Jody Jonathan Haigh joins the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases

Welcome to Associate Professor Jody Jonathan Haigh, who has just started at the ACBD within the CCS.  He is Canadian and recently moved his research group here from the Department for Molecular Biomedical Research (DMBR) in Flanders, Belgium which is affiliated with Ghent University and the VIB. 

Event: 2013 Annual CCS Postgraduate Research Symposium 20 Nov 2013

Central Clinical School invites you to attend the 2013 Annual Postgraduate Research Symposium. The main focus of the symposium is to improve the visibility of students and their research projects on a larger scale and celebrate their achievements. PhD students from across the AMREP precinct: Baker IDI, Burnet Institutes and Monash University's Central Clinical School are invited to showcase their results. http://www.med.monash.edu.au/cecs/education/hdr-symposium.html

Event: 2013 Department of Immunology Symposium: 50 years Past & Future

This year, the Monash University Department of Immunology marks fifty years of research and education. The department is holding a symposium to showcase our achievements and current activities, and look to the future. We warmly invite you to join us for an informative and entertaining occasion. This is a unique opportunity to meet with some of immunology's greats and the young and upcoming talent being mentored by the department.

Researchers discover an Achilles heel of childhood leukaemia

Research led by Associate Professor David Curtis at the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases (ACBD) has identified a protein essential for the development and growth of a type of childhood leukaemia (ETP-ALL) that responds poorly to current treatments.

2013 AMREP student information night very successful

There was a spectacular turnout for the 15 August 2013 AMREP student information tonight. Over 200 attended, some coming with their parents, chatted to potential supervisors, went on lab tours, and ate 104 pizzas! We had presentations from Prof Steve Jane (introducing the school), Prof Sharon Lewin (clinical research), A/Prof David Curtis (basic research), Jodie Abramovitch (as our representative student), and A/Prof Mark Wright (Honours coordinator), then it was a free-for-all as students visited all the research groups who had set up displays and exhibitions during the evening. See Student info night gallery, and more about Honours at CCS.

Participants sought: Tibolone for menopausal depression

 Two new clinical trials aim to discover the best treatment approach for the understudied depression that affects a large proportion of women in their late forties and fifties prior to, during or post menopause. These trials compare the effectiveness of a hormone treatment (Tibolone) for women with depression related to menopause, and that of standard antidepressant medication. Interested persons should contact Tamsyn Van Rheenen on 9076 5031 or Emmy Gavrilidis on 9076 6913 or visit www.maprc.org.au. For more about the study, see Monash story.

Video: Ben Lewis, BMedSc(Hons) student, explains how he got interested in research

Benjamin Lewis is an MBBS student, doing the Bachelor of Medical Science (Honours) year in 2013. He describes how he got interested in the research project and why he chose to study with Central Clinical School. His research interest is in schizophrenia and the use of transcranial magnetic stimulation. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TCPESVxxDs

Video: Shivani Bhatt answers the question, 'Why BMedSc(Hons)?'

 Shivani Bhatt is an MBBS student, doing the Bachelor of Medical Science (Honours) year in 2013. Shivani's parents came from Uganda, and she has a strong sense of the global interconnections which affect us all. She describes how she got interested in her research project and why she chose to study with Central Clinical School. Shivani's research topic is "The role of chronic hypoxia and inflammation on pulmonary vascular remodelling and the pulmonary parenchyma in diffuse parenchymal lung disease." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNFOEZhSsyA

Lancet review article on bomb blast traumatic brain injury

Professor Jeffrey V. Rosenfeld AM, OBE, Head, Department of Surgery, Monash University, is lead author on a review article in The Lancet on bomb blast brain injury, published 22 July 2013. As a military surgeon he has seen injuries from war zones. In this video (www.youtube.com/watch?v=zADazb8GUWk), he describes what the article is about. Article link. See biography detail.

Publication: 2012 Central Clinical School Annual Report

The 2012 Central Clinical School Annual Report is now published on the CCS website. Please see link. 2012 highlights include: Monash Alfred Psychiatry research centre joining the school, a significant increase in competitive research income and student enrolments, and the inaugural Public Lecture.

Congratulations: Drs Michelle Giles & Fabien Vincent nominated to attend Young Physician Leaders program

Michelle, pictured, (Department of Infectious Diseases) and Fabien (Department of Immunology) have been nominated as two of the three Monash representatives to attend the InterAcademy Medical Panel (IAMP) Young Physician Leaders (YPL) programme and the 2013 World Health Summit in Berlin. Michelle is an infectious diseases physician, and Fabien is a PhD student researching the role of BAFF and the T-independent innate immune system in lupus pathogenesis. 

Video: Kathryn Hackman speaks on diabetes in lung transplant patients

Our CCS 3MT (Three Minute Thesis) contestant, Dr Kathryn Hackman, did very well in the Faculty heat, placing third. She is speaking on diabetes in lung transplant patients. Kathryn's main supervisor is Professor Leon Bach, Department of Medicine. The video of her presentation is now up, at youtube video link.

Publication: Clinical associations of serum interleukin-17 in systemic lupus erythematosus

Vincent FB, Northcott M, Hoi A, Mackay F, Morand EF. Clinical associations of serum interleukin-17 in systemic lupus erythematosus. Arthritis Research & Therapy 2013,15:R97 doi:10.1186/ar4277. Abstract