NHMRC Investigator Grant announcements

Congratulations to our researchers who‘ve been awarded National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Investigator Grants in the 2023 round, announced in late December. . 

Investigator Grants support high-performing researchers at all career stages with salary and research support, to form collaborations and pursue important research directions as they arise. 

CCS researchers received nine grants worth $16.3 million, with funding commencing in 2024: 

Professor Benjamin Marsland (Immunology and Pathology) - Harnessing Microbes and Metabolites to Combat Respiratory Diseases ($2.9m).

Professor Patrick Kwan (Neuroscience) – Transforming Epilepsy Outcomes Through Innovative Technologies ($2.7m)

Professor Joseph Doyle (Infectious Diseases) – Accelerating Progress Toward Hepatitis C Elimination as a Public Health Threat ($1.6m)

Dr Omer Gilan (Clinical Haematology) – Epigenetic Regulation of Self Renewal in Normal and Malignant Hematopoiesis ($1.2m)

Adjunct Professor Marcus Chen (Melbourne Sexual Health Centre) – A New Model for Improved Syphilis Management and Control ($2.9m)

Dr Ian Harding (Neuroscience) – The Cerebellum-Striatum Axis in Progressive Movement Disorders ($1.6m)

Associate Professor Vilija Jokubaitis (Neuroscience) – Multiple Sclerosis in Childbearing Women: Clinical Management, Consequences and Biological Management ($2.8m)

Dr Shobi Sivathamboo (Neuroscience) – Preventing sudden unexpected death in epilepsy: Identifying Predictive Biomakers and Advancing Automated Seizure Detection for Real-Time Interventions’ ($662,040). 

And finally, Dr Prasanti Kotagiri (Immunology), who joins us in the new year from The University of Melbourne, received a grant for Improving long-term outcomes post kidney transplant through study of the immune receptor repertoire ($497,224)

Pictured from top L-R: Omer Gilan, Vilija Jokubaitis, Shobi Sivathamboo, Marcus Chen, Joseph Doyle, Benjamin Marsland, Patrick Kwan, Ian Harding, Prasanti Kotagiri

See here for a full list list of Investigator grants winners.

2024 Gastroenterology, Immunology and Neuroscience (GIN) Program Symposium

Join us for the 2024 GIN Program Symposium, a dynamic platform where leading experts and researchers converge to explore the latest advancements in the gut-immune-brain axis. Registrations now open

We are thrilled to welcome esteemed speakers, including interstate experts Chris Dayas and Sam Costello, alongside Petter Brodin and Clare Lloyd from Imperial College London, UK. Be part of this transformative experience and delve into the forefront of cutting-edge research and discovery.

Details

• Date: 13 February 2024
• Venue: The Betty & John Laidlaw AO Alfred Innovation & Education Hub, 75 Commercial Road, Melbourne.
• Registration link
• Abstract submission link

For further information, please contact Juliana Castro, GIN Discovery Program Coordinator on ccs-gindiscovery@monash.edu.

Miss Sofia Carter - Highest achieving BMedSc(Hons) student

Congratulations to Miss Sofia Carter, the highest achieving Monash University BMedSc(Hons) student for 2023!

Sofia's research on antibiotic resistance in urinary tract infections (UTIs) highlights the need for changes to antibiotic recommendations for uncomplicated lower UTIs in nonpregnant females.

Speaking of the award which includes a $1000 prize money, Sofia said,  "To have spent this exciting and challenging year learning from some exceptional researchers was honestly rewarding enough - but being recognised with this award and the Alfred Research Alliance awards has provided even more reasons to be grateful".

Pictured L-R: Prof Terence O'Brien, Head of School, Miss, Sofia Carter, Prof Steven Jane, Dean, Sub-Faculty of Translational Medicine & Public Health

Head shaving fundraiser event for Cancer Immunology Research

Christopher Chew, PhD Student in the Cancer Development and Treatment Laboratory (Shackleton Lab) has been growing his hair for the last 8.5 years and will be shaving his head on Saturday 9 December in Melbourne CBD as part of Hair Off For Hair Loss.

The event will be run with the City of Melbourne as part of the Little Korea Street Food Christmas Festival - What's On Melbourne, including food, live performers, face paint, balloon art and Christmas celebrations!

