We would like to welcome the Gastrointestinal Cancer Biology Group into the SAHMRI Facility.

The Gastrointestinal Cancer Biology Group are Dan Worthley, Miao Yang and Laura Vrbanac.

This group uses basic scientific approaches, chiefly mouse and in vitro systems, to help understand cancer biology and to develop new treatments for cancer patients. They are currently developing a new mouse model of colorectal cancer that they will use to trial new cancer therapies and to identify the key connective tissues that support tumour growth.

The research of this team fits very well within the SAHMRI Cancer theme and they hope, in the coming months, that they will get to work with all of the SAHMRI community.

The University of Adelaide Centre for Nutrition and Gastrointestinal Diseases consists of 35 researchers contained with 7 groups (headed by Prof Gary Wittert, A/Prof Grigori Rychkov, A/Prof Stuart Brierley, A/Prof Leonie Heilbronn, A/Prof Amanda Page, Dr Richard Young and Dr Patrick Hughes).

Featured in the picture above are the staff from the Visceral Pain Group lead by A/Prof Stuart Brierley.

As the name implies the Centre focuses on diseases associated with the gastrointestinal tract, including obesity, diabetes, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Functional Dyspepsia as well as liver disease, over-active bladder, chronic pain and critical illness. 

Research within the Centre utilizes pre-clinical models, human patient samples as well as clinical trials to investigate the underling causes of these diseases as well as identifying novel therapeutic treatments. The Centre is supported by grant and fellowship funding from the NHMRC and ARC as well as numerous international industry collaborations.

Dr Patrick Hughes from the Centre for Nutrition and Gastrointestinal Diseases was recently accepted as a member of GENIEUR, the pan-European COST funded interdisciplinary network investigating Genes in Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Patrick Hughes is the first Australian representative.

Dr Stuart Brierley, Head of the Visceral Pain Group in the Centre for Nutrition and Gastrointestinal Diseases was promoted by the University of Adelaide to Associate Professor.

Ms. Thao Nguyen (PhD student) travel award and best student oral award and Ms. Sarah Hemming (PhD student) travel award and poster presentation at the joint scientific meeting of the International Society for Cellular Therapy Australia New Zealand region and Stem Cells Australia Australasian Society for Stem Cell Research.

Honours student Benjamin Leow (Cancer Theme) received a First Class Honours on the 17th of November 2014.  Congratulations Ben!

The NHMRC have recently completed the upgrade of RGMS.

There are significant changes to the new format. We recommend familiarisation with the upgrades to RGMS to assist with a smooth transition to the new system.

Please refer to the NHMRC RGMS webpage for further detail.

A quick reference guide to RGMS System Changes is also available.

On 18th November, the Australian Cancer Research Foundation (ACRF) Innovative Cancer Imaging and Therapeutics Facility housed at SAHMRI was formally opened by the Premier of South Australia, the Hon Jay Weatherill MP and Stephen Gerlach, ACRF Board Member. SAHMRI is incredibly grateful to the ACRF for this funding, which has enabled the Institute to purchase state of the art equipment, which will be used in pre-clinical testing of novel potential therapies for a diverse array of diseases and conditions including cancer, depression, stroke and heart disease, immune dysfunction and metabolic disease.

The former Prime Minister’s Science Engineering and Innovation Council has been replaced by the new Commonwealth Science Council. Chaired by the Prime Minister, the council includes leaders from industry, research and government. One of the council’s first tasks will be to advise on national priorities for science and research. Please visit the website for further information.

A dedicated online science television channel has been launched to deliver free high-quality science-based content on demand. Called riaus.tv, the channel will be operated out of Adelaide by national science communication organisation RiAus. RiAus TV will broadcast high quality science content from some of Australia’s major science-based organisations as well as exclusive interviews with leading scientists.

The riaus.tv content will be available across digital media platforms from desktops to tablets and smartphones.

Please visit the website for further information.

