Video of the week: Wendy Brown talks about obesity and addiction

Professor Wendy Brown is one of a number of Monash researchers featured in a documentary produced by the Monash Lens team and published this week, on the science of addiction. She says that addiction centres in your brain sit very close to your appetite centres, so there is a real cross-over between addiction and this disease state [of obesity]. "Once you've gained weight, only about 3% of people can lose a substantial amount of weight and keep it off".
See complete video at: https://lens.monash.edu/@a-different-lens/2018/05/28/1350176/science-of-addiction

What's on at CCS 04-08 June 2018

Dr Krystal Bergin, haematologist
and PhD student, is presenting on
Tuesday 5 June

Central Clinical School (CCS) has regular seminar series and postgraduate presentations. Event notices are posted on the CCS Events calendar.

CCS staff and 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.

See CCS seminar index:  https://www.monash.edu/medicine/ccs/headlines/events-calendar

What's on at CCS 04-08 June 2018

Sat	02/06/2018	►	COB	Earlybird registration closes for Surgical Research Essentials intensive course
Mon	04/06/2018	►	12:30	PhD Mid-candidature milestone: Dr Janet Towns
		►	12:00	Neurology/Neurosurgery meeting: Dr Joey Vessey
Tue	05/06/2018	►	11:00	PhD Pre-Submission Milestone: Dr Krystal Bergin
Wed	06/06/2018	►	11:30	PhD Confirmation Milestone:  Nina Hagan
Thur	07/06/2018	►	11:30	Journal Club: Dr Kirsty Wilson
		►	12:00	Alfred Grand Rounds: Dr Nick Medland

Invitation to Jeffrey Modell Immunodeficiencies Centre launch – 14 June 2018

You are invited to the opening symposium for the Jeffrey Modell Foundation (JMF) Immunodeficiencies Centre, hosted by Monash University at the Alfred Centre.

To register follow the link and enter the code JMF18. See more detail below.

1 June: Odd socks for Docs

1 June is #CrazySocks4Docs day. Image: Grow

Doctor wellbeing and doctor suicides are uncomfortable topics for many of us. We are trained to diagnose, treat and stabilise patients. We are uncomfortable about the touchy-feely stuff, but it is the elephant in the room. In the Beyond Blue survey of Australian doctors, 1 in 5 were diagnosed with depression, 1 in 4 has had suicidal thoughts, and 1 in 50 had attempted suicide.

Recent CCS publications: 25 May-1 June 2018

Associate Professor Andrew Wei talks about why Australia is such
a good place to conduct early-phase clinical research studies. Link

Recent publications for Central Clinical School affiliated authors in the following departments. Note, browse down this entry for complete publications list. Linked headings for each section are to the departments' home pages.

Australian Centre for Blood Diseases (ACBD)

Gastroenterology

Immunology and Pathology

Infectious Diseases

Melbourne Sexual Health Centre (MSHC)

Surgery 

Blood based tests vs tumour biopsies for cancer diagnosis

MM is an incurable blood cancer
characterised by multifocal tumour
deposits throughout the bone marrow.
Patient image provided by Prof Andrew
Spencer

Professor Andrew Spencer's research on the use of liquid biopsies for cancer detection, diagnosis and treatment was picked up and profiled by ASH Clinical News, in an article titled 'Demystifying Liquid Biopsies', 1 May 2018.

See the CCS blog feature on the research for more detail, "New blood test potential game-changer for myeloma patients" (2 June 2017)

“We’re still in the developmental phase but the concept has been proven,” Professor Spencer said. “We’ve demonstrated that you can detect more mutations and track what’s happening to them, you can measure them and follow them sequentially – which would be impossible in bone marrow biopsies,” he said.

Reference
Mithraprabhu S, Khong T, Ramachandran M et al. Circulating tumour DNA analysis demonstrates spatial mutational heterogeneity that coincides with disease relapse in myeloma. Leukemia. 2017;31:1695-705.

Congratulations to our newly completed PhD students, Nick Medland and Michelle Yong!

Dr Michelle Yong

Dr Nick Medland

Congratulations to our newly completed PhD students, Drs Michelle Yong and Nick Medland!

Participants sought: How does dietary fibre affect your immune system and overall health?

Would you like to find out first-hand how dietary fibre (DF) might affect your immune system, blood pressure and gut function? We are seeking healthy participants for our research study.

DF is important for gut health. Within the large intestine, some DFs are broken down by the gut bacteria (microbiota) in a process called fermentation. A product of fermentation are metabolites called short-chain fatty acids (SFCAs). These can also be found in fermented foods and drinks, such as vinegar. In animal studies, SFCAs have been associated with reduced inflammation and lower blood pressure.