A research team will be highlighted in the next edition of the Bulletin.

Of the 116 world-class researchers inducted as Fellows into the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (AAHMS) last night, an incredible 14 were from South Australia, and six were from SAHMRI.

Being awarded this enormously prestigious honour further consolidates the importance and strength of SAHMRI’s unique model, through its collaboration with South Australia’s three major universities.

The newly-inducted Fellows are across six out of SAHMRI’s seven research themes and are as follows:
•Professor Alex Brown – Indigenous Health 
•Professor Tim Hughes – Chronic Myeloid Leukemia 
•Professor Julio Licinio - Pathophysiology of Depression 
•Professor Maria Makrides - Maternal and Infant Nutrition 
•Professor Stephen Nicholls – Cardiovascular Disease 
•Professor Steve Wesselingh - Infectious Diseases and HIV/AIDS 

The Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences was established in June 2014, with a mission ‘to promote health and medical research and its translation to enable a healthier community in Australia and the world’.

The South Australian Advanced Health Research and Translational Centre has been recognised as one of the top four centres in Australia by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).

This is a significant achievement for South Australia given the extremely competitive environment.

The South Australian Advanced Health Research and Translation Centre (SA Centre) will focus on research, clinical services, education and training, helping to enhance South Australia’s reputation as an internationally recognised research destination. The vision of the SA Centre is to continuously enhance the rate of translation of research into health care in order to create a self-improving and high-quality health system, which is also sustainable.

We look forward to providing you with further information as the work of the Centre progresses.

If you would like to know more about the SA Centre, please contact the Research Office.

NHMRC has published the Revised List of Standard Items for use in clinical trials in Australia. Further information is available on their website.

In a South Australian first, SAHMRI will start providing the radioisotope Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) to hospitals within the state, which are used for cancer diagnosis, staging and monitoring.

With this, SA will be able to deliver daily the testing required to help patients and practitioners provide better outcomes for cancer patient management, minimising the distress and inconvenience to patients and their families by improving the utilisation of the available clinical imaging capacity

Currently, the radioisotopes are flown in from interstate, which at times creates the risk of cancellation of positron emission tomography (PET scans) because of various delays. Access to radioisotopes in the state will provide the opportunity to strengthen South Australia’s role in cancer and biomedical research, leading to improved health outcomes for cancer patients and would contribute significantly to increasing our cancer survival rate.

Now that SAHMRI accommodates South Australia’s first and only cyclotron, the Institute is able to produce this compound daily to the highest grade possible in Australia, resulting in more efficient testing of cancer patients and ensuring the ability to adequately and efficiently service local demand for clinical diagnostics.

SAHMRI has achieved the milestone of developing and commissioning a federally-licensed facility within eight months; an outstanding achievement, given previous Therapeutics Goods Administration (TGA) approvals for such complex facilities can take years as a result of the high level of compliance required.

Director of the Molecular Imaging and Therapy Research Unit within SAHMRI, Mr Prab Takhar, said SAHMRI is incredibly proud to have been able to deliver this health benefit to South Australia in such a short amount of time.

“Right now, we have the ability to provide this radioactive compound for each of the 100 patients scanned weekly in the state’s two PET scanners. Additionally, we now have the ability in the state to increase this number to allow all oncology referrals to be met almost immediately,” Mr Takhar said.

“The cancers currently being PET scanned with this molecular imaging probe include lung, brain, oesophageal, colorectal carcinoma and some lymphomas. The ability to develop new compounds with the cyclotron will enable us to provide probes for other conditions, such as heart disease and debilitating neurological diseases.

“We are humbled by the support provided by local philanthropists, the private sector, and of course, SA Health, for allowing us to achieve these - and future – results.”

South Australian Minister for Health, the Hon Jack Snelling MP, said it demonstrated the value of the initial investment into the SAHMRI. "We have said for some time that we want South Australia to be one of the world leaders in health-related research," Mr Snelling said.

"We knew it was an ambitious goal but one that we believed was possible, and this research and the work being done at SAHMRI is already providing real benefits for South Australian hospital patients."

We would like to congratulate the following on their recent receipt of grant funding:

• Professor Julio Licinio - $80,000 from the Mason Foundation for a grant titled Chronic fatigue syndrome - Leptin, interleukin 6 and clinical symptoms.
• Professor MaLi Wong - $60,000 from the Mason Foundation for a grant titled The role of anti-inflammatory transgenic models on the progression of Alzheimer's disease.
• Mind & Brain Honours student, Ethan Dutcher received the Royal Australian &New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) SA Branch Student Research Scholarship. The scholarship of $2,500 goes towards funding the student's proposed project and aims to encourage medical students to become involved in psychiatric research. He is currently investigating the relationship between IL-1R1 activation and adiposity, beta cell function, and insulin sensitivity.

