The surprising prevalence of eating disorders among older people

Dr Gemma Sharp in clinic with a patient

Eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia are often thought of as diseases that affect young people. However there's growing evidence that thousands of older Australians are also suffering silently. Older women are particularly susceptible, especially when their bodies are going changes like menopause or after pregnancy.
See Dr Gemma Sharp's 22 Jan 2020 7:30 Report interview at www.abc.net.au/7.30/the-surprising-prevalence-of-eating-disorders/11891422

Professor Andrew Spencer on combating Multiple Myeloma

Prof Andrew Spencer explains the research in this video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=spfbhnn1Nhc

Professor Andrew Spencer, of the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases, recently received funding under the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) of  $1.68M for a trial in elderly Multiple Myeloma (MM) patients to investigate treatment options. The full title of his study is "Frailty-stratified randomised controlled bayesian adaptive trial of bortezomib versus lenalidomide in transplant-ineligible myeloma - the FRAIL-M study". In this video he explains the significance of the research.

Video playlist of the week: Neuroscience research

The recent opening of the Department of Neuroscience sees a bevy of talented researchers conducting innovative research at the Central Clinical School. A theme running through descriptions of the  research being conducted by the Department of Neuroscience is that it is "translational" and "patient-centred". The department hopes to translate the knowledge gained from lab analysis of samples, such as blood and spinal fluids, from bench to bedside. The video playlist features Dr Mastura Monif, Prof Patrick Kwan, Prof Terry O'Brien and Dr David Wright. See more:

Video playlist: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL77QJnB61-H7rR7u0ZVhwYmeSfaIN17m4

Photo album: photos.app.goo.gl/9TbgT3dCfve6K9fz6

Neuroscience department research groups: www.monash.edu/medicine/ccs/neuroscience/research

Save the date! 31 July Translational Research symposium at Monash University

Monash University's three heads of its metropolitan based
clinical schools, Prof Eric Morand, Prof Stephen Jane and
 Prof Ian Davis, discuss translational medical research and
 the opportunities it offers for graduate students. Video: 4:31m

Translational Research skills have become an important part of life at Monash's three metropolitan clinical schools. Significant findings and discoveries made in the lab can often get lost in their conversion to clinical practice and everyday medical treatments.

Central Clinical School is hosting a Translational Research symposium on 31 July 2017. All welcome to hear from top Melbourne-based researchers with national and international collaborations in clinical areas. See speaker program and RSVP at:

• www.med.monash.edu.au/cecs/events/2017-tr-symposium.html

See more about what we have to offer in Translational Research:

• Translational Research PhD and Graduate Certificate
• Translational Research FAQs

Video of the week: The FODMAP Grand Tour Down Under (animation)

Low FODMAP diet for IBS, Department of Gastroenterology, Central Clinical School

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common functional gastrointestinal disorder affecting approximately 15% of people worldwide. Characterised by lower abdominal pain and discomfort, bloating, wind, distension and altered bowel habit (ranging from diarrhoea to constipation), the condition causes considerable discomfort and daily disruption for the sufferer. Researchers at Monash University have developed a diet strategy to manage IBS symptoms known as the low FODMAP diet. This diet is the product of extensive research which has quantified the FODMAP content of hundreds of foods, described the mechanism by which the diet works and shown that a low FODMAP diet improves symptom control in approximately three out of every four people with IBS. Join us as we go on a journey (almost like 'Fantastic Voyage'!) to understand the physiological effects of FODMAPs and the dramatic effects of a low FODMAP diet in people with IBS.

See more about Low FODMAP diet research and products at Monash:

• Website: http://bit.ly/1vXL2tQ
• App: http://bit.ly/1PKfK3Y
• Booklet: http://bit.ly/1yFzqxg
• Video link for reference:  https://youtu.be/Z_1Hzl9o5ic

Video of the week: Ricardo Ataide explains someone else's graph

The 2015 CCS postgraduate symposium included a couple of sections for comic light relief. Dr Ricardo Ataide of the Burnet Institute won the "Explain My Graph" segment, in which the presenter has to talk to a subject with which he or she is not familiar, and has never seen the slides before. Ricardo's own subject area is malaria, but here he fluently explains (or doesn't) a possible therapy for ovarian cancer patients.
See more

• The video itself: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPEfdyErrcM
• About the symposium: www.med.monash.edu.au/cecs/education/hdr-symposium.html
• CCS videos:  https://www.youtube.com/user/CCSMonash
• Ricardo's own malaria research: https://www.burnet.edu.au/staff_members/383_ricardo_ataide

How does MRI work? Neuroscientist Jerome Maller explains

Jerome Maller is a neuroscientist based at Monash Alfred Psychiatry research centre, whose special area is using Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for brain imaging. In this video, he explains the physics and why the imaging technique is particularly useful for neuroscience.