Funds will be directed towards hair loss related initiatives including cancer immunology research, supporting the alopecia areata foundation and skin health institute.

Unveiling Hidden Potential: The Underappreciated Benefits of Integrating Community Medical Perspectives into Research

Co-authored by Chris Ewert Community Representative and Evangelia Bishop, CaRE Coordinator

Monash University established the Consumer and Researcher Engagement program (CaRE) to facilitate mutually beneficial and meaningful connections between researchers and community members with lived experience as a patient or carer of the medical conditions being studied at the Central Clinical School (CCS)

CaRE is a planned process covering a broad range of interactions with the specific purpose of informing, consulting, partnering, and empowering community members to contribute to medical research through a number of approaches.

When pain after surgery becomes chronic

Authors: Paige Druce, with special thanks to community representative Chris Ewert for contributing to this article.

Pain after surgery is expected. Pain that lasts for days, or even weeks is normal, and usually nothing to be concerned about. But for some patients, pain can persist for months or even years and develop into chronic pain.

It can be hard to know when pain after surgery becomes chronic pain because the symptoms can range from mild to severe. However, the pain can be distressing and debilitating for the people it affects, including stabbing and tingling feelings, numbness, altered sensations and problems with sensitivity.

Chronic pain after surgery may depend on the operation undergone and is often difficult to treat, meaning there are no proven strategies for prevention. So, it’s one of the most important research priorities in Perioperative Medicine – the area of medical care that covers the time from surgery being considered, through the operative period, to the patient’s full recovery. 

Vice-Chancellor’s award for Professor Anne Holland

Monash Medicine Nursing and Health Science researchers and staff have received ten awards in the Vice-Chancellor’s Education, Research and Professional Excellence Awards 2023. These awards acknowledge the efforts of high-performing Monash staff and the impact of their work on the Monash community.  See full list of recipients HERE.

From, Professor Terence O'Brien, Head, Central Clinical School

It is with great pride that I can inform you that Prof Anne Holland, Head of Respiratory Research@Alfred, CCS, was awarded the Monash Vice Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research Engagement and Impact. This highly prestigious award recognises Anne’s sustained, impactful research developing and trialling in-home rehabilitation as a way to improve access for patients with chronic lung disease, providing an alternative to the traditional in-person delivery at outpatient facilities. Her work has resulted in a transformative shift of clinical practice towards a more integrated model of disease management (in-person and at-home via web-based platforms), as demonstrated by its citation in 27 clinical guidelines and position papers on pulmonary rehabilitation, pulmonary fibrosis, COPD, skeletal muscle dysfunction, oxygen therapy and respiratory management, from eminent bodies including the Thoracic Societies in the UK, USA, Europe, Asia and Australia/New Zealand.

Please join with me in congratulating Anne on her award.

16 days of activism against gender-based violence

In Australia, one in four women have experienced violence by an intimate partner or family member. On average, a woman in Australia is killed by a man they know every 10 days. 

The 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence is an international campaign led by UN Women that runs from the 25th of November to the 10th of December. During this time, communities around the world join the call that aims to prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls. 

Here in Australia, there are many ways to get involved, including the Walk Against Family Violence 2023 on the 24th of November, which marks the beginning of the 16 Days of Activism. 

All genders are welcome, so bring along your friends, family, and lab mates. Wear orange if you can and stand in solidarity with victim-survivors. 

If you’d like to join a group from the Department of Neuroscience that is attending, please contact Dr Georgia Symons (georgia.fullersymons1@monash.edu). One of the reasons they are walking is to acknowledge the contribution of victim-survivors in their research study to investigate brain injury in intimate partner violence. 

Other ways to get involved during this time:

• Visit the Safe and Equal 16 Days of Activism page and join a community event near you. 
• Follow Respect Victoria on social media, share posts using #16Days and #16DaysOfActivism.
• Start a conversation about respect at home, with friends or a sporting/community club. 

Thanomporn Wittayacharoenpong wins the Alfred Health Week Abstract Prize

Congratulations to Ms Thanomporn (Mon) Wittayacharoenpong on winning the Alfred Research Alliance Senior Medical Staff Association Prize for Clinical / Public Health Research at the 2023 Alfred Health Week.

