Recent CCS publications: 1-6 December 2018

Head of Neuroscience,
Professor Terry O'Brien had three
papers published this week.

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.

• Diabetes
• Gastroenterology 
• Immunology and Pathology
• Infectious Diseases
• Monash Alfred Psychiatry research centre
• Neuroscience
• Surgery

Recent developments and highlights in biomarkers in allergic diseases and asthma

Drug hypersensitivity phenotypes excerpted from Fig. 5

Professor Robyn O'Hehir, Head of the Department of Respiratory Allergy & Clinical Immunology (Research) at Central Clinical School and Associate Professor Mark Hew, Head of Allergy, Asthma and Clinical Immunology at The Alfred are authors on a review article which explores the potential of precision medicine in allergy and asthma.

The authors, Eguiluz-Gracia et al., argue that there is a need to predict the response to specific therapies and the outcome of drug and food provocations. In their comprehensive review they have highlighted recent discoveries and advances in the identification and clinical applicability of valid biomarkers for asthma and allergic diseases.

View or download article: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/all.13628

How higher resolution images can pinpoint problems

Professor Meng Law

Healthcare providers around the world can unlock the power of precision medicine for better care and lower cost. Harvard Business Review Analytics Services (HBR) published a new whitepaper for executives and leaders in healthcare on how to expand precision medicine and scale it up to an organizational level. The paper profiles Professor Meng Law, who has recently joined the Department of Neuroscience.

Professor Law has been able to diagnose and treat people effectively using scans from a 7T MRI (The "T" stands for Tesla, a unit of measure for magnetic fields. Standard MRIs are either 1.5 or 3T.)

Reference: Expanding Precision Medicine: The path to higher-value care

Research heartland to combat diabetes and obesity

Aussies love their sugary drinks, and the Obesity
 Epidemic in Australia report recommends a sugar
 tax be applied to soft drinks. Image: Shutterstock

This week a Commonwealth government Select Committee into the Obesity Epidemic in Australia has published its final report (see 5 Dec SMH news article on same).

A recent international study suggested that obesity has overtaken malnourishment as a leading global health problem, and that Australia is one of the most overweight nations on earth. In fact, more than 63% of Australians are now overweight or obese.

Congratulations to Dr Sarah Rotstein on inaugural Teacher Innovation & Impact Award!

Dr Sarah Rotstein (left) receiving her award
 from Professor Robyn Slattery

The inaugural Teacher Innovation and Impact (TII) award was won by Dr Sarah Rotstein of the Monash Alfred Psychiatry research centre.

The TII award recognizes the innovations educators are making in their teaching practice and delivery that have a positive impact on the student learning experience.

Dr Rotstein developed an innovative approach to teaching the correct terminology to be used in the Mental State Examinations (MSE). Rather than ask psychology students to simply memorize the terminology Dr Rotstein created a fun and engaging approach known as ‘Phenomenology Charades’.

Professor Robyn Slattery, Director of non-medical education at Central Clinical School, created the award to inspire all CCS educators, both medical and non-medical, to innovate, measure the impact of their innovation and of course, apply for the award in 2019!

Congratulations to multiple CCS winners on Nutrition Society awards!

Matt Snelson (left) and Daniel So (right) with their NSA awards

CCS departments of Gastroenterology and Diabetes researchers and PhD students attended the Nutrition Society of Australia’s Annual Scientific Meeting held in Canberra held 28-30 November 2018 and won various awards.

Congratuations to Steven Petratos on MS Research Australia grant win!

Congratulations to Dr Steven Petratos (pictured), who has been awarded a $25,000 Incubator Grant from MS Research Australia for his research project, titled "Development of small molecules for neuroprotection and repair during progressive multiple sclerosis".

See more about Dr Petratos' research at:
www.monash.edu/medicine/ccs/neuroscience/research/petratos-group