Finally, 2011 commemorated the 20th anniversary of the untimely death of surgeon Dr Victor Chang, in whose name the institute was established. Researchers at the institute continue to honour Dr Chang by their work in understanding and eradicating heart disease. St Vincent’s Centre for Applied Medical Research The St Vincent’s Centre for Applied Medical Research (AMR) has a long and proud tradition of conducting research with the aim of improving outcomes for those with or at risk of disease. In October 2008, the Centre for Immunology and the Clinical Trials Unit from St Vincent’s Hospital merged to form AMR. The Centre for Immunology was established in 1983 and was the first of its kind in New South Wales and the second in Australia. St Vincent’s Centre for Applied Medical Research forms part of St Vincent’s Hospital and is the primary research flagship of the St Vincent’s Group. AMR conducts clinical, applied and translational research with a focus on immunology, HIV and infectious diseases, neurosciences, transplantation biology and cancer. The St Vincent’s BioBank located at AMR was established in 2010 to provide researchers with high quality biological tissues and samples that will translate to better health outcomes for patients. The biorepository is a significant resource that carefully manages many of the issues around ethics and compliance that pertain to the use of human blood and tissues in medical research. St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney has endorsed a policy that recognizes the contribution that is made by those who donate human tissues and samples for medical research. This policy observes the fundamental ethical principle of respect of the donor, including the provision of fully informed consent, professional collection of samples and secure storage of materials and to maintain confidentiality and privacy. St Vincent’s Centre for Applied Medical Research had an exceptional year in 2010/2011, in realising many of the operational efficiencies that were anticipated through collocation and building critical mass with its partners, the Kirby Institute, HIV Immunovirology Program and the Clinical Research Program. Together these groups have implemented a model to efficiently manage their shared essential services. This includes centralising scientific stores and supplies, cryogenic stores, glassware and media preparation services, back-of-house services including waste management, engineering and maintenances, services, medical grade gases and loading dock operations.
many journeys. one vision. | RESEARCH
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HIV Immunovirology Program Professor Anthony Kelleher is head of the HIV Immunovirology program and works closely with colleagues at both AMR and the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research. He is appointed as a clinical academic at St Vincent’s Hospital and regularly sees patients at the Immunology and Infectious Diseases Unit. The program conducts world class research, presently focussed on the design and development of novel assays and the study of micro RNAs, fine mapping of T-cell function and the transcriptional gene silencing of HIV by siRNA. During 2010/2011 the HIV Immunovirology laboratory continued to provide support to the Clinical Research Program of AMR and programs within the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research. Clinical Research Program Professor Andrew Carr is Director of the HIV, Immunology and Infectious Diseases Unit, and Head of the Clinical Research Program, Centre for Applied Medical Research, St Vincent’s Hospital. He is also a Professor of Medicine at the University of NSW Wales. He was the first to describe a very common and clinically important side effect of therapy: HIV lipodystrophy, which changes the way body fat is distributed and causes metabolic changes that increase the risk of heart disease. The Clinical Research Program (CRP) provides high quality clinical trial services across the St Vincent’s campus for the clinical implementation of academic, pharmaceutical and investigator-initiated clinical studies. The CRP has clinical trials expertise in multi centred, investigator driven research projects - the major focus of the CRP into the future. The program currently has 80 research projects across clinical specialties including HIV infection, viral hepatitis, anal cancer, neurology and rehabilitation medicine. Innovation and research leadership continued as central themes for the program in 2010/2011 and this was evident with the commencing of clinical studies within the health volunteer patient population looking at the pharmacokinetics of HIV antiretroviral medicine. The program will continue to expand in a number of directions. There is the continued collaboration with the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research in research treatments for HIV infection. The scope of the clinical research service model for campus investigators will continue to expand into new therapeutic areas such as pain management, rehabilitation medicine and neurology.
Annual Review 2010/11
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