Photo of the week: NHMRC grant recipients in CCS

L-R, top row: Ross Dickins, Eric Chow, Rob Andrews, Jayashri Kulkarni, Andrew Wei, Anton Peleg
L-R, bottom row: Mark Cooper, Rob Medcalf, Trisha Peel, Ben Shields, Merlin Thomas, Jay Jha

See details of the CIs and their projects in this issue's associated article. Welcome also to our new research leaders, Trisha Peel, Mark Cooper, Ben Shields and Merlin Thomas, and to Jay Jha, on a Early Career Fellowship. Jay did his PhD with CCS. See our other Fellowship and Development Grant recipients in a previous article.

Forthcoming CCS events: 12-16 Dec

Kirsty Wilson presenting at the 2015 CCS
graduate research symposium. She is giving
a PhD pre-submission seminar Wed 14 Dec

Central Clinical School has regular seminar series and postgraduate presentations. Event notices are posted 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 CCS 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 12-16 Dec 2016

Mon	12/12/2016	►	10:15	Monash Bio-Medical Imaging Pre-Clinical Symposium
		►	12:00	CCS: 2016 Year in review address: Prof Steve Jane
Wed	14/12/2016	► ►	11:00 12:00	PhD Pre-Submission Seminar: Ms Kirsty Wilson 'Cutting Edge' Immunology seminar: Jodie Abramovitch - final for 2016
		►	14:00	MRO research fellowship and practitioner fellowship information session
Thur	15/12/2016	►	14:00	PhD Confirmation of candidature seminar: Mr Jonathan Hiller
		►	16:00	CCS School Breakup party @ College Lawn

CCS Publications for the week ending 9 December 2016

L-R: Prof Stephen Jane, Dr Smitha Georgy, Mr Darren Partridge,
Ms Alana Auden are co-authors on a paper, suggesting how a trans-
cription factor, Grhl3, might be involved in impulsive behaviour or hyperactivity

Recent publications for Central Clinical School affiliated authors in the departments of Australian Centre for Blood Diseases, AIRMed, Gastroenterology, Immunology, Medicine and the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre.

See also our featured articles this week on gene code for brain changes in schizophrenia and differences between male and female brains in autism.

Differences between male and female brains in autism

Dr Melissa Kirkovski

by Anne Crawford

Australian males are estimated to be four times more likely than females to be diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The mechanisms that make them more prone to the condition are currently a hot topic of research in the field. 

A former Central Clinical School (CCS) graduate student was part of a study by the MonashAlfred Psychiatry research centre (MAPrc), the CCS and others that found gender differences in a region in the brain implicated in social understanding – a core part of impairment in people with ASD. The research was part of a PhD thesis that later earned Dr Melissa Kirkovski an international award.

Gene code for brain changes in schizophrenia

Dr Caroline Gurvich and a colleague

by Anne Crawford

Researchers from the Monash Alfred Psychiatry research centre (MAPrc) and Central Clinical School, in collaboration with Swinburne University and the Baker IDI, have identified a link between a gene encoding a particular dopamine receptor and schizophrenia symptoms in healthy individuals.

The researchers were investigating the D1 receptor gene which is involved in the regulation of dopamine – a neurotransmitter implicated in schizophrenia – in people with schizotypy.

CCS Doctoral student profile - Timothy Gottschalk

Tim Gottschalk participating in the CCS
Postgraduate Student Symposium 2016

By Eliza Watson

Timothy Gottschalk is a PhD student in the Leukocyte Signaling Laboratory at the Department of Immunology and Pathology where he is supervised by Associate Professor Margaret Hibbs. He studied a Bachelor of Biomedical Science and is interested in learning about what causes and drives autoimmune disease.

Congratulations to NHMRC project grant recipients at AMREP!

Congratulations to all our National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) project grant recipients at the AMREP site! Both Central Clinical School (CCS) and the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine (SPHPM) did well. In addition to the CCS based recipients listed below, we would also like to congratulate those researchers who are in the process of transferring their grants to CCS: Trisha Peel, Benjamin Shields, Merlin Thomas, Mark Cooper and Jay Jha (Early Career Fellowship).

Bethlehem grants for MS research and stroke outcomes

Steven (standing, right) with his group when
they were participating in "Red Lab Coat Day"
to raise awareness of MS research.

