Immunology Headlines

26 April International Day of Immunology public lecture

International Day of Immunology is being celebrated in Melbourne with a public lecture on 26 April. Prof Sharon Lewin, Head of Infectious Diseases, Central Clinical School; Dr Glen Westall (researcher/lung transplant clinician, Alfred and CCS, AIRMed); Prof Jim McCluskey, DVC (Research), University of Melbourne speaking at the DOI public lecture, "Immunology research: your life depends on it!" Thursday 26 April 2012, 5.30-7.15 pm followed by refreshments, at the Melbourne Brain Centre. All welcome, RSVP by 23/4/12. Enquiries & RSVP: DOI Public Lecture. Download flier. Story posted 22/03/2012

2012 Day of Immunology Primary school competition opens

The 2012 Day of Immunology primary school competition has opened. It is coordinated by Monash and Burnet researchers. This year's theme is "Beating the Bugs". Enquiries: Dr Charles Hardy, Department of Immunology, email charles.hardy@monash.edu ph +61 3 99030742. See web page, or download flier (780 kb pdf). Story posted 22/03/2012

21 March seminar: Professor Xavier Mariette

Professor Xavier Mariette, Head of Rheumatology Bicêtre Hospital, Paris-Sud University, Paris, France, will be speaking on: "Why is there an increased risk of lymphoma in autoimmune diseases?", Lecture Theatre 1, Level 5, Alfred Centre, 4-5 pm, Wednesday 21 March 2012. Light refreshments provided. All welcome, no RSVP required. Enquiries: Dr Fabien Vincent email fabien.vincent@monash.edu ph +61 3 99030533. Download flier. Story posted 08/03/2012

Jodie Abramovitch wins Faculty Postgraduate Excellence award

Ms Jodie Abramovitch, an Honours student in the Department of Immunology during 2011, has been awarded a Faculty Postgraduate Excellence Award, effective from 2012. These awards are offered by the Faculty to the top 10 scholarship awardees who have demonstrated outstanding academic merit and research potential in their Honours year. This award is $5,000 per annum, paid as a 'top-up' to an Australian Postgraduate Award. Jodie's thesis title was 'Investigation of clinically significant cross-reactivity between allergens of Australasian crab and prawn species', supervised by Professors Jennifer Rolland and Robyn O'Hehir (Monash Departments of Immunology and AIRMed) and Dr Andreas Lopata (James Cook University). Story posted 15/12/2011

Monash Immunology postgrads score ASI hat-trick

Four PhD students in the Department of Immunology won awards in three different categories at the 11-15 Dec 2011 Australasian Society for Immunology International Conference, held in Adelaide. William Figgett, Zeyad Nasa and Maverick Lau won poster encouragement awards. Zeyad also won the Australian Biosearch travel award. Jie Chung won an ASI travel bursary award.

Inflammasomes in health, disease and homeostasis

Dr Richard Flavell will present on Dec 15, 2011 on "Inflammasomes in health, disease and homeostasis" at 1-2 pm, venue: Level 3, Seminar Room, Building 75, Clayton campus. Dr Flavell is Sterling Professor of Immunobiology at Yale University School of Medicine, and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. See flier for seminar detail. See further information on Dr Flavell's research at Richard Flavell biography.

How the first lupus medication in fifty years went from bench to bedside

Prof Fabienne Mackay presented at the Nov 23-24 Australian Academy of Science's Australia-France Biomedical Research Symposium on the science, the painstaking persistence and the creativity of many researchers in the convoluted journey of a newly released therapeutic for lupus. Belimumab, or 'Benlysta', was approved by the US's FDA in March of this year, and in July by the European equivalent. It is under consideration by Australia's TGA at present. See an abstract of Prof Mackay's presentation on p. 27 of the AAS Symposium program. For further detail on her research see Mackay's Lab page at B Lymphocytes, BAFF and Autoimmunity Laboratory. Image©Global Pharma Sector News

ARC grant successes for Dept of Immunology

Prof Charles Mackay (pictured left) and Prof Robyn O'Hehir were awarded ARC funding, starting from 2012. Professor Mackay was awarded $345,000 for his project "Mechanisms connecting diet, metabolism, gut microbiota and immunity" which is administered through SOBS. For further detail on his research see Mackay's Lab at Immunology, Inflammation and Therapeutic Antibodies Laboratory.

