#csnpast

[conversci]

Trust me, I’m a scientist: COVID19 and public attitudes to science

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Trust underpins relationships between people and their views on institutions.  Trust is critical for a healthy, functioning society.  It is the glue that allows people and institutions to share and collaborate and to advance human progress.  Surveys and polls on the issue of trust indicate that Australians place a high level of trust in science and medical professionals.

The global COVID-19 pandemic has brought biomedical scientists and medical professionals into prominent public view more than any other time in living memory.  The public, governments, businesses and medical institutions look to medical professionals to inform them about the nature of the disease and how to keep people and communities safe.  This episode has raised the critical issue of people’s trust of science and scientists.

Biomedical scientists are actively generating new knowledge, ideas and solutions to treat disease.  Examples of important advances include genetic editing of DNA and gene therapies, the growing application of Artificial Intelligence, new nanotechnology-based cancer therapeutics, the 3D printing of human organs, the development of brain-machine implants and other medical devices, just to name a few.  Continued public trust in science will be important if this research will contribute to improving the health of individuals.

We have assembled a leading panel to explore the important public issue of trust for the biomedical sciences and what impact, if any, the COVID-19 pandemic may have on this relationship:

Professor Grant McArthur, Executive Director, Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre

Ms Kylie Walker, CEO, Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering

Ms Anna Evangeli, Deputy Editor, Health+Medicine, The Conversation

Professor Robert Sparrow, Philosophy Program, Monash University

This event will also streamed live on the Convergence Science Network Facebook site.

OUR SPEAKERS

Professor Grant McArthur MB BS (Hons) Ph.D. FRACP FAHMS

Professor Grant McArthur is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and holds a Ph.D. in Medical Biology. He is the Executive Director of the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre; inaugural Lorenzo Galli Chair of Melanoma and Skin Cancers at the University of Melbourne and is a Senior Principal Research Fellow (NHMRC). He is also Head of the Molecular Oncology Laboratory and a Senior Consultant Medical Oncologist at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.

Professor McArthur was the inaugural winner of the Translational Research Award of the Foundation Nelia et Amadeo Barletta, has held the Sir Edward Dunlop Clinical Cancer Research Fellowship of the Cancer Council of Victoria, was awarded the inaugural Martin Lackmann medal for translational research, received the Medical Oncology Group of Australia’s Novartis Oncology Cancer Achievement Award and has been the recipient of the prestigious Tom Reeve Award from the Clinical Oncology Society of Australia.

He has been a national and international study co-chair of a number of clinical trials of targeted therapies. His research interests include discovery of novel drug targets in cancer, targeting oncogenes, immunological effect of targeted therapies, clinical trials of targeted therapeutics, personalised medicine, melanoma, cell cycle control, metabolism and protein synthesis in cancer.

Ms Kylie Walker

Kylie is the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering, where she has a mandate to lead crucial national conversations and strategy towards a thriving, healthy and connected Australia supported by technology.

She specialises in connecting technologists, engineers and scientists with governments, business, media and society – skills built over many years in senior federal communication and advocacy roles in the science, technology and health sectors.

As the immediate past CEO of Science & Technology Australia, Kylie led campaigns to increase investment in Australian research and development, and created the acclaimed Superstars of STEM program, championing Australian women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Kylie is also Chair of the Australian National Commission for UNESCO and a visiting Fellow at the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science. In 2019, she was named in the 100 Women of Influence list by the Australian Financial Review, for her work on improving equity, diversity and inclusion in STEM.

Professor Robert Sparrow  BA (Hons) (Melb.), PhD (A.N.U.)

Rob Sparrow is a Professor in the Philosophy Program, and a Chief Investigator in the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science, at Monash University, where he works on ethical issues raised by new technologies. He has published on topics as diverse as the ethics of military robotics, the moral status of AIs, human enhancement, stem cells, preimplantation genetic diagnosis, xenotransplantation, and migration. He is a co-chair of the IEEE Technical Committee on Robot Ethics and was one of the founding members of the International Committee for Robot Arms Control.

Ms Anna Evangeli

Anna Evangeli is Deputy Editor, Health + Medicine, The Conversation. She has been a health and science journalist for 30 years, and is also an experienced workshop presenter and  educator. Before The Conversation, she edited science news at the ABC, and taught journalism, media ethics and law, and professional practice at two universities.

Anna has an MA in journalism from UTS and a BSc (Hons) in biochemistry (University of Kent). She is also an award-winning blogger and travel writer.

In her spare time, Anna designs buildings, which she sees as another way of communicating complex, technical ideas, in a creative way, to a variety of audiences.

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[conversci]

Graeme Clark Oration Neurotechnology Workshop

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Neurotechnology is a promising and fascinating field of research attracting increased attention and resources.  The ability to record brain signals and translate them into commands offers researchers the possibility of addressing neurological diseases, such Parkinson’s Disease, epilepsy and spinal cord injury. 

Australia is an emerging player in the field, with university research programs and PhD training. A few enterprises - Saluda Medical and Synchron  - are among those that have been founded to develop neurotechnologies for advanced therapeutic applications. Nationally, a Brain Alliance is bringing together the nation’s expertise to improve our understand brain and to find innovative solutions to brain-related disease.

A neurotechnology workshop will be held in conjunction with the Graeme Clark Oration 2019, to be delivered by Professor Tim Denison, Professor of Neurotechnology, University of Oxford

This one-day workshop will bring together clinical and technological expertise from around Australia to explore recent technological advances applications.

Who will be attending?

