Congrats Erica and the Monash Sensory Science team – Finalists in 2023 Victorian Premier’s Design Awards

Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute’s inclusive science literacy initiative Monash Sensory Science has been named as a design strategy finalist in the 2023 Victorian Premier’s Design Awards. Established by the Victorian Government in 1996, the awards highlight and celebrate local design capability across architectural, communication, design strategy, digital, fashion, product, service and student categories.

Monash Sensory Science is a world-first, multisensory design strategy engaging one of Australia’s leading biomedicine institutes through multisensory design, co-creation, STEM exhibition and outreach for blind, low vision and diverse-needs communities. Established by the Rossjohn Laboratory and leveraging the lived experience of legally blind artist and designer Dr Erica Tandori, the program has empowered scientists to communicate cutting-edge biomedical discovery through creative multisensory exhibitions for diverse needs audiences. Together with Swinburne University designers, Monash Sensory Science enables diverse engagement through visual and tactile design, novel technologies, interactions and experiences, audio design and sonification, and multisensory science books. The initiative has achieved national and international recognition.

First held in 2018, the Monash Sensory Science Exhibition is one of their key design strategies. Designed for all ages and levels of science literacy, the exhibition explores science concepts such as immunity and immunology through multi-sensory, multi-modal artworks and tactile displays, offering an accessible and inclusive learning opportunity.

Dr Tandori said it was truly an honour and testament to the team’s collective dedication to be named as a finalist. “Our exhibition initiative, spearheaded by ARC Laureate Fellow Professor Jamie Rossjohn and developed collaboratively between Monash and Swinburne University, strives to break barriers in STEM and biomedical science communication, particularly for underrepresented audiences like those with blindness, low vision, and diverse needs,” she said. “Monash Sensory Science is a pioneering multisensory design strategy that has engaged scientists and individuals living with blindness and low vision to ensure inclusivity. With over 450,000 Australians experiencing blindness and low vision, our mission to make biomedicine accessible to all takes on a crucial role.”

“We hope that our approach becomes a global model, and my heartfelt thanks go to the incredible Rossjohn team and Swinburne designers for their hard work and dedication,” she said. “This recognition reinforces the importance of bridging gaps in understanding and making strides toward a more inclusive future in biomedical science communication.”

Read about the team’s entry: Design Strategy 2023 Finalists here.

Original article

Sophia reflects on her Rossjohn Laboratory Graduate Disability Internship experience

Making science accessible to people with diverse needs is an important mission of the Rossjohn Laboratory in the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute. The lab offers student scholarships and graduate internships to people with disabilities in order to broaden the diversity of people engaged in scientific discovery and to offer an inclusive opportunity to gain career experience in biomedical research.

Sophia Ladanyi recently completed her time in the lab’s Graduate Disability Internship Program and wrote some reflections about her experience.

Here’s what she had to say:

“I was offered an Internship as an Administrative Assistant in the Rossjohn Laboratory, working under the guidance and supervision of Project Manager Jennifer Huynh and artist-in-residence Dr Erica Tandori. From the beginning Jennifer and Erica made me feel welcome by helping me set up my computer and making me feel relaxed. I also felt comfortable and part of the lab team by getting to meet the Founder, Professor Jamie Rossjohn.

Rossjohn Laboratory interns Sean Christopher, Sophia Ladanyi, Rhiannon Thorneloe, Peter Knice.

Rossjohn Laboratory interns Sean Christopher, Sophia Ladanyi, Rhiannon Thorneloe, Peter Knice.

Erica and Jennifer had such a pleasant and endearing manner I felt at ease working with them. As for myself as someone with a disability, I was accommodated for by working set hours, 9am to 2.30pm on regular days, and having breaks from using my computer as needed.

My role as an assistant to the Artist in Residence was to take part in preparing for the recent Monash Sensory Science Exhibition – Autoimmunity. I learnt how science can meet art, especially for people with blindness and low vision. I made numerous artworks that represented human cells, such as white blood cells neutrophils and macrophages. It was great to see these artworks made into Sensory Science Books ready for the exhibition.

On the day of the exhibition, I showed guests to the main Auditorium area. One of the guests had a guide dog and a carer with her and showing them to the Auditorium made me feel like I was contributing to the exhibition in an important way.

I was honoured to have been filmed for the video of the exhibition. I was asked a series of questions where I talked about my experience as an intern and what I had learned from the exhibition. I highlighted how the artwork in the exhibition conveyed science in a new and exciting way.

I found it most inspiring, as someone with a disability, that one of the exhibition guests who was blind and also a current student at Monash University, has subsequently been offered an internship at the Rossjohn Lab.”