Prof O'Hehir (AIRMED/Immunology) is CIB on the project "Designing new generation adjuvants for allergy and parasite vaccines", receiving $315,000. The project is administered through Physiology. See detail of Prof O'Hehir's research at Allergy Laboratory.

NHMRC grant successes for Dept of Immunology

A/Prof Mark Wright  (pictured, left), Prof Robyn O'Hehir and Prof Fabienne Mackay were awarded NH&MRC funding starting from 2012. A/Prof Wright is CIA on the project, "CD37, CD82 and immune cell migration", receiving $358,510.  Prof O'Hehir (AIRMED/Immunology) is CIA on the project "Impaired respiratory tolerance In obesity - the link with asthma?", receiving $644,685. Other CIs on Prof O'Hehir's project are Prof Jenny Rolland & Dr Charles Hardy, in collaboration with Clinton Bruce at the Baker IDI.   Prof Mackay was awarded a Senior Research Fellowship level B worth $641,855. For further detail on their research see Wright's Lab at Leucocyte Membrane Protein Laboratory, O'Hehir's lab at Allergy Laboratory and Mackay's Lab at B Lymphocytes, BAFF and Autoimmunity Laboratory.

Day of Immunology Primary School competition winners

Dr Charles Hardy, Dr Meredith O'Keeffe (Burnet Institute) and Dr Julianne Bayliss (Dept Medicine) coordinated the inaugural Day of Immunology primary school competition, themed "The Body at War". The strong response for a first time competition being offered to an increasingly crowded primary school curriculum was testimony to both the imagination of the coordinators to offer an appealing competition, and primary school teachers' enthusiasm for the subject. Pictured, left, is Wembley 4B class in their role play costumes. Link to DOI competition outcomes and see the winning entry by Wembley Primary School at Wembley Fairy Tale Kingdom

Immunology researchers on Radio National's The Health Report

Professor Charles Mackay and Associate Professor Robyn Slattery (pictured, left) were featured on Radio National's Health Report. Interviews can be downloaded for each researcher: "Celebrating a scientific breakthrough", broadcast 19 September 2011 and We are what we eat - how our diet affects the microbes in our bowels broadcast 26 September 2011.

Professor Jacques Miller honoured by CCS

Professor Jacques Miller discovered the role of the thymus 50 years ago. One of his former PhD students, Associate Professor Robyn Slattery in the Department of Immunology, is continuing to collaborate with him on a research project investigating the removal of the MHC class I traffic signal from certain cell types in order to circumvent the trigger for killer T cells becoming activated and licensed to destroy the body’s own insulin-producing beta cells. Robyn has coordinated an event held by the School to honour Professor Miller’s achievements and raise funds for Immunology research and also raise the profile of Immunology research. The artist, Jill Steenhuis, who donated her portrait of Professor Miller for the event, visited from France for the exhibition. For details see www.med.monash.edu/cecs/jaq-miller/.

Research contributes to first lupus therapy in fifty years

The research of Professor Fabienne Mackay, Head of Department of Immunology, has played a crucial role in the development of the first major lupus treatment breaktbrough for over 50 years. Professor Mackay  was the first to show that the overproduction of something known as BAFF - B cell Activating Factor drives the most common form of lupus, affecting 70% of sufferers. See details at www.monash.edu.au/news/show/monash-research-leads-to-first-lupus-breaktbrough-in-50-year.

Research speeds path to peanut allergy vaccine

The research of Professor Robyn O'Hehir, Head of Department of Allergy, Immunology and Respiratory Medicine, and Professor Jennifer Rolland, Department of Immunology, has identified the key components for a safe and effective vaccine to treat peanut allergy. The Monash/Alfred Allergy Research Team identified the critical sequences or peptides of peanut protein that interact with white blood cells (T cells) and build immunological tolerance, but not bind allergy antibody (IgE) and cause anaphylaxis. See details at http://www.monash.edu.au/news/releases/show/1590.