News Archive 2011
Professor John Shine wins Peter Wills Medal
05 Dec 2011
Professor John Shine AO FAA, Executive Director of Garvan, has received the inaugural Peter Wills Medal, created by Research Australia “to recognise an outstanding contribution to building Australia’s national and international reputation in the realm of health and medical research”.
Garvan scientist wins NHMRC prize for “highly innovative” proposals
01 Dec 2011
Garvan Neuroscientist Dr Greg Neely has just won the new National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) ‘Marshall and Warren Project Grant Award’, created to recognise the “best highly innovative and potentially transformative grant” from the 2011 Project Grants funding round.
Deconstructing diabetes – why one size does not fit all
MEDIA RELEASE:
30 Nov 2011
Professor David James, Head of the Diabetes and Obesity Program at Garvan, believes it’s time to draw attention to the many things we don’t yet know about the complex metabolic disease we call ‘Type 2 diabetes’, and to the oversimplifications that abound in discussion of future treatments.
Romain Rouet wins 2011 Castle Harlan Award
09 Nov 2011
Romain Rouet has received the $10,000 USD Castle Harlan Award for being the most outstanding early career PhD student at the Garvan Institute in 2011. Castle Harlan Inc. is a US-based private equity firm that wishes to support the kind of medical research being undertaken at Garvan.
A step towards preventing ‘bone failure’ in Australia
07 Nov 2011
In collaboration with pharmaceutical companies and other stakeholders, Garvan will be running awareness-raising seminars about ‘bone failure’, with separate sessions for members of the public and GPs. The program, known as Health Education for Longer Life in Osteoporosis (HELLO) has its inaugural sessions on 26 and 27 November. Her Excellency Ms Quentin Bryce AC, Governor General of Australia, will be opening the Patient Seminar on 27 November.
Understanding kiss of death for some improves outlook for others
MEDIA RELEASE:
02 Nov 2011
Although we don’t realize it, almost all of us are exposed to Epstein Barr Virus (EBV), often through kissing. Around 10-20% of those exposed will develop glandular fever, known colloquially as “kissing disease”. For those born with the rare immunodeficiency known as X-linked lymphoproliferative disease (XLP), infection with the saliva-borne virus can be fatal. Garvan immunologists have discovered why EBV is so catastrophic for people with XLP. While their finding does not point to a cure, it tells us much we need to know about viruses and the immune system.
Large NHMRC grant supports study of genes that affect appetite in flies, mice and humans
02 Nov 2011
Neuroscientists at Garvan have been awarded a $1,840,000 five-year project grant from Australia’s main medical research funding body, the National Health and Medical Research Council. Ranked within the top 3 out of 3,500 project applications, the study will screen the whole genome of the fruit fly, looking for genes that affect appetite and energy expenditure, which are also ‘conserved’ across species.
There is no such thing as identical where twins are concerned
MEDIA RELEASE:
12 Oct 2011
Identical twins have identical genomes, but that is where it stops. There are subtle differences in their personalities, how they look, how they act and in their susceptibility to disease. How can this be? It depends on exactly how specific parts of the genome are affected by ‘methylation’, or the attachment of hydrocarbon molecules - ‘methyl groups’, that literally change the voice of the genome, silencing some genes and amplifying others, say Garvan scientists.
Exploring the amazing little world of the fat cell
MEDIA RELEASE:
28 Sep 2011
For the first time, Australian scientists have detailed the proteins, or functional molecules, inside and around the ‘plasma membrane’ of a fat cell, the permeable barrier between the cell’s inner workings and the rest of the body. Understanding the way that proteins function at the surface of these cells will help us unravel some of the complexities underlying Type 2 diabetes.
Hope for people with Type 2 diabetes – insulin master switch uncovered
MEDIA RELEASE:
22 Sep 2011
Garvan scientists have discovered that a single gene controls a very complex process, apparently forming the crucial link between eating a high fat diet and developing diabetes. Compounds are already being developed for blocking the gene – known as Id1 – as it has known adverse effects in cancer. This drug development work would very much shorten the path from discovery to prospective treatment in the case of diabetes.
Garvan announces appointment of next Executive Director
MEDIA RELEASE:
05 Sep 2011
The Garvan Institute of Medical Research today announced the appointment of Professor John Mattick AO FAA as the Institute's next Executive Director following the retirement of Professor John Shine AO FAA. Mr Bill Ferris AC, Garvan Chairman, welcomed the appointment and thanked his fellow Board members for their support in the extensive international search.
Growing ‘brown fat’ might help us fight obesity
MEDIA RELEASE:
02 Sep 2011
Garvan scientists believe that ‘brown fat’, a wondrous tissue that burns energy as heat, could help us fight obesity. The research team shows that brown fat can be grown in culture from stem cells biopsied from adults – giving hope that one day we might either be able to grow someone’s brown fat outside the body and then transplant it, or else stimulate its growth using drugs.
Seminal shift in how we view cancer development
MEDIA RELEASE:
26 Jul 2011
Garvan researchers have uncovered a process that will bring about a fundamental shift in our view of the epigenetic processes that lead to cancer. Epigenetics involves biochemical changes in our bodies that directly impact our DNA, making some genes active, while silencing others. The current finding shows that a mechanism underlying one such epigenetic manoeuvre appears to lock and unlock genes that prevent and trigger cancer.
CINSW presents Premier’s Awards to two Garvan Researchers
MEDIA RELEASE:
15 Jul 2011
At a gala dinner held last night, the Cancer Institute NSW presented Dr Alex Swarbrick with the CINSW 2011 Premier’s Fellow of the Year Award and Dr David Chang with the CINSW 2011 Premier’s Scholar of the Year Award, as well as a Pfizer Oncology International Studentship.
