Upcoming funding opportunities

These are just a few of the research grants that are currently open and available to surgeons.  Dr Daphne Vogiagis, Buisness Manager at the Alfred Department of Surgery, maintains a complete list of upcoming grants which will soon be available on our website.  She can be contacted by email Daphne.Vogiagis@monash.edu

NHMRC Partnership Project Grants

Up to $1.5M and up to 5 years

Closing Date:  23 November 2016 Minimum Data Requirement.  NHMRC external deadline: 7 December 2016.

Opportunities for researchers and policy makers to work together to define research questions, undertake research, interpret the findings and implement the findings into policy and practice. Partnership projects will answer a specific research question to influence health and well-being through changes in the delivery, organisation, funding and access to health services.

https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/grants-funding/apply-funding/partnerships-better-health/partnerships-projects


NHMRC Practitioner Fellowships
Closing Date: 1 February 2017 to MRO: 18 January 2017

Amount: Level 1 $133,703 per year, level 2 $160,389
These support active clinicians and public health or health services professionals in undertaking part-time research that is linked to their practice or policy. The aim is to support research which results in the translation of new evidence into improved clinical practice and health policy and which delivers improvements in health and healthcare to Australians.

https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/book/nhmrc-funding-rules-2016/NHMRC-funding-rules-2016/practitioner-fellowships-scheme-specific/1

NHMRC Research Fellowships

Closing Date: 1 February 2017 to MRO: 18 January 2017

Amount: $124,531 to $170,396
These fellowships support Australia’s medical and health research, and are available for researchers working in biomedical, clinical, public health and health services research areas. Full time and part time fellowships are available for a period of five years.

https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/book/nhmrc-funding-rules-2015/research-fellowships

NHMRC Development Grants

Closing Date: 1 February 2017 to MRO: 18 January 2017

The Development Grants scheme provides financial support to individual researchers and/or research teams to undertake health and medical research within Australia at the proof of principle or pre-seed stage that specifically drives towards a commercial outcome within a five-year timeframe.

Early stage research or knowledge creation research (this is fundable through the NHMRC Project Grants scheme) will not be funded through the Development Grants scheme.

The Development Grants scheme supports the commercial development of a product, process, procedure or service that if applied, would result in improved health care, disease prevention or provide health cost savings.  Research supported by this scheme must have experimental data that supports a demonstrated proof of principle or pre-seed concept and have a detailed feasible commercialization strategy that takes into account the regulatory pathway, protectable IP, commercial barriers and potential routes to market.

https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/grants-funding/apply-funding/development-grants

D. S. Rosengarten Surgical Trainee Research Prize 2016 - open for applications

D. S. Rosengarten Surgical Trainee Research Prize 2016 is now open for applications.
• Taking place: Saturday 3 December 2016 at 8am
• Applications due: Friday 25 November, 2016
• About the D.S. Rosengarten Surgery Prize.
The prize consisting of a shield and $1000 will be awarded for the best surgical research project performed by an Alfred Hospital surgical trainee.
2015's prize winner, Dr Katherine Suter with Mrs Rosengarten (left).

Advanced and Basic Surgical trainees in all disciplines at The Alfred Hospital are eligible to apply and are encouraged to participate.

The winner, to be decided by a panel of adjudicators, will be announced at the conclusion of a scientific symposium at which the projects will be presented. This will be held on Saturday 3 December, 2016 at 8:00am in the AMREP Seminar Room, AMREP Education Centre, The Alfred.
The format will be ten minutes verbal presentation with five minutes discussion.

The panel of adjudicators will award points for the following: originality of idea, planning and design, methodology, analysis, conclusion, presentation, discussion and the abstract.
The closing date for applications will be Friday 25 November, 2016.

It is emphasised that abstracts submitted after this date will not be accepted.

