Monday 11 November 2013

Dr Sarah Biggs on the importance of sleep

Dr Sarah Biggs participated in The Conversation this week, talking about sleep.

http://theconversation.com/regular-bed-times-as-important-for-kids-as-getting-enough-sleep-19396

So, what's so important about sleep?

Sarah's research tells us that sleep is critical for normal child development. However, it is not just about total hours of sleep. Having a regular bedtime is important.

Sit up, all parents!

Children who go to bed at a regular time each night are much less likely (as much as half as likely) than children who have irregular bedtimes to have hyperactivity and behavioural problems. A child whose bedtime varies from night to night by as much as 2 hours is 6 times more likely to have behavioural problems.

The key message?

Each child needs to have a regular bedtime and have 9-11 hours sleep each night.

An early night anyone?

Well done Sarah.


Euan Wallace
Director, The Ritchie Centre

Wednesday 30 October 2013

Dr Rebecca Lim Awarded Hugh Rogers Fellowship

Congratulations to Rebecca Lim on being awarded a prestigious 2013 Melbourne-Boston Sister Cities Hugh Rogers 2013 Fellowship.

Bec will use the funding to visit Carla Kim's lab at Harvard, Boston. There, she will further explore her research looking into how amnion (placental) stem cells mediate lung repair, unravelling how amnion cells wake up the lungs own progenitor (stem) cells.

This exciting new collaboration between The Ritchie Centre at Monash and the Children's Hospital Boston is made possible through this generous Fellowship.

Stay tuned for Bec's insights into the "placenta and the lung".

Euan Wallace
Director, TRC

Tuesday 10 September 2013

New treatment for ectopic pregnancy

Scientists at The Ritchie Centre and at Centre for Cancer Research at Monash Institute of Medical Research (MIMR) have published two papers in the October issue of the leading journal Obstetrics and Gynecology. 

The work has shown that combination medical treatment - tablets taken by mouth - is as effective as surgery for ectopic pregnancy. This breakthrough promises a safer treatment for ectopic pregnancy and a treatment that will preserve fertility.

The work was funded by a MIMR Flagship Grant.

Congratulations to the research teams.


Euan Wallace
Director

Monday 9 September 2013

Best talk at ANZLAA Annual conference

At the ANZLAA conference last week, Dr Hayley Dickinson was awarded Best Scientific Talk Prize.

Well done Hayley - another for the trophy cabinet!

The Ritchie Centre - world class research by world's best scientists. Saving tomorrow's lives with today's research.

Saturday 7 September 2013

Ritchie centre student success at Fetal and neonatal Physiological Society Conference

Ritchie centre PhD student Stacey Ellery was received the student award for her oral presentation "Creatine Supplementation Protects the Neonatal Spiny Mouse Following Birth Asphyxia, but does it affect the Mother" at the Fetal and Neonatal Physiological Society (FNPS) in Santiago in Chile last week.
James Aridas, another Ritchie Centre PhD student, was awarded the Tania Gunn Memorial Prize for his oral "A Comparison of Melatonin and Hyperthermia for the Treatment of the acutely Asphyxiated Newborn Lamb".

FNPS is the premier International meeting for Fetal Physiologists.

Congratulations to Stacey and James for their exceptionally good work.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Wednesday 4 September 2013

Prizes, Prizes

What a HUGE week for the Centre and, more importantly, for two of our medical students.

First, BMedSci student Katherine Allnutt won Best Allied Health presentation and a Travel Award at the Australian Diabetes in Pregnancy Society (ADIPS) for her work on early pregnancy testing for gestational diabetes. This is an "evidence-free zone". We hope that Katherine's work will provide the data to guide future pregnancy care. Katherine has been working with Associate Professor Carolyn Allan, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecologist, Monash University and Head of Pregnancy Diabetes Service at Monash Health.