Our line-up of speakers includes leading researchers and clinicians and the special guest, Professor Timothy Denison, of Oxford University. Attendees will include neurotechnology leaders, clinician-scientists, early career researchers, students and representatives from industry

The workshop will feature the following presenters:

• Professor Timothy Denison • Professor Paul Fitzgerald, Monash University • Dr Thushara Perera, Bionics Institute • Professor Wes Thevathasan, St Vincent’s Hospital • Dr Dean Karantonis, Saluda Medical • Dr Thomas Oxley, Synchron • Dr Brooke Farrugia, University of Melbourne • Dr Philippa Karoly, University of Melbourne • Dr Tatiana Kameneva, Swinburne University

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When Tuesday, 23 July 2019 10.00am – 5.00 pm Where Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre Clarendon Room A, Level 4 South Wharf 3004

$80 (incl GST) $40 (incl GST) - student rate, for undergraduate/postgraduate/PhD students.

Prices include lunch, tea/coffee.

[conversci]

Women in STEMM Lunch - Prominent women in STEMM panel

Join a panel of prominent women in industry discussing the role of women in STEMM.

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The number of women who step in as technology founders is so low, little is done to change the status quo and to inspire women who have the background and potential to do this, especially in the fields of engineering and IT.

All too often, announcements of new start-up ventures invariably highlight men as the founders and leaders. These images only serve to create a barrier for women who are qualified but do not see themselves as entrepreneurs and leaders.

The 2019 Graeme Clark Oration Women in STEMM Lunch seeks to address this inaccurate portrayal of women by showcasing three outstanding Women in STEMM entrepreneurs. This event will serve to demonstrate and share the stories of women who have led companies in the biomedical and health space, and to help expand the breadth and depth of the network of women who are in STEMM entrepreneurship or who aspire to join this space.

Each woman will share her experience in stages of the start-up business journey, convene for a panel discussion and take audience questions.

The panel comprises four outstanding women in STEMM, each in leadership positions in the tech industry. The panel members are:

Dr Michelle Perugini, Co-founder and CEO of Presagen

Professor Mimi Tang, co-founder, Chief Scientific Officer/Chief Medical Officer, Prota Therapeutics

Dr Tracey Brown, Chief Development Officer, Antara Life Sciences.

Ms Anette Hicks, Senior Health Advisor, Watson Health, IBM Australia (Moderator)

Who will benefit by attending this event?

This event will benefit:

women who are presently in academia or research

women who may be considering a career in the technology and healthcare industries

women looking to be inspired by Women in STEMM role models and leaders

women looking to build networks of Women in STEMM entrepreneurship

male champions of Women in STEMM.

Early Bird Registration:

Take advantage of the Early Bird registrations, $125 (incl. GST) per person, until Midnight, 23 June. Regular ticket cost from 24 June will be $150 (incl. GST) per person.

When Monday, 22 July 2019 12.00 pm – 2.30 pm Where Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre Sovereign Room, Level 1 Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre South Wharf 3004

$150 - after 24 June  |  $125 - Early Bird

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[conversci]

Publish or Perish

The future of academic publishing and biomedical research Tuesday, 18 June 2019

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Australia’s medical research community has in recent years faced important pressures and challenges.  Funding cuts, uncertain research career prospects and research careers cut short, the push for better research translation for social impact are among some of the issues that are confronting many researchers.  We have convened a panel to discuss an emerging issue for the local biomedical research community:  the disruption to academic publishing and its likely impact on the sector.

Academic journals have been the longstanding method for scientists to communicate new knowledge and ideas to their peers.  They are influential in building the reputation and career of researchers as well as the reputation and ranking of research institutes and universities, in securing research funding, and in facilitating translation for impact.  Access to this new knowledge is only possible through a subscription model where scientists or institutions pay to access journals, commonly referred to as the paywall barrier.  As a result, publishing of academic journals has also become a major business.  

The digital revolution is disrupting academic publishing.  Digital journals have changed the nature of and access to scholarly academic material through new distribution channels. Authors are bypassing subscription-based publishing and adopting an Open Access publishing model, where no payment is required to access articles or journals.  In the biomedical sciences, examples of Open Access is represented by journals such as PLOS (Public Library of Science) and BioMed Central.  

Open Access publishing is gaining support, with a growing number of universities in the US and Europe deciding not to renew traditional multi-year licences with journal publishers.  The European Union has resolved that all European scientific publications should be accessible by Open Access from 2020.  A largely European-based initiative, Coalition S, is also insisting that by 2020, it will be mandatory that any research funded by consortium members be freely and immediately available to the public.

The disruption of academic publishing is a global phenomenon, but what impact may it may have on our biomedical research community?  

What are the features of the Open Access model?  

How should researchers choose between publishing in traditional or Open Access journals?

Will Open Access publishing result in better outcomes – for researchers, universities, research institutes and the economy?  

Will Open Access result in better innovation?

How are our universities and funding bodies responding to this new publishing model?  

We are bringing together a panel of experts representing the key stakeholders in Australian biomedical research to address and other questions.  

Our panel members:

Professor James McCluskey AO, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), University of Melbourne

Dr Julie Glover, Executive Director of the Research Foundations Branch,National Health and Medical Research Council

Dr Glenn Begley, CEO, BioCurate Ltd

Dr Clare Fedele, Senior Postdoctoral Researcher, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre

Mr James Mercer, Regional Sales Director Oceania, Springer Nature

Professor Beth Webster (Moderator), Director, Centre for Transformative Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology

Who will benefit by attending?

Researchers, particularly in the sciences, bioengineering and computing disciplines

Businesses related to the biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and medical technology industries

Undergraduate and postgraduate students

Anyone interested in the future of biomedical research in Australia

Professor James McCluskey

James McCluskey AO, FAA, FAHMS B Med Sci (UWA), MBBS (UWA), FRACP, FRCPA, MD (UWA) is Deputy Vice Chancellor Research and Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor in Microbiology and Immunology at The University of Melbourne.

