Brendan Crabb: Falling success rates on medical research grants will eventually reach breaking point

Faced with limited job opportunities, disenchanted young researchers are giving up on careers in science, writes Tim Nielsen, quoting Professor Brendan Crabb, CEO Burnet Institute. The remedy is to invest systematically in Australia's research future: "... for every government dollar invested in medical research, over two dollars is returned in the forms of disease prevention, improved healthcare and technological innovation." Image: jeangill/iStockphoto
ABC Science article
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2014/01/16/3926579.htm
The Australian
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/falling-grant-success-rates-will-kill-careers/story-e6frgcjx-1226746104303

Top scientific highlights made by NIAID-funded researchers during 2013

A recent paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine for which A/Prof Edwina Wright, Department of Infectious Diseases, was a co-author was cited by Dr Tony Fauci, Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), as one of the top scientific highlights made by NIAID-funded researchers during 2013. The NIAID is part of the US National Institutes of Health.

A/Prof Edwina Wright's advocacy for Australian HIV+ patients helps create access to therapy

Congratulations to A/Prof Edwina Wright, Department of Infectious Diseases who successfully chaired a submission to Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) by ASHM, NAPWA and AFAO, following which, the PBAC lifted CD4+ cell restrictions on prescribing antiretroviral therapy for HIV+ people. This means that all HIV+ people irrespective of how high their CD4+ cells are, or whether or not they have symptoms, can access antiretroviral therapy.  http://ow.ly/t5TNw

Perdita Cheshire: her PhD research is puzzling out Parkinson's Disease

Perdita is a Research Assistant in the Burns Unit at the Alfred Hospital, and she has just completed her PhD in the Van Cleef Roet Centre for Nervous Diseases on Parkinson's Disease and how patients react with some of the treatments for the disease. Her supervisors were Associate Professor David Williams and Professor Elsdon Storey. To read more about Perdita go to: http://www.med.monash.edu.au/cecs/education/profiles/cheshire.html

Jay Jha: PhD research investigates diabetes and kidney disease

Jay is a PhD student at the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute and his research is based on the complications of diabetes, especially in relation to kidney disease. Jay's supervisor is Professor Karin Jandeleit-Dahm. To read more about Jay go to: www.med.monash.edu.au/cecs/education/profiles/jha.html

Nitasha Kumar: PhD student and researcher into HIV

Nitasha is a PhD student at the Burnet Institute and her research looks at the interaction between two immune cells in the HIV virus. Her supervisors are Professor Sharon Lewin and Associate Professor Paul Cameron. To see her full profile go to: www.med.monash.edu.au/cecs/education/profiles/kumar.html

Explainer: what is the immune system?

Department of immunology's Dr Fabien Vincent , Prof Fabienne Mackay (Head of the Department) and Dr Kim Murphy speak on the importance of the immune system and its two interwoven components: the innate and adaptive immune systems, and what happens when the immune system goes wrong.  Article link