Congratulations to Bethlehem Griffiths Research Foundation grant recipients in Central Clinical School!

Dr Steven Petratos, Department of Medicine, has been awarded a grant for his research proposal, "A novel approach to reduce the impact of progressive multiple sclerosis". The grant was considered outstanding. See more about Steven's research at his lab page.

Professor Harshal Nandurkar & Dr Maithili Sashindranath (Australian Centre for Blood Diseases), have been awarded a grant for their research proposal, "Delivering CD39 to the injured brain as a novel way to improve outcome after ischemic stroke". See more about their research at the lab page.

Congratulations to A/Prof Robyn Slattery on two teaching awards!

Associate Professor Robyn Slattery

Congratulations to Associate Professor Robyn Slattery in the Department of Immunology and Pathology, who has won two separate awards for teaching excellence! Robyn won the
inaugural Monash University Office of Learning and Teaching Teacher Innovation and Impact Award, in particular for her innovation of Duet lectures.

Robyn’s teaching and learning innovation has been judged as outstanding by the selection committee.

Robyn also won the 2016 Monash Student Association (MSA) Teaching Award for the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences.

Dr Anita Barry receives Outstanding Achievement Award!

Congratulations to Dr Anita Barry, who has won an outstanding achievement award from TechNet Australia for support of teaching and research within their institution. TechNet Australia is a group of tertiary technical staff across Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. People are nominated and then judged by a panel of their peers (a mix of academic, technical and managerial staff).

Anita looks after the Department of Immunology & Pathology's teaching lab at Clayton. She works quite closely with A/Prof Frank Alderuccio and Dr Kim Murphy in the delivery of immunology undergraduate teaching.

D.S. Rosengarten surgical trainee prize winner is Enis Kocak

Dr Enis Kocak won this year's Rosengarten prize

The DS Rosengarten Surgical Trainee Research Prize for 2016, held on Saturday 3 December, was very successful, well attended and with a great range of research showcased.

The winner in 2016 is Dr Enis Kocak (pictured) for his presentation on, “Subconjunctival dexamethasone for the prevention of cystoid macular oedema in routine cataract surgery: a randomised, controlled, trial”.

See more about this year's presenters in the Abstract booklet.

AMREP EMCR 2016 Best Paper Awards

Smitha Georgy won the AMREP
EMCR best paper award in the
Biomedical Research category

Congratulations to the winners of this year's AMREP EMCR 2016 Best Paper Awards! The competition was strong and well done to all for entering. The categories were for Biomedical, Clinical and Public Health, with awards for Early and mid-career researchers in each. Below is a list of the winners in each of the respective categories. Awardees are given a certificate and a $500 Visa Prepaid Gift card.

Congratulations to Amani Alrehaili on PhD award!

Amani Alrehaili

Congratulations to Mrs Amani Alrehaili on the completion and award of her PhD!

Amani's topic is “The role of NgR on microglial/macrophage activity during experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis”. She was supervised by Dr Steven Petratos from the Department of Medicine and Professor Richard Boyd (ARMI).

Amani will be returning to Saudi Arabia to take up an academic appointment at Taif University. Well done Amani, and we will look forward to future collaborations and exchanges.

Congratulations to Erica Kim on poster award

Erica Kim presenting in the 2016 3MT
heat held by CCS.

Congratulations to PhD student Erica Kim, who received the 'Bill Evans Memorial Young Investigator Award' for the best poster on Sunday 4 December 2016.

Erica's poster was part of the 34th Annual Scientific Meeting 'Neuropathology in research', held by The Australian and New Zealand Society for Neuropathology, at Menzies Research Institute, Hobart. Erica is supervised by Dr Steven Petratos. See more about the Petratos research group.

Opportunities: Grants, Fellowships, EOIs, funding

Recent grant and funding opportunities as notified from the Monash Research Office and with thanks to the Biomedicine Discovery Institute for compiling linked summaries. Deadline dates provided.

• 10 Jan 2017: Call to nominate for the 2017 Volvo Environment Prize - deadline
• 18 Jan 2017: MRO Seminar: Project Grant Information Session
• 3 Feb 2017: Citizen Science Grants - deadline
• PhD scholarships x3 at Monash Lung & Sleep Institute. Contact: philip.bardin@monash.edu