He trained in Perth as a physician and as a research fellow at the National Institutes of Health (USA). He has held senior positions at Monash University, Flinders University and the Australian Red Cross Blood Service in Adelaide, South Australia. He established the SA unrelated bone marrow donor registry.

He has published more than 320 scientific articles on HLA, immunogenetics, antigen presentation and immune recognition. His work has spanned transplantation biology, autoimmunity, T cell hypersensitivity and recognition of non-peptide ligands by unconventional T cells.  

He led the development, funding and establishment of the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity and coordinated the team that won a USD$50M grant from The Atlantic Philanthropies to help to establish a new Fellowship program focused on indigenous leadership to effect social change.

He is a past President of the Australasian Society for Immunology, The Australasian & South East Asian Tissue Typing Society and the International Histocompatibility Workshop Group.

He has been a director of more than 10 independent medical research institutes and cooperative research centres.

Dr Julie Glover

Dr Glover is the Executive Director of the Research Foundations Branch. This includes responsibility for directing NHMRC’s research support schemes, leading strategic research activities and international collaborations.

Dr Glover completed a PhD in the Faculty of Science at the Australian National University in 1996 and held research positions until joining the Bureau of Rural Sciences in 2002. In 2007 Julie moved into the Innovation Division of the Department of Industry and spent the next four years developing and delivering key innovation policies. Dr Glover joined NHMRC as a Director in 2011.

Dr C. Glenn Begley M.B., B.S., Ph.D., F.R.A.C.P., F.R.C.P.A., F.R.C.Path., F.A.H.M.S.

Dr Begley is the inaugural CEO of BioCurate, a joint initiative of Monash and Melbourne Universities and created to provide commercial focus in the early phases of drug development.

He served as Chief Scientific Officer at Akriveia Therapeutics, California (2016-2027) and TetraLogic Pharmaceuticals, Pennsylvania (2012-2016).  From 2002-2012, he was Vice-President and Global Head of Hematology/Oncology Research at Amgen, Thousand Oaks, California, responsible for building, directing and integrating Amgen’s 5 research sites.  There he highlighted the issue of research integrity and scientific reproducibility.

Since then he has made multiple presentations on the subject of scientific integrity including to President Obama's Science Council, the White House, US National Institutes of Health, US Academies of Science, US National Institute of Standards and Technology, the British Broadcasting Company, Wellcome Trust, Australian National Health and Medical Research Council, and numerous Universities, Research Institutes and companies.

Before Amgen he had over 20 years of clinical experience in medical oncology and hematology.  His personal research focused on regulation of hematopoietic cells and translational clinical trials.  His early studies, in Prof Donald Metcalf’s department first described human G-CSF, and in later clinical studies, performed in Professor Richard Fox’s Department at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, the group first demonstrated that G-CSF-"mobilized" blood stem cells hastened hematopoietic recovery, a finding that revolutionized bone-marrow transplantation.

His honors include being elected as the first Foreign Fellow to the American Society of Clinical Investigation in 2000, to the Association of American Physicians in 2008, and in 2014 to the Research "Hall of Fame" at his alma mater, the Royal Melbourne Hospital and to the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.

Dr Clare Fedele

Dr Clare Fedele is a cancer scientist and Strategic Research Communications Officer at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.

She has a PhD in biochemistry from Monash University and has been the recipient of prestigious fellowships from the NHMRC and the Victorian Cancer Agency.

Clare is passionate about science outreach and is a regular on ABC Melbourne Breakfast radio, where she brings biomedical science stories to life.

In 2017 Clare was named a Superstar of STEM by Science and Technology Australia, a federal program aimed at increasing the public visibility of female leaders in STEM industries.

Mr James Mercer

James Mercer is the Regional Sales Director Oceania, Springer Nature.  He has worked in academic publishing in commercial roles for 20 years.  Joining Springer in 2008 he has been responsible for Springer Nature’s sales in Southeast Asia and Oceania.  Between 2004 and 2008 he was responsible for Oxford University Press’ journals business across the Asia-Pacific region.

Prior to joining OUP James fulfilled a number of positions at Blackwell’s in the UK after graduating from the University of Leeds in 1999.

Professor Beth Webster

Beth Webster is the Director of the Centre for Transformative Innovation at Swinburne University. Previously she was Director at Intellectual Property Research Institute of Australia and Professorial Fellow, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economics and Social Research. She has a PhD from the University of Cambridge. She has undertaken wide-ranging research on the economics of innovation, intellectual property, as well as more general research on the performance of Australian enterprises. This includes over 100 articles in refereed journals.

Recent government clients include the Commonwealth Departments of Industry, Technology and Resources; Employment; Education, Training; IP Australia; the Fair Pay Commission; AusAID and the Victorian Departments of Treasury and Finance and Environment, the European Commission, the OECD and the Garnaut Climate Change Review. Industry clients include IBM, Medicines Australia; the Business Council of Australia.

In recent years she has undertaken many studies on industry performance, both using BLADE and other relevant datasets, for the Victorian Government, The Australia Department of Industry, Austrade, IP Australia, The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade inter alia.

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Event details:

Date:  Tuesday, 18 June 2019

Time: 6.00pm – 7.30pm

Venue: 

Elisabeth Murdoch Theatre A

Elisabeth Murdoch Building, Spencer Road

University of Melbourne

Parkville

[conversci]

Couples in Biomedical Research: Bio-embracing technologies

Monday 20 May 2019

Bio-embracing technologies: Micro/Nano-scale devices to mimic or measure bio-systems: Professors Madhu Bhaskaran and Sharath Sriram

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We held our first event in the series Spotlight on Couples in Biomedical Research last May. The second event in this series will feature Madhu Bhaskaran and Sharath Sriram from the School of Engineering at RMIT University. They will share their work in using nanotechnology to develop a range of devices that address real-world applications in partnership with industry. They will also discuss the challenges of managing a pressured academic life and its impact on the work-life balance.

