A Research Team will be included in the next edition of the Bulletin

We would like to congratulate the following members of the SAHMRI community who were awarded NHMRC funding:

Patrick Hughes Career Development Fellowship  Neuroimmune interactions in functional and organic gastrointestinal diseases, University of Adelaide $419,180

Dan Worthley Career Development Fellowship  Using connective tissue stem cells to treat human disease. University of Adelaide $419,180

James Ward CRE Australian Centre for Research Excellence in Aboriginal Sexual Health and Blood Borne Viruses. SAHMRI $2,496,848

David Lynn Project Grant The impact of the neonatal gut microbiome on specific and nonspecific vaccine responses. SAHMRI $661,496

Dan Worthley Project Grant Osteochondroreticular stem cell therapy for osteoarthritis: the right cells for the job.  University of Adelaide $561,956

James Ward Project Grant Novel interventions to address methamphetamines in Aboriginal communities, including a randomised trial of a web based therapeutic tool used to treat dependence in clinical settings. SAHMRI $2,177,908

Leonie Segal Project Grant Health and social consequences of child abuse and neglect: an analysis using South Australian linked data. University of South Australia  $684,447

Geraint Rogers Project Grant Long-term macrolide therapy; oropharyngeal dysbiosis and the spread of resistant pathogens. Flinders University $384,153

Kerry Ivey. Early Career Fellowship. The role of microbiome activity in diet-disease relationships: anthocyanins, flavanols and hypertension. SAHMRI $366,252

James Ward. Early Career Fellowship. Reducing sexually transmissible infections and blood borne viruses and associated risks among Australia's First Peoples. SAHMRI $314,644

Stephen Nicholls. Research Fellowship. Developing Innovative Pathways for the Prevention of Lifelong Cardiovascular Risk. SAHMRI $753,300

Andrew Zannettino Project Grant Why is the bone marrow a “hot-spot” for myeloma plasma cell metastasis: are there Gremlins in the system? University of Adelaide $651,979

Andrew Zannettino Project Grant Targeting skeletal mTORC1 as a novel approach for the treatment of diet-induced insulin resistance.  University of Adelaide $586,979

Dr Rajeev Pathak from the Centre for Heart Rhythm Disorders group has won the prestigious Samuel A Levine Young Clinical Investigators Award at the American Heart Association (AHA) 2015 Scientific Sessions, Dr Rajeev Pathak presented results of the ARREST-AF substrate study. This was a randomized controlled trial that asked whether aggressive risk-factor (RF) management results in a reversal of the substrate for AF. The group's aim was to study the impact of RF management on electrical and anatomic properties of the atria, cardiac structure, platelet and endothelial function, and inflammation. This is the most fiercely contested young investigator award in the cardiology world. SAHMRI is fortunate that several faculty members – Nicholls, Sanders, Selvanayagam – have each been finalists for this award – and on each occasion one could describe them each as being losers. Rajeev, on the other hand, has proven to break through for the win. His work in lifestyle changes and its impact on atrial fibrillation, the most common heart rhythm disturbance affecting the community, continues to receive great accolades.

A Partner Launch of the Centre for Nanoscale BioPhotonics (CNBP) and SAHMRI, with Mark Hutchinson, Director CNBP, University of Adelaide, Andrew Abell, CNBP Chief Investigator and Node Director, University of Adelaide and Steve Nicholls (SAHMRI) was held on 23rd September 2015. The CNBP presented SAHMRI with a plaque recognizing SAHMRI’s contribution to the centre and the plaque has been hung outside Heart Health on level 6.

Members of the Heart Health Vascular Research Centre group presented at the recent Australian Atherosclerosis Society meeting in Fremantle 21-23 October 2015.  The following oral presentations were given:

• Dr Belinda Di Bartolo: ‘HDL Improves Cholesterol and Glucose Homeostasis and Reduces Atherosclerosis in TRAIL-/-ApoE-/- mice.’
• Jordan Andrews: ‘Warfarin promotes progresive coronary arterial calcification: insights from serial intravascular ultrasound.’and ‘Greater regression of coronary atherosclerosis with the pre-beta high-density lipoprotein mimetic CER-001 in patients with more extensive plaque burden.’
• Peta King (PhD candidate): ‘Plaque microstructures at non-culprit lesions in women: frequency domain optical coherence tomography analysis.’

