Allergy, Immunology & Respiratory medicine Department May 2014 news

Professor Robyn O'Hehir
Head, AIRmed Dept

The Department of Allergy, Immunology and Respiratory medicine (AIRmed) in Central Clinical School and Alfred Health regularly produce a news bulletin highlighting their recent achievements including grants, publications, prizes, conference presentations and other news. They have won some large grants recently, from national and international granting bodies. See the May 2014 issue and previous editions at  http://www.med.monash.edu.au/cecs/airmed/news/newsarchive.html.

40,000 km closer to understanding cancer: AICR funded research

Chris Gruar in Asia

A young Australian man, who has ridden 40,000 km around the world on a bike to raise funds for international cancer research, cycled into Melbourne on Tuesday 6 May to meet scientists at some of Melbourne’s top research institutions. See video featuring Monash researchers Professors Stephen Jane, Jamie Rossjohn, Tony Tiganos and Fabienne Mackay talking about research funded by the Association for International Cancer Research (AICR).

Donate to Lupus research

Professor Fabienne Mackay

The lupus research team is led by Professor Fabienne Mackay and is dedicated to the development of new therapies to treat lupus. Professor Mackay's work has been instrumental in the development of a new treatment called belimumab. This is the first new treatment for lupus in over 50 years. While this is an advance in medicine it is only effective in a subset of patients. There is still a large number of patients awaiting an effective treatment. The team includes Dr Fabien Vincent, a rheumatologist whose research is aimed at understanding why lupus develops differently in different groups of people.
See more.
Direct link to Lupus donation page.
Twitter: @FabienneMackay @FabOzy

2014 Central Clinical School Public lecture "Challenges of living well with HIV: Where to from here?"

Professor Jenny Hoy

Central Clinical School is holding its annual public lecture for 2014 on 10 July, on a viral infection that has changed our world, the Human immunodeficiency virus infection (HIV). Professor Jennifer Hoy has 30 years' experience in HIV clinical research and patient care, particularly on the effect of HIV and its treatment with antiretroviral therapy on different body systems which contribute to the increased likelihood of chronic illness such as cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis. She will describe the transformation in the lives of people with HIV, how her current research is changing the way doctors help people with HIV, and outline the challenges ahead. See web page with detail & RSVP link, summary details below:

New Translational Research short courses being offered by CCS

Lupus: its secrets being discovered
by research

Central Clinical School will be offering a suite of courses specialising in translational research and its management. The first four are now open for participants. See their respective links for eligibility criteria and detail of content. See also index.

• Introduction to Clinical Trials
• Introduction to Bioinformatics
• Introduction to Fermentation and Bioprocessing
• Introduction to Biobanking

Dr Catherine Carmichael joins ACBD

Dr Catherine Carmichael

Welcome to Dr Catherine Carmichael from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI), whose expertise is on the regulation of both normal and abnormal blood cell development especially in relation to leukaemia. Dr Carmichael received her PhD from the University of Melbourne in 2008, studying genetic predispositions to haematological malignancies. She was a postdoc for 6 years at WEHI studying the role of the ETS-related gene, ERG, during leukaemia development. She has now joined the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases Mammalian Functional Genetics lab of A/Prof Jody Haigh as a Research Fellow, and is studying the role of Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) modulators during both normal blood cell production ("haematopoiesis") and leukaemia development. See more at www.acbd.monash.org/research/mammal-genetics.html

Participants sought: Metformin for weight loss and depression

People with depression who are also overweight are more likely to have chronic symptoms. It may be that inflammation and high insulin levels associated with being overweight make depression worse. Metformin in a medication usually used for diabetes that lowers inflammation and insulin levels and has been shown to help with weight loss. The Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research centre is investigating the effectiveness of metformin in combination with standard antidepressants at causing weight loss and improving depressive symptoms.