October Newsletter 2010 - Monash University

Newsletter
AMREP - Central Clinical School
SOBS - Monash Clayton
HEAD OF DEPARTMENT REPORT
Professor Fabienne Mackay
Newsletter October 2010 Department of Immunology
D E P A R T M E N T O F
Immunology
Newsletter Date
October, 2010
Halloween celebrations concluded the 2010 Honours program at
the Central Clinical School. Congratulations to all our honours students
for their outstanding effort. Well done, the quality of the
work and presentations were of a high standard this year and we
all very much enjoyed your data. It has been a great pleasure
having you in the department of Immunology and we are looking
forward to welcoming some of you as PhD students next year.
Thanks to MIASMA for organising a spectacular Halloween party where one could see very
sophisticated costumes. In this newsletter you will see some examples, in particular Jennifer
Wilkinson-Berka as the Walt Disney character Cruella De Vil and one of the best costume
winners. Not mentioning the glamorous Robyn Slattery as Morticia and Mark Wright as Jack
the Ripper, the latest fashion creation by his daughter which was very impressive and very
scary. Not forgetting all the students and staff with very original costume ideas. Certainly,
many put a lot of effort as opposed to your HOD who tried to dress in a rush as the evil
(BAFF) Queen in Snow White but was called princess when she entered the venue…. A bit
of a flop.
There have been many outstanding achievements, invitations and publications by members
of the Department as detailed in this Newsletter.
Congratulations to Robyn O’Hehir on her appointment to the governing board of Cabrini
Health Ltd., and to Will Figgett for the Alfred Research week poster prize. Congratulations to
Ehteramolsadat Hosseini on the completion of her PhD, we wish you all the best.
Congratulations to the teaching team for another year of high quality teaching.
Congratulations to Jennifer Wilkinson-Berka who has been awarded a NHMRC Senior Research
Fellowship and to Dr Di Yu and Dr Kirsten Fairfax who were awarded a Ramaciotti
Establishment Grant and Faculty grant, respectively.
Finally, congratulations on spectacular results with NHMRC/ARC grants. 13 grants (11 -
AMREP, 2 - Clayton, ARC grant 1- Clayton). A fantastic team effort.
Congratulations to all for your continuing outstanding effort. I am particularly proud and honoured
to lead such an outstanding team.

ACHIEVEMENTS
D E P A R T M E N T O F
Immunology
Professor Robyn O‟Hehir has been appointed as an Honorary Director of
the Governing Board of Cabrini Health Ltd and to the scientific advisory
committee of the Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ).
FSANZ is an independent statutory agency that works with the governments
of Australia and New Zealand to set food standards
Seminars
Postgraduate Student Weekly Seminar Series
Wednesdays 1:15 pm– 2.15pm Department of Immunology, 2 nd floor seminar room.
CCS ECR Fortnightly Seminar Series
Thursdays 12pm -1 pm, 5 th Floor Lecture Theatre, Alfred Centre. Light lunch provided following
the seminar.
Grants
Dr Di Yu (Group Leader, Laboratory for Molecular Immunomodulation) has received an ARC project grant and a
Ramaciotti Establishment Grant (First ever perfect score award): A novel strategy of regulating follicular helper
T cell function to promote antibody responses.
Dr Di Yu has received a Career Development Award from NHMRC.
Dr Kirsten Fairfax (B lymphocyte, BAFF & autoimmunity laboratory) has been awarded a Faculty Support Grant.
NHMRC Project Grants commencing 2011
1. M Plebanski, R O’Hehir, C Hardy, J Friend, J Rolland - Mechanisms of nanoparticle-mediated inhibition
of asthma
2. R. O’Hehir and J. Rolland - Human CD4+ T-cell epitope-based therapeutic for peanut allergy.
3. Alderuccio F - Immune tolerance in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis following transplant of
bone marrow cells genetically encoding autoantigen.
4. Alderuccio F, C. Porter, Charman William and Natalie Trevaskis - Targeted delivery of immunosuppressant
drugs to lymphocytes: a novel treatment modality for autoimmune disease.
5. Hibbs ML & Tarlinton DM - Defining the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying autoimmunity us
ing a model of SLE.
6. Hibbs ML & Anderson GP - Defining subpopulations of pathogenic macrophages underlying lung diseases.
7. Hibbs ML, Bertoncello I, McQualter J, & Anderson GP- Lung epithelial cells in chronic respiratory disease.
8. JL Wilkinson-Berka,Slattery R, Miller AG , Campbell DJ- Prorenin and the prorenin receptor in diabetic.
retinopathy: involvement of the Wnt pathway and inflammation.
9. JL Wilkinson-Berka, J Peti-Peterdi, AG Miller - Evaluating the link between the GPR91 receptor and renin
in the pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy.
10. Mackay F - The role of BAFF, its receptor TACI and Toll-like receptors in Autoimmunity and Tolerance.
11. Di Yu - Cytokine structure and mechanisms of a superagonist antibody.
12. Di Yu - Specialised subsets of T follicular helper cells in the control of infection and immune pathology.
13. Jun-Ping Liu - Studies of a novel manganese transporter in lysosomes and its implications in Niemann-Pick
type-C disease.
Newsletter October 2010 Department of Immunology 2

