Participants sought for COVID vaccine response study

If you are planning to get your 4th COVID vaccine dose later this calendar year, we kindly ask you to consider being part of our research study, even if you have not been included previously.

What we ask is three blood samples (before, 1 month after and 6 months after dose 4) of about 50ml. We will also obtain general information about your COVID previous vaccinations, SARS-CoV-2 infection and immunological disease and immunosuppressive mediation.

B cell boost for hay fever therapy

L-R: Authors Dr Craig McKenzie, Prof Robyn O'Hehir and
Prof Menno van Zelm. See paper for full list of authors.

Grass pollen allergy is the leading cause of seasonal asthma and hay fever globally with up to 30 per cent of the world’s population allergic to grass pollen allergens.

In a discovery that may help scientists alleviate this global burden, Monash researchers have found that sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) with a small tablet containing grass pollens, changed patient’s immune memory cells in unexpected ways.

See full faculty story.

Congratulations to MRFF grant awardees Michele Callisaya and Patrick Kwan

Congratulations to Central Clinical School's Associate Professor Michele Callisaya and Professor Patrick Kwan on their MRFF grants! See the missions and our projects below.

COVID-19 Health Impacts and Vaccination Schedules MRFF grants announced

Congratulations to Central Clinical School's Professor Menno van Zelm and Professor Merlin Thomas (seen left to right opposite) on their MRFF grants in the COVID-19 Health Impacts and Vaccination Schedules mission! See detail below or faculty story here.

See all 14 recipients of the MRFF COVID-19 mission in today's media release from the office of the Honourable Mark Butler, Minister for Health and Aged Care.

Congratulations to Menno van Zelm on his promotion to Professor

Congratulations to Menno van Zelm in the Department of Immunology on his promotion to Professor! The University's Professorial Promotions Committee said that they recognised his significant contribution to the University in the areas of academic activity: research and engagement. They wrote, "In particular, the Committee noted your contributions to commercialisation and patents."

Professor van Zelm has also been successful this year in obtaining NHMRC MRFF funding of $6.3M for a study of COVID-19 vaccines and infection with the goal of improving the care and outcomes for children and people with chronic diseases, particularly as future variants emerge. See faculty story

Booster doses increase protection against COVID-19 variants

A study by Monash immunologists suggests that booster vaccine doses
elicit memory B cells with higher affinity to COVID-19, enabling
recognition of VoC. L-R: First author PhD student Gemma Hartley and.
senior author Prof Menno van Zelm

by Gemma Hartley, PhD student

COVID-19 vaccines have been rolled out across the world with great success. However, variants of concern (VoC) now challenge the protection that these vaccines provide. 

Third and fourth dose boosters are known to increase protection against VoC, but the immunological basis of this is still unclear.

EMCR event | Changing lanes: Navigating different career paths in academia, industry and beyond

Join us next Thursday 21 July for "Changing lanes: Navigating different career paths in academia, industry and beyond", an online panel event for A+ EMCRs featuring three senior researchers and industry executives, Associate Professor Menno van Zelm (Monash University, Dr Bev Menner (CSL) and Dr Sue Forrest (mexec). Register now and see more detail below.

Vaccinated immune system response to new SARS-CoV-2 variants

A/Prof Menno van Zelm in the lab

Associate Professor Menno van Zelm was invited by the prestigious journal Science Immunology to write a Commentary on two papers that deal with immune memory after vaccination and recognition of Omicron variants of SARS-CoV-2. 

A/Prof van Zelm said, "What I suggest is that 'original antigenic sin' - that means that the body's original response to an antigen is remembered and used when a variant antigen is encountered - might be in place, so that it will be a challenge for the immune system to generate new responses on top of the existing (vaccine-induced) memory."

18 Sep: AusPIPS presents "PIDs: More Than Just a Single Disease"

An opportunity to hear about respiratory, infectious and gastrointestinal diseases that can be seen in PIDs and a spotlight on genomics: Register here

About this event

AusPIPS presents "PIDs: More than Just a Single Disease"

Long-lasting COVID immunity gives real hope for the long-term protection of vaccines

Australian researchers have revealed – for the first time – that people who have been infected with the COVID-19 virus have immune memory to protect against reinfection for at least eight months.

The research is the strongest evidence for the likelihood that vaccines against the virus, SARS-CoV-2, will work for long periods.  

Sustained COVID-19 immunity promising for vaccine effectiveness

The 20 Nov 2020 medRxiv preprint publication co-authors in Associate Professor Menno van Zelm's Immunology/Allergy research team include: L-R: Mrs Simone Reinwald, Ms Gemma Hartley (first author), Dr Craig McKenzie, Professor Robyn O'Hehir AO (author), Associate Professor Menno van Zelm (senior author), Ms Pei Mun Aui (author), Dr Emily Edwards (author), Mrs Neeru Varese (author).

Monash researchers have revealed – for the first time – that people who have been infected with the COVID-19 virus have sustained protection against reinfection for at least eight months.

The research is the strongest evidence for the likelihood that vaccines against the virus, SARS-CoV-2, will work for long periods.

