WAIMR - Seminars & Events

Seminars & Events

One of WAIMR's major goals is to educate the research community and the public on the benefits that medical research has to offer. As well as regular weekly seminars, we run a number of special seminars throughout the year, along with several fundraising events.

WAIMR Seminar Series

Innovation in research can be realised by sharing ideas and broadening our exposure to advances in similar disciplines. The WAIMR Seminar Series provides an opportunity for staff, students and members of the public to engage with a range of researchers, clinicians and other practitioners on medical research issues. Our upcoming seminars are outlined below.

Date

Details

Friday
16^th March 2012
1:00-2:00pm

NRP Science Meeting

Speaker: Dr Marc Ruitenberg, Lecturer, University of Queensland; Affiliate Research Fellow, The Queensland Brain Institute.

Seminar Title: Unravelling the role of the innate immune response in secondary pathology after spinal cord injury

Venue: Seminar Room, Level 1, School of Anatomy & Human Biology, UWA. All Welcome!

Dr Marc Ruitenberg obtained a PhD in Molecular Neuroscience from the VU University Amsterdam (The Netherlands) in 2003. He then relocated to Australia where he worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at The University of Western Australia with Professor Alan Harvey and Dr Giles Plant in nervous system injury and repair. He pioneered methods for in vivo cell tracking and demonstrated that gene therapy can boost the regenerative potential of injured neurons in the central nervous system, promoting functional recovery from spinal cord injury (SCI). Some of this research was supported by the NRP. Dr Ruitenberg moved to The University of Queensland in 2009 where he now holds the position of Lecturer in Neuroanatomy and Neuroscience at the School of Biomedical Sciences. He is also an Affiliate Research Fellow of The Queensland Brain Institute. A major focus of his current research is to advance our understanding of the inflammatory changes that occur following SCI. The ultimate goal of this research is to determine which aspects of the inflammatory process exacerbate neuronal injury and impair wound healing, so that novel anti-inflammatory interventions can be designed to improve the outcome from neurotraumatic events. Professor Harvey and Dr Ruitenberg are collaborating on this topic and co-supervise a PhD student.

In this NRP seminar, Dr Ruitenberg will discuss his latest research findings in relation to inflammation and also present data on the use of high-resolution MRI in neurotrauma research. The 16.4T MRI scanner at the Centre for Advanced Imaging at The University of Queensland is available to NRP researchers through collaborations with UQ and/or the National Imaging Facility.

* Unless otherwise noted, these seminars are held in the Seminar Room of the Nedlands Campus, which is located on the Ground Floor of B Block at the QEII Medical Centre, Hospital Avenue, Nedlands. You can call us on 9346 3838 if you need help finding the building. All of the seminars listed here are open to the public, and refreshments are provided.

Public Seminars

WAIMR is keen to keep the community up-to-date on our research. Holding public seminars about topical issues are part of this commitment. Our upcoming seminars are outlined below (although please be aware that some of these may require registration).

Date

Details

Tuesday 23^rd to
Wednesday 24^th
October 2012

National Melanoma Conference

The Esplanade Hotel Fremantle, Fremantle, WA

The Scott Kirkbride Melanoma Research Centre is hosting its first national melanoma conference in Perth in October this year and would like to invite you to join us in making this inaugural meeting a memorable one for all of those who attend. This is an exciting time for exciting research discoveries and clinical advances and we hope to bring you the very latest developments in the field of melanoma and the world experts responsible for those breakthroughs.

We will have at least one international world expert as well as a number of eminent Australian melanoma researchers attend the event. Our aim is to make this a meeting not to be missed on the Australasian melanoma conference calendar.

Distinguished guest speakers include:

International	Professor Charles Balch (Johns Hopkins Clinical Research Network)
	Professor Boris Bastian (Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center)
National	Professor John Thompson (Melanoma Institute Australia)
	Professor Grant McArthur (Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre)
	Professor Graham Mann (MIA, University of Sydney)
	Professor Nick Hayward (QIMR)

Currently, there is no annual melanoma meeting which covers molecular, clinical and epidemiological aspects of research. With the emerging new developments in melanoma treatments and clinical trials on the horizon and the knowledge that Australia has the highest incidence in the world of melanoma we think it is timely for us to introduce a national meeting.

Please RSVP to register your interest and go on to our mailing list to receive future announcements.

We look forward to welcoming you.

Events

WAIMR runs a number of fundraising events throughout the year. Increasing numbers of organizations are choosing to host national and international conferences in Perth. WAIMR is proud to support the events listed below.