Next, Natasha Pritchard won Best Clinical Paper at the Fertility Society of Australia for her work in the use of anti-oxidants in women undergoing IVF after multiple failed IVF attempts. Natasha is a final year medical student working with Associate Professor Beverley Vollenhoven, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Monash University and Director of Gynaecology Services at Monash Health. This work paves the way for future clinical trials of melatonin in women undergoing IVF. Natasha wins a funded trip to the British Fertility Society to present her work there next year.

Well done to both Katherine and Natasha. Defining tomorrow's healthcare. That's what it is all about!

Enjoy your Awards.

Euan Wallace
Director

Saturday 20 July 2013

Clean sweep for The Ritchie Centre in 3 minute Thesis Comp

Yesterday the Monash Institute of Medical Research held its annual 3 minute thesis competition - the qualifier for the Faculty competition.

Ritchie Centre PhD students excelled, winning 1st, 2nd and 3rd places. Great work.

The winners were: Stacey Ellery, Monika Skubisz, and Nicole Alers.

Congratulations to all presenters - fantastic work all round.

Good luck for the next round, next week. Go Ritchie, Go MIMR!


New funding for cord blood stem cell research

Congratulations to Centre Scientist Dr Tamara Yawno who has recently been awarded a LEW Carty Charitable Fund grant to continue her work: "Cord blood stem cells to reduce brain injury in preterm infants".

This important funding will allow Tamara and her colleagues to further explore how stem cells collected from cord blood might heal the injured newborn brain.

In Tamara's words:  "We aim to to provide the  scientific basis and knowledge to best inform how and when cord blood cells  could be administered following a severe brain injury in premature infants. We hope that this work will prevent cerebral palsy in future generations of premature babies."

Exciting work. Well done Tamara.

#onlyacurewilldo

Friday 21 June 2013

Dean's Award for Research Excellence to Centre scientist

Congratulations to Dr Hayley Dickinson, Ritchie Centre scientist, for being awarded the 2013 Dean's Award for Excellence in Research (Early Career Researcher).

Hayley's work is a regular feature of this blog. She is focussed on developing therapies to protect the developing fetus during labour and birth and on unravelling the mysteries of the placenta and its role(s) in maintaining healthy fetal development.

The Dean's Award is an outstanding recognition of the quality of Hayley's research and of the promise her work has for future Australian families.

We are very proud of Dr Dickinson. Well done.


Euan Wallace
Director, The Ritchie Centre

Monday 17 June 2013

Dr Claudia Nold - AWRS grant recipient

The Ritchie Centre is delighted to announce that Dr Claudia Nold was also awarded a Monash University Advancing Women's Research Success grant.
Only 22 awards were made University wide and TRC was awarded two.
This is an extraordinary achievement and highlights the exceptionally high standard of researcher we have here at the centre; many of whom are balancing family commitments with their successful research careers.

Congratulations to Claudia and Hayley on these awards and keep up the great work.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Monday 10 June 2013

Order of Australia - Prof. Euan Wallace

We are delighted to advise that our very own Prof. Euan Wallace has been awarded a prestigious Order of Australia in the Queen's Birthday Honours list.


 The Citation reads as follows:
MEMBER (AM) IN THE GENERAL DIVISION OF THE ORDER OF AUSTRALIA

Professor Euan Morrison WALLACE, Sandringham Vic 3191
For significant service to medicine, particularly in the areas of obstetrics and gynaecology.

The Order of Australia is an "order of chivalry" bestowed by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, to recognise Australian citizens for achievement or meritous service.
In the Australian honours system, appointments to the Order of Australia confer recognition for outstanding achievement and service.

The Ritchie Centre offers its sincere congratulations to Euan, and his family, on receipt of this most deserving and appropriate honour.

Saturday 8 June 2013

Ritchie Centre Scientists Awarded $2M from NIH for baby research

We are delighted to announce that Ritchie Centre senior scientists Professor Stuart Hooper and Dr Graeme Polglase and their team have been awarded a highly prestigious National Institutes for Health (NIH) grant for their research into how a fetus transitions into a baby at the time birth.  

