News & Events

University of Melbourne Body Donor Program hosts seventh annual Commemorative Thanksgiving Service.

Help celebrate the excellence of leading women researchers at the 2018 Georgina Sweet Awards for Women in Quantitative Biomedical Science.

All seminars are held in the Doherty Auditorium, Ground Floor.Research Seminars - Held on Thursdays 12.00pm – 1.00pm.Special Research Seminars - In addition to the usual Thursday Research Seminars, there may be occasional Special Research Seminars which could be held at different times.PhD Completion Orations - Held on Friday afternoons from 3.15pm – 4.15pm.Doherty Institute Immunology Theme: Data Presentation Series - Fortnightly on Mondays 11am featuring speakers from across the Institute.Seminar attendees are welcome to refreshments in the Doherty Institute Tearoom on Level 5 after every Research Seminar & PhD Completion Oration.

Department of Microbiology and Immunology researcher awarded inaugural Dean’s Innovation Grant.

Universities foster ties as the Bio21 Institute welcomed University of Padua delegates last week.

University researcher, Theo Mantamadiotis, leads the study for this important paper.

The Centre for Stem Cell Systems is happy to announce that its website is now live!

Year 10 and 11 students go behind-the-scenes working alongside GTAC scientists and exploring the biomed zone.

The New Student Precinct, in partnership with Next Wave, is proud to present two student arts opportunities (open to all University of Melbourne students): the New School Art Prize and the Participatory Art Workshop Series. This is a fantastic chance for students to showcase their creativity on the Parkville campus!

The fourth annual GTAC Biomedical Sciences Day is happening this Friday 31 August. Senior students from rural and regional Victoria will be visiting the University of Melbourne's Parkville campus for a taste of what it's like to study biomedical sciences.

Professor Fabienne Mackay (Head, School of Biomedical Sciences) will be presenting as a keynote speaker at the second Comprehensive Cancer Student Symposium: Translating Discoveries on Thursday 30 August.

Karthik Pullela, PhD student from the Department of Microboplogy and Immunology, will be representing our School in the 2018 Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) Competition Grand Final. Please join us in supporting Karthik on the day!

The ARC Centre for Personalised Therapeutics Technologies (Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics) is currently seeking expressions of interest from outstanding students for multiple PhD scholarship opportunities.

Our congratulations to Dr Laura Mackay (School of Biomedical Sciences and the Peter Doherty Institute) who was awarded the 2018 Michelson Prize for Human Immunology and Vaccine Research in June.

Congratulations to the following School members on their successful fellowships.

Professor Fabienne MacKay, Head of the School of Biomedical Sciences, appeared on Episode 2: A new frontier of the Doherty Institute's four-part series, A Hypothetical.

Applications for the next round of Superstars of STEM are now open!

The Department of Physiology's Virtual Reality Learning Studio (VRLS) featured on channel ELEVEN's (Network Ten) children's science program Scope (S04E58). The episode aired on Sunday 22 July 2018.

Dr Laura Mackay's (School of Biomedical Sciences and Peter Doherty Institute) research on tissue-resident memory T cells (Trm cells) has been featured in this Pursuit article.

Congratulations to Professor Katherine Kedzierska (School of Biomedical Sciences and Peter Doherty Institute) whose research on a lifelong flu vaccine was featured on the front page of the Herald Sun.

Our congratulations to Professor Tim Stinear (School of Biomedical Sciences and Peter Doherty Institute) whose new study on alcohol-based hygiene products becoming less effective against the hospital superbug, vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE), featured on the front page of The Age last Thursday 2 August.

Video footage from Tuesday 17 July's Creating Bioentrepreneurs: Enterprise Specialisation Launch is now available and can be viewed below and on the Faculty of MDHS Vimeo page.Hear from Lynn Johnson-Langer as she shares the Johns Hopkins (USA) experience, and from our panel as they share a conversation about what is needed in this space and the way forward. For more information about the Master of Biomedical Science, Enterprise Specialisation, please visit the Enterprise website.

Our congratulations to the EMCRA (Early-Mid Career Researchers Association) Collaborative Award winners for 2018

Thank you to all who attended and supported Creating Bioentrepreneurs: Enterprise Specialisation Launch, on Tuesday 17 July. The event was a great success, with a packed house at the Woodward Conference Centre taking part in invigorating discussion around the need and potential for greater innovation and commercialisation within the biomedical sector.