The most recent SA Aboriginal Health Research Network meeting was at SAHMRI Thursday 13 November. This meeting provided advice and training on grant writing. Professor Alex Brown, Wardliparingga SAHMRI, and Professor Ann Roche, from the National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction - Flinders University, shared invaluable advice, drawing upon their incredible track records for securing competitive funding from government and NGO sources. Dr Paul Yerrell, Wardliparingga SAHMRI, led a Q&A session that gave the forty attending members of the Network the chance to pick the brains of Professor Brown and Professor Roche, drilling down to their most pertinent questions.

The brand new and highly practical Fund Assist resource was presented by Professor Ann Roche and is a "where to start" and "how to do it" guide for grant writers. Fund Assist is applicable to health, social and community based research and programs, check it out here. 

This last session for 2014 was extremely well received and will hopefully improve the confidence and knowhow of attending members as they prepare grants in 2015 for projects aimed toward improving the health and social outcomes of South Australia’s Indigenous population.

We would like to congratulate the following SAHMRI community members who have recently been awarded grants:

$3.25m Movember/Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia Revolutionary Team Award went to a multidisciplinary team led by Lisa Butler (PI) from the Cancer Theme, with other Team members including Gary Wittert (SAHMRI/Uni of Adelaide), Wayne Tilley (Uni of Adelaide), Andrew Scott (Ludwig), Andrew Hoy (Uni of Sydney)  and Johan Swinnen (KU Leuven, Belgium)- title: Exploiting alterations in lipid metabolism to improve diagnosis, treatment and molecular imaging of prostate cancer.

Justin Canuto - Heart Foundation Scholarship Grant. Reducing Barriers and Improving Access to Cardiovascular Care for Aboriginal Men.  $120,000

Alex Brown - NHMRC Project Grant - Predicting Renal, Ophthalmic, and Heart Events in the Aboriginal Community – THE PROPHECY Study.   $2,466,326

Wendy Keech, Katharine McBride, Alex Brown, Janet Kelly - Heart Foundation Focus Grant - What is the experience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients in hospital following an acute cardiac event?  $149,547

Peter Psaltis - NHMRC New Investigator Grant - A study of the origins of macrophages in healthy and atheroslerotic vasculature focusing on a novel population of resident adventitial macrophage progenitor cells. $451,125

Stan Gronthos - NHMRC Project Grant - The role of ephrinB1 reverse signalling in osteogenic differentiation during skeletal development and osteoperosis.  $548,000

Stephen Worthley and Stephen Nicholls - NHMRC Project Grant - Coronary Artery calcium score: Use to Guide management of Hereditary Coronary Artery Disease (CAUGHT-CAD) $2,652,448

Prash Sanders and Stephen Nicholls - NHMRC Project Grant - Cardiac Resynchronisation Therapy and AV Node Ablation for Atrial Fibrillation in Heart Failure. $3,149,631

Simon Koblar - NHMRC Project Grant - Helping stroke physicians choose who to thrombolyse - the "Targeting Optimal Thrombolysis Outcomes" (TOTO) study. $1,031,670

Peter Catcheside - NHMRC Project Grant - Clarifying the pathogenic role of arousal-hyperventilation in obstructive and central sleep apnoea: Testing fundamental pathophysiological mechanisms and a strategic new treatment. $402,615

Daniel Worthley - NHMRC Project grant - Gastrointestinal mesenchyme supports intestinal stem cells, promotes intestinal regeneration and drives cancer. $531,935

Stuart Brierley - NHMRC Project Grant - Is abdominal discomfort a “colonic itch”? Identification of itch specific pathways in the gut in health and disease.  $873,233

Richard Young - NHMRC Project Grant - Why do sweetened drinks link to type 2 diabetes? $853,134

Grigori Rychkov - NHMRC Project Grant - The role of TRPM2 channels in oxidative stress-induced liver damage. $558,432

Jane Andrews - NHMRC Project Grant - Faecal Microbiota Transplantation for Active Ulcerative Colitis - a randomised controlled trial: clinical, microbial & immune outcomes. $675,896

Steven Kentish - NHMRC Early Career Fellowship - The role of gastric vagal afferents in the food intake reducing effect of oestradiol. $309,436

Dan Peet - ARC Discovery Grant - A novel mechanism of ion channel regulation by oxygen. $364,000