See Sophia in the Monash Sensory Science Exhibition video:

Congrats Jamie on your Visiting Professor appointment at the University of Oxford

Welcome to the new RDM Visiting Professors

RDM warmly welcomes two new Visiting Professors this term:

  • Jamie Rossjohn joins the department as Visiting Professor of Structural Immunology, and
  • Martin Young joins as Visiting Professor of Cardiac Science.

Professor Rossjohn travelled over the border from Wales to undertake his undergraduate degree and PhD at Bath University. After pursuing his PhD where he was exposed to the world of X-ray crystallography, he was awarded a Royal Society Fellowship (1995) to work at St. Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research (SVIMR), Melbourne, Australia where he explored detoxifying enzymes and studied bacterial toxins like aerolysin and perfringolysin O (PFO); his work on PFO revealed the molecular mechanism of these toxins. In 2002, Prof Rossjohn moved to Monash University, establishing the Protein Crystallography Unit, which has grown to include over 100 researchers. He played a key role in designing and establishing a fully-automated crystallisation facility.

As a laboratory head and current NHMRC Investigator Fellow, Prof Rossjohn’s research is centred on understanding immunity. He has used structural biology to explain pre-T-cell receptor (TCR) self-association in T-cell development, and how the TCR specifically recognises polymorphic human leukocyte antigen (HLA) molecules in the context of viral immunity and aberrant T-cell reactivity. He has unearthed structural mechanisms of HLA polymorphism impacting on drug and food hypersensitivities, as well as Natural Killer cell receptor recognition. He has pioneered the molecular understanding of lipid-based immunity by T cells, revealing that it can differ fundamentally from peptide-mediated adaptive immunity.

Recently, he has provided a structural basis of how vitamin B metabolites can be presented and recognised by the immune system, revealing a new class of antigen. Collectively, he has published > 500 papers and mentored numerous researchers towards obtaining higher degrees and nationally competitive fellowships.

His multidisciplinary approach, supported by a broad network of collaborators has led to a fundamental advancement of knowledge in this field and his research leadership has been recognised by numerous national and international awards. In 2022, Prof Rossjohn was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society and Associate Member of EMBO.

Professor Young received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and DPhil in Biochemistry at Oxford (Oriel College and Green College). Following postdoctoral training at Boston University and the University of Texas-Houston, he held faculty appointments at the University of Texas-Houston and Baylor College of Medicine, before joining the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2009 where he is currently a Professor of Medicine and the Jeanne V. Marks Endowed Chair of Cardiovascular Disease.

Research in Prof Young’s laboratory is focused on understanding how environmental factors, such as time-of-day and nutrition, influence cardiometabolic and cardiovascular health. Regarding time-of-day, the laboratory has been actively exploring how an intrinsic time-keeping mechanism, known as the circadian clock, influences cardiac function. His pioneering studies have resulted in a new field, which intersects chronobiology with cardiovascular research.

In addition to his research success, Prof Young has remained firmly committed to training future generations of both physicians and scientists. This has been achieved, in part, through directing both medical school courses, as well as postdoctoral training programmes. As a Visiting Professor of Cardiac Science at RDM, Prof Young will lend his unique expertise in cardiovascular disease and circadian biology to augment both ongoing and nascent research programmes, as well as facilitate the training of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.

 

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postdoc

Congrats Adam on your Cell paper

Researchers create “Lipidomic Map,” offering insights into immunology

An international team of scientists has developed a method for simultaneously detecting thousands of lipid molecules that are displayed to T cells in the human immune system.

The study, co-led by Professor D. Branch Moody, MD, of the Division of Rheumatology, Immunity and Inflammation at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Adam Shahine, PhD, at the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute represents a collaboration among researchers from Oxford, United Kingdom, Monash University in Melbourne, Australia and Groningen, Netherlands. The results were published today in Cell.

The team developed a new and sensitive method to detect more than 2,000 lipids bound to CD1 antigen presenting molecules, which display antigens to the human immune system.

While scientists have long known that T cells recognise antigens, until the 1990s, it was thought that these antigens were always peptides derived from proteins. Because lipids are not encoded by genes and are instead made by enzymes and form into membranes, they have entirely different functions and positions in the cell.

The ability to measure many lipid antigens at one time will allow future researchers to cross-check any disease-related lipid of interest to the list of candidate lipid antigens from this map and potentially make connections to diseases.

Their efforts yielded the first integrated CD1 lipidomic map, which could help guide the investigation and discovery of lipid blockers and antigens for T cells and support the view that lipids normally influence immune responses.

The research builds on earlier methods that separate cellular lipids in one chromatographic system, which provided only a limited perspective. The new structural biology work, undertaken by Dr Shahine, ARC DECRA fellow, showed how lipids fit inside proteins using size-based mechanisms.

Combined, the structures and biochemistry detail rules about the size, shape, and chemical content of the kinds of lipids that can bind CD1 and cause a T cell response—either activation or deactivation. It is the latest in a series of studies that date back to the 1990s, when Brigham scientists discovered that T cells can recognise lipid antigens.

