.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/is-blogging-and-tweeting-about-research.html

Image: nexalogy.com

Monash@Alfred saving trees and money with MACE project

Did you know that Australians use more than 3.5 million tonnes of paper each year? That’s about 40,000 trees!! (For estimation see link). Monash@Alfred is tackling this problem head on with our new printing policy (available at https://sites.google.com/a/monash.edu/monash-alfred-cost-efficiency-project/home).  Enquiries: mace-alfred@monash.edu.

ACBD goes to the American Society of Haematology (ASH) Annual Meeting

A large contingent of researchers from the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases (ACBD) are attending this year's American Society of Haematology (ASH) annual meeting and exposition, being held in New Orleans, USA, December 7-10. ACBD poster and oral presenters are Philip Campbell, David Curtis, Elizabeth Gardiner, Andrew Guirguis, Stephen Ting, Anna Kalff, Zoe McQuilten, Mark Polizzotto, George Grigoriadis and Erica Wood.

Recent publications for Central Clinical School: 9 Oct - 4 Nov 2013

Central Clinical School list of publications notified 9 October - 4 November 2013 to the Monash Research Office. The arrangement is in alphabetical order by department, then alpha by first author within Department.

Healthy volunteers needed for brain research: MAPrc

At the Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre (MAPrc), we do a number of human studies where we explore how the brain works, and how we can make it work better in people who experience mental illness. This means that we are always in need of healthy volunteers to act as “control” participants. This may mean we are looking for volunteers to come into our centre and carry out behavioural or computerised tasks, or have a brain scan or undergo one of several brain stimulation techniques.

Video: IBS & the low FODMAP diet - CCS public lecture 30 October 2013

Video: 1:19:08

Professor Peter Gibson is Head of Department of Gastroenterology at Monash University. On 30 October 2013, he presented to a full house on the problem of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and gut symptoms in general and about the world-wide fascination with dietary cures. He describes the controversy surrounding wheat intolerance, the most current research and outlines the new dietary approach, the low FODMAP diet, that is changing the way doctors and dietitians help people with IBS to manage their problem. The lecture was part of 2013 Melbourne Knowledge Week. Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByszVbFBPtY

Video: Russell Gruen on the National Trauma Research Institute work & research

Professor Russell Gruen, Director of the National Trauma Research Institute and Professor of Surgery (Central Clinical School) and Public Health (School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine) speaks on a number of topics. Youtube links:

• Research collaboration improving trauma care in India
• 2012 Lancet review of trauma surgery (series editor and lead author for one section)
• PATCH trial (Pre-Hospital Treatment of Acute Traumatic Coagulopathy and Haemorrhage)
• Overview of the National Trauma Research Institute

Video: Elsdon Storey on neurodegenerative diseases research

Professor Elsdon Storey is Director of the Van Cleef/Roet Centre for Nervous Diseases, in the Department of Medicine at Central Clinical School, and Head of Neurology at the Alfred Hospital, at the Alfred Medical Research and Education Precinct. The Centre's research focuses on neurodegenerative disorders affecting coordination, movement, balance and cognitive function particularly using animal models. Diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's 5:43, and ataxias are investigated. Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aA6Srh_DSz8

Monash to host Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

Professor Paul Komesaroff, Director, Centre for Ethics in Medicine and Society, presents the Desmond Tutu Award from Global Reconciliation at the 30 Nov event hosted by Monash to present the Nobel Peace Prize winner with an honorary Doctor of Laws. Daw Suu Kyi will speak on issues including reconciliation and human rights in her Victorian-only public address at Monash this week, part of her first official visit to Australia. See Monash story. Photo: iStock

Unique phenomenon causes bleeding in an injured brain: ECR publication prize to Maithili Sashindranath

Dr Maithili Sashindranath has been awarded the 2013 Early Career Researcher (ECR) Publication Prize (Clinical Sciences) for her research documenting a unique phenomenon that causes bleeding in an injured brain. Published in the prestigious journal Brain, Dr Sashindranath’s research paper is “The tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA)-plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 complex (PAI-1) promotes neurovascular injury in brain trauma: evidence from mice and humans”.

