Australasian Society for Immunology Inc. NEWSLETTER PP 100000910 ISSN 1442-8725 September 2015 ContentsContents Miss Kristy Meiselbach(L) and Miss Nancy Fintic(R), the Walter and Elisa Hall Institute’s Feature article: fi rst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander interns who came to the Institute through the A Place to Stand in Science 3 Career Trackers Program. The Institute established the relationship with this Aboriginal Editorial 5 career internship organisation as part of its Reconciliation objectives and is the fi rst medical research institute to be involved. Jomar Life Research Poster Prize Winner: Heni Mufl ihah 6 Photo courtesy of the Walter and Elisa Hall Institute President’s Column 9 Honorary Secretary’s News 10 Visiting Speaker Program 11 Jomar Life Research Poster Prize Winner: Bernadette Jones 12 Upcoming Conferences 16 Councillors’ News 17 Travel Award Conference Reports 20 Publications List 21 ASI Inc. Newsletter September 2015 ASI Inc. COUNCIL Non-Voting Councillors: Newsletter Editor President Past President Ms Joanna Roberts Professor Christopher Goodnow Professor Dale Godfrey Ph: 64 6 357 0654 Garvan Institute Dept of Microbiology & Immunology Email: [email protected] 384 Victoria Street Peter Doherty Institute Darlinghurst NSW 2010 University of Melbourne Parkville Vic 3010 Journal Editor Ph: 61 2 9295 8516 Ph: 61 3 8344 6831 Dr Gabrielle Belz Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Ph: 61 3 9345 2544 Email: [email protected] Honorary Secretary Honorary Treasurer A/Prof. Stuart Berzins Dr John Stambas Visiting Speakers Co-ordinator CRN Section, School of Health Sciences AAHL, CSIRO Deakin Collaborative Lab. Dr Joanna Kirman Federation University Australia Private Bag 24 Ph: 64 3 479 7712 Mt Helen Vic 3352 East Geelong Vic 3220 Email: [email protected] Ph: 61 3 5320 2039 Ph: 61 3 5227 5740 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Day of Immunology Co-ordinator Dr Claerwen Jones Deputy Treasurer Ph: 61 3 8344 9595 Dr Kim Jacobson Email: [email protected] Monash University 15 Innovation Walk Meeting Co-ordinator Clayton Vic 3800 Dr Susanne Heinzel Email: [email protected] Ph: 61 3 9345 2609 Email: [email protected] Branch Councillors New South Wales Victoria & Tasmania Council Member of IUIS Dr Mainthan Palendira Dr Daniel Gray Professor Alan Baxter Ph: 61 2 9565 6211 Ph: 61 3 9345 2497 Ph: 61 7 4781 6265 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Queensland South Australia & Northern Territory FIMSA Councillor Dr Kristen Radford Dr Cara Fraser Professor Alan Baxter Ph: 61 7 3443 7638 Ph: 0422 903 093 Ph: 61 7 4781 6265 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Western Australia Australian Capital Territory Honorary Archivist: Dr Andrew Currie Dr Anselm Enders Dr Judith Greer Ph: 61 8 9360 7426 Ph: 61 2 6125 7605 Ph: 61 7 3346 6018 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] New Zealand Dr Roslyn Kemp Project Manager Administrative Correspondence Ph: 64 3 479 7708 Miss Sarah Fardy Ms Judi Anderson Email: [email protected] Ph: 61 3 5227 5794 / 0413 917 990 ASI Inc. Secretariat Email: [email protected] PO Box 7108 Upper Ferntree Gully Vic 3156 Ph: 61 3 9756 0128 ICI2016 Councillor Email: [email protected] Professor Jose Villadangos Ph: 61 3 9035 7684 Email: [email protected] 2 ASI Inc. Newsletter September 2015 A PLACE TO STAND IN SCIENCE – INDIGENOUS PEOPLES IN RESEARCH IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND Willy-John Martin @DubyuJ18. [email protected] Post Doctoral Researcher, Acute Rheumatic Fever Project, Infl ammation Division Walter & Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research 1G Royal Parade, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia My ancestral roots reach deep into the Māori 20 years, where the life expectancy gap has a few of the elements at play. For those who tribes of Ngāti Wai and Ngāti Tamaterā, who reduced to seven years – stll a considerable feel passionately about addressing health arrived in Aotearoa New Zealand on the difference equating to a defi cit of 4,190,235 inequalities, it can seem impossible to fi nd ocean voyage canoes Māhuhu-ki-te-Rangi, years. New Zealand seems to be on the right a way to navigate through these threads to and Tainui some 800 years ago. I currently track, but clearly more progress is needed to fi nd a solution. live and work in Wurundjeri country (also achieve equity in both countries. known as central Melbourne), whose people There is, of course, no one solution. Instead, belong to the Kulin Aboriginal nation who Life expectancy conveys only one element a toolbox fi lled with numerous, actionable have lived here for more than 40,000 years. of these health challenges. Our Indigenous solutions offers the most promising strategy Much of my current research involves peoples have higher rates of diabetes, to closing these health gaps. Signifi cant effort the Aboriginal countries of the Australian cardiovascular disease, obesity and infectious is being made in the arenas of public health