What's On at UWA

WA Flow is back for 2014, with our first meeting kicking off on Tuesday 4th March at 5 pm in the Seminar Room G24 at the Perkins Institute for Medical Research. The first meeting of the year will be a report back from delegates of the 36th Australasian Cytometry Society (formerly the Australasian Flow Cytometry Group) Meeting which took place in Wellington, NZ in December. Presenters will report on the exciting new developments in Research, Clinical and Core Technology streams of the conference. We are also developing an exciting program of WA Flow events for the rest of the year!

The WA Flow group is an open group and is a collaboration of all the research institutions and clinical flow laboratories in Western Australia. BD have kindly offered to support the WA Flow Group meetings and will be providing light refreshments and catering for our meetings (hopefully this will entice you to come and network at the post-meeting refreshments!). We meet on the first Tuesday, every second month. All CMCA flow users should attend.

Presentations from internationally renowned speakers will explore a range of interventions to improve the health and wellbeing of patients with cardiovascular disease.

Do you live in fear of needles or blood? If so, read on...

Blood-Injection-Injury Phobia is a fear that is triggered by seeing blood or an injury, or by receiving an injection or other invasive medical procedure. People vary in the way they react to situations involving blood or injections. Some individuals may feel disgust, nausea, or dizziness. Some people may even faint.

The Robin Winker Clinic is a clinical psychology unit linked to the School of Psychology at The University of Western Australia. The Clinic will be running a group treatment program for Blood-Injection-Injury Phobia. The treatment is based on evidence from up-to-date research, and was co-developed by Dr Andrew Page, a psychologist and researcher from the School who specialises in anxiety disorders. The program will run for 8 two-hour sessions, plus an initial assessment session before the group commences and a follow-up session 4-6 weeks after completion. Through this program, individuals will work in a supportive environment to challenge their fears and learn coping strategies to control anxiety and be less worried when getting an injection, seeing blood, or when visiting the doctor for a medical procedure. Techniques for preventing fainting and for coping with feelings of disgust are also introduced.

What do you do now? If you or someone you know would like to take part in this treatment program, or if you would like more information, please call the Clinic on 6488 2644 or email [email protected]

Dates: 6-8pm, Tuesday May 13th to Tuesday July 1st. Fees: $30 per session and $35 for the assessment, 25% discount if paid up front. Reduced fees are available for full time students and pensioners. UWA Location: Robin Winkler Clinic, 1st floor, Third General Purpose Building, Myers St.

Professor David Thomas is Head of the Kinghorn Cancer Centre and Head of the Cancer Division of the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney. His research interests include quantitative evolutionary genetics in cancer cell populations, mapping a cancer neochromosome at single nucleotide resolution, and understanding the role of the immune system in development of osteosarcoma. Professor Thomas has played a key role in establishing several large-scale cancer cohorts, including the International Sarcoma Kindred Study and Cancer 2015, a 10,000 strong Framingham-style cohort of newly diagnosed cancer patients in Victoria. In addition to leading several pivotal clinical studies, he was the founding chair of the Australasian Sarcoma Study Group and Director of the state-wide adolescent and young adult cancer service, ONTrac at Peter Mac (2005-10).

The aim of this course is to introduce you to basic statistics. It will cover descriptive statistics (means and standard deviations); data exploration; basic categorical data analysis; simple linear regression and basic analysis of variance (ANOVA). The statistical package SPSS will be used to illustrate the ideas demonstrated. The course will be held in a computer laboratory allowing participants to immediately apply the material covered through a series of practical examples.

R is a free and extremely powerful language and software environment for statistical computing, data analysis, and graphics. The course is designed for those who have no experience with R, but have a basic understanding of statistics. The course will include: Introduction to R: How to install R on your computer; basic R commands, how to use and understand the R help pages. Data: Reading in data and data manipulation; summarising data; basic statistical analysis and fitting linear models. Graphics and output: Basic plotting commands and how to customise your plots; how to export your plots and output in a user-friendly format. Functions: Writing simple functions and flow control structures.

The 8th meeting of WA Flow – the Western Australian Flow Cytometry Interest Group - will be held on Tuesday 1st July in the Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation and Analysis. We have a couple of really interesting talks lined up! Assoc Prof Kathy Heel will show us how she and her team are using their exciting imaging flow cytometer to clinically translate laboratory cancer research. Then Dr Kara Yopak will present a fascinating application of flow and imaging cytometry for measuring the brain cells of fishes and sharks! WA Flow is a diverse, open and inclusive group of scientists and scientists-in-training who share in interest in measuring cells. Scientists from core facilities, academic research groups and clinical diagnostic facilies meet every second month for presentations of applications, protocols, results, information and general discussion of current cytometry. All current CMCA flow cytometry users should attend. ALL welcome - refreshments provided.

The course is designed for people with knowledge of basic statistics who want to learn more about regression and analysis of variance (ANOVA).

This course covers techniques that can be used to analyse data with continuous and categorical variables. The course will begin with simple linear regression and then proceed with approaches that can be used with more than two variables such as multiple regression. ANOVA with interactions and blocking will also be covered. The course will end with techniques that address the analysis of binary or ordinal variables.

The course is designed as an applied course in Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) using the Mplus software package. SEM is used widely by researchers to test complex relationships among observed (measured) and latent (unobserved) variables and subsumes other analytical techniques such as regression, path analysis, factor analysis, and canonical correlation. Mplus is rapidly becoming the program of choice for the analysis of SEMs. Mplus offers a general modelling framework that allows both the modelling of cross-sectional and longitudinal data using observed variables that are a combination of continuous and categorical variables. In addition, Mplus analyses multilevel modelling structures.