Congratulations to Jordan Andrews of the Vascular Research Centre, who had an abstract accepted for oral presentation at the American Heart Association meeting in Orlando 7-11th November, 2015.  ‘Greater regression of coronary atherosclerosis with the pre-beta high-density lipoprotein mimetic CER-001 in patients with more extensive plaque burden.’ Well done Jordan!

Media articles and presentations:
Professor Stephen Nicholls was interviewed for an article in Health Partners ‘Your Health’ magazine: ‘Strokes – one of Australia’s biggest killers is no longer an age old problem’.  This interview will be in the summer edition of the magazine.

Professor Stephen Nicholls was interviewed by Ian Henschke at ABC radio on 29th September 2015 for World Heart Day.

Professor Simon Koblar had an article published in the Sunday Mail 12 September, 2015, “SA researchers develop stroke alert blood test”

4th Annual SAHMRI Stroke Symposium, 4th November 2015- 12 speakers from all areas of stroke research- from basic science, rehabilitation and neurologists, with approximately 60 people attending the symposium

Congratulations to Thi Vo (Giau) on successful completion of her Honours year.

Laura Eadie, post-doc researcher received a 2016 Endeavour Research Fellowship.  Laura will spend 6 months next year learning in vivo mouse models of Ph+ and Ph-like Acute Lympoblastic Leukaemia with Charles Mullighan at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis.  This will continue the already strong collaborations between SAHMRI and St Jude and will advance the important ALL research being undertaken here and have an immediate and lasting impact on patient survival.

A record number of oral and poster presentations at the HAA 2015 (Haematology Society of Australia and NZ Annual meeting) held at the Adelaide Convention Centre. Tim Hughes gave the Carl De Gruchy Oration and Sue Heatley was jointly awarded the Baikie medal for the best presentation from an early career scientist. Deb White was on the organising committee and was also an invited speaker.

Prof. Stan Gronthos presented a plenary poster and short talk at the International Society for Stem Cell Research, Seattle, WA, October,

Dr. Kim Hynes was awarded an Arthritis Foundation Research Grant $15k, November.

Dr. Thao Nguyen was awarded the NSCFA Travel Award to attend and deliver a talk at the Australasian Society for Stem Cell Research, Hunter Valley NSW, November.

Dr. Thao was awarded a HSANZ Education Grant ($5,000) and was chosen to give a talk at the Haematology Society of Australia and New Zealand, Adelaide, October.

Ms. Sarah Hemming was awarded a PhD poster award at the Australasian Society for Stem Cell Research, Hunter Valley NSW, November.

In early November Dr Michael Musker was interviewed by Claire Peddy of The Advertiser regarding his clinical research projects on Depression. Depression effects 1 in 10 people in Australia. The article is to be published in the Nov 24th 2015 edition of the Advertiser.

The Mind & Brain Theme hosted the 2015 Samuel Gershon Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Translational Neuroscience. This year the committee awarded the medal to Professor Colin Masters B Med Sci (Hons), MBBS, MD, Hon.DLitt W.Aust., FRCPath, FRCPA, FAA, FTSE. Professor Masters received this award in recognition of his is work over the last 35 years is widely acknowledged as having had a major influence on Alzheimer’s disease research world-wide, leading to the continued development of diagnostics and therapeutic strategies. Professor Masters is the Executive Director of the Mental Health Research Institute, Laureate Professor at the University of Melbourne, Senior Deputy Director of the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, and a consultant at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. Professor Julio Licinio presented him with the award on behalf of the medal committee.

Mind & Brain Translational Research team including Prof Ma-Li Wong, Dr Martin Lewis, Dr Chenglong Yu and Dr Michael Musker were photographed for editorial news article by Flinders University. 2nd November 2015.

Mind & Brain Research Participation Platform went live at the beginning of November 2015. People interested in participating in research with the Mind and Brain Theme can visit http://mb.sahmri.com/ and register their interest or find out more about specific research projects online. This platform launch was led by Prof Julio Licinio, Dr Michael Musker in collaboration with Dr Niranjan Bidargaddi (Flinders University).

Prof Julio Licinio was invited guest to a week of special events at University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA (13th-16th Oct 2015). Prof Licinio presented “The search for biomarkers of major depression and antidepressant treatment response” during Grand Rounds at the Department of Psychiatry. Later in the week he presented on “The interface of obesity and major depression: An under-studied pathway from stress, obesity, and leptin, to mood and cognition.” at the Cellular and Molecular Basis of Disease Seminar Series.