A PhD student in the Epilepsy surgery research group led by Associate Professor Andrew Neal, Mon's research abstract submitted was entitled, "Using Stereo-EEG data to determine the optimal intracranial venous sinus location for an endovacular seizure detection device". She won the award for the best journal article, in the Abstract Prize category.

Find out more about the Alfred Health Week Prizes 2023.

Picture: Mon with Professor Terence O'Brien (Head, Central Clinical School) and Professor Stephen Jane (Dean, Sub-faculty of Translational Medicine and Public Health).

Strategies and tips for a healthy working life

 Summary of the CCS-SPHPM joint panel discussion for Mental Health Week by Zhoujie Ding and Lenka Vodstrcil (on behalf of CCS EDI committee)

Striving to maintain our mental wellbeing has emerged as a primary goal for many workers, especially since COVID first disrupted our routines and changed how we work. In academia, meeting deadlines and balancing our workload and expected output can sometimes be really overwhelming, especially when other issues in life cause additional stress. To provide some insights into how our working lives can be improved and where to get help when mental health issues arise, the CCS-SPHPM EDI committees organised a panel discussion with experts in the field, which took place at the Alfred Center Lecture Theatre on 6 November 2023.

Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences recognises Professor Catriona Bradshaw

AAHMS video (0:29min)

Congratulations to Professor Catriona Bradshaw who has been elected as new Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (AAHMS), the nation’s learned academy for the most influential experts in health and medicine. 

Professor Catriona Bradshaw is a clinician-researcher and Head of Research Translation and Mentorship and Genital Microbiota and Mycoplasma Group Lead at the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre and holds an honorary appointment at the University of Melbourne.  Catriona is an NHMRC Leadership Fellow, a centre head for the Centre to Impact Antimicrobial Resistance at Monash University, and a co-director of the ARC Research Hub to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance. Catriona is a member of national and international STI guideline committees, a board member of the International Society for STD Research, a technical advisor for the World Health Organisation, a past recipient of the L'Oréal-UNESCO Women in Science Award in 2007 and of the Eureka Prize for Infectious Diseases Research in 2022.

Find out more about Professor Catriona Bradshaw.

See all recent AAHMS Fellows HERE.

FMNHS Research Platforms Roadshow

This is your opportunity to meet with Platform staff and learn about the equipment, services and capabilities they have. 

• Date:     Thursday 26 October 2023
• Time:    10:00am - 12:30pm (morning tea will be provided)
• Venue:  Seminar Rooms 1 & 2, Level 5 Alfred Centre, 99 Commercial Road

Drop by anytime between 10am and 12:30pm to see how they can support your research projects. 

Further information about the event is available here and information about the participating platforms is available here.

Dean's Award for Professor Anne Holland

Watch Dean's Award video (0.28min)

Congratulations to Professor Anne Holland, Head of the Department of Respiratory Research@Alfred, who won the Dean's Award for Excellence in Research - Engagement and Impact. An NHMRC Leadership Fellow (2021-2025), Professor Holland's research program investigates supportive therapies for people with chronic respiratory disease, with a focus on COPD and pulmonary fibrosis. Her recent clinical trials have tested new models of pulmonary rehabilitation to improve access and uptake, including low cost home-based models and telerehabilitation. Professor Holland is currently leading a multi-national trial of ambulatory oxygen for people with fibrotic lung disease. Anne is a Chief Investigator for the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Pulmonary Fibrosis and the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Treatable Traits. Find out more about Professor Anne Holland.

See all Dean's Award recipients HERE.

Meet Fernando Gordillo Altamirano

Dr Fernando Gordillo Altamirano completed his medical training in his native Ecuador, but knew that he wanted to pursue a career in research rather than clinical practice. That decision brought him to Australia, where he completed further study including a Masters degree and PhD before joining Central Clinical School’s Department of Infectious Diseases as a postdoctoral researcher last year. 

Can you tell us about your work?

I kill superbugs! Superbugs are bacteria that have become resistant to antibiotics. They are increasingly common in hospitals, where they can infect the most vulnerable patients, and doctors struggle to treat these infections. I work on a method called phage therapy. Phages are viruses: good viruses! Instead of harming or killing human cells, phages only kill bacteria. So, we can treat superbug infections using these viruses, killing the bacteria and saving the patients.