Dr Lynn Johnson Langer (Johns Hopkins University, USA), discusses getting biotech science out of the lab and into market, while visiting Melbourne for the launch of the Master of Biomedical Science, Enterprise specialisation.

Leading artists and scientists will examine storms scientifically, artistically and metaphorically as part of a public exhibition on how art and science can combine to communicate and solve problems.

Congratulations to Professor Fabienne Mackay who received a Concept award from the Lupus Research Program. Thirteen awards were made in 2018 and she was the only Australian recipient.

Our congratulations to Dr Amy Chung and colleagues, Dept of Microbiology & Immunology, on having their recent publication featured in American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) news.

The way forward after the World Health Organization resolution on snakebite will be to boost access to quality antivenoms and prevention efforts.

Dr David Williams, Head of AVRU, has long championed the snakebite cause through the Global Snakebite Initiative. Congratulations to David and his colleagues on having this resolution adopted by the WHO.

Congratulations to Professor Geoffrey Burnstock, who is the 2018 recipient of the Australian Academy of Science’s prestigious Macfarlane Burnet Medal.

With comment from Professor Damian Purcell (Dept Microbiology & Immunology) local GVN spokesperson for the Doherty Institute, one of 41 international centres of excellence represented by GVN.

Our congratulations to Dr Elena Schneider, Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, on receiving the TSANZ / Vertex Research Award.

Our congratulations to Dr Terry Mulhern (Biochemistry & Molecular Biology) on receiving the David White Award for Teaching Excellence, and to Associate Professor Sammy Bedoui (Microbiology & Immunology) on receiving the Award for Excellence in Internationalisation of Research

A overview of Professor Fabienne Mackay's SLE research in the context of World Lupus Day (10 May)

Professor Gary Anderson and and Associate Professor Louis Irving, both from the Lung Health Research Centre (Dept of Pharmacology & Therapeutics) are featured researchers in this Pursuit article.

The PNG Snakebite Partnership launched recently is a three-year project that will involve the National Department of Health (PNG), the Australian Government, Seqirus Pty Ltd, and the Australian Venom Research Unit (Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics) at the University of Melbourne.

Our congratulations to Professor Tim Stinear* and his colleagues on obtaining a NHMRC Project Partnership grant for their research into Buruli ulcer (*Dept Microbiology & Immunology)

Our congratulations to Professor Fabienne Mackay on her appointment to the Board of Reviewing Editors for Science

Applications for this year's award open on 1st May and will close on 31st May, 2018

Our congratulations to Associate Professor Danny Hatters, Dept of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, whose recent paper, 'A biosensor-based framework to measure latent proteostasis capacity', was chosen to feature on the Nature Communications Editors' Highlights Webpage

Our congratulations to Dr Fern Koay (Dept Microbiology & Immunology) on winning a Basic Science Researcher Award in the 2018 Premier's Awards for  Health and Medical Research

A reminder that the important dates for the EMCRA Collaborative Awards are now available

Our congratulations to Professor Mary Wlodek (Department of Physiology), Associate Professor Paul Soeding (Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics and their colleagues from Deakin and Monash Universities whose recent research features in the New York Times

University of Melbourne research into chemically-altering old forgotten antibiotics is helping to open a new front in the critical war against drug resistance. (Pursuit - featured researcher Associate Professor Tony Velkov)

Our congratulations to Associate Professor Megan Munsie* on receiving this prestigious award. To date, the ISSCR has only awarded this prize to eight other researchers. [*Department of Anatomy & Neuroscience]

Fernando Jativa from @Pharm_UniMelb is competing in the Pitch it Clever competition. Participants share a short video of their research to be showcased in the Higher Education Conference in Canberra. You can view & vote for his video

Three of the ten shortlisted finalists for the two categories Public Health Researcher and Basic Science Researcher in the PAHMR, are from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology.

Neuroscience PhD students - you are invited to the Inaugural General Meeting (IGM) for the Melbourne Neuroscience PhD Program (MNPP) Student Association.

EMCRA has a new steering committee for 2018 and the funding rules for the upcoming EMCRA Collaborative Awards are now available.

