Congratulations to Dr Astrid Voskamp on the completion of her PhD!

L to R: Promoter: Professor Maria Yazdanbakhsh, Leiden University

Co-promoter: Dr Sara Prickett, Monash University
Candidate: Dr Astrid Voskamp
Promoter: Professor Robyn O'Hehir, Alfred Health/Monash University
Examiner: Professor Christian Taube, Leiden University

Congratulations to Dr Astrid Voskamp, past member of Prof Robyn O'Hehir's & Prof Jenny Rolland's Allergy lab, who has recently successfully completed her PhD in the Netherlands. She did all of her lab work in the Allergy lab. Astrid achieved 12 publications in her seven years with the Allergy group.

Astrid was awarded her PhD through Leiden University, The Netherlands, June 2016 (Defense date: 16th June), for her thesis, titled "Clinical Allergy: Basophils, T cells and Therapeutic Design". The research was conducted at Monash University (Department of Immunology & Pathology; Allergy lab) and Alfred Health (Department of AIRMed).

Media mentions: Diabetes, obesity, diet and immune system health

25/07/2016 Professor Paul Zimmet, Department of Medicine:

“The way the global data on diabetes has been collected has been inconsistent and not of the standard needed for public health planning to address what is now one of the largest chronic disease epidemics in human history. Over 12 per cent of global health expenditure is directed to diabetes treatment."
Link: http://www.australiaplus.com/international/study-and-innovation/impact-of-global-diabetes-vastly-underestimated/7647894

20/07/2016 Professor Wendy Brown, Department of Surgery:
“The best thing you can do in life is just to never put that weight on because once you have that fat there the body is always going to want to replenish the stores.”
Link: http://health.thewest.com.au/news/3010/wrestling-with-weight-problems
“They don’t have to have perfect weight loss,” Wendy Brown, director of Monash University’s Centre for Obesity Research and Education, said. “They don’t have to get to an ideal body weight to have substantial benefits. We know that people can get some really good health benefits just by losing 10 per cent of their body weight, that might be only 10kg for some people.”
Link:  http://health.thewest.com.au/news/3015/fighting-weight
 

26/07/2016 and 02/08/2016 Department of Gastroenterology on prebiotic fibre diet research:
Encore screening of two part ABC Catalyst show first screened August 2014.
New research has linked the Western diet to asthma, autism, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, emphysema, cancer, and the list goes on. The reason a healthy diet could be even more important than previously thought is because food affects the bacteria deep inside our guts. Unbeknownst to most of us, we each carry about 1.5 kg of bacteria – that’s trillions of tiny microbes that contribute 100 times as many genes as our genomes do. In the last ten years, a technological revolution means scientists are now beginning to discover just how crucial these microscopic creatures are to our overall health...and what they’re learning is shaking the very foundations of medicine and nutrition. See full transcript
Link: http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/4506661.htm

Perspective: Taking the long view: universities and their unique research role

Associate Professor Michael Biercuk writes in his Conversation article on the goal and function of universities to undertake research for long term public good:

" 

Businesses today are, by and large, focused on the short-term, and therefore are largely unable to consider investing in projects that might take a decade or more to realise a commercial outcome. They exist to generate profits for their leaders and shareholders, which requires constant revenue and profit growth today.

Universities, by contrast, exist only to engage in the generation and dissemination of knowledge. Relating to research, successful university programs therefore bring three main differentiating value propositions:

• the ability to work on problems for the public good, with little or no commercial gain, but potentially large social value
• consideration of problems that might be of great commercial value in the long-term, but require dedicated research on timescales that are unacceptable to commercial entities
• investment in critical capital-intensive infrastructure needed especially for technical fields. "

theconversation.com/taking-the-long-view-universities-and-their-unique-research-role-36647

Photo of the week: BMedSc(Hons) info night 29 June 2016

Ms Maria Selvadurai presenting at Central Clinical School's inaugural Bachelor of Medical Science (Honours) information evening on 29 June 2016. Maria is taking the recently approved Monash University research pathway for medical students, whereby she has completed three years of her medical degree, done the BMedSc Honours year and continued in a PhD with accelerated milestones, with the option of completing in two years instead of the usual three plus. Thereafter, she can return to complete her undergraduate medical degree, and be a double doctor. Maria is undertaking her research in the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases under the supervision of Dr Justin Hamilton. See more:

• BMedSc(Hons) & Accelerated PhD
• Photo gallery for 29 June 2016 info night 

Forthcoming CCS events: Seminars, public events, general notices

Prof Paul Myles will be talking about the
ATACAS study on 28 July 2016

Central Clinical School has regular seminar series and postgraduate presentations. All event notices are maintained on the CCS Events calendar.
CCS staff & students can see details of both public and local events (including professional development courses, trade fairs and Graduate Research Student calendars) and deadlines, at the Intranet's Announcements page.

Various departments have their own calendars. See CCS seminar index: www.med.monash.edu.au/cecs/events/seminars.html

What's on for 25-29 July 2016: 

Mon ► 25-Jul 10:00 Mid-year Honours and Graduate Research student orientation Wed ► 27-Jul 11:30 Immunology Seminar Series-Nick Huntington Thu ► 28-Jul 12:00 Grand Rounds: Antifibrinolytic therapy in cardiac surgery: blood-sparing or prothrombotic? Results of the ATACAS trial ► 28-Jul 12:00 Cutting Edge Journal Club-Amal Dameer Forthcoming events 11 Aug 2016 CCS 3MT thesis heat 16 Aug 2016 Honours CCS information night 12 Oct 2016 CCS Public Lecture: Innovative systems for improving trauma injury treatment

2016 3MT CCS heat happening 11 Aug 2016 - All welcome!

Central Clinical School HDR students regularly compete in the "Three Minute Thesis" competition (3MT), offered in every Australian university. The CCS 3 Minute Thesis Competition is an opportunity for HDR students to convey the relevance and importance of their research in just 3 minutes. It is an excellent opportunity to achieve a higher profile for research students and their work. The Monash 3MT finalist will then be invited to represent Monash University at the Asia-Pacific 3MT competition, which will be held in Queensland University of Queensland.

2016 CCS 3MT competition details

• Date: Thursday 11 August
• Time: 12-1.30pm
• Venue: Lecture Theatre, Level 5, Alfred Centre
• CLICK HERE to RSVP for catering purposes
• The winner of the 2015 CCS 3MT competition was Ms Shanzana Khan. See her video.

Recent CCS publications: Week ending 22 July 2016

We have a bumper issue this week listing 43 new publications across all departments of the Central Clinical School, including:

• Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine (3)
• Australian Centre for Blood Diseases (8)
• Gastroenterology (6)
• Immunology & Pathology/AIRmed (7)
• Infectious Diseases (6)
• Melbourne Sexual Health Centre (7)
• Monash Alfred Psychiatry research centre (4)
• Surgery/NTRI (5)