Pipeline to success for blood clotting research

Prof Mark Sleeman (left) & A/Prof Justin
Hamilton (right)

Australian Centre for Blood Diseases (ACBD) researchers are pushing their discovery of a promising anti-thrombotic agent towards clinical trial as part of a Monash University collaboration with a US biotechnology company. Here’s how the deal was brokered.

by Anne Crawford

In 2014 the ACBD’s Associate Professor Justin Hamilton approached Professor Mark Sleeman at the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute (BDI) with a proposal. Professor Sleeman, amongst other roles at Monash Clayton, is the Director of the Monash Antibody Technologies Facility (MATF).

Scientists find key to miscarriages in blood clotting disorder

Prof Harshal Nandurkar and Dr Anushka
Samudra are respectively last and first authors
on the paper on APS and miscarriage

by Anne Crawford

Monash University researchers have potentially shed light on why women with the rare autoimmune disorder Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) are prone to successive pregnancy losses.

APS causes abnormal blood clots in the arteries or veins along with the risks that go with clotting, including stroke and Deep Vein Thrombosis. For pregnant women the effects of the disorder can be devastating, causing about half of them to be at risk of sequential miscarriages, spontaneous abortions or premature births.

Neurological research champions celebrated by Bethlehem Griffiths Research Foundation

Professor Terry O'Brien (left) receiving his
medal from Professor Stephen Davis,
previous BGRF medal winner.

This year’s Bethlehem Griffiths Research Foundation (BGRF) Medal has been awarded to Professor Terence O’Brien in recognition of his internationally-acclaimed research that has transformed the lives of many people with epilepsy as well as traumatic brain injury, dementias and brain tumours.

Patients with difficult to control, drug-resistant epilepsy now have access to more effective treatment options, including surgery, and a better understanding of the adverse effects of long-term medication use. Women with epilepsy have also benefited and now have better information about minimising the risk of medication on their unborn child while maximising the chance of seizure control.

Closing in on an optimal molecule for kidney injury

A designer molecule goes exactly where
it is needed for protection against kidney
injury during transplantation.

by Anne Crawford

Kidney ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) is common during transplantation, leading to compromised function in the kidney and increasing the chance of rejection of the new organ.

Now scientists in the Vascular Biology Group, Australian Centre for Blood Diseases, have refined a designer molecule that offers protection against IRI in research that may have translational significance to transplantation.

Monash study points to new blood test for cardiovascular risk

Dr Prahlad Ho presenting at ASH15
meeting. Image: @marrow

by Anne Crawford

It has long been a conundrum for clinicians and researchers pondering cardiovascular disease; a 90-year-old overweight man who has been smoking heavily all his life is admitted to hospital with an unrelated condition and is found to have a healthy heart while a fit 25-year-old athlete elsewhere inexplicably dies of a massive heart attack.

Now, scientists from the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases, Monash University, Northern Health and the University of Melbourne are collaboratively evaluating a new blood test that could add to the surrogate measures currently used clinically as an assessment of cardiovascular risk. Currently no such blood test exists, they say.

2017 Faculty internal funding scheme winners for Central Clinical School

Congratulations to CCS winners of 2017's Faculty internal Strategic Grants Scheme! See full Honour roll.

Strategic Program Grant (Non-Lab)

Dr Joseph Doyle (Department of Infectious Diseases): Rapid point-of-care tests to increase hepatitis C diagnosis, treatment uptake and cure in community settings - $44,000

Platform Access Grants (PAG)

1) Professor Harshal Nandurkar (Australian Centre for Blood Diseases): Novel endothelial-targeted therapy to improve stoke outcomes - $9,000

2) Dr Jane Muir (Department of Gastroenterology): Manipulating the gut microbiota via natural dietary prebiotics: a way forward to optimise gut health - $8,000

Joint Medicine-Pharmacy Grant (JMP)

Professor Magdalena Plebanski CCS (Department of Immunology & Pathology) and John Quinn  (Department of Pharmaceutics): High capacity nanocapsules to treat ovarian cancer - $50,000

Fundraising for cancer: 'Dry July' Alfred team led by Harshal Nandurkar

Prof Harshal Nandurkar, Director of the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases, is committing to his second 'Dry July' and is aiming to be the top fundraiser for cancer services support.

Prof Harshal Nandurkar (left) with A/Prof Jeremy Millar (right)

Support Dry July and Harshal by donating through the following link:

https://www.dryjuly.com/users/harshal-nandurkar

Recent CCS publications: Week ending 6 May 2016

Prof Harshal Nandurkar with Dr Sarah
Kamel. See more about their research

Recent publications for CCS affiliated authors:

Ho P, Lim HY, Chua CC, Sleeman M, Tacey M, Donnan G, Nandurkar H. Retrospective review on isolated distal deep vein thrombosis (IDDVT) - A benign entity or not? Thromb Res. 2016 Apr; 142:11-16.
doi: 10.1016/j.thromres.2016.04.003.

Tremblay CS, Brown FC, Collett M, Saw J, Chiu SK, Sonderegger SE, Lucas SE, Alserihi R, Chau N, Toribio ML, McCormack MP, Chircop M, Robinson PJ, Jane SM, Curtis DJ. Loss-of-function mutations of Dynamin 2 promote T-ALL by enhancing IL-7 signalling. Leukemia. 2016 Apr 27. 
doi: 10.1038/leu.2016.100. [Epub ahead of print]

Wright EK, Kamm MA, De Cruz P, Hamilton AL, Ritchie KJ, Krejany EO, Gorelik A, Liew D, Prideaux L, Lawrance IC, Andrews JM, Bampton PA, Sparrow MP, Florin TH, Gibson PR, Debinski H, Gearry RB, Macrae FA, Leong RW, Kronborg I, Radford-Smith G, Selby W, Johnston MJ, Woods R, Elliott PR, Bell SJ, Brown SJ, Connell WR, Desmond PV. Effect of intestinal resection on quality of life in Crohn's disease. J Crohns Colitis. 2015 Jun; 9:452-62.
doi: 10.1093/ecco-jcc/jjv058

Zou H, Tabrizi SN, Grulich AE, Hocking JS, Garland SM, Bradshaw CS, Cornall AM, Fairley CK, Chen MY. Antibody responses following incident anal and penile infection with human papillomavirus in teenage men who have sex with men. Int J Cancer. 2016 Mar (online).
doi: 10.1002/ijc.30093.