Page, A/Prof Amanda J; Brierley, Dr Stuart; Dear, Prof Terence N; Hughes, Dr Patrick A; Keating, A/Prof Damien J; Koblar, Prof Simon A; Licinio, Prof Dr Julio; Nicholls, Prof Stephen J; Proud, Prof Christopher G; Schwarz, Dr Quenten P; Wesselingh, Prof Steve; Wong, Prof Ma-Li; Young, Dr Richard L. - ARC LIEF Grant - Laser microdissection facility. $170,000

Stan Gronthos - The Channel 7 Children’s Research Foundation of SA Grant: Identification of Twist-1 regulated microRNAs which control cranial bone development in children, 2015 $75,000

Sue Heatley - Channel 7 grant Children’s Research Foundation Grant Funding  – Developing a robust screening tool to identify Children with high risk “PhLike” Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) that will lead to improved outcomes through the use of targeted therapies. $75,000

Note: This list may not be inclusive of all grants awarded. Please advise the researchoffice@sahmri.com if you would like a grant included in the next Bulletin.

Brierley S.M and D.R Linden (2014). Neuroplasticity and dysfunction after gastrointestinal inflammation. Nature Reviews Gastroenterology and Hepatology. 2014 Oct;11(10):611-27. 

Atrial fibrillation in Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians: a cross-sectional study. Christopher X Wong, Anthony G Brooks, Yi-Han Cheng, Dennis H Lau, Geetanjali Rangnekar, Kurt C Roberts-Thomson, Jonathan M Kalman, Alex Brown, Prashanthan Sanders. 

A Strategy for Translating Evidence into Policy and Practice to Close the Gap - Developing Essential Service Standards for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cardiovascular Care. Alex Brown, Rebekah L. O’Shea, Kathy Mott, Katharine F. McBride, Tony Lawson, Garry L.R. Jennings. 

Essential Service Standards for Equitable National Cardiovascular Care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People. Alex Brown, Rebekah L. O’Shea, Kathy Mott, Katharine F. McBride, Tony Lawson, Garry L.R. Jennings. 

Roberts KG, Li Y, Payne-Turner D, Harvey RC, Yang YL, Pei D, McCastlain K, Ding L, Lu C, Song G, Ma J, Becksfort J, Rusch M, Chen SC, Easton J, Cheng J, Boggs K, Santiago-Morales N, Iacobucci I, Fulton RS, Wen J, Valentine M, Cheng C, Paugh SW, Devidas M, Chen IM, Reshmi S, Smith A, Hedlund E, Gupta P, Nagahawatte P, Wu G, Chen X, Yergeau D, Vadodaria B, Mulder H, Winick NJ, Larsen EC, Carroll WL, Heerema NA, Carroll AJ, Grayson G, Tasian SK, Moore AS, Keller F, Frei-Jones M, Whitlock JA, Raetz EA, White DL, Hughes TP, Guidry Auvil JM, Smith MA, Marcucci G, Bloomfield CD, Mrózek K, Kohlschmidt J, Stock W, Kornblau SM, Konopleva M, Paietta E, Pui CH, Jeha S, Relling MV, Evans WE, Gerhard DS, Gastier-Foster JM, Mardis E, Wilson RK, Loh ML, Downing JR, Hunger SP, Willman CL, Zhang J, Mullighan CG. (2014) Targetable kinase-activating lesions in Ph-like acute lymphoblastic leukemia. N Engl J Med. Sep 11;371(11):1005-15.

Johnson IR, Parkinson-Lawrence EJ, Shandala T, Weigert R, Butler LM, Brooks DA. (2014) Altered Endosome Biogenesis in Prostate Cancer has Biomarker Potential. Mol Cancer Res. Jul 30. pii: molcanres.0074.2014

Liu Lu, Verity Saunders, Tamara Leclercq, Tim Hughes, and Deborah White. Ponatinib is not transported by ABCB1, ABCG2 or OCT-1 in CML cells. Leukaemia, Accepted for publication 17th November 2014

The NHMRC has published the 2015 Funding Calendar, providing detail regarding the key dates for each of its funding schemes.