The application should include a summary abstract (no greater than 200 words on A4 paper, preferably in WORD format) of the project including introduction, aims, methods, results and conclusion and should be forwarded to:

Ms Jane Babarikas,
Personal Assistant, Department of General Surgery
6th Floor, Centre Block, Alfred Hospital
Or via email to j.babarikas@alfred.org.au
t 9076 3290  f  9076 3902 
On behalf of Mr Stewart Skinner Chairman
Further details and advice may be obtained from Mr Stewart Skinner, Professor Jonathan Serpell or Associate Professor Wendy Brown

Message from the Chair of MUSAG - Professor Julian Smith

Surgery in the new Monash MD course

The March 2016 edition of The Cutting Edge outlined the proposed changes to the undergraduate medical course at Monash University and introduced the new Monash MD course. The curriculum framework in the new Monash MD course places Surgery throughout Year 3/B and also as a dedicated six week Surgery rotation in Year 5/D. The undergraduate surgical curriculum is currently undergoing review by the Surgery Discipline Reference Group, co-chaired by Mr. Peter Evans and Mr. Tristan Leech who have both been appointed the Curriculum Assessment Leads for Surgery. The surgical curriculum developed by the Group will be ready for delivery to the first Year 3/B cohort in 2018.

There will also be a significant research component in the new Monash MD course with an On-line Research Methods Module in Year 3/B and a six week Scholarly Intensive Project in Year 5/D. The Scholarly Intensive Project will include traditional research activities in the biomedical, social, educational and population sciences as well as quality improvement activities in clinical practice. As a there is likely to be a high demand for surgical research projects, there will be a need to identify suitable projects and supervisors to ensure that the agreed standard of academic rigour is applied to meet the various accreditation standards. All Departments of Surgery will need to contribute to this exciting new endeavor.

It is very pleasing that Surgery will continue to have a strong profile within the new Monash MD course and also that students will be introduced to aspects of surgical research, both of which may encourage students to pursue a career in Surgery and possibly with a significant academic component.

The Cutting Edge will continue to report on the above developments as they evolve.

New short course! Introduction to Surgical Research starting in June 2016

Mr James Lee is convening a new short course, "Introduction to surgical research", starting in June 2016. The course is designed for:

• Early postgraduate research students
• SET trainees
• Pre-SET trainees
• Interns and Residents
• Medical Students – Year 3+ / BMedSci / Honours students recommended (1st and 2nd years please enquire)
• Link: www.med.monash.edu.au/surgery/alfred/teaching/sc-intro-surgery.html

What is the Monash University Academic Surgery Group (MUASG)?

At a meeting of the Monash University Professors of Surgery held on 10 February 2016, it was unanimously resolved to form a group representing the Departments of Surgery across Monash University clinical teaching sites. These include:

•  School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health
•  Eastern Clinical School at Eastern Health
•  Cabrini Health Department of Surgery
•  Central Clinical School Department of Surgery at Alfred Health

The name of this group will be the Monash University Academic Surgery Group (MUASG).

Membership of this group would be open to any involved with surgical teaching and/or surgical research throughout the various Monash University campuses. The Executive of the group will comprise the Monash University Professors of Surgery with departmental management responsibilities. The Chair and Secretary of MUASG will be elected biannually by the Executive.

The purposes of MUASG will be to:

1. support, encourage and enhance academic surgical activities throughout the Monash University campuses in the fields of surgical teaching and surgical research
2. promote both the professionalism and prestige of academic surgeons
3. provide a forum for mutual support and encouragement
4. foster both innovation and consistency of implementation of academic surgical activities, including supporting grant applications and  implementation of surgical and translational research projects
5. create a central point for communication with others within the Monash University structure and to provide advice about academic surgical activities and aspirations.
6. provide advice and support with respect to academic career development.

The Chair will be responsible for overseeing the activities and interactions of MUASG including convening meetings of the Executive and of the wider membership. The Secretary will provide assistance to the Chair and be responsible for a periodic newsletter.

The responsibilities of the members of the Executive will be to support the Chair with advice and to publicise MUASG within their Departments.

At the meeting on the 10 February, Professor Julian Smith (SCS/Monash Health) was elected Chair and Professor Wendy Brown (CCS/Alfred Health) was elected Secretary.

What departments make up MUASG?

Any Department of Surgery affiliated with Monash University are automatically a part of MUASG.  The current Executive of the group is comprised of the Monash University Professors of Surgery with departmental management responsibilities, namely:


Professor Julian Smith (Chair)
Head, Monash Health Department of Surgery
School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health










Professor Michael Grigg
Head, Eastern Health Department of Surgery
Eastern Clinical School







Professor Paul McMurrick
Head, Cabrini Health Department of Surgery
Central Clinical School






Professor Wendy Brown (Secretary)
Head, Alfred Health Department of Surgery
Central Clinical School

What’s new in Research – across the campuses

Monash Health

Surgery in the New England Journal of Medicine!