Video of the week: Kit Fairley on why sex work matters to everyone

Professor Christopher Fairley is Director of the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, and argues that evidence should be used to develop public policy for regulation of sex work. He gives examples of effective public policy (4:43), including when Prime Minister Gough Whitlam introduced Medicare and brought health care costs down, so poorer people could visit a doctor when sick and be treated, and Health Minister Neil Blewett's introduction of needle exchange programs. http://www.med.monash.edu.au/cecs/events/2015-tr-symposium.html
Links:

• Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYb4oEd5z-I
• Translational Research symposium playlist
• Translational Research program

Video of the Week "Women's mental health: It's getting tougher"

Professor Jayashri Kulkarni is Director of the Monash Alfred Psychiatry research centre (MAPrc) within the Central Clinical School (CCS) of Monash University. In 2015 she gave the annual public lecture hosted by CCS on "Women's mental health: It's getting tougher". The topic was of high public interest, and Prof Kulkarni announced the formation of the new Australian Consortium for Women's Mental Health. See more:

• Video link: youtu.be/jQTn_oDwwhY
• Photo gallery
• Powerpoint slide link: www.slideshare.net/ccsmonash/20151009-central-clinical-school-public-lecture-jayashri-kulkarni
• MAPrc www.maprc.org.au/ 
• CCS public lecture page: med.monash.edu.au/cecs/events/2015-public-lecture-kulkarni.html

Videos of the week: Three Minute Thesis (3MT) presentations by Central Clinical School students

The Central Clinical School 3MT (Three Minute Thesis) heat was held Tuesday 4 Aug. There were six strong contenders on a range of subjects. The winner was Ms Shanzana Khan, and runner up and winner of the 'People's Choice' vote was Ms Ashlee Conway. Shanzana spoke on the influence of the Y chromosome lineage on blood pressure regulation. Ashlee had great fun with porphyria, otherwise and attractively known as 'Dracula's Disease'. We have created a Youtube playlist of their presentations on CCS youtube channel. Shanzana will be competing at the Faculty final on Friday 21 August at 1 pm, Clayton. The event will be live streamed to the Alfred Centre Level 5 lecture theatre - all welcome.

See more:

• 2015 CCS 3MT Youtube playlist
• More about the event
• More CCS photo galleries

Video of the week: Fresh hope for leukaemia cure

See the video at: https://youtu.be/IXjTZNbhJpg 

Monash researchers have uncovered the mechanism used by a common type of blood cancer to hide itself from the immune system.

Video of the week: Prof Fabienne Mackay on lupus control through B cell tweaking

"Lupus Fabienne Mackay" - These search terms will pull up our new video where Professor Fabienne Mackay explains her group's recent discovery on how to stop lupus without stopping the immune system by focussing on a specific receptor (called TACI) found on B cells - the 'soldiers' of the immune system.

Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1EmIuuhu9U

Crowdfunding boost for burns victims: Your vote counts!

Dr Shiva Akbarzadeh's Thinkable.org entry - Please vote!

You can help medical research at Monash win a cash prize by voting for it in the Thinkable 'Inspire Australia' competition.

New skin substitutes tailor-made for severe burns victims could become a reality through the work of a group of scientists led by Dr Shiva Akbarzadeh, and a boost from crowdfunding site, Thinkable.

Dr Akbarzadeh, a skin biologist at The Alfred hospital and Monash University, researches growing artificial skin in the laboratory using patients’ own cells that can be applied instead of skin grafts.

“The gold standard for treating deep burns is skin grafts,” Dr Akbarzadeh said. “That is difficult when a patient has massive burns and not enough donor sites, as happens in extensive burns.”

Dr Akbarzadeh’s Skin Tissue Culture Laboratory has developed techniques to create composite skin in the laboratory that is close to native skin.

“Our goal is to enable surgeons to replace both dermal and epidermal layers of damaged skin with tissue engineered skin in a single procedure. This will speed up wound healing and reduce the risk of infection.

“We are collaborating with material engineers at Monash to develop novel dermal matrices which are made from natural dermal components and would enhance epidermisation both in laboratory incubators and on patients.”

The work of Dr Akbarzadeh and her team could come to full fruition with the help of the Australian Academy of Science’s Australian Early to Mid-Career Researcher Forum which has launched the Inspire Australia Video Research Competition on research crowdfunding and engagement platform, Thinkable.