Professor Julio Licinio attended the the 3rd Annual Molecular Psychiatry Meeting held in San Francisco California, 30th Oct -4th Nov, this year. Prof Licinio was a Member of the Organizing Committee for the 3rd Annual Molecular Psychiatry and he was the session Co-Chair (with Andres Buonanno of the NIH, USA) on the topic of “Working towards translational models for endophenotypes in psychiatric disorders.” Prof Licinio also presented an oral presentation on research he and Prof Ma-Li Wong are undertaking within the Mind and Brain Theme at SAHMRI titled “The stress-antidepressant-diet (SAD) paradigm: a new animal model to study the long-term metabolic effects of antidepressant exposure”.

On 11th Nov this year Professor Ma-Li Wong presented “Pharmacogenomics of antidepressants in Mexican-Americancs”, at the Mind Research Network meeting at the University of New Mexico, Alburquerque, New Mexico, USA.

Professor Julio Licinio was an invited keynote speaker at the World Psychiatric Association International Congress in Taipei during November where he was actively involved in a week of events. Prof Licinio presented at numerous events across three days. He spoke at a WPAIC Workshop on The Future of Psychiatry Young Psychiatrists. The following day he gave the keynote plenary lecture on Precision Medicine Approaches to Depression: The Role of Pharmacogenetics. Prof Licinio also chaired a conference session on Neuroimaging Studies on Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

In December Prof Julio Licinio and Prof Ma-Li Wong were invited to present at American College of Neuropsychopharmacology 54th Annual Meeting in held on Hollywood, Florida, USA. Prof Licinio presented a seminar titled “Inflammasome Signalling Affects Anxiety- And Depressive-Like Behaviors and Gut Microbiome Composition.” Prof Wong discussed her research on “The Stress-Antidepressant-Diet (SAD) Paradigm and Weight Gain”.

Further information will be included in a future edition of the Bulletin.

Please refer to above Research Successes section for recently awarded NHMRC grants.

Dr Karlea Kremer- National Stroke Foundation Small Project Grant- $19,900 “Preclinical investigations towards the TOOTH stroke clinical trial".

Prof Julio Licinio was awarded the Australian Hotels Association (SA) – Hotel Cares Community Project Grant - “Project Discovery- Molecular imaging of the spinal cord” in collaboration with Neil Sachse Foundation and Dr. Prab Takhar (MITRU- SAHMRI)- $167,972.

Ubeykovskaya Z, Si Y, Chen X, Worthley DL, Renz BW, Urbanska AM, Hayakawa Y, Xu T, Westphalen CB, Dubeykovskiy A, Chen D, Friedman R, Asfaha S, Nagar K, Tailor Y, Muthulpalani S, Fox J, Kitajewski J, Wang TC. Neural innervation stimulates splenic TFF2 to arrest myeloid cell expansion and cancer. Nature Communications. In press

Hayakawa Y, Ariyama H, Stancikova J, Asfaha S, Renz BW, Dubeykovskaya ZA, Shibata W, Wang H, Westphalen CB, Chen X, Takemoto Y, Kim W, Khurana SS, Tailor Y, Nagar K, Tomita H, Hara A, Sepulveda AR, Setlik W, Gershon MD, Saha S, Ding L, Shen Z, Fox JG, Friedman RA, Konieczny SF, Worthley DL, Korinek V, Wang TC. Mist1 expressing gastric stem cells maintain the normal and neoplastic gastric epithelium and are supported by a distinct perivascular stem cell niche. Cancer Cell, 2015 in press.

Puri R, Madder RD, Madden SP, Sum ST, Wolski K, Muller JE, Andrews J, King KL, Kataoka Y, Uno K, Kapadia SR, Tuzcu EM, Nissen SE, Virmani R, Maehara A, Mintz GS, Nicholls SJ. Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Enhances Intravascular Ultrasound Assessment of Vulnerable Coronary Plaque: A Combined Pathological and In Vivo Study. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2015 Nov;35(11):2423-31. Epub 2015 Sep 3.

Kataoka Y, Hammadah M, Puri R, Duggal B, Uno K, Kapadia SR, Murat Tuzcu E, Nissen SE, Nicholls SJ. Plaque microstructures in patients with coronary artery disease who achieved very low low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. Atherosclerosis. 2015 Oct;242(2):490-5.
Epub 2015 Aug 8.

Duong M, Di Bartolo BA, Nicholls SJ. Acute HDL therapies. Curr Opin Lipidol. 2015 Sep 18. [Epub ahead of print]

Dunbar RL, Nicholls SJ, Maki KC, Roth EM, Orloff DG, Curcio D, Johnson J,Kling D, Davidson MH. Effects of omega-3 carboxylic acids on lipoprotein particles and other cardiovascular risk markers in high-risk statin-treated patients with residual hypertriglyceridemia: a randomized, controlled,
double-blind trial. Lipids Health Dis. 2015 Sep 2;14:98.