Collins CT, Gibson RA, Anderson PJ, McPhee AJ, Sullivan TR, Gould JF, Ryan P, Doyle LW, Davis PG, McMichael JE, French NP, Colditz PB, Simmer K, Morris SA,  Makrides M.  Neurodevelopmental outcomes at 7-years’ corrected age in preterm infants who were fed high-dose docosahexaenoic acid to term equivalent: a follow-up of a randomised controlled trial. BMJ Open 2015;5 (3):e007314.  doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2014-007314  DINO GRANT RELATED 508003

Macular Disease Foundation Australia is calling for applications from Australian researchers to conduct research into macular degeneration, Australia’s leading cause of blindness and severe vision loss.

Macular Disease Foundation Australia Research Grant (up to $700,000 over 3 years)

• This grant/s is open to a range of research areas such as bio-medical, low vision, nutrition or related to practices and protocols in treatment.

Blackmores Macular Disease Foundation Australia Research Grant (up to $600,000 over 3 years)

• In partnership, Blackmores and Macular Disease Foundation Australia are pleased to introduce a new grant/s to encourage and enhance research into the nutrition and/or lifestyle aspects of macular degeneration.

Further information is available on the website.

The aim of the Program Grants scheme is to provide support for teams of high calibre researchers to pursue broad based, multi-disciplinary and collaborative research activities. Teams will be expected to contribute to new knowledge at a leading international level in important areas of health and medical research. The scheme is available for all research approaches relevant to better health - biomedical, clinical, public health or health services research and is typically for 5 years.

Applications close 20th May, 2015.

Further information is available on the NHMRC website.

AMP's Tomorrow Fund is offering $1 million in grants to help amazing Australians who are doing great things.

AMP is looking for Australians who are working hard to make a difference in their chosen field. Inspiring individuals of all ages, abilities and walks of life who are trying to create a better tomorrow but need help to make it happen can apply. Artists, inventors, social innovators, musicians and more can apply. In 2014 a number of grants were made to support health and medical research.

For your chance to share in $1 million in grants, apply before 14 May. Further information is available on their website. 

Presenter: Prof Neil Dear

Date: Friday May 1 2015

Time: 10.30am – 12.30 pm

Venue: SAHMRI Auditorium

There is growing concern that in a significant number of published studies in medical research using animals, the outcomes do not translate to humans. While the emphasis in some publications is the direct applicability of findings to human trials, the major concerns apply to studies involving animals in general and the validity of findings. This concern has been significant enough for various organizations to issue guidelines to assist in designing and performing meaningful animal-based studies.

This workshop is intended to make researchers aware of what is currently considered best practice when designing and carrying out experiments using animals to ensure (1) appropriate animal cohorts are chosen prior to commencing a study, (2) reproducibility of results, and (3) good reporting standards.

The workshop focusses on using the mouse though many of the principles can be applied to other research species. To register, please send an email to Bioresources. Registration is free and open to all researchers across SA.

ASMR SA Annual Scientific Meeting will be held on Wednesday 3rd June, 2015 at the National Wine Centre, as part of ASMR Medical Research Week® 28th May to 5th June 2015

The ASMR scientific meeting provides an excellent venue for researchers from all disciplines in South Australia to meet and have a great discussion about their research.  This meeting is also a great opportunity for students to practise their presentation skills and share their research.

64 oral presentations and over 80 posters available this year. Honours, PhD students & early Post-doctoral fellows are strongly encouraged to submit abstracts and attend the meeting.

Policy and Research: Working together to improve the health of Australians

27-28 October 2015, Sydney

Further information is available on the website.

Theme: Leisure as a Human Right

9 – 11 December 2015, Adelaide

To receive further information about the call for papers or delegate information, register your interest here.

From data to delivery: Connecting research, policy and practice for better health outcomes.

7 - 9 December, Melbourne

Further information is available on the website.

Further information will be provided in future editions of this bulletin.

SA Health Human Research Ethics Committee
Proposals due: 18th May

RAH Human Research Ethics Committee
Proposals due: 11th May

QEH Human Research Ethics Committee
Proposals due: 20th May

WCH Human Research Ethics Committee
Proposals due: 13th May

Southern Adelaide Clinical Human Research Ethics Committee
Proposals due: 8th May

University of Adelaide HREC
Proposals due: 9th June

University of South Australia HREC
Proposals due: 5th May

Flinders University Social and Behavioural Research Ethics Committee HREC
Proposals due: 4th May

Aboriginal Health Research Ethics Committee
Proposals due: 21st May

Future AEC meetings:

7th May - applications due 23rd April

25th June - applications due 11th June

Further information about the Committee meeting dates can be found on the website.

Further information will be provided in future editions of this bulletin. Information about this committee is available on our website.

SAHMRI’s GENEAS (GENetic Engineering and Archiving Services) are operational. We offer a full support service for this research using the mouse as a model system including genetic modification by CRISPR/Cas or targeted ES cells, sperm and embryo cryopreservation, iVF and genotyping. For further information please visit the website.

Further information will be provided in future editions of this bulletin.

Public consultation on this draft revised document is now open. The closing date for submissions is 5pm AEST 8 May 2015. Further information is available on the NHMRC website.