Everyone of us has done it - changed from a fetus to a newborn baby - and yet, amazingly, our understanding of how each of us navigate this "transition" remains limited.

This world leading research, led by Stuart and Graeme, using state-of-the-art imaging afforded by the Synchrotron, seeks to answer the most fundamental unknowns about this critical journey that each of us make.  Why is this work so important?

Most babies "transition" with remarkable ease but many, particularly those born very premature, do not and need help to survive.  Unfortunately, this "help" often causes harm, harm that can lead to life-long disability, including brain injury resulting in cerebral palsy.

Stuart and his team know that if we better understand the physiology of transition it will be possible to improve how we resuscitate these most fragile of babies at their most vulnerable time.

This work, funded by the US NIH, is set to change the care of newborn babies in Birth Suites worldwide.

Well done team. We are very proud of your work and countless babies will be all the better for it.

#onlyacurewilldo #savingbabieslives #ausynch

Euan Wallace
Director

Wednesday 29 May 2013

Charles Roehr - preterm babies breathing

Thanks to dedicated research, Medical Science is rapidly improving. In particular, the sciences concerned with the management of babies which are born way too early, that is before their due date, which is usually around 40 weeks of pregnancy, is a fast evolving and most challenging field. Today, babies born as early as 16 weeks before their due date have a good chance of survival. Such infants will need intensive care treatment at the start of life, in order to survive. But survival can be associated with significant side effects, such as long standing problems with breathing through early childhood. Therefore, much research effort goes into finding the best possible way to help preterm infants survive without longstanding illness. One way of doing so is to find the most effective way on how to help preterm babies breathe. The aim is to the help babies get air into their lungs and breathe. This is usually done by placing a breathing tube down the babies windpipe. Doctors try to do this without hurting the child or letting the lungs suffer from the process. Once the tube is in place, doctors can assist the baby with its breathing. To do this gently, knowledge of the applied breathing volumes is necessary. Specially designed instruments can give breath by breath feed back on the volume of air going in and out of the lung. Also, the concentration of oxygen can be tailored according to the child’s requirements. The paper presented here investigated a different breathing gas than oxygen, it investigates carbondioxyde (CO2), which is present during normal gas exchange. Several studies have shown that knowledge of the concentration in the breathing gas coming from the baby may have value for the treatment of infants requiring help with breathing. We looked at how reliable the concentration of CO2 can be detected when there is a breathing tube in place. In our laboratory experiment, using a dummy, a breathing simulator and some breathing tubes, we found that the concentration of CO2 in the breathing gas can not be reliably measured in the presence of increasing leak around the breathing tube. This research will help doctors interpret the breathing gas concentrations of CO2 in the future and hopefully help gain more important information on how to best support the breathing of very prematurely born infants.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Wednesday 22 May 2013

Stem Cells and Cerebral Palsy

Centre Director, Euan Wallace, participated in a Public Forum on stem cells and cerebral palsy last night in Sydney at the Cerebral Palsy Alliance HQ in Allambie Heights, NSW.

The CP Alliance, https://www.cerebralpalsy.org.au, ran a fantastic event at the fabulous CP HQ. A webcast of the event is accessible via the CP Alliance website.

The forum discussed the prospects of using stem cells as a therapy for CP including establishing a national clinical trial in Australia.

Stay tuned for advances in this field. The Centre's Professor Michael Fahey and Euan Wallace are leading this initiative in collaboration with colleagues nationally.

Monday 6 May 2013

Dummies may reduce the risk of Cot Death

Research presented by the Centre's Rosemary Horne at the annual Pediatric Academic Societies' meeting in the US this week shows how and why giving your baby a dummy (soother) reduces their risk of Sudden Infant Death.

The work is featured by the ABC Science today:
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2013/05/06/3751068.htm

Rosemary and her team in the Infant and Child Health Theme at The Ritchie Centre  have provided world-first insight into what happens when a baby sucks on a dummy. They have shown that sucking increases a newborn baby's heart rate function, improving how the heart rate responds the blood pressure. This effect is seen in the babies who were given a dummy even when they weren't using the dummy.