Professor Julian Smith in conjunction with Professor Paul Myles (head of Anaesthesia Alfred Health) have had a landmark paper exploring the use of aspirin in cardiac surgery published in the New England Journal of Surgery.  They found among patients undergoing coronary artery surgery, the administration of preoperative aspirin resulted in neither a lower risk of death or thrombotic complications nor a higher risk of bleeding than that with placebo.  Check out the full article at: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1507688

Monash Health pancreatic
surgeon Mr Dan Croagh

Pancreatic biobank

The major focus of research in the Monash Health HPB unit is pancreatic cancer, in particular, the application of targeted therapy to improve patient outcomes. The overall 5 year survival for pancreatic cancer remains dismal at 5% and pancreatic cancer is predicted to be the second commonest cause of cancer related mortality by 2030.

Future improvements in survival will only come with better systemic chemotherapy or earlier diagnosis. As our understanding of pancreatic cancer genomics improves thank to the work, among others, of the Australian Pancreatic Cancer Genome Initiative, it is likely that individual patients with specific genetic mutations, or patterns of mutations, will benefit from targeted of tailored chemotherapy. As yet this has not reached clinical practice. 

In collaboration with Brendan Jenkins at the Hudson Institute, we have been investigating the use of endoscopic ultrasound guided fine aspiration to obtain tissue from patients with pancreatic cancer to characterise their cancer genomics. Our work is currently being supported by a grants from the CASS Foundation, Mylan, and Cook Medical along with funding from the Department of Surgery and Monash University. This has allowed us to select a small group of patients with unresectable pancreatic cancer who may benefit from a specific form of chemotherapy.

Over the next 12 months, we are planning a pilot study to examine the efficacy of a novel targeted chemotherapy in this select group of patients. This study will also require screening virtually all patients with pancreatic cancer for the specific mutation thus allowing us to create a high quality biobank of pancreatic cancer samples. This biobank is currently being expanded to include other sites around Victoria to create The Victorian Pancreatic Cancer Biobank which will be linked to the Upper GI Cancer Registry, administered by the Monash School of Public Health. The linkage of the biobank and clinical data will provide an invaluable resource which will allow us to investigate other targeted chemotherapies as they become available. Hopefully by adding our contribution to this iterative process we can help improve outcomes for our patients. 

Eastern Health

Dr Sean Mackay, surgeon

The Eastern Health Surgical Research Group has the dual aims of supporting research and audit projects conducted by residents and registrars in clinical posts at Eastern Health, and of supporting higher degree students from the surgical stream. 

The EHSRG is convened by Adrian Fox and Sean Mackay, with the assistance of Salena Ward, and Professor Richard Cade. 

In terms of the work undertaken by residents and registrars in clinical posts, the aim is to pair a researcher up with a suitable supervisor from the EH/Monash senior staff, and then to facilitate the work undertaken.  EHSRG meetings are held weekly to keep the wider group abreast of the progress.

The supervision of the MS projects is conducted by the EHSRG senior staff in collaboration with other members of the EH/Monash senior/academic staff.  Current projects include:

• What is the rationale for, and the best way of delivering a pre-operative very-low-calorie-diet in patients being prepared for weight loss surgery?
• What is the role of percutaneous cholecystostomy in the management of complicated gallstone disease, and what is the best way to manage a cholecystostomy tube once it has been put in?
• Audit of outcomes from Whipple pancreatico-duodenectomy operations over the last 15 years.
• What is the role of liver MRI in cases of potentially resectable colorectal cancer metastases?
• Victorian data on post-oesophagectomy mortality – comparison with national and international data and commentary on the centralization debate.
• Analysis of functional pancreatic exocrine insufficiency after major upper GIT resection – patients with normal faecal elastase but elevated three day faecal fats.
• Audit of a group of patients who have had post-op (as well as pre-op) oesophageal pH testing – the role of testing in this group, and the potential role of pre-op testing on treatment as well as off it.
• What are the laboratory and research markers of metabolic syndrome, and can we use them to help us decide when to offer weight-loss surgery (MS project).
• What is the role of balloon sphincteroplasty at the initial ERCP, compared with a delayed sphincteroplasty, in the management of larger bile duct stones (RCT – MS project).
• What is the role of overall weight and weight/BMI in determining the optimal prophylactic dose of LMWH (MS project).