Kritharides L, Nicholls SJ. Men and women - similar but not identical: insights into LDL-lowering therapy in women from the Cholesterol Treatment Trialists Collaboration. Future Cardiol. 2015 Sep;11(5):511-5. Epub 2015 Sep 25.

Pathak RK, Mahajan R, Lau DH, Sanders P. Reply: BMI Reduction Decreases AF Recurrence Rate in a Mediterranean Cohort. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2015 Nov 17;66(20):2265-6.

Kuklik P, Lau DH, Ganesan AN, Brooks AG, Sanders P. High-density mapping of atrial fibrillation in a chronic substrate: Evidence for distinct modes of repetitive wavefront propagation. Int J Cardiol. 2015 Nov 15;199:407-14.
Epub 2015 Jul 30.

Sanders P, Ewing I, Ahmad K. C9orf72 expansion presenting as an eating disorder. J Clin Neurosci. 2015 Nov 4. pii: S0967-5868(15)00503-2. [Epub ahead of print]

Lau DH, Mahajan R, Lee G, Kalman JM, Sanders P. Towards Improved Care of Postural Tachycardia Syndrome, Inappropriate Sinus Tachycardia and Vasovagal Syncope Patients: A Call to Action in Australia. Heart Lung Circ. 2015 Oct 20.pii: S1443-9506(15)01424-9. [Epub ahead of print]

Psaltis PJ, Schwarz N, Toledo-Flores D, Nicholls SJ. Cellular Therapy for Heart Failure. Current Cardiology Reviews 2015. Accepted.

Psaltis PJ, Nicholls SJ. Invasive management of ACS in the very elderly: never too old? Lancet 2015. Accepted.

Andrews J, Puri R, Kataoka Y, Nicholls SJ, Psaltis PJ. Therapeutic Modulation of the Natural History of Coronary Atherosclerosis: Lessons Learned from Serial Imaging Studies. Cardiovascular Diagnosis and Therapy 2015. Accepted.

Scherer DJ, Psaltis PJ. Future imaging of atherosclerosis: Molecular imaging of coronary atherosclerosis with 18F PET. Cardiovascular Diagnosis and Therapy 2015. Accepted.

Rashid HN, Wong DT, Wijesekera H, Gutman SJ, Shanmugam VB, Gulati R, Malaipan Y, Meredith IT, Psaltis PJ. Incidence and characterisation of spontaneous coronary artery dissection as a cause of acute coronary syndrome - A single-centre Australian experience. Int J Cardiol. 2015 Sep 25;202:336-338.

Spoon DB, Lennon RJ, Psaltis PJ, Prasad A, Holmes DR Jr, Lerman A, Rihal CS, Gersh BJ, Ting HH, Singh M, Gulati R. Prediction of Cardiac and Noncardiac Mortality After Percutaneous Coronary Intervention. Circ Cardiovasc Interv. 2015 Sep;8(9):e002121.

Psaltis PJ, Talman AH, Munnur K, Cameron JD, Ko BS, Meredith IT, Seneviratne SK, Wong DT. Relationship between epicardial fat and quantitative coronary artery plaque progression: insights from computer tomography coronary angiography. Int J Cardiovasc Imaging. 2015 Sep 3. [Epub ahead of print]

Choy FC, Klarić TS, Leong WK, Koblar SA, Lewis MD. Reduction of the neuroprotective transcription factor Npas4 results in increased neuronal necrosis, inflammation and brain lesion size following ischaemia. Journal of Cerebral Blood & Metabolism 2015; Published online before print October 14, 2015

Winderlich J, Kremer K, Koblar SA. Adult human dental pulp stem cells promote blood-brain barrier permeability through VEGFa expression. Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism 2015.  Published online before print Oct. 2, 2015,

Rudaks LI, Ahangar I, Dodd, L, Milton AG, Hamilton-Bruce MA, Jannes J, Koblar SA.  Endovascular treatment for acute ischemic stroke – the South Australian experience.  International Journal of Stroke 2015;10(6):E64–E65

Moey AWO, Hamilton-Bruce MA, Howell S, Leyden JM, Chong WK, Dodd L, Milton AG, Koblar SA, Kleinig TJ, Lee AW, Jannes J.  Letter to the Editor: Significant increase in thrombolysis rates for stroke in South Australia.  International Journal of Stroke 2015;10:E49