How did you become interested in phage research?

As I was ‘shopping around’ for PhD projects, I met my eventual supervisor, a world leader in phage research: Associate Professor Jeremy Barr of Monash University’s School of Biological Sciences. Before that, I had only briefly learned about phages but had never imagined we could use them to treat infections in humans. Jeremy’s passion ignited my love for phages. It’s thrilling to be working in research where I can apply my medical knowledge and my laboratory expertise simultaneously. 

Promotion and new appointment for epilepsy

Congratulations to Dr Andrew Neal, who has been appointed to succeed Professor Patrick Kwan as Director of Epilepsy, Alfred Health, and also promoted to Associate Professor.

Associate Professor Neal joined Alfred Health and Central Clinical School in 2019 as a consultant Neurologist and Epileptologist, lead for the Alfred Advanced Epilepsy Surgery Program and as a research fellow in CCS’s Department of Neuroscience. He also served as Deputy Director of Epilepsy at Alfred Health from 2020. 

A/Prof Neal is a national leader in advanced epilepsy surgery, in particular stereoelectroencephalography (SEEG). SEEG involves the surgical implantation of electrodes into the brain to understand the role of brain networks in the pathophysiology of drug-resistant epilepsy and its associated neurocognitive deficits.

Meet Dr Anouk von Borstel

A lecturer’s enthusiasm for immunology rubbed off on Anouk during her undergraduate studies, and she pursued this interest in her Masters of Science and PhD. Having maintained her passion for translational immunology and experiencing firsthand the excitement of making new discoveries, translational research became the common thread throughout her scientific career. She left her native Netherlands to join a structural biology lab at Monash University’s Biomedical Discovery Institute (BDI) in 2018, where she published two lead author papers and co-authored nine more, before joining the Allergy and Clinical Immunology Laboratory within Central Clinical School’s Department of Immunology. There she is currently focused on studying the allergic immune response and how this is altered when patients are treated with allergen immunotherapy.

How did you become interested in immunology? What excites you about this area?

My passion for immunology began during my lectures in my BSc studies, where I was fortunate to have a professor whose enthusiasm for the subject was infectious. His ability to convey the complexities of the immune system with true passion left me amazed and wanting to learn more about it.

What truly excites me about this area is the vast amount of uncharted territory. Despite significant progress, there is still so much we don’t fully understand about the immune system. Moreover, the prospect of contributing to the growing body of knowledge and making a positive impact on human health keeps me motivated.

Meet Lizzie Thomas

Dr Elizabeth (Lizzie) Thomas has been at Central Clinical School for almost a decade, having completed her Honours and PhD at the School before staying on as a researcher. She is currently the manager of the Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) Clinical Research Unit at the Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre (MAPrc) and a research fellow at the HER Centre Australia. 

How did you become interested in mental health? What excites you about this area?

I initially got into mental health research as I wanted an Honours project that was more clinical rather than lab based. While my research focus has evolved throughout my time at MAPrc, my passion for mental health and cognition has remained constant, whether it be in schizophrenia as part of my PhD, in relation to hormonal fluctuations in women or in TMS. Studying cognition allows me to explore the intricacies of memory, attention, decision-making, and problem-solving, all of which I find fascinating!

Immunology researcher wins early career research prize

Congratulations to Dr Paul Gill, who has been awarded the Glenn Gibson Early Career Research Prize from the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP). 

The award recognises the work Dr Gill conducted as part of his PhD, examining the interaction between dietary metabolites short-chain fatty acids and the human immune system. 

“I’m proud that all the work I did as a PhD student in the Department of Gastroenterology has been recognised by the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics,” Dr Gill said. 

“My research found that a high fibre diet that increases metabolites generated by the gut microbiota can alter the immune system of healthy people. This provides us with a potential approach for treating patients with inflammatory conditions using a high fibre diet.”

Dr Gill received the award at the ISAPP Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado, where he also gave a talk on investigating the effects of short-chain fatty acids on the immune system and gut microbiota of healthy humans.