The Functional Materials and Microsystems Research Group harnesses discoveries at the convergence of engineering, materials science, physics, and chemistry to create new functional devices. We will delve into a world of nanotechnology that allows electronic materials to mimic and monitor biological systems.

Drawing inspiration from the human brain, and the synaptic cleft, we create nanoscale electronic memories. Ionic transport in the synaptic cleft is mimicked in ultra-thin oxides, enabling multi-state memories and time-dependent functionality. While creating complex memories for commercial applications, we also show bio-inspired performance with electronics with 10% of biological data.

Hard wearables such as smart watches are now ubiquitous, but conformal electronics that function as skin-like sensing surfaces are limited by materials challenges. Overcoming the challenges of integrating high-temperature-processed oxide thin films and polymer materials creates new opportunities in highly functional wearable sensors. We realise thin electronic patches that adhere to the skin that can measure and diagnose, monitoring environment around, on, and within us – while communicating wirelessly.

Industry and end-user benefit underpin all our activities and industry-partnered case studies for aged-care monitoring and early intervention for cardiovascular diseases are presented.

Our Presenters

Professors Madhu Bhaskaran and Sharath Sriram jointly lead the Functional Materials and Microsystems Research Group at RMIT University. The Group undertakes multidisciplinary research at the convergence of engineering, physics, chemistry, and biomedicine. The discoveries made at micro/nano-scales are transformed into prototypes often in partnership with industry.

Professor Madhu Bhaskaran is an Australian Research Council Fellow and Associate Dean for Higher Degrees by Research in the School of Engineering at RMIT University. Her work seeks to transform conventional hard electronics into soft and unbreakable products, thin enough to create electronic skin. She has been named as one of Top 10 Innovators under 35 for Asia (MIT Technology Review 2016). She has also been recognised with a 2017 Eureka Prize for Outstanding Early Career Researcher, 2018 Batterham Medal, and 2018 APEC Aspire Prize.

Professor Sharath Sriram is the Founding Deputy Director and Scientific Coordinator of RMIT University's $30 million Micro Nano Research Facility. His focus is on unlocking new properties in ultra-thin electronic materials to mimic brain function, sense biometric parameters, and create high-speed communication technologies. A former Australian Research Council Fellow, his research excellence recognition includes the 2012 NMI Prize for Measurement Excellence from the National Measurement Institute, Australia; a 2012 Victoria Fellowship; the 2016 Australian Museum 3M Eureka Prize for Emerging Leader in Science; and being named among Australia’s Most Innovative Engineers 2016 by Engineers Australia.

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Date:                    Monday, 20 May 2019

Venue:                 Auditorium, Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity 792 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne

Time:                   6.00pm – 7.00pm. Refreshments will be served from 5.00pm.

[conversci]

Who do you think you are? Philosophy, neuroscience and the nature of consciousness

Tuesday, 7 May 2019

We are all intimately acquainted with our conscious thoughts, feelings, memories, imaginings and even dreams. Yet consciousness remains one of the biggest mysteries of the human brain.

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Human consciousness, our perception of what exists as well as our thoughts, feelings, imaginings and dreams has attempted to be understood by philosophers through conceptual analysis and thought experiments. Neuroscientists have sought to describe it as a biological process of neuronal activity captured by measurable tests of brain activity.  Increasingly, philosophers and neuroscientists are also joining forces in interdisciplinary consciousness science.  

Consensus is elusive. Do we experience consciousness only while we are awake? Do other animals experience consciousness? Does it fade after brain damage? Are intelligent computers conscious? Is consciousness a process?  What is it for?

We have invited a neuroscientist and philosopher to share their research and perspectives on consciousness and to provide some guidance on these questions. 

Associate Professor Nao Tsuchiya is researching the neuronal mechanisms of consciousness at Monash University’s Institute of Cognitive and Clinical Neurosciences. 

Dr Jennifer Windt is a philosopher who studies the philosophy of mind and philosophy of cognitive science at Monash University. She's particularly interested in conscious experience during sleep, including dreaming, and its relationship to wake states such as mind wandering, imagination, hallucination, and full-body illusions.

OUR SPEAKERS

Towards the physical basis of consciousness - Associate Professor Naotsugu Tsuchiya

Our subjective conscious experience is supported by neural activities in the brain. Although questions about consciousness have puzzled humanity for centuries, an empirical scientific research program, which aims to identify the neural correlates of consciousness, has started relatively recently, only a few decades ago. As such, we are still far from answering the fascinating questions about consciousness, such as: Can we tell unconscious people from conscious ones, just based on neural activity in the brain? Is each one of us consciously experiencing the world in the same way - Can we determine if my “red” color sensation is the same as yours, based on neural measures? Do newborn babies, animals, insects, plants and future artificial intelligence have consciousness? In this talk, I will discuss recent progress on scientific research on  onsciousness, which paves possible ways to address these seemingly philosophical questions with empirical neuroscientific methods. In the future we may arrive at the theory of consciousness to answer these questions.

