Social media use a possible index for bipolar relapse

beyondblue have made a research grant of $72,000 over 12 months to Prof Paul Fitzgerald (pictured), Monash Alfred Psychiatry research centre (MAPrc) and medical student Rowan Miller, to investigate whether a bipolar patient’s use of social media can be used as an indicator of prodromal [very early] symptoms before the onset of a relapse of bipolar disorder (both manic and depressive relapses).

Diabetes reduces long term survival of lung transplant patients

Dr Kathryn Hackman is a PhD student in the Department of Medicine, supervised by Professor Leon Bach, and a practising endocrinologist at Alfred Health. She and colleagues have recently published research showing that patients with diabetes had about a five-fold increased risk of death after a lung transplant compared with transplant recipients who didn't have diabetes.

Happiness and women's mental health

Prof Jayashri Kulkarni, Director, Monash Alfred Psychiatry research centre (MAPrc), looking happy with the Dalai Lama. She presented on a panel titled Science of the Mind, at the "Happiness & its causes" conference on Thursday 20 June, then had lunch with the Dalai Lama. Jayashri's presentation was about women and mental health, for which she is a very active advocate. See more about Jayashri's research at: http://www.maprc.org.au/professor-jayashri-kulkarni.

OBE Queen's birthday honour for Professor Jeffrey V. Rosenfeld

Congratulations to Professor Jeffrey V. Rosenfeld, HOD Surgery, who was awarded Officer of The Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to neurosurgery and the University of Papua New Guinea School of Medicine, Queen’s birthday honours list 2013: Commonwealth.  For story, see Monash Faculty ebulletin: "One of my first cases in Goroka was a woman who’d been axed in the head.

World first trials bring autism hope

Monash Alfred Psychiatry research centre (MAPrc) researchers are currently using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to investigate the brain basis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It is expected that this ground-breaking research will lead to new developments for diagnosis and treatment. MAPrc is also running a clinical trial for adults with ASD that assesses whether TMS can be used to improve social aspects of ASD.

2013 3MT thesis Central Clinical School heat, 17 July

The 2013 3MT thesis heat for Central Clinical School PhD students to compete is on next month, 17 July. 11 of our students will be telling the audience about their research in an accessible and entertaining way - not to be missed! The winner goes on to compete in the Faculty heat. See details at

Australian Centre for Blood Diseases now on Facebook

The Australian Centre for Blood Diseases' administrator, Roisin Briscoe, has started a Facebook page for ACBD, at https://www.facebook.com/acbdresearch. Roisin is updating the page with photos, recent publications, news items and updates. If you have a query regarding the page, contact Roisin, email roisin.briscoe@monash.edu.