“The ISAPP meeting was a great experience for me as an Early Career Researcher. I interacted with experts in the field and was involved in a panel discussion about the evidence for probiotics benefiting human health. This gave me a new insight into how scientific organisations can be involved in promoting evidence-based health advice” 

Since completing his PhD, Dr Gill has joined the Department of Immunology as a research fellow. He is currently investigating the immune response to the COVID-19 vaccines, particularly in immunosuppressed patients, as part of the PROPHECY study. 

Media round-up: A/Prof Gemma Sharp discusses new guidelines for cosmetic surgery practice

From 1 July 2023, new guidelines for the regulation of cosmetic surgery practice came into effect in Australia. This was in response to a number of complaints made against cosmetic surgeons in the last few years following patients experiencing complications of both a physical and psychological nature. 

The new guidelines stipulate that people seeking cosmetic surgery must have a referral from their GP and undergo mental health screening. Previously, the mental health screening was only suggested, but it is now compulsory. 

Associate Professor Gemma Sharp of the Department of Neuroscience served as the lead expert for the world-first clinical guidelines for mental health assessment of people seeking cosmetic surgery back in 2018, which have since been adopted internationally. She subsequently served as the lead expert again in the 2023 revision of these guidelines in preparation of the new regulations coming into place in Australia. 

A/Prof Sharp spoke to a number of media outlets about the likely impacts of these new regulations. 

ABC TV News Breakfast (video)

New cosmetic surgery rules leave doctors divided (ABC News radio)

Beauty industry set for makeover with more than 1 billion at stake (Canberra Times)

Why so many people including the Kardashians have plastic surgery regret (The Age)

PhD student wins Early Career Top Paper Abstract

Courtney McLean

PhD student Courtney McLean from the Department of Neuroscience has been awarded an Academy of Eating Disorders Early Career Top Abstract Award for her paper ‘Disordered Eating and the Meat-Avoidance Spectrum: A Systematic Review and Clinical Implications’.

This research looked to examine the association between eating disorders and vegetarian and vegan diets. It has long been thought that vegetarianism and veganism may be related to an increased risk of disordered eating due to the cognitive effort required to adhere to a restricted diet. 

In a systematic review of 48 studies, Courtney and her co-authors Associate Professor Gemma Sharp and Professor Jayashri Kulkarni found no consensus as to whether vegetarianism or veganism is associated with higher levels of disordered eating. 

The authors note that additional research is very much needed to unpack the broad range of conflicting findings highlighted within the systematic review. The research notes a number of methodological concerns within the literature, such as extremely small sample sizes and combining vegetarian and vegan groups together which could potentially mask true associations between each group. 

The review did however show that vegetarianism and veganism appear to be associated with greater orthorexia nervosa pathology, a newly coined type of eating disorder not formally diagnosable but characterised by a fixation on eating ‘healthy’ and ‘pure’ foods. 

“Future research must focus on conducting longitudinal research to track the unique eating behaviours and attitudes of vegetarians and vegans over time,” Courtney said. “For example, it would be useful to explore the impact of length, onset, and scope of dietary adherence to begin to be able to establish a potential causal or bidirectional relationship between these groups. This will, in turn, guide evidence-based treatment approaches for these growing dietary minorities.”

Courtney accepted the Top Abstract Award at the Academy for Eating Disorders international conference in Washington DC, where she also presented her PhD research findings. 

"It was an absolute delight to attend and present at this conference - the first international conference of my PhD! I had the opportunity to present each of the three research projects related to my PhD. These projects progressively build upon the findings of each other so attendees had the opportunity to follow my research right from its inception.” 

“It was also wonderful to hear from the wide range of international speakers at the conference. There are many areas within the eating disorder field that continue to be under researched, but to see attendees from across many professional backgrounds come together with a vision of a world without eating disorders was inspiring. I particularly enjoyed the focused inclusion of lived experience voices who were integrated into each segment of the conference."

Part of the Department of Neuroscience’s Sharp Group, Courtney’s PhD broadly seeks to explore the efficacy of eating disorder tools in measuring eating pathology in vegetarian and vegan groups. As part of this, she is developing a novel eating disorder screening tool to identify eating disorder symptoms in individuals following a vegetarian and vegan diet. This tool will be the first of its kind to specifically target this growing dietary group, which will be co-designed with diverse participant groups, including lived eating disorder voices, dieticians, and psychologists.