Gavin Horrigan wins Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Exceptional Performance by Professional Staff 2013

Mr Gavin Horrigan has been awarded the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Exceptional Performance by Professional Staff 2013, one of eight individual nominations to receive the award. Gavin is the Precinct Manager for the two large Monash schools at the Alfred campus, Central Clinical School and the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine. These schools represent around one fifth of the faculty and host approximately 2,000 staff, adjuncts and postgraduate students.

2013 AMREP Postgraduate Symposium winners

L-R: Prof Jenny Wilkinson-Berka, Jie-Yu Chung, Jodie Abramovitch, Marina Iacovou, Kieran Cashin, Louise Rowntree, Katharina Bohm

There were 13 oral presenters and 14 poster presenters from across the AMREP precinct at the 20 November postgraduate symposium hosted by CCS, providing stiff competition for prizes. Winners were:
Oral presentations
1st - Kieran Cashin (Burnet); Runner-up - Louise Rowntree (Immunology); Audience vote - Marina Iacovou (Gastroenterology)
Poster presentations
1st - Jie-Yu Chung (Immunology); Runner-up - Jodie Abramovitch (Immunology); Audience vote - Katharina Borm (Burnet)
Question prize - Melanie Voevodin
"No-Bell prize" - Dr Charbel Darido
See program detail and more at 2013 HDR symposium.

CCS Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine becomes a Department

The Academic Board of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine within Monash University's Central Clinical School spans the clinical schools of the affiliated hospitals, providing undergraduate teaching, research, postgraduate training, and educational symposia. It has now been ratified as a Department within CCS. The Department is a cross-campus entity including academic anaesthetists at all Monash teaching hospitals. It is involved with undergraduate and postgraduate education and research covering all aspects of anaesthetic care. www.med.monash.edu.au/cecs/anaesthesia-board/

Melbourne Sexual Health Centre joins CCS

Professor Christopher Fairley and the academic staff of Melbourne Sexual Health Centre (MSHC) have joined the Central Clinical School as of 25 November 2013. Prof Fairley is Director of MSHC which is part of Alfred Health. MSHC supports education and training in sexual health and also has an active public health, clinical research and evaluation program. 

2013 Faculty strategic grant award winners for Central Clinical School

Congratulations to the CCS researchers who are lead Chief Investigators for 2014 Faculty strategic grant awards. A total of 31 grants were made.

• Professor Paul Fitzgerald (MAPrc): Development of an enhanced magnetic field concentrator design for Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. See Brain Stimulation and Neuroscience page for both Paul's and Kate's research.

Dr Kate Hoy (MAPrc): Investigating optimal methods of cognitive enhancement: A comparison of the behavioural and biological effects of transcranial Direct Current Stimulation and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation  

Prof Rob Medcalf (ACBD): Proving a smart drug delivery approach for the improved treatment of traumatic brain injury. See Laboratory page. 

See complete list of awards.

CCS student's photography exhibited in London gallery

Jonathan Liew is a current CCS/BakerIDI BBiomedSc(Hons) student with a passion for photography. Three of his photos are currently being exhibited in  London at the Stephen Bartels Gallery (SBG). For photographs that are sold in this month, proceeds from SBG go toward the typhoon assistance fund through the Disaster Emergency Committee (DEC UK). Pictured is a landscape shot of a Melbourne skyline, the viewer looking to the west at sunrise.

•  More about Jonathan Liew or email yslie3@student.monash.edu
• SBG gallery link

Congratulations to A/Prof Alison Street for Health Lifetime Achievement Award

Congratulations to Associate Professor Alison Street (AO) for receiving the Health Lifetime Achievement award - the Minister’s highest honour for an individual. The award recognises A/Prof Street’s outstanding contribution in haematology as well recognising her career in public health, achieved over a lifetime of service in the Victorian health system. The results were announced on 20 Nov at the 2013 Victorian Public Healthcare Awards, at a gala event attended by the Minister for Health, the Minister for Mental Health and the Secretary of the Department of Health.

Central Clinical School (CCS) funds 'Near Miss' grants

This year though there were many highly ranked grant applications for NHMRC funding, the overall percentage of applications funded was substantially down. CCS gave $150,000 for the two most highly ranked grant applications which missed out. Congratulations to the two 'Near Miss' grant recipients, A/Prof Margaret Hibbs and Prof Jenny Wilkinson-Berka.