With close to $15,000 in the community prize pool so far, Dr Azbarkadeh’s lab, as well as other research teams in the Thinkable community, stand to gain a share, according to their overall votes received, all going towards general funding to advance their work.

To support the work of Dr Azbarkadeh and her team, visit their Thinkable ‘Tissue engineering for burns treatment’ video page to vote and contribute. Voting ends 30 July 2015.
To find out more about how Thinkable works, visit the Thinkable.org website.

Vote for Mindfulness video to help win a "Thinkable award" for Neil Bailey's research

Vote for Neil's "Thinkable Award" video

Dr Neil Bailey, Monash Alfred Psychiatry research centre, describes how mindfulness changes our brain to prevent mental illness.

Vote on Neil's video for the 2015 Thinkable Award: http://thinkable.org/submission/2037 to help fund the research. If Neil's video gets the most number of votes he'll win $5000!

Mindfulness: a mental health technique which should be taught early and often

Dr Neil Bailey's 'Thinkable Open
Innovation Award' video entry.

Dr Neil Bailey, based at the Monash Alfred Psychiatry research centre, researches how techniques of mindfulness (or meditation) change our brain to prevent or ameliorate mental illness. Recent research has shown that the brain's grey matter is diminished in psychiatric disorders, and conserved or even augmented with mindfulness practice. Neil describes in this video the particular aspect his research is investigating.

• Vote for Neil's video for the Thinkable Award. The winner is awarded $5000: http://thinkable.org/submission/2037
• Monash is offering mindfulness practice courses to staff: Link

Big ideas: Costing natural capital - the $200 hamburger

Dr Raj Patel, economist and author of
The Value of Nothing

What does a hamburger really cost? If we factor in what's known as 'natural capital', we discover it's around $200. That is, the hidden costs of destroying and polluting the environment in the production processes. See more on "The Real Cost of a Hamburger" - Raj Patel: youtu.be/31HpaAYYn5k. See also Radio National, Big Ideas, "Can accountants save the planet?" Link

Vaccines and the immune system

Jacques Banchereau talk on tailoring vaccine development

The Monash University Department of Immunology and Burnet Institute hosted a symposium featuring two international guest speakers, Professors Virgina Pascual and Jacques Banchereau on 24 November 2014. Two videos have been uploaded:

• Professor Fabienne Mackay, (Head of Department of Immunology at Monash) speaks about her lab's recent research on the role of dentritic cells in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia (CLL). Video link
• Professor Jacques Banchereau speaks about his immunological research at The Jackson Laboratory (JAX), USA, where from 2013 he has been Professor and Director of Immunology Sciences. His particular interest is in tailoring vaccines using dendritic cells. Video link

3MT videos from the 2014 CCS student heat: Ben Fancke, Sara Mokhtar and Kye Hanafiah

Sara Mokhtar. See video

Ben Fancke. See video

Kye Hanafiah. See video

Central Clinical School #PhD students regularly compete in the "Three Minute Thesis" competition (3MT), offered in every Australian university.
See more:

• the CCS 3MT event: www.med.monash.edu.au/cecs/education/hdr-3mt.html
• 2014 3MT video playlist
• Photo gallery of the 2014 event

Sharon Lewin on the Lancet seminar paper overviewing HIV infection

Prof Sharon Lewin video

Prof Gary Maartens, Prof Connie Celum and Prof Sharon Lewin, Department of Infectious Diseases, have published a seminar article in The Lancet, "HIV infection: epidemiology, pathogenesis, treatment, and prevention". Sharon gives an overview of the article, including her own area of pathogenesis, covering recent developments in immune activation and vaccine development. "No-one clears HIV spontaneously", she says, which is a very unusual feature for a virus. Treatments are now investigating latency, or how to 'wake up' dormant virus hidden within cells. #HIV also causes low level inflammation from immune activation, which contributes to chronic disease development. See The Lancet abstract. Also see 24/06/2014 Monash story.

Simulating the blood-brain barrier in vitro to stop stroke drug side effects

Animation for video

Dr Be'eri Niego and Professor Medcalf published an article in 2013 on a method for simulating the blood brain barrier (BBB), in particular to see how to prevent stroke drug side effects. They describe an improved technique for preparation of a contact BBB model, which permits coculturing of human astrocytes and brain endothelial cells on the opposite sides of a porous membrane. It has an associated video prepared by the Journal of Visualised Experiments (JoVE), interviewing the authors and showing the techniques - hands-on scientific research. Note: only subscribers can view the video. Article link:  http://ow.ly/uzEX0