Please note that:

• Applications will only be accepted in RGMS from 14 January 2015.

• Some schemes have the same closing dates which may impact on researchers who wish to submit applications to different schemes. Please review these dates carefully.

• The SAHMRI Research Office will provide further information to researchers regarding internal deadline dates over the coming weeks. We strongly encourage early preparation of applications in order to meet the Research Office internal review deadlines. Detail of the internal deadlines will be circulated via email.

If you would like to discuss any of the above with the Research Office, please email researchoffice@sahmri.com

Applications are now open

NBCF will provide up to a maximum of $15,000 to support scientific conferences on breast cancer that aim to build the capacity of the health and medical research workforce in Australia. Applications will be accepted in three rounds. All applications received in each round will be assessed to determine those to be funded.

Further information is available on their website.

The Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) is seeking proposals from researchers or consultants experienced in evaluation of research methodology, biostatistical analysis and evidence-based literature reviews, to undertake an independent analysis of the evidence for thrombolytic therapy in acute ischaemic stroke. Applications close 28 November 2014.

The EMF’s first national grant round will fund research into emergency health service provision and/or improving the retrieval, care and medicine in rural and remote areas. Grants of up to $100,000 are available. Expressions of Interest close 28 November 2014.

Three new funding initiatives under the Grand Challenges program have been announced:

• Creating and Measuring Integrated Solutions for Healthy Birth, Growth, and Development
• Putting Women and Girls at the Centre of Development
• New Interventions for Global Health.

Closing date 13 January 2015.

Applications for a range of other initiatives including Fighting Ebola, Surveillance Tools, Diagnostics and Artificial Diet to Support new Approaches to Vector Control, New Approaches for Addressing Outdoor/Residual Malaria Transmission, Reducing Pneumonia Fatalities, Brain Development, Integrating Community-based Interventions, and Preventing Preterm Birth, close throughout November and December.

Every year, the Bupa Health Foundation aims to fund new initiatives that are likely to deliver clear benefits to the health of the Australian community.

The Foundation is interested in funding innovative replicable interventions and projects that:

• Empower people to either prevent or better manage health conditions
• Empower people to use health education and engagement to tackle health risk factors and promote healthy lifestyle habits.

Grants range from $100,000 to $500,000 for up to three years.

Closing date 8th December.

Please refer to Upcoming Conferences and Events below.

TIme: Tuesday Nov 25, 4 pm

Location: Room 8.209, SAHMRI, North Terrace

Welcome to the next meeting of our joint Journal Club with SAHMRI and University of Adelaide on Bioinfomatics, biological networks and genomics! We will begin with a short presentation “Conserved Genome Architecture and Transposable Element Impact” by Reuben Buckley who works in Dave Adelson's lab at Univ of Adelaide. The second presenter will be Dr Chenglong Yu from the Mind & Brain Theme at SAHMRI, who will introduce the article “"Network link prediction by global silencing of indirect correlations” (Nature Biotechnology 31, 720-725, 2013).

This year marks the 25th Anniversary of the University of Adelaide’s first Master of Public Health graduate. The University of Adelaide cordially invite you to join them for a half day Colloquium celebrating past achievements and future endeavours in Public Health.

This will be an exciting and informative program featuring fellow graduates and leaders in Public Health who will address the topic: Public Health in Challenging Times.

For details on the full program and registration please visit the MPH 25 Years Anniversary website.

Date: Friday, 28 November 2014
Time: 1:00 pm
Venue: The Braggs Lecture Theatre, North Terrace Campus
Followed by: Cocktail Reception, HUB Central Mezzanine
Registration: Booking for this free event is essential.  Please click here to register now.

You are invited to the final of the Data Linkage Researcher Conversation Series for 2014 on 4th December in the SAHMRI Auditorium. 

This is an opportunity to hear about cross jurisdictional data linkage from those who have supported and undertaken such work.  Discussion includes the principles, issues and experiences of linking population based data across multiple jurisdictions, including the Commonwealth, and how such approaches may better inform research and policy.