COVID-19 compendium of 150 questions and answers

It's complicated. A published compendium answers 150 questions
on COVID-19. Click on image to enlarge. Reproduced from article.

Following the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, international clinicians and researchers have joined
forces to publish a compendium answering questions related to COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2.

Monash researchers Professor Robyn O’Hehir and Associate Professor Menno van Zelm were members on a panel of experts answering 150 key questions relating to SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 and allergy. 

Five ways our immune responses to COVID vaccines are unique

by Paul Gill and Menno van Zelm
Department of Immunology and Pathology
 excerpted from The Conversation 10 Sept 2020

The Oxford vaccine trial at the centre of safety concerns this week highlights the idea that people’s immune systems respond to vaccines differently.

A test for COVID-19 risk, infectivity and immunity

The Immunology/Allergy research team. L-R: Mrs Simone Reinwald, Ms Gemma Hartley, Dr Craig McKenzie, Professor Robyn O'Hehir AO, Associate Professor Menno van Zelm, Ms Pei Mun Aui, Dr Emily Edwards, Mrs Neeru Varese

by Tania Ewing

Monash scientists are repurposing technology they developed recently to make a rapid test to determine who:

• has immunity to coronavirus
• remains infectious
• is at risk of developing a severe form of the disease.

Findings may boost hay fever therapy

L-R: Dr Craig McKenzie, Prof Robyn O'Hehir,

Associate Professor Menno van Zelm

by Anne Crawford

Allergen immunotherapy is the only treatment to modify the natural course of allergy to ryegrass pollen – or spring hay fever – rather than just alleviating symptoms. Treatment involves repeated exposure of patients to allergen extracts either by injection or tablet, ‘training’ the immune system to clear these allergens without generating an allergic response.

But it’s not known exactly how this immunotherapy works.

Researchers drill deep to find T cell defect in antibody deficiency disease

Dr Emily Edwards (first author) and 

A/Prof Menno van Zelm (last author) 

by Anne Crawford

Patients with predominantly antibody deficiency (PAD) suffer from severe and recurrent infections that disrupt their lives and which require lifelong treatment. Added to this, up to 70% of these patients develop non-infectious complications (NIC) including autoimmunity, autoinflammation, gastrointestinal disease, and lymphoid malignancies, which are difficult to treat, putting them at risk of high morbidity and early mortality. PAD represents the largest group of primary immunodeficiencies (PIDs), affecting about 1 in 25,000 people worldwide.

Translational study on high-fibre diet an eye-opener for PhD science student

Paul Gill, PhD student, has published his

first paper investigating the influence of a

high-fibre diet on SCFAs in the blood.

Follow Paul on Twitter @gillpaul93

by Anne Crawford

When PhD candidate Paul Gill began his biomedical science course at Monash University he had no idea his studies would immerse him in one of the most dynamic fields of contemporary science: the gut microbiome.

Paul’s first paper, recently published in The European Journal of Nutrition, highlighted the potential of dietary fibre therapy to manipulate the production of short chain fatty acids (SCFA) and blood plasma concentrations. SCFAs are a group of organic acids produced in the gut from the bacterial fermentation of fibre in fruit, vegetables and certain grains. They are important for gut health but then absorbed into the bloodstream.

2019 CCS research highlights: AIRmed & Immunology - Primary immunodeficiencies

Associate Professor Menno van Zelm,  
JMF Centre Director

Monash University's Central Clinical School (CCS) is at the cutting edge of medical research in national and international arenas. We are publishing a series of our research highlights from across 2019.

In this article, we feature a highlight from the Alfred Allergy Asthma and Clinical Immunology Service and the CCS Department of Immunology and Pathology.

• Centre makes inroads into rare immune disease 

SAVE THE DATE: Primary Immunodeficiencies Symposium this October

Dr Emily Edwards will
host the symposium

October 11^th sees the second annual symposium of the Jeffrey Modell Foundation (JMF) Centre for Primary Immunodeficiencies Melbourne, hosted by our own Dr Emily Edwards. The event theme is ‘Bridging Research and Care for Patients’, and it promises to provide stimulating content relevant to researchers in immunology, infectious diseases, and gastrointestinal medicine among others.

The Department of Immunology and Pathology’s A/Prof Menno van Zelm serves as the Director of the JMF Centre Melbourne, and Dr Emily Edwards is acting as conference host. Emily’s work focuses on investigating the impact of genetic mutations on B cell differentiation and function in patients with primary immunodeficiencies. She’ll be presenting on flow cytometry approaches to diagnosis and identification of prognostic markers for the development of non-infectious complications in primary immune deficiencies.

Photo of the week: Jeffrey Modell Centre Opening Launch!

The opening launch of the Jeffrey Modell Foundation Centre for Primary Immunodeficiencies Melbourne was held on the 14th June 2018. The plaque is being unveiled here by various community and health care provider representatives

A full gallery of photos from the day can be found here.
For more information on the JMF Centre Melbourne, please visit their website www.jmf-melbourne.com