Our congratulations to Sangwon Yoo on winning this award

Our congratulations to Dr Jessica Fletcher on being awarded a 2018 MNI Fellowship

Our congratulations to Professor Katherine Kedzierska and her colleagues on publication of their research in Nature Communications

Our warmest congratulations to Professor Mary Wlodek and her colleagues on the publication of their invited review in the current issue of Nature

The inaugural School-wide Sessional Staff Professional Development workshop was held on Monday 19th February

Congratulations to Dr Theo Mantamadiotis, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, on securing a CASS Foundation Medicine Science Grant for his ongoing research

Our congratulations to Dr Schneider on been chosen as one of the 75 international participants in the 2018 Merck Innovation Cup.

Our congratulations to Professor Katherine Kedzierska and colleagues on the publication of their recent research in Science Translational Medicine  (Department of Microbiology & Immunology)

Our warmest congratulations to Professor Norman Saunders, Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, who was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the Australia Day honours list.

Congratulations to Professor Katherine Kedzierska* and her co-authors on having their manuscript on immunity to influenza viruses in the elderly selected as the cover story of the February issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology (*Department of Microbiology & Immunology).

Ongoing research of the newly appointed Head of Department of Physiology, Professor Matthew Watt, was recently featured (12 January) on the Diabetes Australia Facebook page.

Backgrounding Dr David Williams who has recently been appointed chair of the World Health Organisation’s specialist Snakebite Group. David is Head of the Australian Venom Research Unit in the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics.

Congratulations to Associate Professor Scott Mueller, Dr Laura Mackay and their colleagues on having their paper published in the prestigious journal Nature Immunology

Our congratulations to Dr Marlene Hao, Department of Anatomy & Neuroscience, on securing a CASS grant for her project “A gut feeling about new therapies for glioma treatment”

Dr David Williams, Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, is one of the experts interviewed for the online CNN report 'The battle to contain Africa's hidden killers'.

Professor Norman Saunders, Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics and Professorial Fellow in Neuroscience was recently honoured at the 12th International Conference on Cerebral Vascular Biology.

SBS staff secure funding for projects in this year's MDHS Learning and Teaching Initiative Seed Funding: three of the seven successful projects were from our School.

Professor Danny Hoyer and the Somnivore Team were one of four winning teams at this year’s Pitch Night

Our warmest congratulations to  Professor Emeritus James Angus on receiving a University of Melbourne Award

Our congratulations to Professors Frank R Carbone, Dale I Godfrey and Bill R Heath from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, on appearing on this list of distinguished researchers.

This additional support from the ARC will extend Stem Cell Australia activities until June 2019.

Congratulations to those staff who were successful in securing Australian Research Council grants in 2017

Learn what resources are available, and identify local mentoring needs for Early-Mid Career Researchers. Monday 13 November from 10.30am to 1.30pm

Our warmest congratulations to Marios Koutsakos who was the winner of this years award and to Hillary Vanderen who was the runner up.

Our congratulations to Professors Cam Simmons, Dale Godfrey and John Furness on being elected Fellows of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.

Our warmest congratulations to all those in our School who were successful in obtaining grants in the latest round of NHMRC Funding.

The Art of Science Initiative at the University of Melbourne is a new initiative brought about by like-minded colleagues from the Victorian College of the Arts and the Biomedical Sciences precinct.

Our congratulations to Terry Mulhern, Heather Verkade, Izabela Szambelanczyk Orval, Irene Koumanelis and Allen Espinosa on receiving this award.

Professor Burnstock returning to the University of Melbourne to promote research in purinergic neurotransmission

Our congratulations to Shane Liddelow, previously in the Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, who has had another paper published in Nature.

Congratulations to David Williams and his coauthors on their publication in Nature Reviews | Disease Primers

Our congratulations to Jason Ivanusic on receiving this prestigious award

Fifty nine Year 10 and 11 students from across regional and rural Victoria and socioeconomically disadvantaged areas of Melbourne got a taste of university life at the third annual Biomedical Sciences Day, presented by the School of Biomedical Sciences and the Gene Technology Access Centre (GTAC) on Friday 8 September.

Our congratulations to Associate Professor Danny Hatters and his colleagues on the publication of their paper in Nature Communications.