Dr Tsuchiya was awarded a PhD at California Institute of Technology in 2006. In 2012, he joined the School of Psychological Sciences at Monash University as an Associate Professor. His main research interest is to uncover the physical basis of consciousness. Specifically, he focuses on: 1) the scope and limit of non-conscious processing, 2) the relationship between attention and consciousness, 3) the neuronal correlates of consciousness and 4) testing a theory of consciousness, in particular, integrated information theory of consciousness. Combining empirical, computational and theoretical research methods through interdisciplinary collaborations, he hopes to solve to the problem of consciousness.

How sleep and dream research are revolutionizing our understanding of our conscious minds - Dr Jennifer M. Windt

What happens to conscious experience as we slip from wakefulness into sleep and dreams? Do we dream throughout the night, or are parts of sleep unconscious? How do fluctuations in sleep- related experience align with different sleep stages? And what do these changes tell us about consciousness? In my talk, I’ll review findings from the science of sleep and dreaming and argue that in many ways, they are revolutionizing our understanding of sleep and its relation to consciousness; they also require us to rethink the relation between sleep and wakefulness as well as new methodologies for their investigation. Sleep is not a period of uniform passivity and rest characterized by a loss of consciousness. Instead, sleep is heterogeneous, active, and teems with different kinds of experience. Investigating how changes in conscious experience, including dreaming, arise from local changes in brain activity promises to enrich our image of our minds. It can also help identify the neural correlates of conscious experience and may shed light on the minimal requirements for subjective experience.

Jennifer M. Windt is a lecturer in philosophy and senior research fellow at Monash University. Her research centers on philosophy of mind and philosophy of cognitive science. She is particularly interested in mental states in which we disengage from ongoing tasks and the environment. These include mind wandering and spontaneous thought in wakefulness, but also dreaming and other sleep-related experiences as well as sleep-wake transitions. Her research is informed by empirical research findings and interdisciplinary collaborations. She is the author of Dreaming (2015, MIT) and together with Thomas Metzinger edited Open MIND (2016, MIT; an open access version is available at open-mind.net). She is currently working on a research project on mind wandering across the sleep-wake cycle funded by the Australian Research Council.

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Date:                                 Tuesday, 7 May 2019

Venue:                               Auditorium, Monash Biomedical Imaging Monash University 770 Blackburn Road Clayton

Time:                                 6.00pm – 7.30pm Refreshments will be served from 5.00pm.

[conversci]

Gene therapy: miracle in our midst

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When the Convergence Science Network invited me to give a talk the brief was to address the issue of hype versus hope in the spruiking of medical advances. Audience members often expressed a sense of frustration with ‘breakthroughs‘ that have yet to materialise, I was told.

The Network’s request is a tall order.

I am certainly guilty of spruiking, though my reporting, feature articles and two books: one on the 1998 human embryonic stem cell revolution and another on the 2001 reading of the human genome with its promise of personalized medicine.

Both these breakthroughs are around twenty years old so it is a fair time to ask: what have they delivered? I was all prepared to make a level-headed attempt to answer the question. It would have gone along the following lines.

In the case of human embryonic stem cells, there’s not a great deal yet to have arrived in the clinic. The furthest treatment down the track is one for treating macular degeneration. We’re still waiting for treatments for other ailing tissues to prove their worth. I can’t help inserting this gorgeous cartoon from a story in last September’s issue of Cosmos magazine, “Calling the stem cell race.” https://cosmosmagazine.com/biology/the-stem-cell-race

And while your GP may not yet be prescribing treatments based on your genome, there’s no doubt that it is the genome revolution we have to thank for better targeted cancer treatment, for the ability to diagnose congenital childhood illness, and crucially to carry out genetic screens on couples or embryos, to spare the tragedy of children being born with devastating genetic diseases.

So I was all set to deliver a sort of ‘cup half empty- half full’ talk when my plan was waylaid by a revolution I hadn’t even registered.

As editor in chief of a science magazine for six years, I’m not sure how I missed the gene therapy revolution. Yes we did the odd news report on gene therapy, but mostly we were blinded by the deluge of CRISPR publications – a cheap, precise new technique of gene editing that was transforming the ability to genetically modify plants, insects, animals and maybe one day humans. As it turns out this happened in China last November .

But it wasn’t just me who missed the gene therapy revolution. It seems most people I speak to about it – including many medical people – hadn’t noticed.

This isn’t a cup half full story. The most dramatic example has biblical dimensions. In 2017, the New England Journal of Medicine published the results of a gene therapy trial for children born with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). These kids normally develop paralysis and die by the age of two. Instead most were sitting and rolling; some were walking and talking. Is this just a fringe thing? Big Pharma doesn’t think so. Novartis recently paid $US 8.7 billion to purchase – AveXis, the start-up company behind the SMA trial.

In this talk, allow me to guide you through the gene therapy revolution and how it is set to disrupt the way medicine is delivered.

Our Presenter

Elizabeth Finkel is a former biochemist who now tells the stories of others scientists. She co-founded Cosmos Magazine, serving as Editor in Chief from June 2013 to September 2018 and is now Editor at Large.

She has published two books: “Stem Cells: Controversy at the Frontiers of Science” in 2005, which won the Queensland premier’s Literary award and “The Genome Generation” in 2012. Her work is regularly anthologised in Best Australian Science Writing.

In 20I5 she won the Eureka Award for Science Journalism from the Department of Industry and Science. In March 2019 she was announced as the Australian Society of Medical Research Medalist

Date:                   Wednesday, 24th April 2019

Venue:                 The Spot Level 1 Lecture Theatre Faculty of Business and Economics University of Melbourne 198 Berkeley Street (Corner Pelham Street) Carlton South

Time:                   6.00pm – 7.00pm. Refreshments will be served from 5.00pm.

