2018 Surgical Research Forum – Innovation for better patient care

All welcome to the 2018 Surgical Research Forum - Innovation for better patient care, being held on 26 July. See details below. The forum is followed by a public lecture being given by Mr James Lee (pictured), a passionate advocate of using research to improve surgical practice.

Recent CCS publications: 1-8 June 2018

Dr Phillip Kantharidis and his group discuss
protection against diabetic nephropathy
in mice. Link

Recent publications for Central Clinical School affiliated authors in the following departments. Note, browse down this entry for complete publications list. Linked headings for each section are to the departments' home pages.

Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine

Australian Centre for Blood Diseases (ACBD)

Diabetes

Gastroenterology

Immunology and Pathology

Infectious Diseases

Monash Alfred Psychiatry research centre (MAPrc)

Medicine

Neuroscience

Monash scientists in nanomedicine advance

Ms Shweta Jagdale and Associate Professor Christoph Hagemeyer
in the lab.

by Anne Crawford

The emerging field of nanomedicine holds great potential for biomedical discovery and for new forms of treatment for diseases such as heart conditions and cancer. Nanoparticles can fly under the radar of the immune system, which would otherwise identify them as foreign and destroy them, to reach their intended target. They can be used, for example, to efficiently transport a drug to the specific site of disease.

But because the field is so young the possible side-effects of sending these tiny structures into the human body are still unknown.

Congratulations Eric Chow and Kit Fairley on GSK Immunisation Grant!

Congratulations to Dr Eric Chow and Professor Kit Fairley, of the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, on winning the GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Immunisation Grant award!

The award was announced at the Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA) 16th Immunisation Conference in Adelaide on 6 June.

The grant will be used to improve hepatitis A knowledge and vaccination coverage among gay/bisexual men.

Honours and upwards at CCS: Jake Valentine shares his experience

Jake Valentine receiving his award for highest aggregate mark
in Monash University's BBiomedSc(Hons) degree in 2017

Congratulations to Jake Valentine, who was the recipient of the Bachelor of Biomedical Science Honours Prize a few weeks ago for the highest aggregate mark in the Bachelor of Biomedical Science (Honours) degree!

Jake completed his thesis in 2017 at Central Clinical School (CCS). It was titled: Population-based analysis of the disease burden and hospitalisation costs of invasive fungal disease among patients with haematological malignancies in Victoria, 2005 - 2016.

Participants sought: Complex Trauma Disorder (formerly known as Borderline Personality Disorder)

Participants wanted for a study on treating symptoms of complex
trauma disorder (aka borderline personality disorder)

Participants wanted for the Alison Project: A randomised double-blind placebo controlled investigation of adjunctive memantine in the treatment of symptoms of complex trauma disorder (also known as borderline personality disorder)

Early life trauma is causally implicated in borderline personality disorder (BPD) and there is strong support for the notion that BPD overlaps clinically with disorders of complex post-traumatic stress.

Video of the week: Wendy Brown talks about obesity and addiction

Professor Wendy Brown is one of a number of Monash researchers featured in a documentary produced by the Monash Lens team and published this week, on the science of addiction. She says that addiction centres in your brain sit very close to your appetite centres, so there is a real cross-over between addiction and this disease state [of obesity]. "Once you've gained weight, only about 3% of people can lose a substantial amount of weight and keep it off".
See complete video at: https://lens.monash.edu/@a-different-lens/2018/05/28/1350176/science-of-addiction