EAGG 19th April 2015

Hosts: Dr Krystal, Dr, Kathryn, Dr Jen, Dr Shane

News items: The possible origins of antibacterial resistance, How does the skeletal muscles respond to a high fat diet?, New research in the placebo effect, Earthquake warning from mobile phones.

First guest: Chiara Paviolo, PhD. The most common treatments for cancer are surgery or a combination of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Recently, gold nanoparticles have been employed in cancer cell therapy under laser illumination or as drug delivery systems. We showed that gold nanorods can also inhibit cell proliferation through a mechanical blocking of receptor clustering. Membrane receptors are proteins that provide the first line of communication between the extracellular environment and the cell cytoplasm.

Second guest: Dr Natalie Thorne is a statistician, and mother to three young children. She had an early interest in genetics during her Bachelor of Science degree in the late 90's. She worked with Professor Terry Speed, a world renowned bioinformatician and statistician, when she was in second year university. She went on to complete her Honours and PhD work in bioinformatics at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute with Terry.

Third guest:Professor Jo Douglas, Head of the Department of Immunology and Allergy, Royal Melbourne Hospital. Jo Douglass is a specialist physician who is Head of the Department of Immunology and Allergy at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, an Honorary Clinical Professor at the University of Melbourne and Research Associate at the Walter & Eliza Hall Institute. She undertook medical training at Monash University and specialist physician training in Allergy and Respiratory Medicine in Australia and the UK, receiving her MD in 2000 with a thesis based on bench-top immunology and continues to contribute to publications and clinical research. She is a Fellow of the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand and a former President of the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy (ASCIA). Her current research projects are in severe asthma, allergies and immune deficiencies. She also maintains an active clinical practice.

http://www.dayofimmunology.org.au/Home/

Remember, "Science is everywhere", including:

http://www.rrr.org.au/program/einstein-a-go-go/

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and every Sunday at 11a.m AEST on RRR 102.7mHz FM