[conversci]

The 2019 Graeme Clark Oration

Professor Timothy Denison - Towards an Electronic Prescription? MONDAY, 22 JULY :: MELBOURNE

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The Convergence Science Network and the Graeme Clark Institute for Biomedical Engineering are delighted to announce the details of the 2019 Graeme Clark Oration.

Professor Denison will discuss The opportunities and challenges for interfacing electrical and biological circuits for the treatment of disease. Tim holds a join appointment in Engineering Science and Clinical Neurosciences at Oxford, where he explores the fundamentals of physiologic closed-loop systems in collaboration with the Medical Research Council Brain Network Dynamics Unit.

Prior to that, Tim was a Technical Fellow at Medtronic PLC and Vice President of Research & Core Technology for the Restorative Therapies Group, where he helped oversee the design of next generation neural interface and algorithm technologies for the treatment of chronic neurological disease.

In 2012, he was awarded membership to the Bakken Society, Medtronic’s highest technical and scientific honor, and in 2014 he was awarded the Wallin leadership award, becoming only the second person in Medtronic history to receive both awards. In 2015, he was elected to the College of Fellows for the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). Tim received an A.B. in Physics from The University of Chicago, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from MIT. He recently completed his MBA and was named a Wallman Scholar at The University of Chicago.

This promises to be another outstanding Oration. This is a free event, however registration is essential.

The Oration will again feature the Biomedical Innovation Showcase, successfully introduced at the 2017 Oration. This will be a rare opportunity for the public to meet scientists and and be inspired by their commitment to improve the lives of people in Australia and the rest of the world.  

The Biomedical Innovation Showcase will be held from 4pm-6pm in the Foyer, MCEC, outside Plenary 3. Entry is free of charge and will be a showcase of exciting biomedical innovations from institutions in Melbourne.

The 2019 Graeme Clark Oration will be video recorded and available for viewing on the Internet. Photos will also be taken and used on web publications and in print publications or in promotional activities. If you do not wish to be filmed or photographed, please tell our staff members on the day.

The 2019 Graeme Clark Oration is the initiative of the Convergence Science Network and the Graeme Clark Institute for Biomedical Engineering

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[conversci]

Using AI as an early warning system for eye disease

Dr Natalie Gunn and Dr Stefan Maetschke IBM Research Australia Wednesday 20 February 2019

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Loss of vision has a profound impact on a person's life: financially, economically and socially. The incidence of eye disease is increasing with a global ageing population.

It is estimated that vision loss costs the Australian economy $16B a year, and that does not include the indirect personal and social costs when an individual loses some or all visual capacity. Like many life-changing chronic conditions, early detection is crucial to prevent debilitating vision loss.

IBM Research Australia is developing Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions to identify early signs of common eye diseases like Glaucoma and Diabetic Retinopathy. In this talk, we will shed light on the current capabilities of our technologies, and share our perspective on how these technologies can help make a difference to the prevention and identification of eye disease, and keep us all active for longer!

Click here to see a short message from the presenters: Dr Natalie Gunn and Dr Stefan Maetschke or scroll to bottom to view

Our Presenters

Dr Natalie Gunn is the Healthcare Lead at IBM Research Australia. She joined IBM Research Australia in 2012. The lab had just started and was made up of a vibrant team of early career researchers and software engineers.

Natalie began as a technical researcher tasked with producing raw materials for subsequent analysis on silicon chips at the nanoscale. She was part of a team looking at high-throughput screening of a hugely important drug target group at the single molecule level. Upon conclusion of that project, Natalie took over management of a team of computer scientists and engineers and began to develop an agenda around Artificial Intelligence solutions for Eye Health. Today, she is passionate about developing AI that delivers value for individuals, communities and IBM.

Dr. Stefan Maetschke is a Senior Research Engineer at IBM Research Australia. He was awarded his PhD in computer science from the University of Queensland in 2007.  

Major stages in his career include, R&D at Siemens, Germany, where he developed kinematic and dynamic robot models to improve trajectorial accuracy, research as a Computational Biologist at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience, Australia with a focus on the inference of biological networks, educational work as a Associate lecturer and Course coordinator for software engineering courses at the School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, Australia, and software development at Google, USA, where he implemented infrastructure and deep-learning methods for privacy protection of Street View imagery. His current research is focused on the development of machine learning methods to support the diagnosis of eye diseases.

Date:                    Wednesday, 20 February 2019

Venue:                 Auditorium, Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity 792 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne

Time:                   6.00pm – 7.15pm. Refreshments will be served from 5.00pm.

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Can Mitochondrial Donation Save Lives?

Diseases of the small circle of life: why mitochondrial donation is important

Professor Sir Doug Turnbull, Newcastle University (UK)

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Mitochondria are the powerhouses of the cell and uniquely contain their own genetic material called mitochondrial DNA. Diseases caused by mutations in this mitochondrial DNA are increasingly being recognised and may present with illness at any age. Mitochondrial DNA is passed down only from mother to child and a new IVF technique called Mitochondrial Donation has been developed to prevent this transmission. However Mitochondrial Donation remains controversial and has only been approved for treatment in the UK after the passing of specific Mitochondrial Donation Regulations by the UK Parliament. This lecture will focus not only on the importance of Mitochondrial Donation but also on the challenges of changing the law in the UK.

The event will include a patient who will describe her experience with mitochondrial DNA disease, which will illustrate the driver for developing mitochondrial donation as an IVF procedure to enable families to have a healthy child.

An inquiry into mitochondrial donation was held by the Community Affairs References Committee of the Australian Senate and a report published in June 2018.  Among its recommendations, the Committee recommended public consultation be undertaken regarding the introduction of mitochondrial donation in Australia.  It also recommended that the National Health and Medical Research Council advise the Government whether mitochondrial donation is distinct from germline genetic modification.  

