News & Events
Professor Rakesh Kumar retires from UNSW after 40 years
Monday, 18 September 2017
After 40 years as one of UNSW Medicine’s most memorable educators, Professor Rakesh Kumar is retiring to the NSW Southern Highlands.
However, he hopes to keep firing the imaginations of students, as he plans to spend part of his weeks there assisting in high school biology classrooms.
He was a 22-year-old graduate of the All India IMS when he joined UNSW in 1977, accepting an unexpected job offer as a senior tutor.
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Study offers a new mindset in the search for stroke therapies
Thursday, 7 September 2017
UNSW researchers have identified a promising new avenue to explore in the search for stroke treatments, after translating findings from Alzheimer’s disease.
The study published in Nature Communications finds that mice deficient in tau, a protein within brain cells (neurons), are significantly protected from excitotoxic brain damage after experimental stroke.
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Medical schools are shaking off a dark past by honouring people who donate their bodies to science
Thursday, 7 September 2017
OPINION: Donating your body to science could give you two send-offs, not one. Not only do family and friends say goodbye at your funeral, you could have a second ceremony when medical students say “thank you” for your generous gift.
This second ceremony takes place at universities across the world in a commemoration of donors – an act of honouring the people who have donated their bodies for the study of human anatomy.
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Doping among amateur athletes probably more common than you think
Tuesday, 29 August 2017
Earlier this month the 11th annual CrossFit Games took place in the US. While the event has come a long way from humble beginnings, the prizemoney and fame now attached to it have led to concerns that competitors may be doping to gain an unfair advantage.
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UNSW Eureka Prize finalists celebrate a wealth of research and leadership
Friday, 28 July 2017
From restoring underwater forests to improving medical masks and developing hydrogen as fuel, a record 12 UNSW and UNSW-affiliated researchers and teams have been named finalists in the prestigious Eureka Prizes.
Presented annually by the Australian Museum, the Eureka Prizes are the country’s most high-profile science awards, recognising excellence in research and innovation, leadership, science engagement and school science.
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Why you should consider more than looks when choosing a fitness tracker
Tuesday, 25 July 2017
A UNSW study of five popular physical activity monitors, including Fitbit and Jawbone models, has found their accuracy differs with the speed of activity, and where they are worn.
The wearable devices sector is a multi-billion-dollar global market, as people become more health conscious and more focused on meeting the 10,000-step target recommended for healthy adults.
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UNSW young investigator awarded for kidney disease research
Thursday, 6 July 2017
UNSW PhD student Dr Adeniyi Borire has been recognised for a manuscript on the effects of haemodialysis on intraneural blood flow in end-stage kidney disease.
Dr Borire has won the American Association of Neuromuscular and Electrodiagnostic Medicine (AANEM) 2017 Golseth Young Investigator Award.
His research with PhD supervisors Professors Arun Krishnan and Matthew Kiernan and Dr Neil Simon and other co-authors was judged on scientific merit, methodology, manuscript form and Dr Borire’s contributions to the project.
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High school students buzzing about neuroscience
Tuesday, 27 June 2017
Q: Which part of a neuron is specialised for receiving inputs from other neurons?*
This was one of the questions put to 80 year 10 students who visited UNSW Sydney last week for the Australian Brain Bee Challenge (ABBC) NSW finals.
The competition promotes the learning of scientific research to high school students and provides an introduction to university education and careers in neuroscience.
The winner was Wenjing Chen of James Ruse Agricultural High School, and the school also took out the team prize.
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Inaugural Franklin Women mentoring program kicks off
Tuesday, 27 June 2017
The inaugural Franklin Women mentoring program was launched in June with 12 institutes and 54 mentor-mentee pairs coming together to commence a 6-month structured program.
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Different genetic features found in Chinese dementia cohort
Monday, 19 June 2017
Genetic screening of Chinese patients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) indicates that different genetic constitution in different populations could cause the same disease.
FTD is a progressive, degenerative brain disease. It primarily affects individuals younger than 65 years old.
UNSW Conjoint Associate Professor Yue Huang and researchers from four Shanghai-based institutions tested the four most common FTD causative genes in Chinese patients.
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