A/Prof Eric Chow wins Australian Society for Medical Research best paper award

Congratulations to Associate Professor Eric Chow who has received the 2022 Australian Society for Medical Research Best Publication Prize. 

He won the award for his paper published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases in 2021 showing a large reduction in HPV genotypes among young gay/bisexual men after the introduction of the school-based male HPV vaccination program. 

See the Monash story on that publication, "HPV vaccine shows success in gay, bisexual men".

Monash projects backed by Australia’s national biotech incubator

L-R: A/Prof Ross Dickins and Prof Merlin Thomas have each been
awarded $500,000 by CUREator to develop biotech projects.

Biotech projects being led by Monash University have received $2.5M in funding to advance novel therapeutics and preclinical medical research that address schizophrenia, cancer, inflammatory diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and muscular dystrophy.

The five successful grant recipients include two from Central Clinical School, Professor Merlin Thomas and Associate Professor Ross Dickins. The funding from Australia’s national biotechnology incubator CUREator, has resulted in the formation of four new Monash-led biotech companies, with the fifth grant going to an existing Monash spin-out, RAGE Biotech.

See Monash story at www.monash.edu/news/articles/monash-projects-backed-by-australias-national-biotech-incubator

RAGE Biotech awarded $500,000 research grant from mRNA Victoria

RAGE Biotech, a pharmaceutical start-up company partnering with Monash University, specialises in novel medicines for chronic inflammatory disease. The company has been awarded a $500,000 grant to accelerate its development of an inhaled RNA therapeutic for chronic lung inflammation. 

RAGE Biotech Founder, Chief Scientific Officer and Monash University Professor MerlinThomas said, “We are delighted with this support from mRNA Victoria, which recognises the potential of RNA technology to change the lives of people struggling with inflammatory lung disease. At RAGE Biotech, we have applied this disuptive technology to an important therapeutic target that has so far been impossible to hit.” 

Congratulations to Fiona Qiu on AINSE postgraduate award

Fiona Qiu is a PhD student working on
antiepileptic drugs in pregnancy

Congratulations to Fiona Qiu who has won an Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering (AINSE) Postgraduate Research Award (PGRA) for her project, Antiepileptic Drugs in Pregnancy and in Neonates: Brain Entry and Effects on its Development.

Fiona is a PhD student, supervised by Associate Professor Nigel Jones. She describes the project, saying, "Numerous chronic diseases, such as epilepsy, necessitate long-term treatment of patients even during pregnancy and lactation, since discontinuation of medication has the potential to cause serious harm to the mother, and subsequently her offspring." 

'Lifestyle and medication, not Surgery, key to preventing stroke

Adj A/Prof Anne Abbott recently published a review of treatment
for arterial narrowing, and found that lifestyle changes are more
effective than surgery. See her Channel 9 news interview.

Lifestyle changes and medication are more effective in combating the risk of stroke than invasive procedures, a Monash University study shows.

Adjunct Associate Professor Anne Abbott has analysed more than four decades of data relating to common treatments for advanced carotid artery stenosis, one of the leading causes of stroke, and found surgery and stents have very limited impact, if any, in preventing stroke.

EMCR news 12 July from Miles Andrews

Dr Miles Andrews, CCS EMCR rep

Update from Dr Miles Andrews, CCS EMCR Representative
12 July 2022

It’s been a little while since our last newsletter, so here is your list of programs, events and grants that might be of interest to you, together with links to Monash ECR portals and gateways.

Congratulations to GIN Hub Round 2 pitch winners Idrish Ali and Evelyn Tsantikos

Drs Idrish Ali and Evelyn Tsantikos won The Pitch

The Gastroenterology-Immunology-Neuroscience (GIN) Hub news update for 13 July, compiled by Alana Auden

Congratulations Drs Idrish Ali and Evelyn Tsantikos for being awarded funding in Round 2 of The Pitch for their project "Role of granulocyte-colony-stimulating factor signalling in epilepsy". 

This collaborative project between Idrish (O’Brien group - Neuroscience) and Evelyn (Hibbs group - Immunology) beat some stiff competition in the GIN Hub seed funding scheme. We look forward to seeing what exciting EMCR collaborative projects are submitted in Round 3, which is already open and closes on Wednesday 10 August. Further details on how to apply for The Pitch can be found here.