Professor Sir Doug Turnbull

Professor Sir Doug Turnbull is the Director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Mitochondrial Disease at Newcastle University. He developed and leads the NHS National Highly Specialised Services for Rare Mitochondrial Diseases of Children and Adults, is Director of the Newcastle University Centre for Brain Ageing and Vitality and is an Honorary Consultant Neurologist at Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Doug has built one of the best international teams working on diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mitochondrial diseases and worked tirelessly with patients, patient organisations and policy makers to champion Mitochondrial donation. These efforts led to the UK parliament voting to allow this ground-breaking treatment to be offered to patients. He was awarded a Knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2016.

This event is jointly presented by the Convergence Science Network and the Mito Foundation (incorporating the Australian Mitochondrial Disease Foundation) who are hosting Sir Turnbull’s visit to attend the AussieMit 2018 Conference in Melbourne. 

We also thank the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and the Royal Children’s Hospital for their support in hosting this event.

Event Details: Date: Wednesday, 28 November 2018

Venue: Ella Latham Theatre, Ground Floor, The Royal Children’s Hospital, 50 Flemington Road, Parkville.  

The Royal Children’s Hospital is accessible public transport from the CBD via tram routes 58 (West Coburg) (via William Street) and 59 (Airport West) (via Elizabeth Street).  Paid car parking is also available onsite.

Time: 6.00pm – 7.30pm. Refreshments will be served from 5.00pm.

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Predicting Epileptic Seizures

Developing an implantable seizure detection device. Presented by Professor Mark Cook, University of Melbourne and St Vincent’s Hospital. Register Now

Epilepsy is a common and disabling condition, and at least 1/3 of patients are not controlled on therapies available currently. Most people with epilepsy experience ‘minor’ rather than ‘major’ seizures, which disrupt activity because they cause loss of awareness and expose the individual to dangers, such as when driving.

The unpredictability of the seizures is a major source of disability for people with epilepsy. As well, people are often unaware of their seizures, as the events cause memory disruption. We started work on seizure prediction some years ago, and then performed a first-in-man study using an invasive seizure prediction system, showing this is possible. A less invasive system was needed though, and we have developed this recently.

There have been many obstacles to the development of this system, but the device is now being manufactured with a clinical trial anticipated in mid-2019. I will describe how we approached the problem, built the team and successfully developed a partnership to commercialise this system, and how we see it will change the management of epilepsy

Professor Mark Cook

Mark Cook is the director of the Graeme Clark Institute and Sir John Eccles Chair of Medicine, University of Melbourne, and Director of Neurology at St. Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne.

He is also Chair of the Human Ethics Committee, St. Vincent’s Hospital, Honorary Physician to the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, Chair, Bionic Institute’s Honorary Clinical Research Fellows, Chair, Medical History Museum Committee. His recent work has focused on experimental models of epilepsy and seizure prediction.

He has lead 3 first-in-man studies of novel epilepsy management and treatment devices, and is currently commercialising an implantable seizure detection system with a major international manufacturer. He is an author of 2 scholarly books, 14 book chapters and over 200 published peer reviewed original papers and published abstracts. 

Event Details:

Date: Tuesday, 23 October 2018

Time:               6.00 pm – 7.00 pm.   Refreshments will be served from 5.00 pm.

Venue:             Auditorium, Doherty Institute 792 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne

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Opening the Vault - BioFab3D@ACMD

Our next Opening the Vault event will be a revisit to the popular BioFab3D@ACMD, Australia’s first hospital-based biofabrication lab.  It will be held on Wednesday, 8 August, from 4.00pm to 5.00pm, located on the First Floor, Clinical Sciences Building, St Vincent’s Hospital, 29 Regent Street, Fitzroy.  Registration is essential as places are strictly limited.  For further details, please visit the registration page here

Located at St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne, BioFab3D@ACMD is Australia's first hospital-based biofabrication, robotics and biomedical engineering research centre. Here, researchers, clinicians, engineers and industry partners are working to build biological structures such as cartilage, muscle, bone, nerves and organs: almost anything that requires repair through disease and physical trauma. Work is highly geared towards clinical translation and commercialisation. On this tour, you will get a behind the scenes look at some of the most exciting biomedical research programs in Australia, including the development of a Biopen device for handheld surgical bioprinting (twice listed on the Timeline of Key Australian Medical Technologies), and the development of a robotic hand controlled by the patient's thoughts. More information can be found here: biofab3d.org & svhm.org.au/research Date: Wednesday, 8 August 2018 Time: 4.00pm – 5.00pm Light refreshments will be served from 5.00pm. Venue: Level 1, Clinical Sciences Building, St Vincent's Hospital, 29 Regent Street, Fitzroy

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Graeme Clark Oration Biomedical Innovation Showcase

The 2018 Graeme Clark Oration will include the Biomedical Innovation Showcase launched at last year’s event.  The Showcase provided Oration attendees and the public in general an opportunity to view some of the exciting innovations coming out of our world class research laboratories.  It is also a chance to meet some of the scientists behind many of these innovations. 

The Showcase will be held on Wednesday, 4 July, in the foyer of the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, adjacent the walk-through to the Melbourne Convention Centre.  It will commence at 4.00 pm and finish at 6.00pm, and is free to attend.

Included in the showcase will be some paediatrics technology, hearing technology, 3D printed body parts and live 3D printing, research on Epilepsy and Parkinsons’ Disease, and a range of biomedical devices.

We have produced a brochure with details of all the displays which you can download and view here.