Appleton S, Biermann S, Hamilton-Bruce MA, Piantadosi C, Tucker G, Koblar SA, Adams R.  Health literacy mediates the relationship of socioeconomic status and stroke in a population sample. International Journal of Stroke 2015;10(3):E23.  DOI: 10.1111/ijs.12425

Ullmann E, Barthel A, Taché S, Bornstein A, Licinio J, Bornstein SR. Emotional and psychological trauma in refugees arriving in Germany in 2015. Mol Psychiatry. 2015 Nov 3. [Epub ahead of print]

Perry Y, Calear AL, Mackinnon A, Batterham PJ, Licinio J, King C, Thomsen N, Scott J, Donker T, Merry S, Fleming T, Stasiak K, Werner-Seidler A, Christensen H. Trial for the Prevention of Depression (TriPoD) in final-year secondary students: study protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial. Trials. 2015 Oct 12;16(1):451.

Vukićević V, Qin N, Balyura M, Eisenhofer G, Wong ML, Licinio J, Bornstein SR, Ehrhart-Bornstein M. Valproic acid enhances neuronal differentiation of sympathoadrenal progenitor cells. Mol Psychiatry. 2015 Aug;20(8):941-50.

PlasmLicinio J, Negrao AB, Wong ML.a leptin concentrations are highly correlated to emotional states throughout the day.Transl Psychiatry. 2014 Oct 28;4:e475.
 

Tong WY1, Sweetman MJ1, Marzouk ER2, Fraser C3, Kuchel T3, Voelcker NH4. Towards a subcutaneous optical biosensor based on thermally hydrocarbonised porous silicon.
 

The Sylvia and Charles Viertel Charitable Foundation - Senior Medical Research Fellowship
The Sylvia and Charles Viertel Charitable Foundation invites applications annually for a five-year Senior Medical Research Fellowship valued at $245,000 per annum. The trustees may award up to two fellowships each year at their discretion. Applicants cannot hold another full-time salary grant. Outstanding researchers who are medically qualified, or graduates of another scientific discipline with recognised post-doctoral achievements, seeking to establish a research career in Australia and undertake research in an Australia academic institution are eligible to apply whether or not they are currently working in Australia. Application will be judged on the basis of merit and excellence in competition with other applications.

Applications open: Annually on the first day of February
Applications close: Annually on the last day of April.

The Sylvia and Charles Viertel Charitable Foundation - Clinical Investigator
The Sylvia and Charles Viertel Charitable Foundation invites applications annually for Clinical Investigator awards of $85,000, given on a once-only basis. The foundation hopes to offer five awards in this category each year.
Eligible applicants will be medical graduates or graduates of other clinical disciplines who have completed both their clinical and research training, normally at a doctoral level.  Applicants will be commencing their first substantive clinical position or have been in such a post for no more than 24 months at the year of application.

Applications open: Annually on the first day of February
Applications close: Annually on the last day of April.

The Application Package will be available for download from 24 January 2016.
Apply online from 28 February 2015. Churchill Fellowships offers ordinary Australians the opportunity to travel to the far edges of the globe to conduct valuable research in their field and bring back knowledge, experience, ideas and innovation for the betterment of their industry and Australia.

Further information will be provided in a future edition of the Bulletin.

Futher information will be provided in a future edition of the Bulletin.

Further information will be provided in a future edition of the Bulletin.

Committee deadlines:

SA Health Human Research Ethics Committee
Proposals due: TBA

RAH Human Research Ethics Committee
Proposals due: TBA

QEH Human Research Ethics Committee
Proposals due: 20 January 2016

WCH Human Research Ethics Committee
Proposals due: 10th February 2016

Southern Adelaide Clinical Human Research Ethics Committee
Proposals due: 22nd January 2016

University of Adelaide HREC
Proposals due: 27th January 2016

University of South Australia HREC
Proposals due: 25th January 2016

Flinders University Social and Behavioural Research Ethics CommitteeHREC
Proposals due: 18th January

Aboriginal Health Research Ethics Committee
Proposals due: TBA

Meeting dates for 2016:

4 February
17 March
5 May
16 June
28 July
8 September
20 October
1 December

Further information regarding the Committee can be found on the website. 

Next meeting - 3rd December

Further infomation can be found on the Committee website.

Further information will be provided in a future edition of the Bulletin.

Further information will be provided in a future edition of the Bulletin.

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