Category: <span>Company News</span>

With the support of Bellberry funding, SAHMRI has now commenced the first Bellberry Research Fellowship. Dr Michael Musker, the recipient of the Fellowship, works within SAHMRI’s Mind and Brain theme and is examining gene-environment interactions in obesity, depression and their interface.

Bellberry’s donation for this Fellowship was recognised by the SAHMRI in their latest Newsletter.

The South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute’s (SAHMRI) Mind and Brain Theme Leader, Professor Julio Licinio, is pleased to announce the recipient of the inaugural Bellberry Mind and Brain Fellowship.

This unique position, newly created with philanthropic support from Bellberry, will be based within the Mind and Brain research theme at SAHMRI in Adelaide, South Australia.

The recipient of the Fellowship is Dr Michael Musker, who joins SAHMRI from the Forensic Mental Health Service in South Australia. He is originally from the UK where he trained as a Mental Health Nurse. He also holds a BA in Health Studies (Liverpool), an MSc in Health Promotion, Research and Policy Change (Liverpool) and recently completed his PhD in Forensic Mental Health (Adelaide) with Professor Alexander McFarlane, a world-renowned leader in the field of psychiatry.

Professor Licinio said that SAHMRI will benefit greatly from Dr Musker’s appointment. “We are delighted to have this generous level of support from Bellberry, allowing us to launch a highly innovative project on gene-environment interactions, that uses advanced genomics and social media to reach large numbers of consumers,” Professor Licinio said. “The Bellberry Fellowship will support Dr Musker, who recently obtained a PhD from the University of Adelaide, to spearhead such an exciting area of research. This creative new type of partnership will greatly advance research in SAHMRI’s Mind and Brain Theme.”

‘International Conference grapples with ethics’

Bellberry was in the news again recently after the hugely successful Crossover Conference, hosted by Bellberry in October, ABC News wrote a full article on the event. To listen to ‘The World Today – Patients demand more rights in clinical cancer trials 24/10/2014’ article and hear E/Prof Lloyd Sanson and Chris Henshaw speaking about the Congress please click here

With just two weeks to go until we host the International Scientific Congress into the Challenges of Early Crossover in Clinical Trial Design for Oncology, time is running out to book your place!

Confirmed speakers include:

E/Prof Lloyd Sansom AO
Prof Davina Ghersi (NHMRC)
Prof Francesco Pignatti (EMA)
A/Prof Michael Coory (TGA)
Prof Andrew Mitchell (NHMRC)
Dr Kathy Soltys (Health Canada)
Rebecca Trowman (NICE)
Dr Anthony Fields (CADTH)
Dr Beate Wieseler (IQWiG)
Dr Sean Tunis (CMTP (USA)
Dr Dane Dickson (MoIDX, Palmett GBA )

The panels will cover the range of perspectives around this issue: from the needs of clinical trial participants; to practical considerations of treating oncologists. From the analytical considerations of the regulatory agencies; to the data set conundrums facing the Health Technology Assessment agencies. Supported by leading academics in biostatistics and health economics. Sessions will be fully interactive, offering the audience the opportunity to give feedback direct to the agencies on proposed guidelines around how to handle these growing challenges.

Further Conference Information and Agenda

Challenges of Early Crossover in Clinical Trial Design for Oncology

On Wednesday 22 October 2014, Bellberry will host a conference in Adelaide on the Challenges of Early Crossover in Clinical Trial Design for Oncology. At this important event, we will launch guidelines in this area which have been consolidated by an international panel of experts at a workshop overseen by a Scientific Advisory Committee, chaired by Emeritus Professor Lloyd Sansom AO.

The workshop will result in the development of an agreed statement of good practice, guidelines on approaches and clear agreement on any required next steps, all of which will be presented and debated at the conference.

Dr Shayne Bellingham, University of Melbourne and Alison Gibberd, University of Sydney both received donations in 2013 as part of the Bellberry donation scheme. Below is an update on both awards.

Inaugural Bellberry Indigenous Health Fellow

Dr Shayne Bellingham was awarded the inaugural Bellberry Indigenous Health Fellow at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Melbourne in 2013 to support indigenous research. One year on Dr Bellingham reflects on the impact that the fellowship has made on his ongoing research. ‘The Bellberry Indigenous Health Research Fellowship is a wonderful initiative to support indigenous Australians for a career in medical research. Importantly without such generous support it is more than likely I would not have been able to continue my research career. The fellowship, thus far, has provided the opportunity for me to expand research skills into animal models of disease for development of clinical diagnostic tests; witness my first PhD student graduate; and consolidate several research papers that will strengthen my NHMRC Project Grant application in the next funding round. The fellowship has also allowed me to engage with Indigenous leaders within the University of Melbourne and undergraduate students through Ormond College. The Bellberry Indigenous Health Fellowship has also fuelled a passion for me to develop my research career so that it has a direct benefit for indigenous Australians. Long term, I plan to head my own research team to investigate Alzheimer’s disease and end-stage chronic kidney in the field of early diagnosis and preventative medicine. The prevalence of dementia is 12.4% higher in Indigenous Australians and the incidence rate for end-stage renal disease for Indigenous Australians has more than doubled between 1991 and 2008, from 31 to 76 per 100,000 population. Since “closing the gap” is predicted to increase the life expectancy of Indigenous Australian, then the onset of dementia and development of chronic kidney disease will no doubt have a major cultural impact. I would like to thank the board of Bellberry Pty Ltd for the opportunities they have afforded me through the establishment of this Fellowship, and to commend them for their philanthropy and support for medical research and Indigenous researchers.’