Transplantation society awards two Garvan immunologists
05 Jul 2011
Two PhD students from the Grey lab were distinguished by The Transplantation Society of Australia and New Zealand (TSANZ) at its annual conference last week - Jeanette Villanueva and Nathan Zammit. Jeanette won the prestigious Kidney Health Australia Award for the best overall laboratory-based abstract and presentation. She also won a Young Investigator Award, as did Nathan Zammit.
How a snapshot of ASEAN scientific capabilities can guide us
MEDIA RELEASE:
05 Jul 2011
In the first study of its kind done on the ASEAN countries as a group, a Garvan researcher and Vietnamese colleague have provided a useful snapshot of the scientific landscapes and capabilities of our regional neighbours, and how those attributes are likely to drive their economies.
Pilot study curbs appetite of people with Prader-Willi Syndrome
MEDIA RELEASE:
27 Jun 2011
Australian researchers have done a promising pilot study on a small group of people with the harrowing genetic disorder known as ‘Prader-Willi Syndrome’, using a drug already prescribed for some patients with Type 2 diabetes.
New generation asthma drug could improve metabolism
MEDIA RELEASE:
05 Jun 2011
Formoterol, a new generation asthma medication, shows great promise for improving fat and protein metabolism, say Australian researchers, who have tested this effect in a small sample of men. The researchers presented their results today at The Endocrine Society’s 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston.
Silencing a deadly conversation in breast cancer
MEDIA RELEASE:
02 Jun 2011
Garvan researchers have shown that a molecule known as ‘hedgehog’ sits at the centre of a cellular 'switchboard' in breast cancer, transmitting biochemical signals between the cancer cells and the healthy cells nearby. They have identified a new way of turning off this cellular cross talk - which would otherwise allow the cancer to thrive. This off switch offers a potential therapeutic, especially for women with cancers that do not respond to current treatments.
Breakthrough study links Type 1 diabetes and Sjogren’s syndrome
MEDIA RELEASE:
22 Apr 2011
Garvan scientists have identified a new group of immune cells that for the first time directly link two autoimmune diseases, Type 1 diabetes and Sjogren’s syndrome. Autoimmune diseases arise when the body’s defences become overactive, and instead of attacking invading microbes, it starts to attack itself. In the case of Type 1 diabetes, the body attacks insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. In the case of Sjogren’s syndrome, it attacks its own salivary glands.
Rally for Research (Sydney)
15 Apr 2011
On Tuesday 12 April, hundreds of Garvan researchers joined over 1,000 researchers from other research institutions from around Sydney in a rally to protest rumoured threats to NHMRC funding in the upcoming federal budget.
Helping pancreatic cancer surgeons make tiebreaker decisions
MEDIA RELEASE:
15 Apr 2011
Garvan researchers have identified two ‘biomarkers’ that appear to have the ability to predict patient survival after surgery for pancreatic cancer before the operation takes place. It is the first predictive tool of its kind for this most deadly of cancers. The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) highlights the finding in its current newsletter (ASCO Post) – distributed globally to a broad audience of cancer professionals.
Rumoured NHMRC cuts would cripple medical research sector
08 Apr 2011
If the upcoming federal budget actually slashes funding to the National Health and Medical Research Council by $400 million over the next three years, as rumoured, Sydney’s Garvan Institute of Medical Research alone would stand to lose over $3 million a year. That figure translates into closure of three or four labs a year at Garvan – and many research breakthroughs that will never occur.
Test Vitamin D levels in pregnant women say researchers
MEDIA RELEASE:
03 Apr 2011
Garvan clinical researchers have identified widespread Vitamin D deficiency in pregnant women as well as a very strong association between low Vitamin D levels and gestational diabetes. In a retrospective study of 147 women from a gestational diabetes clinic at Westmead Hospital, 41% were shown to be Vitamin D deficient.
Potential anti-rejection drug for insulin cell transplantation
MEDIA RELEASE:
01 Mar 2011
Garvan scientists have developed a reagent with the potential to prevent rejection of transplanted insulin-producing cells into people with Type 1 diabetes – one of the most promising immunology developments in recent years.
How nasal stem cells might prevent childhood deafness
MEDIA RELEASE:
11 Feb 2011
Researchers at Garvan have shown for the first time in mice that nasal stem cells injected into the inner ear have the potential to reverse or restore hearing during early onset sensorineural hearing loss.
An extra 5 years of life an unexpected benefit of osteoporosis treatment
MEDIA RELEASE:
03 Feb 2011
Clinical researchers at Garvan have noted an extraordinary and unexpected benefit of osteoporosis treatment – that people taking bisphosphonates are not only surviving well, better than people without osteoporosis, they appear to be gaining an extra five years of life.
How fatness gets forecast in the womb
MEDIA RELEASE:
28 Jan 2011
Children born of mums with gestational diabetes will tend to become fat, say Garvan scientists, and the worse mum’s sugar levels during pregnancy, the fatter they will be.
Improved rationale for attacking colorectal cancer
MEDIA RELEASE:
17 Jan 2011
Some people respond very well to chemotherapy or radiotherapy for colorectal cancer, while others hardly respond at all – a fact that has been a bit of a mystery until now. A team of Garvan scientists believes the outcome may depend on a gene called ‘MCC’ – which happens to be expressed at low levels in a subset of colorectal cancers. Their findings give them a rationale for checking patients' responses to therapy.