Jennifer Keller, a PhD Student in the Mazzone Lab (Department of Anatomy & Neuroscience) has been selected as a finalist in this year's 3 Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition Grand Final.

SBS Symposium Wednesday 30th August 2017: 9:00 am - 1:00 pm Register Today

Huntington's Disease News discusses a recent Hatters lab publication and its implications for understanding the underlying mechanisms of Huntington's.

Bringing together interdisciplinary researchers to discuss important progress in the areas of organoids and organ-on-a-chip technologies

It is a pleasure to welcome Dr Enzo Porrello to the Department of Physiology as a Senior Research Fellow

Professor Jo Douglass and LHRC team receive funding for MACH project 'Melbourne Thunderstorm Epidemic of Asthma: Solving the puzzle'

See Dr Deborah Williamson, Microbiological Diagnostic Unit Public Health Laboratory, interviewed by ABC News 24 about the dramatic increase in treatment-resistant gonorrhoea.

Radio interview with Professor Ben Howden, Microbiological Diagnostic Unit Public Health Laboratory, discussing the new surveillance system which has revealed worrying levels of highly resistant bugs.

Congratulations to Gavan Mitchell and Ryan Jefferies on being shortlisted for the Royal Photographic Society International Images For Science 2017

Dr Hayley Newton, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, awarded the Australian Society for Microbiology Frank Fenner Award for 2017 in recognition of her research.

Our congratulations to Cam on receiving this recognition of the quality of his NHMRC Program Grant

Our warmest congratulations to the winners and thank you to everyone who submitted an application

Have your say on the Faculty's Green Paper Towards 2027, which marks the final stage before we present our new Strategic Plan.

Congratulations: Hayley Newton and Karena Waller, recipients of prestigious awards from the Australian Society for Microbiology

The World Health Organisation added snakebite to the highest priority list of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs)

The University of Melbourne has been awarded $10.5 million over five years by the Australian Research Council’s (ARC) Industrial Transformation Training Centres scheme to establish three training centres.

Our congratulations to Alastair and his team on gaining funding for an Industrial Transformation Training Centre (ITTC) in Pharmacology and Therapeutics

Our congratulations to Angela Pizzolla, Linda Wakim and their colleagues from Department of Microbiology and Immunology on publication of their paper in Science Immunology

An innovative approach to teaching anatomy, and showcasing appropriately adorned medical student volunteers, generates publicity for our latest advertising campaign aimed at encouraging enrolments in FMDHS

Four University of Melbourne researchers have been awarded funding from MS Research Australia for projects that advance prevention and treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS) – a debilitating disorder of the central nervous system that can affect the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves. MS affects more than 23,000 Australians and 2.3 million people worldwide.

Our congratulations to Professor David Jackson (Department of Microbiology & Immunology) and Dr Nathan Bartlett on receiving this funding to support their research

Our congratulations to Fabienne on receiving this prestigious award

A crack team of international scientists are dedicated to fighting the flu, tracking its many mutations across the globe. Featured academic: Professor Kanta Subbarao, Department of Microbiology & Immunology.

Our congratulations to Kat Holt (Biochemistry & Molecular Biology) and Laura Mackay (Microbiology & Immunology) on being awarded these prestigious awards

Our congratulations to Charles on receiving this award and being selected as the University's nominee for the Australian Awards for Teaching Excellence

Researchers are increasingly aware that we owe our health and wellbeing, and potentially aspects of our personalities, to the microbes we live with.

This is a great result for these two Departments in the School and their staff are to be congratulated on this outcome

Our congratulations to Danny and his colleagues on receiving this prestigious award

Our congratulations to Daniel Hoyer, Alastair Stewart and David Williams for their paper with Impact

Celebrate International Women's Day this Wednesday

Our congratulations to Shane who was in Professor Norman Saunders’ lab in the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics

Anaphylaxis found to be responsible for the most morbidity and mortality following envenomation events

The Department of Physiology, in association with its collaborators, has again enjoyed success in obtaining competitive project grant funding from the NHMRC, ARC, DART, Cancer Council of Victoria and NIH.

Our congratulations to Dr Russell Howard on being the inaugural awardee for the 2016 Grimwade Medal for Biochemistry Award.