Key speakers are:
• Dr Merran Smith, Chief Executive, Population Health Research Network 
• Dr Katrina Spilsbury, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Population Health Research, Curtin University
• Katherine Duszynski, VALiD Project Manager, Discipline of Paediatrics University of Adelaide

The presentations will commence at 3:00 pm and conclude at 4:20 pm.  You are encouraged to stay and enjoy some light food as well as drinks afterwards, and take the opportunity to talk to the presenters and other colleagues.  

Please RSVP via email by Friday 28 November 2014.  

SAHMRI will be facilitating an Animal Ethics Training Workshop on Wednesday 10th December, 11:30am – 1:30pm in the SAHMRI Auditorium.

This workshop will focus on providing an introduction to the NHMRC Australian Code for the care and use of animals for scientific purposes, and responsibilities in relation to animal research.

All are welcome. However staff utilising SAHMRI Bioresources and PIRL Gilles Plains are encouraged to attend.

SAHMRI will be holding an informal lunchtime discussion on fellowship application preparation on 17th December at 11.30am to 12.30pm in the SAHMRI Auditorium, North Terrace.                 

We have assembled a panel of individuals who have experience in fellowship applications (Professor Maria Makrides, Professor Stan Gronthos, Professor Doug McEvoy and Professor Keryn Williams).

The informative discussion will focus on strategies to increase quality and success rates in next year’s round.

Anyone planning to submit an NHMRC Fellowship for next year's round is welcome to attend.                                            

Intensive Course

Date: 9-13th February 2015

Location: School of Population Health, University of South Australia

This intensive course provides an introduction to various types of health data, including an introduction to publicly available data resources. Lectures are given by experienced researchers and/or data managers, and include perspectives from data custodians as well as data users’ points of view. There is a strong focus on the evaluation of quality and validity of data, and in highlighting the importance of appropriate use and handling of data when answering research questions relevant for public health. The course will allow students to develop practical skills required to acquire and manage data. It will address ethical, legal and political issues related to the use of health data (including those from Indigenous populations), and evaluate related strengths and limitations. The course is offered by the School of Population Health at the new Jeffrey Smart Building. Exact course fees are yet to be confirmed for 2015. The estimated fee for auditing (attending without assessment) is $679. For non-award students the estimated fee for enrolment and assessment is $2158; this includes eligibility for credit toward the Graduate Certificate in Population Health Practice and the Masters of Research (Population Health Practice) degree, detailed below. Information concerning the course is located here. Further information concerning enrolment options can be found here.

Wednesday 25th February, 2015

Researchers are invited to submit abstracts.
Opening Date for Abstracts: Wednesday 8th October 2014
Closing Date for Abstracts: 5pm Monday 24th November 2014

Abstracts must be submitted on the pro-forma sheet and will only
be accepted if all guidelines are met.Guidelines and Pro-forma sheets are available on the website.

Submit Abstracts and Registrations by email to Fiona Dale.
Fiona.Dale@health.sa.gov.au
 

Date: 18th - 19th March, 2015

Location: Melbourne

www.advancingmedicalresearch.com 

Location: SAHMRI

Dates: Friday the 27th to Sunday the 29th of March 2015

Further information

Dates: 12 - 15th May, 2015

Location: Dockside, Cockle Bay Wharf, Sydney

Registrations now open

All post-graduate students are invited to the next SAHMRI Student Networking Event.

28 November, starting at 4 pm in the Boardroom on level 4.

Presentations will include:

PhD studentTom Butler (Nutrition and Metabolism Theme) "A little pain for a lot of gain? The potential of high intensity exercise to combat a junk food diet"

post-doc employment, including examples of job applications, how to respond to selection criteria, what should and should not be in your CV, and what questions to expect at the interview.

School of Population Health
University of South Australia

The University of South Australia’s School of Population Health, located on Level 8 of SAHMRI, is pleased to promote two new programs for commencement in 2015: the Masters of Research (Population Health Practice) and the Graduate Certificate in Population Health Practice. Both programs provide strong training in research methodology applicable to population health and are available on a full-time or part-time basis. Suitable study or employment backgrounds include (but are not limited to) the health professions, health promotion, epidemiology, statistics, administration, urban planning and informatics. However, a range of other backgrounds will be considered and further queries are welcomed by the School.