Splashdown“. The image provides a prism for thinking about how oily antigens are recognized in aqueous solution. Four lipid presenting molecules, CD1a, CD1b, CD1c and CD1d, including a three dimensional CD1-lipid complex, fall toward the surface of a blue and watery environment surrounding a T cell. Image credit: Dr Erica Tandori.

“In this ambitious decade-long, multidisciplinary study, we have characterized the full spectrum of cellular lipids that can be displayed to T cells. Further, we have collated 25 years of structural biology data, as well as new data collected at the ANSTO Australian Synchrotron, to standardize the rules that govern the molecular mechanisms in lipid presentation” said Dr Shahine. “Our hope is that the data generated in this study will serve as a foundation for future research in the field of lipid mediated immunity.”

Professor Moody said, “The Brigham provides an environment where physicians and scientists from differing fields can collaborate. This multidisciplinary effort involved biophysical techniques related to mass spectrometry and biological techniques related to lipid chemistry. The lipids informed immunological outputs, and the mode of lipid recognition is proven through X-ray crystallography.”

Read the full publication in Cell, titled CD1 lipidomes reveal lipid-binding motifs and size-based antigen-display mechanisms

DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2023.08.022.

Original article

Read about our disability internship program featured by WISE Employment

Rossjohn Laboratory pioneers inclusive paid internship program for GradWISE graduates

In a display of commitment to diversity and inclusion, Rossjohn Laboratory, a renowned Biomedical Science research lab in Australia, has taken significant strides to create a more inclusive workplace and support newly emerging graduates with disabilities. As a longstanding partner of GradWISE, the organisation has recently offered multiple disability-affirmative paid internship positions to graduates from various universities, marking a ground-breaking moment for the scientific community.

Four GradWISE science graduates secured the highly sought-after internship opportunities at Rossjohn Laboratory. Over the past 12 weeks, they have been welcomed into the research and administrative teams, immersing themselves in the inner technical workings of the cutting-edge laboratory.

GradWISE graduates interning at Rossjohn Laboratory

Leading this initiative is Professor Jamie Rossjohn, FAA FAHMS FLSW FMedSci FRS, an ardent advocate for workplace diversity. Professor Rossjohn’s unwavering commitment to creating broader internship opportunities for graduates with disabilities has set a shining example for the scientific community. He firmly believes that by fostering diversity in the workplace, not only does the team benefit from a wider range of perspectives and ideas, but it also leads to enriched experiences for all involved.

“Collaborating with the Rossjohn Lab has been an incredibly enriching experience for GradWISE participants. Their dedication to fostering inclusion and providing meaningful opportunities is truly commendable. Together, we’ve opened doors for talented individuals to contribute to groundbreaking projects” says Head of GradWISE Edward Osano.

During their internship, they have had the privilege of participating in the Monash Sensory Science Exhibition held in June. The exhibition, which brings together art and science for participants with diverse needs, provided an inspiring platform for the interns to showcase their skills and passion for scientific discovery.

The experience at Rossjohn Laboratory has proven to be transformative for the interns, giving them greater confidence in navigating the workplace and reinforcing their passion for scientific research. One intern, who had never been employed before, expressed immense excitement and eagerness to continue contributing to the lab as part of their ongoing career journey.

GradWISE student Sophia says “working for Rossjohn Laboratory has long been a goal of mine. I was so excited to secure the internship with assistance from GradWISE. Assisting the team to deliver the Monash Sensory Science Exhibition has helped improve my confidence and broaden my skills. I felt supported every step of the way. I’m so grateful to Professor Rossjohn and the team for this opportunity.”

Professor Rossjohn, while discussing the remarkable progress of the GradWISE interns, was filled with pride and admiration for their contributions. In recognition of their exceptional performance, he provided the GradWISE interns with an additional six-week contract extension, underscoring the laboratory’s commitment to nurturing talent and providing meaningful opportunities.

science objects at Rossjohn LaboratoryOver the last three months, Coach Roanna Harry has been there to provide support to the GradWISE participants.

“The Monash Sensory Science Exhibition was an impressive display of inclusive creativity and innovation. It was wonderful to see the Rossjohn interns in action as they assisted the team to run the event. It’s been so heart-warming to see our students thrive and witness their professional growth over the course of the internship. The nurturing and inclusive culture within the Rossjohn team has been crucial to their success. As they near the end of the internship, GradWISE look forward to continuing to support our participants to leverage this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, as they embark on careers in the science field” says Roanna.

[Images:  1. Sean Christopher (L) and Sophia Ladanyi (R) assisting at the Monash Sensory Science exhibition on June 30th, 2023.  2. Tactile models of immunity created for the exhibition.]

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