The University of Sydney

The Bellberry Scholarship in Indigenous Health and Biostatistics was established in 2012 to offer a suitably qualified candidate with a Masters degree in Biostatistics to undertake research studies leading to a PhD in Biostatistics, in the field of Indigenous health. In March 2013, Alison Gibberd was excited to be awarded the inaugural Bellberry Scholarship in Indigenous Health and Biostatistics: ‘For almost 3 years, I worked on a project exploring reasons for poorer survival from cancer and patterns of care for Aboriginal people in NSW. During this period, my interest in Indigenous health was strengthened and I saw the Bellberry Postgradu¬ate Scholarship in Indigenous Health and Biostatistics as a fantastic opportunity to examine interesting questions in an area of great need. Disparities in the health of Indigenous and non- Indigenous Australians begin at birth, with higher rates of preterm birth, stillbirth and low birth weight in Aboriginal people, and continue across the life course. For my PhD, my supervisors, Judy Simpson and Sandra Eades, and I will investigate relationships between perinatal outcomes and subsequent health throughout the life course, as well as associations across generations, using birth and health data for all Indigenous people born in Western Australia over a 30 year period. I am very grateful to Bellberry Limited for the opportunity to work on this project.’ During her PhD, Alison is being supervised by Professor Judy Simpson and Professor Sandra Eades. ‘The Bellberry Scholarship in Indigenous Health and Biostatistics has enabled us to recruit Alison, an outstanding young biostatistician to work with us to understand intergenerational pathways to poor fetal growth among Aboriginal infants’ – Professor Sandra Eades

As we have mentioned in previous updates, Bellberry Ltd is committed to contributing to the current national aim of streamlining of current ethics review processes. This is in conjunction with our core aims of promoting and improving the welfare of research participants and promoting quality, efficiency and effectiveness of research across Australia.

The need for increased education services to the broader research sector has been identified by many key stakeholders as an important element of the streamlining objective, with an end goal of promoting and retaining a skilled and informed workforce. We are excited to announce our plans to deliver VET accredited education to the Human Research Ethics sector, with a planned implementation internally later this year and then nationally in early 2015. This will be closely followed by accredited education to the broader research sector , focusing on education and support for researchers and research site support staff.

Importantly, we recognise that affordability, accessibility and quality are inherent design elements. All education services will be conducted in partnership with an academic tertiary institution /professional body, with support and guidance on design, content and delivery from key experts around the nation, including industry, regulators and representatives of all of the target audience groups. One important goal of this project is to ensure that the services can be readily accessed by all, with an aim to ensuring portability of acquired skills and recognition amongst the sector of accredited training as an accepted standard. This would ultimately reduce the current burden of repetition of training that impacts time and costs related to research.

If you would like to know more about this project or would like to know how you can be involved, please contact Melanie Gentgall, Bellberry Education Project Manager at melaniegentgall@bellberry.com.au

Bellberry achieved a significant milestone in July with the first interstate HREC meeting being successfully conducted in Queensland. Committee E, registered with the NHMRC in May, held its inaugural HREC meeting in Toowong on Wednesday 9th July with fantastic input from the six locally attending members and two members joining via teleconference from South Australia.

Our thanks to Life Sciences Queensland for the use of their facilities and for extending a very warm welcome.

Following the positive response to our recent ‘No Bookings’ trial for study submissions, Bellberry are pleased to announce that this system will continue to operate on a permanent basis.

Once all your study documentation is ready, please submit via eProtocol and your study will then be allocated to the next available meeting date. Bellberry will continue to aim to have studies allocated to the meeting two weeks following the study submission wherever possible. Your meeting date will be confirmed with you.

If you have specific time frames please contact Bellberry prior to submitting your documents.

Growing demand for review services indicates healthy Clinical Research environment

This month Bellberry featured in Life Sciences Queensland’s quarterly newsletter. Check out page 6!

Bellberry is delighted to announce that its 5th Human Research Ethics Committee has been registered, ahead of an inaugural meeting in July 2014.

In the preparation phase ahead of the formal launch, the Bellberry team has been busy behind the scenes with the recruitment and selection process. All new HREC members are being supported with a training and development programme ahead of launch. This programme includes:
• induction training in Bellberry processes and policies,
• technical support in the virtual ethics collaboration environment.
• observation activities gaining experience in ethics review in existing committees.
• mentor support.

The 5th committee adds further capacity to the Bellberry ethics review process. With Bellberry holding at least one HREC meeting every week, we are able to provide researchers with a 2-week lead time from submission to review

James Cook University researchers search to see if bitter and ugly cucumber may be cancer cure

Bellberry HREC has featured in an article in the Cairns Post regarding the supported research they have provided to James Cook University researchers.