The International Investigative Dermatology Conference was held in Edinburgh, Scotland, this year.
Skin diseases are a global problem. In order to gain a better understanding of skin cancer, eczema and skin infections, it requires international collaboration.
Earlier this month, several members of Centenary’s Immune Imaging laboratory attended the International Investigative Dermatology (IID) meeting in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Professor McCaughan believes you should “love your liver”.
The deadly exponential effect of the combination of obesity and alcohol, can increase the likelihood of liver disease in women, a new study has found.
Professor Geoff McCaughan, head of Centenary Institute’s Liver Injury and Cancer group, has recently commented on the findings of a new study that found overweight women who drink regularly, have a much higher risk of liver disease. Frighteningly, researchers believe these findings could also apply to men.
The research was based on a study of more than 107,000 UK women, which showed that the chance of developing liver disease is increased by both drinking and being overweight. However, when these factors were combined, the women in the study were three times more likely to develop liver disease.
Sydney researchers have discovered a new type of immune cell in skin that plays a role in fighting off parasitic invaders such as ticks, mites, and worms, and could be linked to eczema and allergic skin diseases.
The team from the Immune Imaging and T cell Laboratories at the Centenary Institute worked with colleagues from SA Pathology in Adelaide, the Malaghan Institute in Wellington, New Zealand and the USA.
The new cell type is part of a family known as group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2) which was discovered less than five years ago in the gut and the lung, where it has been linked to asthma. But this is the first time such cells have been found in the skin, and they are relatively more numerous there.
“Our data show that these skin ILC2 cells are likely to supress or stimulate inflammation under different conditions,” says Dr Ben Roediger, a research officer in the Immune Imaging Laboratory at Centenary headed by Professor Wolfgang Weninger. “They also suggest a potential link to allergic skin diseases.” Continue reading
On the 10th of April, the Centenary Institute and The Chris O’Brien Lifehouse at RPA, will be hosting a luncheon at Wildfire to announce the formation of, and raise funds for, the Centenary – Lifehouse Cancer Research Centre.
The development of the Centenary/Lifehouse Cancer Research Centre completes the formation of a comprehensive centre that will be of huge benefit to many generations and is generously supported by the Australian Cancer Research Foundation and the University of Sydney.
Me and my Dad.
I was seven weeks old when my Dad was diagnosed with cancer. It was just a tiny lump in his neck. They had just taken it out, and discovered it was a malignant adenocarcinoma of the parotid salivary gland. This is a very slow type of cancer, which in a way is fortunate, because I did get to know my Dad. They had to go back in and remove more tissue, and in doing so the nerve to the right side of his face was damaged. This meant his face drooped a little on the right side. To me this was just the way my Dad looked, but he always turned his right side away in photographs.
An initiative to stop the spread of TB in Australia, and reduce its impact on our neighbours.A $2.5 million, six-nation initiative to fight tuberculosis has opened at the Centenary Institute, Sydney. It brings together over 14 institutes.
When not in China, Dr Simone Barry is at the Centenary Institute, passionately researching into tuberculosis.
China’s Ningxia Hospital sees more TB cases a year than the whole of Australia.
A new project at the hospital, in collaboration with researchers from the Centenary Institute in Sydney, aims to identify a new way of diagnosing TB and monitoring response to treatment. The research is funded in part by the Australian Respiratory Council.
The Ningxia Infectious Diseases Hospital sees as many as 1,300 new cases of TB each year. ‘Treating that many cases is difficult with limited resources.
Dr Elena Shklovskaya has just been awarded a three year grant by the Cancer Council NSW.
How is the memory of our immune system controlled? And how does it actually remember what has previously infected the body?
An immune system with a bad memory can overlook chronic infections, allowing the development of cancers and autoimmune diseases, and trigger the rejection of transplants.