Victoria’s COVID-19 lockdown: Getting ahead of the spread

by Dr Michael Lydeamore, Research Fellow, Department of Infectious Diseases, The Alfred and Central Clinical School

Today, Victorian Acting Premier James Merlino announced that all of Victoria will be subject to a “circuit-breaker” lockdown for seven days as a result of the most recent COVID-19 outbreak. The outbreak currently contains 26 known cases, with health authorities expecting more to roll in over the next few days.

18-24 May 2021 Central Clinical School recent publications

This week we have a feature story on Dr Sonika Tyagi's research
on multimodal analysis of potential targets for SARS-CoV-2

Recent publications featuring research as notified by PubMed during 18-24 May 2021 from Central Clinical School affiliated researchers in the following departments. The below is not a comprehensive list. The most recent validated publications for the school and departments can be seen on their publications pages, linked to from the headings below. Otherwise, read down the entry for recent notifications.

• Anaesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine
• Gastroenterology
• Immunology and Pathology
• Infectious Diseases
• Medicine (including Alfred and Peninsula)
• Melbourne Sexual Health Centre
• Psychiatry
• Neuroscience
• Psychiatry
  
• Surgery (including National Trauma Research Institute)

Identifying likely targets for SARS-CoV-2 using multimodal data analysis

Dr Sonika Tyagi, Adjunct Senior Lecturer
in the Department of Infectious Diseases

SARS-CoV-2, more commonly called Coronavirus, has been a topic of thousands of research studies in the last 15 months, so one would expect that by now we know how this virus works and how to treat COVID-19, the disease it causes. But that is not the case. Despite the volume of experiments and data made available, the complex biology of coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is not yet fully understood.

Because the biology of this virus is very complex, researchers are still working to identify drug target molecules. Dr Sonika Tyagi, Department of Infectious Diseases, is senior author on a paper published 24 May. She said, "We are a fair way off from developing a drug that can cure the COVID-19 disease. What we do know is that a new drug will need to stop the function of the virus, which is usually through a protein directly linked with the disease."

Congratulations to our 3MT contestants in the CCS heat!

Around 80 attended the CCS 3MT heat - congratulations to all involved - the speakers, the MC, the judges, and Sharmila Ramesh!

Central Clinical School's PhD students are passionate about their research, and today's Three Minute (3MT) heat really showcased our wonderful talent. See below for our winning presenters.

HPV vaccine shows success in gay, bisexual men

A study by Monash University and Alfred Health found a 70 per cent reduction in one type of human papillomavirus (HPV) in gay and bisexual men after the implementation of the school-based HPV vaccination program.

The HYPER2 study, published in Lancet Infectious Diseases, and led by Associate Professor Eric Chow, found there was a significant reduction in all four vaccine-preventable genotypes in gay/bisexual men aged 16-20 years following the introduction of the vaccine for boys in 2013.

International grant for getting to zero new HIV infections in Australia

A/Prof Jason Ong has received a Gilead 'Getting to Zero' grant for
improving access to HIV PrEP for newly arrived overseas born men
who have sex with men (MSM).

Congratulations to Associate Professor Jason Ong, who is one of two Australian recipients of Gilead Sciences Australia New Zealand's Getting to Zero Grant Program 2021, a global initiative supporting projects aimed at getting to zero new HIV infections.

12 July 2021 Monash Translational Research Symposium

Monash University's 6th annual Translational Research Symposium, supported by its three metropolitan clinical schools will be held on 12 July 2021. The Translational research symposium is hosted alternately by Central Clinical School or this year's host, the School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health. All welcome! Register here

World MS Day - Promoting connections

Did you know that Sunday 30 May is World MS Day? 

World MS Day is a day that brings together the global MS community to share stories, raise awareness and campaign with everyone affected by multiple sclerosis (MS). You can follow or share activities and updates on global activities, including with our researchers (see detail below), using the hashtag #msconnections.