Congratulations!!
Congratulations to
Jennifer Wilkinson-Berka who was
awarded a NHMRC Senior Research
Fellowship
Congratulations !!
PhD Graduate
Dr Ehteramolsadat Hosseini
Thesis: HLA-E polymorphisms and NK
cell reconstitution after allogeneic hematopoietic
stem cell transplantation
Supervisors: A/Professor Anthony Schwarer, and
Professor Hatem Salem
Awards
William Figgett was awarded the Professor Daniel
Czarny Prize for Allergy and Asthma Research for his
poster entitled, “ TACI is critical for autoantibody production
in T-cell independent BAFF-driven
autoimmunity” at Alfred Research Week
(October 18-22).
Presentation of the Professor Daniel Czarny Prize for
Allergy and Asthma Research to William Figgett by
Professor Robyn O’Hehir
D E P A R T M E N T O F
Immunology
NOTICES
Welcome
Ms. Ying Ying Kong who is commencing
Masters Part 2 degree in the VID lab
Welcome to Ms Alison Hamlett who is joining
the VID lab for the completion of her PhD
CCS - Xmas Party 2010
HOSTED BY MIASMA
BBQ Lunch — Fun — Games
Date: 16th December, 2010
Time: 12noon—3pm
Where: Melbourne Bowling Club, Union Street,
Windsor
Theme: Bridging the Gap—Immunologist joining
fellow CCS Staff for end of year
celebration..
RSVP: Friday 3rd December, 2010
Email: pettine.simpson@monash.edu
BBQ followed by games, casual bowls and other
fun competitions. Prizes to be won.
ALL WELCOME
Newsletter October 2010 Department of Immunology 3

Conferences
Immunology Group of Victoria (IgV) Annual Conference.
Our department was well represented
at the recent Immunology
group of Victoria (IgV) 18th
Annual Conference held in the
Yarra Valley. Associate Professor
Margaret Hibbs, an invited
speaker spoke on defining
mechanisms underlying autoimmunity
using a model of SLE.
Professor Jennifer Rolland
and Dr Kirsten Fairfax chaired
sessions and William Figgett,
Dr Kirsten Fairfax, Dr Tamara
Etto and Dr Sara Prickett
gave oral presentations.
3rd Synergy Symposia in „Cancer and Blood
Diseases‟, September 2010, Melbourne,
Australia.
Wednesday, 15th of September 2010 saw the 3rd successful
instalment of the Alfred Synergy Symposium.
The one day Symposium was dedicated to 'Blood Diseases
and Cancer'. We were very fortunate to attract a
stellar cast of speakers to this Symposium, including
three Plenary Presentations from National and International
Speakers: Prof. Klaus Ley (USA), Prof. Bernhard
Nieswandt (Germany), and Prof. Steve Jane (Australia)
as well as 13 speakers from across AMREP presenting
their highly diverse and interesting work.
The day ran smoothly and the 100 attendees enjoyed the
presentations and following discussions over tea and coffee.
The event was generously sponsored by Miltenyi
Biotech, BD Biosciences and the CCS.
Professor Fabienne Mackay presented at The
Key Symposium, Stockholm Sweden September,
2010.
She also presented at OZbio Convention
Centre Melbourne, September, 2010.
D E P A R T M E N T O F
Immunology
Ms. Rohimah Mohamud presented
a poster at the 14 th International
Congress of Immunology 2010, August
22-27, Kobe, Japan.
Professor Magdalena Plebanski
was a speaker and session chair at
the 13th International Conference
for Parasitology ICOPA 2010, September
2010, Melbourne.
Associate Professor Frank
Alderuccio has been invited to
speak at 2010 Australian Health and
Medical Research Congress
(AH&MRC), November 14-18, 2010,
Melbourne Convention and
Exhibition Centre, Melbourne.
Dr Charles Hardy has been invited
to speak at the “TGF-β down
under” Conference to be held in
Melbourne, March 20-22, 2011.
Newsletter October 2010 Department of Immunology 4

