Photo of the week: Lively interest in all things CCS

Gastroenterology PhD student CK Yao asking a question at the 2015 CCS Graduate Research symposium.
PhD student Marina Iacovou is to CK's left and one of the presenters, Mr Anmar Khan, to her right. See more: www.med.monash.edu.au/cecs/education/hdr-symposium.html and also the photo gallery.

Every year Central Clinical School hosts a graduate research student symposium. CCS has about 130 PhD students enrolled, so it is a lively occasion with many participants, and of broad scientific interest. Supervisors are also put to the test in two segments, to improvise either sense or nonsense on the spot, so it's entertaining as well as educational. Watch this space for the 2016 event.

Forthcoming CCS events: Seminars, public events, general notices

Emily Stevenson presenting
at HDR Symposium

Central Clinical School has regular seminar series and postgraduate presentations. All event notices are maintained on the CCS Events calendar.

CCS staff & students can see details of both public and local events (including professional development courses, trade fairs and Graduate Research Student calendars) and deadlines, at the Intranet's Announcements page.

Various departments have their own calendars. See CCS seminar index: www.med.monash.edu.au/cecs/events/seminars.html

What's on for this coming week: 15-19 Feb 2016

Tue	►	16-Feb	15:30	PhD Confirmation Seminar: Mr Matthew Snelson
Wed	►	17-Feb	11:00	PhD Confirmation Seminar: Ms Elizabeth Thomas
Wed	►	17-Feb	11:30	Wednesday Seminar Series
Fri	►	19-Feb	12:30	Cutting Edge Journal Club

In the Future

• 23 Feb IBS Workshop
• 25 Feb Honours (x30) orientation
• 29 Feb - BMedSc Honours (x18) orientation
• 15 Mar Graduate Research student orientation

23 Feb Low FODMAP workshop for IBS sufferers

The Monash Department of Gastroenterology are offering an educational workshop for individuals with IBS. It is a group consulting session run by Monash FODMAP research dietitians who can answer your questions and give you an overview of current research. Please note this group education session is suitable for individuals with a diagnosis of IBS only.

• Date: Tuesday 23 Feb 2016
• Time: 6.30pm arrival for 7pm start. 7-9pm
• Venue: The Alfred Centre, Level 5 lecture theatre
• Cost: $50 tickets

Tickets can be purchased here: ecommerce.med.monash.edu.au/product.asp?pID=662&cID=2
See more about the workshop at www.med.monash.edu/cecs/gastro/fodmap/seminars.html

Flu vaccine reduces risk of hospitalisation

By Dr Jodie Abramovitch

Professor Allen Cheng (left) and
Associate Professor Tom Kotsimbos (right)

Vaccination against influenza infection is recommended in high risk groups including the elderly, pregnant women and those with chronic illnesses. The flu vaccine is primarily aimed at reducing the severe health consequences of infection such as hospitalisation and death. However, most previous studies on the influenza vaccine were performed in healthy adults and have looked at protection against mild influenza infection rather than severe complications.

Congratulations to Nitasha Kumar on completing her PhD thesis!

Congratulations to Nitasha Kumar (pictured) on the completion of her PhD thesis! The thesis is titled: "Dendritic cell regulation of HIV-1 latency in CD4+ T-cells", and was ratified by the Graduate Research Steering Committee on 26 January 2016. Nitasha was supervised by Professor Sharon Lewin and Associate Professor Paul Cameron, through the Department of Infectious Diseases and the Burnet Institute. 

Nitasha also played an active role in the extracurricular life of the precinct, being involved in the AIDS 2014 conference satellite activities and on the Alfred campus with the CCS graduate research symposium. Good luck in your future career!

Participants sought: Research project on brain stimulation. aging and cognition

Participants are sought by the Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre (MAPrc) for a research project using brain stimulation to enhance cognitive performance and neural plasticity.

You may be eligible for this study conducted at the MAPrc if you:

• are aged 56 to 80 years
• have experienced a decline in memory OR 
• have been diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment

Position vacant: Post Doctoral Fellows - Human T lymphocyte / CAR-T cells

Cartherics P/L is seeking Post-Doctoral Fellows to help implement its very active research program in Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR)-T based immunotherapies. The successful applicants will have a strong background in human T cell biology with experience in isolation, cell culture and phenotypic and functional characterisation. They will have a desire to succeed in a competitive environment and relish the challenge of helping to implement new technologies and equipment as necessary; the rewards will be substantial.  They will report directly to the Chief Scientific Officer of Cartherics but also liaise regularly with the other research scientists and relevant Laboratory personnel.

Perspective: Animal research in the Senate spotlight

Associate Professor James Bourne is a Monash researcher working with non human primates. He made an excellent presentation defending the use of NHPs to the recent Senate committee hearing on a proposed amendment by Senator Rhiannon, to ban the import of NHPs for medical research. This has profound implications for NHP research, and more generally, for all animal researchers to be upfront and informative to the tax paying public about the animal based work and its necessity for understanding how our bodies do and don't work.

See the submissions page for details of the issue and no.12 submission for James Bourne's written submission to the committee. You can follow James Bourne on Twitter at https://twitter.com/neurdboy.