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Opening the Vault - Australian Synchrotron

A synchrotron is a large machine (about the size of a football field) that accelerates electrons to almost the speed of light. As the electrons are deflected through magnetic fields they create extremely bright light.  The light is channelled down beamlines to experimental workstations where it is used for research.      The Australian Synchrotron in Melbourne was established in Clayton in 2007 as the initiative of the Victorian Government.  From 1 January 2013, the Australian Synchrotron has been managed by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO).  In 2015, the Australian Government announced a ten-year, $520 million investment in the synchrotron’s operations.  The Australian Synchrotron is used for research and development in the fields of advanced materials, biomedical science, defence, agriculture, food technology, environmental science, minerals, nano-technology, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals and scientific instruments.  It supports the research needs of Australia’s major universities and research centres, and businesses ranging from small-to-medium enterprises to multinational companies. This tour will include an overview of the operations of the synchrotron and a tour of the beamlines.  This is a free event, however entry is available only through registration.  The event details are as follows:   Date: Wednesday, 20 June 2018 Time:  4.45pm – 6.30pm Venue: Australian Synchrotron, 800 Blackburn Road, Clayton.

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  Free parking is available on the site. Please note, refreshments will be served on arrival. 

This Opening the Vault is being held in conjunction with the Royal Society Victoria and Inspiring Australia.

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Opening the Vault - CSIRO LAB22 CSIRO Clayton

3D printing is reshaping innovation and product development across a range of industries, including biomedicine.  The CSIRO has invested $6 million in a 3D facility, Lab 22, designed to support local industry access state-of-the-art technology and adoption of 3D metal printing.  You may recall news last year of a world-first procedure in Melbourne to implant a 3D printed heel in a patient suffering cancer of the heel bone.  Lab 22 was used to collaborate with a local medical technology company and one of our partners, St Vincent’s Hospital, to design and fabricate the titanium heel implant that was implanted by surgeons three days later.  In another world first, Lab 22 developed a rib and sternum implant for a cancer patient in Spain.     This tour will include a Lab overview and presentation of biomedical applications followed by a tour of the machine stations that make up the facility.  This is a free event, however entry is available only through registration.  We have arranged two tours of Lab 22, the first commencing at 4.30 pm followed by refreshments with the second tour commencing 6.00 pm, concluding at 7.00pm.

Date: Thursday, 31 May 2018 Time: Session 1: 4.30 pm – 5.30pm Session 2:  6.00pm – 7.00pm   Refreshments 5.30pm – 6.00pm We encourage Session 2 participants to arrive just after 5.30 pm to enjoy the refreshments provided.   Venue: CSIRO Lab 22 Building 302, CSIRO Clayton

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HOW TO GET THERE

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Nanomedicine Comes of Age: How Engineered Materials Are Transforming Medical Treatment - Professor Paula T. Hammond

By alternating positively and negatively charged molecules in sequence, it is possible to generate thin films one nano-layer at a time while controlling the composition of the film with great precision.   This electrostatic layer-by-layer (LbL) process is a simple and elegant method of constructing highly tailored ultrathin polymer and organic-inorganic composite thin films.    

We have used this method to develop thin films that can encapsulate and release proteins and biologic drugs such as growth factors with highly preserved activity from the surfaces of biomedical implants or wound dressings with sustained release over periods of several days.   We have engineered coatings that yield release of different drugs, DNA or protein, resulting in highly tunable multi-agent delivery nanolayered release systems for tissue engineering, biomedical devices, and wound healing applications.  

Depending on the nature of the LbL assembly, we can generate thin films that rapidly release proteins or peptides within minutes for rapid hemostasis to stop bleeding in soldiers on the battlefield, or release growth factors that help to regenerate bone in defects where bone may no longer grow. Recently, we have adapted the LbL approach to design nanoparticles that can deliver a sequenced one-two punch to cancer cells through the delivery of drugs in sequence by designing nanolayers that give a staged release.  It is possible to design nanoparticles that consist of several nanolayers wrapped around a drug loaded core to allow the release of siRNA to silence mutant genes and lower the defences of cancer cells, followed by chemotherapeutics that enable cancer cell killing in difficult to treat tumours.

Professor Paula T. Hammond is the David H. Koch Chair Professor of Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering. She is a member of MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, the MIT Energy Initiative, and a founding member of the MIT Institute for Soldier Nanotechnology. She recently served as the Executive Officer (Associate Chair) of the Chemical Engineering Department (2008-2011). The core of her work is the use of electrostatics and other complementary interactions to generate functional materials with highly controlled architecture. Her research in nanomedicine encompasses the development of new biomaterials to enable drug delivery from surfaces with spatio-temporal control. She also investigates novel responsive polymer architectures for targeted nanoparticle drug and gene delivery, and has developed self-assembled materials systems for electrochemical energy devices.

Professor Paula Hammond was elected into the National Academy of Engineering in 2017. She was elected into the National Academy of Medicine in 2016, and into the 2013 Class of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.   She is also the recipient of the 2013 AIChE Charles M. A. Stine Award, which is bestowed annually to a leading researcher in recognition of outstanding contributions to the field of materials science and engineering, and the 2014 AIChE Alpha Chi Sigma Award for Chemical Engineering Research.   She was selected to receive the Department of Defense Ovarian Cancer Teal Innovator Award in 2013, which supports a single visionary individual from any field principally outside of ovarian cancer to focus his/her creativity, innovation, and leadership on ovarian cancer research.

The 2018 Graeme Clark Oration will be video recorded and available for viewing on the Internet.  Photos will also be taken and used on web publications and in print publications or in promotional activities.  If you do not wish to be filmed or photographed, please tell our staff members on the day.

When Wednesday, 4 July 2018 6.15 pm – 7.30 pm Where Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre Plenary 3, 1 Convention Centre Place South Wharf, Melbourne1 3004

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