How is this related to Cot Death (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome)?

Rosemary's team have previously shown that babies at high risk of SIDS are much less able to make adjustments in their heart rate and blood pressure and less able to arouse from sleep when blood pressure falls. This new work shows that babies who are given a dummy have much more responsive heart rates and so more able to compensate for changes in blood pressure. This suggests that they will be at much lower risk of SIDS.

The excitement in this work is that it provides an understanding of why using a dummy may reduce SIDS. It gives new parents the science they so badly need to help them best look after their precious newborn baby.

As always, there is more to do and much more to learn but at least Rosemary and her team have provided one more piece of the jigsaw.

Looking forward to the end of SIDS. Well done Team.



Thursday 2 May 2013

PhD student International Success

Ms Stacey Ellery is at it again, this time receiving a prestigious travel award from the International Paediatric Research Foundation and the journal, Pediatric Research. Stacey was selected as a winner of the "Best Paper Travel Award" for junior authors based on her recent publication in Pediatric Research.
Read her award winning manuscript here.

Congratulations Stacey, keep up the good work.

Professor Dan Rurak – Biological Reasons for Stillbirths

Late last year (August 2012), the Ritchie Centre was delighted to have Professor Dan Rurak, all the way from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, present some very interesting work about possible biological mechanisms for stillbirths, particularly those that occur late in gestation.

Professor Rurak presented data on the oxygen supply and demand of the fetus in the womb. His findings highlighted that the oxygen delivery to the fetus decreases with advancing gestational age due a reduction in its supply. For example, there is a decrease in blood flow/kg of fetal weight from 35 weeks of gestation until term and the increase in uterine blood flow does not keep up with the rapid increases in fetal growth rate. What needs to happen, therefore, is that the fetus must somehow decrease its fetal oxygenation consumption to balance out the reduction in supply. During a normal pregnancy this is achieved by the fetus reducing body movements, such as fetal breathing movements, and the rate of growth of the femur declines with increasing gestation.

The implication of these findings may influence conditions such as pre-emclampsia (hypertension during pregnancy) or post-term pregnancy (where the baby has not been born after 42 weeks which is the normal duration of pregnancy). In these conditions, where there is either a compromise in oxygen or a compromise in the demands of the fetus, there may be a mismatch in the supply and demand of the oxygen and these may play a role in the occurrence of stillbirths.
The Ritchie Centre has certainly been very impressed by Professor Rurak’s work that has been a fascinating look into the highly complicated and regulated process of pregnancy.



The Ritchie Centre Seminar Series: Ethics and Moral Distress in the PICU - Dr Sarah te Pas




The Ritchie Centre Seminar Committee was pleased to host Dr Sarah te Pas, a paediatric intensivist from the Sophia Children’s hospital at Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, speaking about ethics and moral distress in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU).  By her own admission, Sarah is not an ethicist but has an interest in the ethics of care related to her work and has completed a master’s degree in the “Ethics of Care”.  Sarah provided the audience with some theoretical background on ethics, ethics in science and ethics in medical care referring to the four cardinal virtues of ethics included prudence, justice, temperance and courage and the pillars of the Hippocratic Oath including autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence and justice.  When the concept of justice is involved in the ethics of care it becomes complicated as equal distribution of health care services and the costs involved become issues. 

Sarah also discussed moral distress, which occurs when a person knows what the right thing to do is but is unable to do it due to some constraint.  This is in contrast to ethical dilemma’s, where a person is grappling with what is right and what is wrong.  The most common cause of moral distress in the PICU is when parents and doctors disagree on treatment.  For example, the treating physicians may believe that treatment will result in an unacceptable residual morbidity and impairment of quality of life and therefore that treatment should be withdrawn and the patient palliated.  However, as it is the decision of the parents, if the parents want treatment to be continued regardless of the potential long-term outcomes, then it must be continued.

