Grant for PrEP project to prevent HIV developing in a high risk group

A/Prof Edwina Wright, Department of Infectious Diseases, is Principal Investigator for a Victorian trial to test the effectiveness of medications in preventing the spread of HIV, e.g. from an HIV infected partner to a HIV negative partner. The trial has been awarded $320,000 by the Victorian Department of Health and Gilead will be supplying antiretroviral therapy for 100 people for 1 year. The study duration is 3 years.

26 August 2013 Early Career Research @ AMREP conference

• ECR events provide an AMREP-wide forum for ECRs to present and discuss their work in both oral and poster presentations. These showcase events are intended to foster collaborations, networking and a greater awareness of the expertise and research being conducted on the site.

Congratulations to Kathryn Hackman, 3MT Faculty finals

The 17 July 3MT CCS event was very successful, with nine excellent presentations on a tremendous variety of research ranging from working with patients to laboratory based research elaborating fundamental mechanisms. Dr Kathryn Hackman (Medicine/AIRmed & affiliated with the Alfred Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes) was the winner & Ms Jodie Abramovich (Immunology/AIRmed) and Dr Kirk Kee (Medicine/AIRmed) were tied runners-up.

Central Clinical School goes visual: Pinterest social media photoboard

Central Clinical School, Monash University comprises about 800 people who study, teach and do medical research, starting at 18 and going up... Curiousity never stops! Our school is based at the Alfred Hospital precinct in Melbourne, Victoria and we have a lot to do with the hospital as much of the research has a big clinical component.

Recent Central Clinical School publications

Cashin K, Gray LR, Jakobsen MR, Sterjovski J, Churchill MJ, Gorry PR (2013). CoRSeqV3-C: A novel HIV-1 subtype C specific V3 sequence based coreceptor specificity prediction algorithm. Retrovirology, 2013.

Lupus therapy: one size does not fit all

Lupus is not a simple disease. This disease can be categorised into different clinical subtypes according to the major organ involved, such as brain or kidney. Monash Immunology researchers have shown that two clinical subtypes of lupus defined by major organ involvement, one affecting the central nervous system (CNS) and the other affecting the kidneys, have associated, distinctive patterns of immune response.

Position vacant: Clinical Research Fellow - HealthMap, InfectiousDiseases

Work type: 0.5 EFT; Fixed term: Initial 12 months. Closing date 19 July 2013.

HealthMap is a 5-year NHMRC-funded Partnership Project, which is developing a novel approach to the care of people living with HIV. Within a framework of chronic disease self management, the project will evaluate in a large cluster randomised trial the effect on cardiovascular risk of an online environment with interactive health care plans and health coaching.