Northern Territory: the Larrakia, Kunwinjku, disease, which together convey that quality and primary health care. At the same time, Arrernte, Gun-djeihmi and Jawoyn. of life is also heavily impacted. Some as biomedical scientists and immunologists diseases, like rheumatic heart disease, are we have the skills and acuity to make an It might seem out of place to begin an article unheard of in most fi rst world countries, enormous contribution to Indigenous health, in a scientifi c newsletter in this way. It is a yet Australasian Indigenous peoples have and in the process make new and meaningful deeply held tradition throughout Australasian rates that parallel those of the third world. discoveries. Yet it seems that a number of and Pacifi c indigenous communities to orient The reasons are complex and multifactorial barriers prevent this from occurring to its oneself in reference to the constellation of with economics, psycho-social environment, fullest extent. relationships a person inhabits. In the same historicity, health access and education just way that tracing a person’s lab pedigree can highlight their research interests, a cultural pedigree serves to convey the forces that shape one’s motivations and the lens through which the speaker views the world. Australia and New Zealand share some common health challenges with their Indigenous peoples, powerfully illustrated by the enormous defi cit in life expectancy. Non-Indigenous people in both countries can expect to live 81 years, while Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders live a staggering 10 years less. Even a cursory refl ection … tracing a person’s lab pedigree can highlight their research interests, a cultural pedigree serves to convey the forces that shape one’s motivations … on your most recent 10 years worth of living, caring, contributing, and growing will reveal how profound this loss truly is. From a macroscopic view, this amounts to a collective loss of 7,135,890 years based on current census data. Encouragingly, New Zealand has made steady strides over the past 3 ASI Inc. Newsletter September 2015 My research area of acute rheumatic fever, area of high impact to the Indigenous peoples, working with Prof. Ian Wicks, arose out of The support of senior leaders or through outreach and education programs. a growing commitment at the Walter and at the Institute has had a major But the impacts are greatly magnifi ed when Eliza Hall Institute to make a meaningful impact on progress and has championed by the Directors, HODs, CEOs, contribution to Indigenous heath. Despite highlighted the need for strong and senior scientists, as we are currently making stellar scientifi c discoveries and vision observing at WEHI. functioning as a hotbed of cutting edge technologies for nearly 100 years, WEHI Maori and Aboriginal biomedical scientists had never harnessed its talents to address the Committee to drive our objectives, with are, at this stage in history, incredibly rare. major Indigenous health concerns. Over the invaluable counsel from our Aboriginal Almost all of us have an abiding passion for past four years we have now been applying Committee members. Our Indigenous indigenous health issues. Most are attempting modern biomedical techniques to understand scientifi c and cultural initiatives at WEHI to function in and amalgamate both scientifi c the pathogenesis of rheumatic fever as a high are still in their infancy, but I believe that and cultural elements of research – an priority disease for the Indigenous Australian, we are making excellent progress. enormous task that can slow down some with clear overlapping benefi ts for my people aspects of career progression. Although we in New Zealand. The support of senior leaders at the Institute dedicate our research efforts to our peoples’ has had a major impact on progress and has causes, it is a task that is too large to be Imbedding these scientifi c efforts within highlighted the need for strong vision and carried by so few. And so it is immensely a culturally safe framework has been a decisive leadership from the executive level satisfying that New Zealand and Australian foremost consideration. We have sought of research organisations. Many individual scientists who are not Maori or Aboriginal guidance from Aboriginal leaders and researchers already make meaningful and Torres Strait Islanders are recognising Aboriginal health organisations, we are contributions, either by choosing research the need and the impact that they can make. completing our fi rst Aboriginal and Torres areas that are of interest to Indigenous I hope that these efforts will accelerate and Strait Islander Reconciliation Action Plan people, by actively ensuring that Indigenous that, together, we can build on what has been guided by national Reconciliation initiatives, participants are included in the work that they achieved so far on both sides of the Tasman and have established a Reconciliation already do, even when it is not particularly an to tackle these pressing health needs.