In undertaking the Graduate Certificate in Population Health Practice, students will develop a practical understanding of research methods applicable to population health, confidence in accessing and managing various types of population health data, skills in planning and evaluating community-based interventions and strategies to effectively translate and disseminate research principles and findings to inform policy and practice. The program is six months in duration. 

The Master of Research (Population Health Practice) is a two-year research degree (Australian and New Zealand citizens eligible for fee exemption) which provides practice based, supervised research training through embedded coursework (the four foundation courses offered in the Graduate Certificate in Population Health Practice) and the completion of a substantial research program applicable to real world, national or international population health issues. Candidates will undertake a significant and relevant program of research, involving surveillance or an evaluation project, or working with large pre-existing datasets. While the School offers a number of projects, other suggested projects are welcomed for completion as part of this degree. Further information is located here.

If you are interested in engaging in the HDSM intensive course, or for further discussion about these programs, please contact schsphenquiries@unisa.edu.au or Ms Emily Adcock on 8302 1135.

Committee deadlines:

SA Health Human Research Ethics Committee
Proposals due: 19th January 2015

RAH Human Research Ethics Committee
Proposals due: 3rd December 2014 and 11th February 2015

Queen Elizabeth Human Research Ethics Committee
2015 dates to be advised

Southern Adelaide Clinical Human Research Ethics Committee
Proposals due: 16th January 2015

University of Adelaide HREC
Proposals due: 20th January 2015

University of South Australia HREC
Proposals due: 27th January 2015

Flinders University Social and Behavioural Research Ethics Committee
Proposals due: 19th January 2015

Aboriginal Health Research Ethics Committee
Proposals due: 22nd January 2015

The next two SAHMRI Animal Ethics Committee dates are:

• 11th December 2014 (submissions due 27th November)
• 5th February 2015 (submissions due 22nd January)

For further information regarding the AEC, please visit the website.

Please visit the SAHMRI website for updated information regarding the Institutional Biosafety Committee meeting dates for 2015.

An update regarding Bioresources and PIRL activities will be provided in the next Research Bulletin.

Consumable stores opening hours have changed.  The consumables store is now open 2-3pm daily.

The Panomics luminometer has now been purchased. It is located on 5 South on the open benches.

PPMS is now up and running.  It is great to see people using the system.  Please note that all bookable equipment and services must be booked using this system.  If you have any general feedback on PPMS, please email.

A Genesearch e-freezer and Life Tech (Thermo) on site supply system will be installed before the end of the year.  Lab Managers: If you have specific items you would like to see stocked (and your lab has not already communicated these to the Genesearch/Thermo account managers), please contact Damara McAndrew or Peter Harpas.

After extensive discussion with WHS, the buddy system for the cryogenic facility relates to dispensing of liquid nitrogen or CO2 (dry ice snow cone) only.  Researchers just retrieving or submitting samples into the temporary deposit/retrieval tank, or using the controlled rate freezer are permitted to access the small cryogenic room on their own.  If you need to fill dewars with LN2 or eskies with dry ice, you must be accompanied by someone who is to wait outside the room and monitor alarm activity and the person dispensing.  These requirements will be reflected in the relevant SOPs/guidelines.

In order to ensure we have the most professional internal and external documentation and material on our websites, we would like to find a team of internal staff who can act as a pool of available proofreaders. We need people who have excellent spelling and grammar skills and attention to detail to catch any errors and help us to aim for EXCELLENCE!

This will be an important service provided to SAHMRI employees to ensure best quality of our published material.

If you would like to become one of the pool of internal proofreaders or for more information please contact Dorota Gancarz via email

The Australian Government released the Boosting Commercial Returns from Research discussion paper, a key element of the Industry Innovation and Competitiveness Agenda. The discussion paper includes improving incentives for collaboration; support for research infrastructure; improving access to publicly funded research; increasing industry relevant research training; and improving assessment of the research system.
The deadline for submissions is 28 November 2014. Please visit the website for futher information.