Congratulations to Professor Andrew Allen and his lead co-author, Dr Clement Menuet, on the acceptance of their paper for publication by Cell Metabolism

Congratulations to Heather, Lincoln and their co-authors on their paper being accepted for publication by Gastroenterology (impact factor of 18)

Our congratulations to Haiyin Liu, Ashish Sethi and Aaron Brice

Congratulations to the laboratories of Leonie Quinn and Gary Hime for their publication which will appear in the next issue of this prestigious journal.

Our congratulations to Professor Jim McCluskey (formerly HOD), and to PhD candidate Sarah Baines and Dr Hamish McWilliam, on winning these prestigious prizes.

We are delighted to announce that Professor Erica Fletcher has been recognised with the internationally acclaimed American Academy of Optometry’s 2016 Glenn A. Fry Award and lecture.

The future of women in science is stronger today after funding was announced for one of Australia’s most prestigious awards – the Nancy Millis Medal.

Dr Kathryn Holt from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology has been named the Gottschalk Medallist at the Australian Academy of Science’s annual honorific awards.

The Selwyn-Smith Medical Research Prize recognises notable research achievements and is awarded by the MDHS Faculty every 3 years.

Applications are now open for Therapeutic Technologies Research Initiative (TTRI) Seed Funding 2017.

Mai wants to spread the news to other disadvantaged students who may be able to benefit from the program.

Dr Amanda Caples, an alumni of the Department of Pharmacology, has been appointed Lead Scientist to the Victorian Government’s Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources.

The Hyslop Medal was recognises alumni or staff whose outstanding contributions have been integral to the success of social work at the University.

The life of the first female Jewish painter, Catherine Rachel Mendes da Costa, chronicled by alumnus Dr Henry Lew.

Professor Daniel Hoyer, Chair and Head of the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, was awarded the Maurice Rapport Prize and delivered the Rapport Plenary Lecture at the 2016 International Society of Serotonin Research (ISSR) Meeting.

A Melbourne researcher has found a new avian influenza virus in Antarctica, causing concern viruses could be reaching the continent more often than previously thought, potentially having implications for the health of the unique species of birdlife.

Showcasing our School and Department shared equipment and research initiatives in the School.  To highlight a few:Master Collaboration Agreement - WEHI and University of Melbourne - CRISPR miceAccess to a list of equipment and facilities in our School

It is great to see the School Researchers and Students recognised in the Media for their latest published work. Just to name a few:Historic University collaboration launched to discover new medicines - Daniel HoyerParacetamol and Pregnancy - Norman Saunders and Mark Habgood Genetics of Autism and the Gut - Elisa HillLegionnaires Disease - Elizabeth Hartland, Ian van Driel, Andrew Brown, Sammy Bedoui

Showcasing our teaching initiatives and awards in our School.Congratulations to several members of the School who were successful in the recent round of 2016 Learning and Teaching Initiative Grants.

It is with great pleasure that I officially welcome you all to our inaugural School of Biomedical Sciences Newsletter – a great way to celebrate the first anniversary of the launch of our School.

All staff and students are encouraged to attend any of the following School Events. It is important to support each other and learn of the great work and facilities we have in the School.Upcoming events include: ARC Grant Mentoring Session, Biosensor Symposium and our School Celebratory Presentation.

Thank you to all the School members who assisted with our second year GTAC Program where Year 10 and 11 Students from rural areas in victoria and tasmania were introduced to Biomedical science disciplines on 13 September.

Please join me in congratulating the following recipients of prestigious awards in recognition of their hard work and talent: Our researchers - Professor Fred Hollande, Professor Leann Tilley, Professor Christine Wells, Professor Roberto Cappai and Professor Erica Fletcher. Also our students -  Savant Thakur, Gabriel Bernasochi, Hai Ly, Khurran Khan, Ee Ming Wong and Dusty Flanagan.

It's a pleasure to acknowledge our School Academic and Professional colleagues recently promoted, appointed to new or other roles, and welcoming new members to our School.  Congratulations to Professor Andrew Brooks appointed Head of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology; Professor Elizabeth Hartland as Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research Partnerships and External Relations); Professor Daniel Hoyer as Deputy Head of School; Academics promoted to Level C and a warm welcome to our new staff, Suzie Benson and Gillian Waters.