Sarah presented a case to the audience of a 12 week old, term born infant who was diagnosed with a rare genetic condition which resulted in ventilator dependent hypoventilation with a high likelihood that the infant would remain ventilator dependent for the rest of her life.  In addition, the condition was associated with a range of other problems including cardiac arrhythmias, gastrointestinal problems, urogenital problems etcetera.  However, as the condition was so rare, little is known about the likely prognosis making it difficult to properly inform the parents of her likely long-term outcome.  Through discussion with the audience Sarah described the Utretcht model of decision making which involves exploring, defining, analysing and weighing up options before a moral decision can be made. 

We thank Sarah for a very interesting discussion. 



Tuesday 30 April 2013

Advancing Women's Research Success Grant awarded to Centre scientist

We are thrilled to announce that Ritchie Centre scientist Dr Hayley Dickinson has been awarded one of the University's prestigious 2013 Advancing Women's Research Success grants.

This is a great achievement and well deserved. Hayley leads dynamic and innovative programs of research in making birth safer and in understanding the roles of the placenta in fetal growth.

Science is a hard career for anyone. It can be especially hard for women with young children.

This award recognises the importance of women in science and the need to continue to advance women in science.

At The Ritchie Centre we are enormously proud of all of our scientists but, perhaps, just a wee bit extra proud of our women who are caring for young families while still pushing back the frontiers.

Well done Hayley. We are very proud.

Euan Wallace
Director

Tuesday 16 April 2013

Ritchie centre students at it again - Cerebral Palsy Alliance Best Abstract Awards

Two Ritchie Centre PhD students - Samantha Barton and James Aridas were awarded the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Best Abstract Awards at the Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand (PSANZ) conference dinner tonight. Pictured below with Professor Nadia Badawi (middle right) and Associate Professor Iona Novak (left) from the Cerebral Palsy Alliance.
Congratulations to Samantha and James.


Monday 15 April 2013

Dr Nadine Brew awarded the David Henderson-Smart scholarship at PSANZ

In honour of the late David Henderson-Smart, a pioneer in perinatology, PSANZ president, Vicki Flenady today awarded the David Henderson-Smart scholarship to Dr Nadine Brew from the Ritchie Centre. This scholarship is focused on assisting early career researchers develop a research career in perinatal medicine - http://www.psanz.com.au/scholarships-awards/dhs
Nadine will present her research project entitled "Use of activated protein C to reduce brain injury in hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy" tomorrow afternoon.
Congratulations to Nadine on the award of this prestigious scholarship.

More Ritchie Centre Student Success - PSANZ 2013

5 Ritchie Centre students/post-docs have been awarded PSANZ Early career researcher travel awards:

James Aridas - PhD candidate
Samantha Barton - PhD candidate
Miranda Davies - Post-doc
Melinda Dolan - PhD candidate
Jacqueline Melville - PhD candidate

Congratulations to these students/post-doc on their success.

Watch this space for more updates from PSANZ 2013 in Adelaide

Ritchie Centre student success at Fetal and Neonatal Workshop in Barossa Valley

Students of the Ritchie Centre have shown their brilliance at the recent Fetal and Neonatal Workshop of Australia and New Zealand, winning 4 of the 8 prizes awarded at the meeting.

Stacey Ellery took out the best student presentation prize with her talk "Maternal Creatine Supplementation Protects the Neonatal Spiny Mouse Following Birth Asphyxia, but what are the Effects on the Mother?"

Domenic LaRosa took out the runner up best student presentation prize with his talk "Maternal dietary creatine supplementation prevents changes in diaphragm muscle function 1 month after asphyxia at birth?"

Melinda Dolan was the runner up for the most outstanding short oral and her presentation "Determining the role of glucocorticoids in inflammation-induced fetal lung maturation using glucocorticoid receptor knockout mice", was noted for having the most complicated experimental design!

Justin Lang won the best response to a question prize.

Congratulations to these students and all of the Ritchie Centre students who showcased the excellent research being conducted at the centre.