SOCIAL PAGE
D E P A R T M E N T O F
Immunology
Much fun was had by all at the Halloween Costume party organised by the Monash CCS
Social club on October 29 th at the Station Hotel, Prahran. Our department’s creativity was
on display and rewarded with prizes for best Lab head/post-doc costume going to Professor
Jennifer Wilkinson Berka aka “Cruella De Vil”; and the best student costume
awarded to Craig Nicholls aka “Lego Man”.
Newsletter October 2010 Department of Immunology 5

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CONTACT US:
PAPERS PUBLISHED
Publications
D E P A R T M E N T O F
Immunology
Antonia G. Miller, Genevieve Tan, Katrina J. Binger, Raelene J. Pickering, Merlin C.
Thomas, Ram H. Nagaraj, Mark E. Cooper, Jennifer L. Wilkinson-Berka. Candesartan
attenuates diabetic retinal vascular pathology by restoring glyoxalase-1 function. Diabetes.
2010 Sep 17.
Walton SF, Pizzutto S, Slender A, Viberg L, Holt D, Belinda J Hales BJ, Kemp DJ,
Currie BJ, Rolland JM, O’Hehir RE. Increased allergic immune response to Sarcoptes
scabiei antigens in crusted versus ordinary scabies. Clin Vac Imm 17:1428-1438,
2010.
Ian N. Glaspole, Maria P. de Leon, Sara R. Prickett, Robyn E. O’Hehir, and Jennifer
M. Rolland. Clinical allergy to hazelnut and peanut: identification of T cell crossreactive
allergens. International archives of allergy and Immunology (in press).
Rolland JM, Gardner LM, O’Hehir RE. Functional regulatory T cells and allergen immunotherapy.
Curr Opin Allergy Clin Immunol. 2010 Sep 20.
Prickett SR, Voskamp AL, Dacumos A, Symons K, Rolland JR and O'Hehir RE. Ara h
2 peptides comprising dominant CD4+ T-cell epitopes: candidates for a peanut allergy
therapeutic" JACI (in press).
Bousquet J, Schunemann HJ, Zuberbier T, Bachert C, Baena-Cagnani E…..O’Hehir
RE et al. Development and implementation of guidelines in allergic rhinitis-an ARIA-
GA2Len paper. Allergy. 2010; 65:1212-122.1
Ko H.J, Nasa Z, Chan J, Siatskas C, Toh B.H. and Alderuccio F. Targeted MOG expression
to dendritic cells delays onset of experimental autoimmune disease. Autoimmunity
in press).
Hyun-Ja Ko, Sarah A Kinkel, François-Xavier Hubert, Zeyad Nasa, James Chan,
Christopher Siatskas, Premila Hirubalan, Ban-Hock Toh, Hamish S. Scott and Frank
Alderuccio. AIRE- encoding bone marrow cells delays the onset of experimental autoimmune
encephalomyelitis. European Journal of Immunology (in press).
Yu D, Vinuesa CG.The elusive identity of T follicular helper cells. Trends Immunol.
2010 Oct;31(10):377-83 (cover story).
Department of Immunology
Monash University
Alfred Medical Research and Education Precinct (AMREP)
Commercial Road
MELBOURNE VIC 3004
Telephone: + 61 3 9903 0713 Facsimile: + 61 3 9903 0038
Website: www.med.monash.edu.au/immunology/
Content: Tamara Etto
Layout: Pettine Simpson
Newsletter October 2010 Department of Immunology 6