The group welcomes new members.  Please email  sean.mackay@monash.edu or adrianmfox@gmail.com with your enquiry.

Cabrini Health

Dr Simon Wilkins

Major Grant success!

A team of researchers from Cabrini health, Hudson Institute for Medical Research and Monash University have recently been awarded a $2 Million Translational Research Project grant for the next three years from the Victorian Cancer Agency (VCA).

This grant will start a Phase II clinical trial aimed at identifying which patients with bowel or prostate cancer will respond well to a new suite of anti-cancer drugs called BET inhibitors.

Project title: Super-enhancer templated RNAs as predictive biomarkers of BET inhibitor sensitivity in prostate and colorectal cancer

Dr Arun Azad (Lead Applicant), Dr Ron Firestein, A/Prof Helen Abud, A/Prof Paul McMurrick, Prof Gail Risbridger, Dr Simon Wilkins. 2016-2018 $2,000,000.

ADIPOSe Clinical trial commences

Professor Wendy Brown,
Head of Surgery, CCS/Alfred

ADIPOSe: Australian decrease in intra-pelvic obesity for surgery trial-Using VLEDs to reduce weight and improve outcomes in obese patients undertaking laparoscopic rectal cancer surgery, is a multicentre randomised controlled trial investigating a very low energy diet prior to laparoscopic surgery for rectal cancer in obese patients. ADIPOSe will recruit 100 obese rectal cancer patients over two years, randomising 50 to receive a Very Low Energy Diet (VLED) as an exclusion diet preoperatively. Ethics have been approved at sites in VIC (Alfred and Cabrini) and at multiple sites in NSW and QLD.  Patient recruitment has just commenced in the last month in VIC.

The trial has been funded in part by Cabrini Foundation Grant ($30,000) – awarded July 2015 and most recently a CSSANZ Foundation Grant: S. Bell, S. Warrier, A. Stevenson, M. Solomon, P. McMurrick, S. Wilkins. 2016-2017 $100,000

In addition a NHMRC project grant application for the trial has just been submitted: S. Bell, S. Warrier, A. Stevenson, M. Solomon, P. McMurrick, W. Brown, S. Wilkins, K. Oliva, M. Staples, K. Wilson. 2017-2018 $279,630

Publications

Yap, R, Oliva, K, Wilkins, S, McMurrick, P.  Colorectal Cancer in the very elderly: nonagenarians. Diseases of the Colon & Rectum. 2016 In Press-May issue

Wilkins, S, Haydon, A, Porter, I, Oliva, K, Staples, M, Carne, P, McMurrick, P, Bell, S.  Complete pathological response after neoadjuvant long course chemoradiotherapy for rectal cancer and its relationship to the degree of T3 mesorectal invasion. Diseases of the Colon & Rectum 2016 In Press-May issue

Alfred Health

Less painful prostatic biopsies 

Alfred urologist A/Prof Jeremy Grummet (pictured) is lead investigator of an ANZUP team conducting a study looking at pain relief for prostate biopsy. ANZUP is the peak body for conducting clinical research on urological cancers in Australia and New Zealand and A/Prof Grummet's team was awarded an NHMRC grant of nearly $600,000 to run this multi-centre trial.

The study, called Painfree TRUS B, is a double-blinded randomised trial comparing the standard method of pain relief for a transrectal ultrasound-guided (TRUS) prostate biopsy with a novel approach of analgesia.

TRUS biopsy is usually performed with local anaesthetic infiltration of the tissue around the prostate. However, sometimes this doesn't provide enough numbing, nor does it address the discomfort of the initial passage of the transrectal probe. As a result, many men find TRUS biopsy a painful and distressing experience.

This trial, which started accruing patients in December 2015, compares the standard approach of local anaesthetic with local anaesthetic plus the addition of a Penthrox inhaler, which acts as a systemic painkiller. Penthrox inhalers have been used by paramedics in the field in Australia for many years and appear to be safe and effective. They have only recently been approved for use in minor procedures in hospital.

A/Prof Grummet is also site investigator of another ANZUP randomised trial running at the Alfred on the use of BCG with Mitomycin for bladder cancer.