Dr Michael Roche awarded prestigious Frank Fenner NHMRC Early Career Fellowship

Dr Michael Roche has been awarded the prestigious Frank Fenner NHMRC Early Career Fellowship. The Frank Fenner Early Career Fellowship is awarded to the highest ranked applicant from the Biomedical or Public Health Early Career Fellowship category whose research focus is in an area of international Public Health application, and best reflects the qualities exemplified in Professor Fenner’s career. Having recently completed his PhD through Monash University's Department of Medicine while being supervised by Burnet’s Professor Paul Gorry, Dr Roche will now work with Professor Gorry and Professor Sharon Lewin on HIV-1 macrophage reservoirs. See Burnet story for more detail. Photo: Burnet Institute.

India, Australia team up for trauma care system

With over five million deaths reported each year due to injuries, a collaboration was announced between India and Australia to develop world class trauma care system. Both countries are investing over $2.6 million in the Australia-India Trauma Systems Collaboration (AITSC). Australian High Commissioner Patrick Suckling inaugurated the AITSC on Friday 8 November. Led by the National Trauma Research Institute, a partnership between the Alfred Hospital and Monash University in Melbourne, and the JPN Apex Trauma Centre at AIIMS, the program brings together some of the world’s leaders in trauma care. Story link. Video link. See also AITSC page, NTRI page and http://news.webindia123.com/news/Articles/India/20131109/2280839.html

Video: David Curtis and haematology research at the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases (ACBD)

Associate Professor David Curtis, Head of the Blood Cancer Division, Australian Centre for Blood Diseases, talks about latest research in haematology at the ACBD, Central Clinical School, Monash University in this video. His group researches how to kill cancer stem cells. See main areas of ACBD research.

ARC grant successes for Central Clinical School: Justin Hamilton (ACBD) and Seb Dworkin (Medicine)

Australian Research Council grant successes for Central Clinical School were:

Dr Justin Hamilton, Australian Centre for Blood Diseases, has won a Future Fellowship totalling $745,744 over 5 years.

Dr Sebastian Dworkin, Department of Medicine, was awarded a Discovery Early Career Researcher Award totalling $383,066 over 3 years 

See detail of their projects below.

Monash Uni Low FODMAP Diet app launched for Android users

An Android version of the highly successful Monash University FODMAP smartphone application is now available, see link.

Last December the FODMAP app for the iPhone platform was launched by the research team at the Department of Gastroenterology at Monash University, providing accurate information about foods that trigger irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) for the first time using this technology.

AIDS 2014 20th International Conference update - Co-Chair Professor Sharon Lewin

Prof Sharon Lewin, Head, Department of Infectious Diseases, will be the local co-chair for the largest medical conference ever to be held in Australia, AIDS 2014. Organised by the International AIDS Society (IAS) in partnership with the United Nations and various government and civil organisations, AIDS 2014 is expected to bring more than 18,000 researchers, clinicians and other stakeholders to Melbourne in July 2014. The International co-chair will be Nobel Laureate Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, president elect of the IAS. For detail, see video or story: Monash researcher to chair historic AIDS conference.

Monash study identifies factors underlying ineffective response to HIV treatment

Professor Jennifer Hoy

A new study has looked at the factors which may decrease the chances of HIV treatment being successful. Patients with HIV are treated with antiretroviral therapy (ART), which has proven effective at improving their long-term outcomes and survival. The study, by A/Prof Allen Cheng, Dr Olga Vujovic and Prof Jennifer Hoy with the Monash Department of Infectious Diseases, aimed to discover the factors which lead to virological failure. See more detail at SPHPM blog story.

"Beat the Bloat: IBS & the low FODMAP diet" 2013 CCS Public Lecture packed out

Peter Gibson in conversation

Professor Peter Gibson, HOD Gastroenterology, gave Central Clinical School's public lecture on 30 October 2013 on "Beating the Bloat: Irritable Bowel Syndrome and the low FODMAP diet". The event attracted a large audience. In brief, research shows that once the low FODMAP diet is followed for a certain period, symptoms will settle down for a high proportion of people, and there can be a careful reintroduction of higher FODMAP foods to ensure good nutrition including micronutrients.

Studying the causes of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia: £200,000 research grant from AICR

Professor Fabienne Mackay’s laboratory has received a generous £200,000 grant from the prestigious Association for International Cancer Research (AICR) to study the causes of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) and potential new therapeutic strategies. CLL is the most common adult leukaemia in the developed world and still has no cure. Affected patients have severely compromised immunity, leaving them vulnerable to recurrent infections, which are a major cause of death. The underlying cause of CLL remains elusive, limiting current treatment options.

