Congratulations to Zeyad Nasa on the award of his PhD!

Congratulations to Mr Zeyad Nasa, Department of Immunology, who has been awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy! Zeyad was supervised by A/Prof Frank Alderuccio. Zeyad’s thesis, "The establishment of immune tolerance through genetic manipulation of haematopoietic stem cells", was accepted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree by the Graduate Research Steering Committee on 16 September 2014.

Congratulations to CCS Honours students for their wins at the EMCR@AMREP conference

Laura Blair-West

Dean Whitty

Two CCS Bachelor of Medical Science (Honours) students,  Dean Whitty and Laura Blair West, both in the Monash Alfred Psychiatry research centre, presented their research at the 2014 AMREP EMCR Conference on Wednesday 17 September, and both won their respective presentation categories.  These are very competitive awards - Congratulations Dean and Laura!

One in four inpatients has diabetes in Victorian hospital audit

L-R: Prof Leon Bach
with one of his patients

Professor Leon Bach (Department of Medicine, Monash University; Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes, Alfred Health) has published research in the Medical Journal of Australia which indicates that diabetes mellitus affects one quarter of patients in Melbourne hospitals. The survey was of 2,308 patients over a two year period. The patients are not always in hospital because of the diabetes, but 80% of the diabetic patients already had at least one complication of diabetes, including damage to the heart, circulation, kidneys, eyes, or nerves. Bach says the figures will likely be reflected across Australia, and a national audit is needed.

• Journal reference
• 14 September 2014 Herald Sun article

2014 AMREP Early-Mid Career Researcher committee

2014 Committee members. L-R: Dr Judy Lowthian (SPHPM), Ms Sarah Charnaud (Burnet), Mr Lahn Straney (SPHPM), Dr Tamsyn Van Rheenen (MAPrc), Dr Lachlan Gray (Chair, Burnet/Infectious Diseases), Ms Roisin Briscoe (ACBD), Dr Nicole Messina (ACBD), Dr Megan Lim (Co-secretary, SPHPM/Burnet). Absent: Dr Carolina Weller (SPHPM), Dr Eric Chow (MSHC), Dr Hao Lu (Infectious Diseases), Ms Fiona Wightman (Infectious Diseases), Dr Brian Drew (Baker IDI), Ms Elisha Horat (Co-secretary, Burnet), Dr Joanne O’Toole (SPHPM), Dr Erica Neill (MAPrc)

http://www.med.monash.edu.au/cecs/ecr/

Participants sought: Patients with ulcerative colitis and how they process dietary fibre

Image: Rasbak

Volunteers are needed for a dietary research contributing to the advancement of better therapies for inflammatory bowel disease. We are investigating the physiological effects of ingesting a short-term, high fibre diet vs low fibre diet in the large bowel using a wireless, ingestible device. We are looking for both healthy volunteers and individuals with UC in remission.

15 Oct 2014 Ride to Work day and free breakfast!

Come and join Australia's biggest celebration of commuter riding, Ride2Work Day on Wednesday 15 October 2013.  Promoting the daily commute on two wheels
https://www.bicyclenetwork.com.au/general/programs/996/

Whether you ride regularly or haven't been in the saddle for a little while, there has never been a better time to get involved.  Aside from realising all the benefits riding to work can provide, your registration will help improve bike facilities Victoria wide. There are also prizes to be won if you register through the link below.

Congratulations! First Australian to receive new MS grant

L-R: PhD student Jae Lee
with Dr Steven Petratos

Congratulations to Monash University’s Dr Steven Petratos, who is the only Australian recipient of the International Progressive MS Alliance first round of grants. Dr Petratos, Department of Medicine, is doing research into new therapies to stop progressive Multiple Sclerosis (MS), a chronic condition that worsens over time disrupting the flow of information within the brain and body. Progressive MS takes away vision, mobility, cognition, and the ability to work. See Monash story. For more photos of Steven's lab group and students, see Photo gallery.

Odd spot: BMI Visualiser - scary!

This German site allows you to both calculate your Body Mass Index (BMI) and visualize your 3D body shape. The rendering of the topography is pretty ugly but the idea is interesting, and will approximately answer these questions:

• How is BMI related to body shape?
• What would I look like if I lost or gained weight?

http://bmijs.is.tuebingen.mpg.de/