Professor Dmitri Sviridov, Professor Jamie Cooper and Professor Paul Myles were the recipients of the 2018 AMREP Research Prizes, presented on Tuesday 19 June by Dr Susan Alberti, AC, following her Keynote Address for Alfred Health Week Research Day.
The 2018 AMREP Research Prizes are awarded for the article describing original research in the journal with the highest impact factor in 2017.
The 2018 AMREP Research Prize in Basic Research was awarded to Professor Dmitri Sviridov (pictured top left with Dr Alberti) from the Baker Heart & Diabetes Institute, for his team’s work on TRAK2, a novel regulator of ABCA1 expression, cholesterol efflux and HDL biogenesis, which was published in the European Heart Journal. This study describes a novel and unexpected way to regulate the pathway for removing excessive cholesterol from cells. The findings open up new possibilities for developing new ways to prevent and treat atherosclerosis, the major cause of heart disease.
Professor Sviridov’s co-authors were Nicole Lake, Rachael Taylor, Hugh Trahair, KN Harikrishnan, Joanne Curran, Marcio Almeida, Hemant Kulkarni, Nigora Mukhamedova, Anh Hoang, Hann Low, Andrew Murphy, Matthew Johnson, Thomas Dyer, Michael Mahaney, Harald Göring, Eric Moses, Dmitri Sviridov, John Blangero, Jeremy Jowett (dec.) and Kiymet Bozaoglu.
Two outstanding projects were recognised with the 2018 AMREP Research Prize in Clinical Research, with judges unable to separate the two.
The first award was made to Professor Jamie Cooper (above, right), from Monash University and The Alfred, for Age of red cells for transfusions and outcomes in critically ill adults which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. It detailed the TRANSFUSE project, which dispelled the assumption that ‘fresh is best’ when it comes to blood used in transfusions, and has fundamentally changed the way in which blood is stored and used.
Professor Cooper’s co-authors on the paper were Zoe McQuilten, Alistair Nichol, Bridget Ady, Cécile Aubron, Michael Bailey, Rinaldo Bellomo, Dashiell Gantner, David Irving, Kirsi?Maija Kaukonen, Colin McArthur, Lynne Murray, Ville Pettilä, Craig French for the TRANSFUSE Investigators and the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society Clinical Trials Group.
The second award for Clinical Research went to Professor Paul Myles from The Alfred and Monash University, for Tranexamic acid in patients undergoing coronary artery surgery which was also published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The Award was accepted by Dr Andrew Forbes (above, left). The ATACAS Trial, which the paper details, explored the use of TxA in coronary artery surgery, finding that it effectively reduced bleeding with no increased risk of thrombotic effects. TxA is now used in almost every coronary artery surgeries in Australia.
As well as Professor Myles and Dr Forbes, co-authors of the paper included Brendan Silbert, Mohandas Jayarajah, Thomas Painter, James Cooper, Silvana Marasco, John McNeil, Jean Bussières, Shay McGuinness, Kelly Byrne, Matthew Chan, Giovanni Landoni and Sophie Wallace for the ATACAS Investigators of the ANZCA Clinical Trials Network.
Sincere congratulations to all involved.