2014 NHMRC grant announcements at AMREP by the Prime Minister

"What am I looking at?"

Prime Minister, the Hon. Tony Abbott, Federal Health Minister the Hon. Peter Dutton and Victorian Health Minister, the Hon. David Davis announced the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) grants across eight schemes in Melbourne on Wednesday 23 October at the AMREP Precinct. See Gallery. Mr Abbott (pictured with Prof David Curtis) did a tour of Central Clinical School laboratories prior to the announcement.  CCS was awarded $5m in project grants and $2.1m in Fellowships. Please see below summary of successful NHMRC applications from CCS which will begin in 2014.

Video: Monash Alfred Psychiatry research centre (MAPrc)

The Monash Alfred Psychiatry research centre has created a suite of videos describing their research. Pictured is Professor Susan Rossell, a cognitive neuropsychologist who researches the cognitive and neurobiological processes involved in psychosis. See the MAPrc playlist at http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL77QJnB61-H4mAV1ABlkL7uoZHqaX_4Ag

Review: Head injury prevention for bicyclists - helmets make a difference

Peter Cameron, Frank McDermott and Jeffrey V. Rosenfeld write in the 21 Oct issue of the MJA how wearing helmets does improve cyclists' safety in the event of accidents. "There is good evidence that preventing head injuries in cyclists will prevent most major morbidity and mortality... [H]elmet wearing appreciably lessens the risk of serious injury and death in bicycle crashes..." Link.

Congratulations: Andrew Guirguis wins Baikie Medal at Australian Haematology Conference

Congratulations to Andrew Guirguis, a PhD student in Prof David Curtis's lab in the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases, won the Baikie Medal and $3000. The HSANZ Albert Baikie Memorial Medal is given for the best oral presentation at the Annual Scientific Meeting by a new investigator. It was awarded on Wednesday 23 October at the Australian Haematology Conference (known as HAA, which stands for HSANZ / ANZSBT / ASTH) held this year in the Gold Coast. See more:
http://www.hsanz.org.au/resources/documents/2009HSANZAlbertBaikieAward.pdf

Lancet review: The end of AIDS:HIV infection as a chronic disease

Professor Sharon Lewin

 HIV infection is now no longer a death sentence, as antiretroviral (ART) treatment will hold the disease in check. However, the disease is not cured. ART must be taken for life as HIV is latent and may 'awaken' any time without ART. HIV-infected individuals have a higher risk of developing non-AIDS disorders, including chronic cardiovascular, kidney, liver, cancer and some neurological illnesses. Profs Steven Deeks, Sharon Lewin (HOD Department of Infectious Diseases) and Diane Havlir outline the issues in their Lancet review article.

Department of Immunology celebrates its first 50 years, and looks forward to the next 50

The Department of Immunology celebrated its 50^th anniversary with an entertaining and informative symposium, held in the AMREP Education Centre, Alfred Hospital on 4 October 2013.  The event was attended by 180 friends, colleagues, alumni and immunologists from far and wide. Pictured, Fabienne Mackay with one of the poster prize winners, Chindu Govindaraj. See Gallery for more.

High rates of bowel cancer in cystic fibrosis: Dr Ilana Gory, Department of Gastroenterology

Dr Ilana Gory, a PhD student in the Department of Gastroenterology, reported on her research at the Australian Gastrointestinal Week. Her topic was "Cystic Fibrosis is associated with an increased risk of colorectal malignancy and adenomas". As a practitioner, she and her team at Alfred Health had anecdotally observed high rates of cancer in patients with cystic fibrosis. Her scientifically based study found that patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) may be up to ten times more likely to develop colorectal cancer.

Fundraiser, 17 Nov: MAPrc hosting a classical guitar concert to raise funds for mental health research

Monash Alfred Psychiatry research centre (MAPrc) is hosting a fundraising event, “Classical Guitar through the Ages” at 2.30pm, Sunday 17 November 2013 for mental health research, with performances by the Classical Guitar Society of Victoria. Concert venue: Wyselaskie Auditorium, Uniting Church Centre, 29 College Crescent, Parkville, Melbourne. Book tickets.