The first three days of the course will be an introduction to SEM and the Mplus program. The focus of the last two days of the course is on the analysis of more advanced SEM models.

If you are familiar with the Mplus program and have an understanding of material typically covered in an introduction to SEM course, you may choose to attend only the last two days of the course.

If you have completed an introductory course in SEM using another program (e.g., Amos, Lisrel, EQS) but have not previously used the Mplus program, you may choose to attend the first day and then the last two days of the course.

This course aims to provide you with an introduction to the facilities available in MS Excel from a statistical point of view. As well as an introduction to Excel, spreadsheet functions and graphics, it concentrates on performing basic statistical methods, producing charts and tables, and discusses the limitations of Excel when it comes to more complex statistical analysis.

Talk to our internationally renowned medical researchers individually. All available Honours and PhD student projects outlined at this casual sundowner in the stunning foyer of the new Perkins building within QEII. Park in the visitors carpark off Verdun street.

Prof Singh has acted as principal investigator on numerous clinical trials of novel therapies in asthma and COPD, and has over 100 publications in peer reviewed journals. He is a member of the GOLD science committee.

CBSM aims to promote biological science in Western Australia by encouraging the interaction of scientists, students and industry representatives from all aspects of life science. The meeting is designed to provide a platform for the exchange of ideas and expertise to keep the life sciences in WA at the cutting edge. This annual meeting includes plenary presentations by national and international scientists and in 2014 will incorporate concurrent specialist symposia each with its own keynote speaker and session of local senior scientists. CBSM is also geared toward honours and postgraduate students and their development among their peers. Several sessions are set aside for student presentations and for many, it represents their first chance to present their work in a conference setting. In this way, CBSM offers a unique “snapshot” of what is happening in local biological science and now attracts more than 300 delegates every year, with more than 40 oral presentations, over 70 scientific posters and 30 trade booths.

Check us out at www.cbsmwa.org.au. Join us at the University Club, The University of Western Australia for CBSM 2014 on the 29th of August 2014.

Professor Alward is primarily a glaucoma clinician. His areas of research interest include pigmentary glaucoma, combined glaucoma and cataract surgery, normal tension glaucoma, and gonioscopy. The major focus of his research over more than two decades has been the molecular genetics of glaucoma. Professor Alward was part of the team that in 1993 described the first genetic linkage for open angle glaucoma (GLC1A). Subsequently, in a 1997 Science paper, they reported that mutations in the myocilin gene at the GLC1A locus caused juvenile glaucoma and 3 – 5% of adult onset open angle glaucoma.

Professor Alward will discuss the discovery of the myocilin gene and how this finding might influence the clinical management of glaucoma patients. It is a story that travels from an individual patient to treatments that might be used for his children and grandchildren. He will touch on presymptomatic molecular diagnosis, gene replacement therapy and stem cells, but will focus on “small molecule therapy” - developing drugs to treat a specific underlying molecular defect. The hope is that this will lead to treatments that are more effective, more specific and longer lasting.

This course is aimed at anyone wishing to improve their survey questionnaires. This course is useful for both people new to questionnaire design and those who have experience and would like to extend their knowledge. It will be a benefit not only for people who anticipate designing a questionnaire in the future, but for those in the role of critiquing commissioned or existing research.

UWA Postgraduate Research students receive subsidised fees.

We would like to invite you to participate and/or present your work at the Third Translational Medicine Symposium between UWA and Shanghai Jiaotong University, which will be held at the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research on the 10th of October 2014. The purpose of this Symposium is to facilitate research collaboration between UWA and Shanghai Jiaotong University.

Shanghai Jiaotong University Medical School is one of the top medical universities in China for research and clinical services. There will be 12 distinguished Professors from Shanghai Jiaotong presenting their work to our UWA colleagues. The theme of this year’s symposium is translational research in cancer, drug development and neurological disorders, hormone and ageing, regenerative medicine and scaffolds.

The delegates seek collaborative research opportunities with UWA that can be supported by the joint programs of the NHMRC and the China Natural Science Foundation. The research profiles of the participating Shanghai Jiaotong Professors are available upon request from Miss Leanne Hall at [email protected]. Registration to the symposium is free, but is necessary for catering purposes.

Dear Colleague, We are delighted to invite you to The Fifth Margaret River Region Forum. This year, the Forum will be held at the Abbey Beach Resort, Busselton, between the 3rd and 5th November 2014.

The focus of the Forum this year is to continue the research and development of biological therapies and cellular engineering for the treatment of cancer and age-related chronic diseases.

Highlights of the scientific program will include keynote presentations by national and international experts, as well as leaders in regenerative medicine in Western Australia.

For further information on registration and abstract submission details, please go to: http://www.surgery.uwa.edu.au/research/Orthopaedic-Research-Unit/margaret-river-region-forum

R is a free and extremely powerful language and software environment for statistical computing, data analysis, and graphics. The course is designed for those who have no experience with R, but have a basic understanding of statistics. The course will include: Introduction to R: How to install R on your computer; basic R commands, how to use and understand the R help pages. Data: Reading in data and data manipulation; summarising data; basic statistical analysis and fitting linear models. Graphics and output: Basic plotting commands and how to customise your plots; how to export your plots and output in a user-friendly format. Functions: Writing simple functions and flow control structures.