Recent CCS publications: Week ending 22 April 2016

Transcranial stimulation

Recent publications with Central Clinical School affiliated authors:

Duan M, Steinfort DP, Smallwood D, Hew M, Chen W, Ernst M, Irving LB, Anderson GP, Hibbs ML. CD11b immunophenotyping identifies inflammatory profiles in the mouse and human lungs. Mucosal Immunol. 2016 Mar;9(2):550-63. 
Link: doi 10.1038/mi.2015.84.

Fitzgerald, P.B., Hoy, K.E., Elliot, D., McQueen, S., Wambeek, L.E., Daskalakis, Z.J. A negative double-blind controlled trial of sequential bilateral rTMS in the treatment of bipolar depression. Journal of Affective Disorders (2016) 198 pp. 158 - 162
Link: doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2016.03.052
 
Lim HY, Ng C, Donnan G, Nandurkar H, Ho P. Ten years of cerebral venous thrombosis: male gender and myeloproliferative neoplasm is associated with thrombotic recurrence in unprovoked events. J Thromb Thrombolysis. 2016 Apr 16. [Epub ahead of print]
Link: PMID 27085541

Maller JJ, Anderson RJ, Thomson RH, Daskalakis ZJ, Rosenfeld JV, Fitzgerald PB. Occipital bending in schizophrenia. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2016 Apr 11. pii: 0004867416642023. [Epub ahead of print]
Link: PMID 27066817

Photo of the week: AMREP information night

Professor Harshal Nandurkar, Director of the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases (ACBD), with one of the 200 interested students at the AMREP Honours information evening. The ACBD are planning a symposium later in 2015.
See AMREP Information night photo gallery.

Publication: Imatinib therapy and bleeding in CML patients

Image: www.genericmds.com

Imatinib is generally well tolerated, but gastric antral vascular ectasia (GAVE) remains a rare but significant complication of imatinib therapy. Whilst this complication has been described in other disease settings, only one other case of GAVE has been reported in a chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) patient receiving imatinib. Herein, we present three CML patients with GAVE complicating imatinib therapy. In all cases, GAVE resolved only with cessation of imatinib. This confirms a causal relationship between GAVE and imatinib. GAVE should be considered as a possible cause of anaemia and upper gastrointestinal bleeding in patients receiving imatinib therapy.

Reference: Ong, J., Yeung, D., Filshie, R., Hughes, T.P., Nandurkar, H. Imatinib-induced gastric antral vascular ectasia in three patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia. Int J Hematol. 2015 Jul 2. [Epub ahead of print]

Fundraiser for cancer services: Prof Harshal Nandurkar goes 'dry' for a good cause

The 'Dry July' fundraiser challenges you to go booze-free while raising money to improve the wellbeing of adults living with cancer. Prof Harshal Nandurkar, new Head of the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases, and about whose drinking habits this blog editor knows nothing, has signed up for the dry month. Regardless of how much money Harshal raises, his liver will have a holiday, but in any event, please give generously!

• au.dryjuly.com/profile/harshalnandurkar
• Harshal's vascular biology research

Central Clinical School Gender Equity Committee

At the most recent Central Clinical School Executive meeting it was decided to form a Gender Equity Committee composed of senior academics to oversee this critical issue. 

The Committee consists of Professors Robyn O'Hehir, Harshal Nandurkar, Jayashri Kulkarni and Anton Peleg,

The Committee will meet two times a year and report back to the Executive, providing ideas and direction for Gender Equity at all levels of the School. 

Professor Harshal Nandurkar becomes new Director of the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases

Professor Harshal Nandurkar has been appointed as Director of the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases (ACBD), its first after the inaugural Director, Professor Hatem Salem AM, retired at the end of 2012. He has also been appointed as Director of the Alfred Health's Haematology department.

Prof Nandurkar  is a clinician-researcher trained at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute and Department of Biochemistry, Monash University. Up to now, he has been based at the University of Melbourne for his research and St Vincents for clinical practice. His clinical interests cover all areas of haematology including blood malignancies, bleeding and clotting disorders. He provides inpatient care at Alfred Health and Monash Medical Centre, Clayton.

Prof Nandurkar will be supervising a basic science research program in the areas of thrombosis and genetics of blood cancer at the ACBD.

See: http://www.acbd.monash.org/research/vascularbiologygroup.html

Photo of the week: Prof Harshal Nandurkar's group, new Head of Australian Centre for Blood Diseases

The Vascular Biology group. L-R: Ms Emma Akers (Honours student), Ms Julie Brown (RA), Ms Anushka Samudra (PhD student), Professor Harshal Nandurkar (group leader and Head, Australian Centre for Blood Diseases), Ms Susanna Freddi (Research Assistant), Ms Carly Selan (Research Assistant), Dr Sarah Kamel (PhD student).
Absent: Dr Warwick Nesbitt (Senior Research Fellow), Ms Sze-Ting Bong (Masters student) and Dr Matthew Ku (PhD student) See more:

• Photos
• About the group