![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Student-scholarship_edited-scaled.jpeg\")
Vicki Stylianou\u00a0<\/strong>from the Centre for Virus Research received the Sydney Honours Scholarship, a merit-based scholarship awarded across all faculties. Out of more than 100 applications, only a select number of students, including Vicki, received the scholarship.<\/p>\n Laurentius Tjahadji\u00a0<\/strong>from the Centre for Heart Research and\u00a0Jessica Merjane\u00a0<\/strong>from the Centre for Virus Research each received the Westmead Honours scholarship, which provides an opportunity for high-achieving students to study in the Westmead Honours Program.<\/p>\n The scholarship has been successful in attracting students to study at Westmead, with more than half of the applicants enrolling in the Honours Program.<\/p>\n WIMR Internal Honours Coordinator,\u00a0Dr Monica Miranda-Saksena<\/strong>, said she was pleased that the scholarships have enabled more students to study at The Westmead Institute for Medical Research.<\/p>\n \u201cScholarships play a vital role in providing financial support so that young students are able to pursue a career in medical research,\u201d Dr Miranda-Saksena said.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m personally delighted that we are now able to attract more students with high academic merits to the Westmead campus.<\/p>\n \u201cThe students of today are the medical researchers of tomorrow.\u00a0 So, ensuring that the brightest and most dedicated young medical researchers are well-trained and mentored is a priority for The Westmead Institute for Medical Research.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m pleased that Vicky, Jessica and Laurentius are able to join us here at Westmead thanks to the scholarships, and would like to congratulate them on their achievements.<\/p>\n \u201cOver the coming year, they will contribute to heart research and virus research, and help us progress our discoveries.\u201d<\/p>\n About the students<\/strong> Jessica Merjane \u2013 Supervised by Dr Monica Miranda Saksena, Dr Kevin Danastas and Professor\u00a0 Tony Cunningham, Centre for Virus Research<\/strong> Vicki Stylianou \u2013 Supervised by Dr Kerrie Sandgren, Centre for Virus Research<\/strong> Three students from The Westmead Institute for Medical Research have received Honours scholarships from The University of Sydney. Vicki Stylianou\u00a0from the Centre for Virus Research received the Sydney Honours Scholarship, a merit-based scholarship awarded across all faculties. Out of more than 100 applications, only a select number of students, including Vicki, received the scholarship. Laurentius […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":2901,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"categories":[19],"class_list":["post-2898","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cat-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/2898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Monica-Saksena_cropped.jpg\")
\nLaurentius Tjahjadi \u2013 Supervised by Professor James Chong, Centre for Heart Research<\/strong>
\nHeart failure is a significant problem, affecting more than 26 million individuals worldwide. Heart attacks are a common cause of heart failure, as a heart attack causes permanent damage to the heart muscle, leading to reduced function.
\nLaurentius\u2019 research will investigate how we can use healthy heart muscle cells developed from stem cells to replace the damaged heart tissue, and restore heart function.<\/p>\n
\nMore than 50 percent of the world population is infected with the herpes simplex virus (HSV-1). Although HSV-1 may cause mild or no symptoms to healthy people, the virus can cause serious and life-threatening diseases including infectious blindness and encephalitis.
\nJessica is investigating how we can use proteins called \u2018interferons\u2019 from our immune system to stop recurrent herpes infections. Jessica will be using specially designed devices that will allow her to track the spread of the virus, using nerve cells, which are the main target of the virus, as a model.<\/p>\n
\nAn estimated 417 million people worldwide are infected with HSV-2, the herpes simplex virus that causes genital herpes infections. Currently, there are no effective preventions for the virus.
\nVicki is investigating how a component of a vaccine, called an \u2018adjuvant\u2019, activates and aids the immune response in humans. She will apply the adjuvant to human lymph nodes to identify what immune cells are activated, and what products they release to kick start the immune response.
\nBy understanding how this adjuvant works, researchers can potentially apply it in the development of a vaccine for genital and neo-natal HSV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"