Royal patronage 

We are delighted to announce that Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Mary of Denmark has accepted to extend her patronage of the Danish Twin Registry and Twins Research Australia for another five years. The Crown Princess has raised awareness of twin research globally through her messages of support and tours of both Twins Research Australia and the Danish Twin Registry since she became patron in January 2013. With the Crown Princess’s ongoing support, we will continue to raise awareness of how twins can bring special insights to medical research and discoveries. Increasing awareness of twin research is vital to attracting more researchers to the field and more twins to volunteer for research.

Congratulations

Please join us in congratulating: 

• TRA Deputy Director Jeff Craig who was appointed ISTS President in 2017.
• Dongli Liu, who was presented with the Gedda award by the International Society of Twin Studies for her poster The genetic mechanism behind the dietary fat influence of fat taste. A twin study.
• Associate Professor Paulo Ferreira and his wife, Associate Professor Manuela Ferriera, who were featured in a recent article in The Sydney Morning Herald as the ‘power couple of back pain research’. Paulo has achieved ground-breaking discoveries into back pain, most recently finding that anti-inflammatory drugs don’t work for back pain.

2018 Twins Research Australia travel grant scheme - Round 1

Key dates: 2018 Round 1 opened on the 9th April. Submission deadline 10th May 2018.

The Travel Grant Scheme aims to encourage the growth and development of twin research in Australia by:

• Supporting the training and development of Australian researchers in the methodology and practice of studies involving twins by offering financial assistance to attend TRA workshops and events.
• Presenting and promoting TRA based twin research studies at scientific conferences.

The application form is available on our website. Please direct all enquiries to Janine Lam on 03 8344 7445 or email janine.lam@unimelb.edu.au.

Twin related grant applications

Have you submitted a recent grant that involves twins or twin data? If you have, we would like to know so we can ensure our resources are in place and that our twin members are informed of how their contributions are having an ongoing impact on the generation of research ideas.  Please let us know by emailing info@twins.org.au.

Early-career researchers step up engagement with the new TRA ECR  Group

In the last six months, the TRA ECR group has organised activities aimed at supporting twin researchers from various scientific domains. The group has conducted surveys to learn about how we can help researchers studying twins and has gathered valuable feedback. 

Their last meeting included presentations from members of the group outlining their research and sharing twin data analysis strategies. Twin researchers were also given the opportunity to request feedback and raise methodological questions to an expert statistician, who was present at the meeting. Suggestions from this meeting helped inform topics covered in the Twin Statistical Methodology and Analysis Workshop held in September, 2017 conducted by Twins Research Australia.

The TRA ECR group is committed to connecting with researchers involved in twin studies and facilitating transfer of knowledge and skills for twin research. To join the group, please email namitha.mohandas@mcri.edu.au.

Publications

Just a reminder that when referring to Twins Research Australia (formerly Australian Twin Registry) during the course of your research please ensure you use our new name and logo. Also, a gentle reminder to use the following wording when acknowledging Twins Research Australia in your publications:

“This research was facilitated through access to Twins Research Australia, a national resource supported by a Centre of Research Excellence Grant (ID: 1079102), from the National Health and Medical Research Council.”

An electronic copy of all publications should be sent to info@twins.org.au.

A selection of recent publications from our collaborators are included below:

General Media

• 5 Discoveries we can thank twins for. By Catriona May, University of Melbourne.

Journal Articles

• Twin studies for the prognosis, prevention and treatment of musculoskeletal conditions. Brazilian Journal of Physical Therapy.
• Analysis combining correlated glaucoma traits identifies five new risk loci for open-angle glaucoma. Scientific Reports.
• Gene-environment interactions in ADHD: The roles of SES and chaos. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology.
• An epigenome-wide association study meta-analysis of educational attainment. Molecular Psychiatry.
• Causal effect of smoking on DNA methylation in peripheral blood: a twin and family study. Clinical epigenetics.
• Twins as participants in randomized controlled trials: A review of published literature. Twin Research and Human Genetics.

Workshops and Conferences

Twin Statistical Methodology and Analysis - Perth
Come to this workshop and learn about analysing data from twin studies. This workshop will cover the exploration, analysis and interpretation of data from twin studies. 

When: 20th and 21st June 2018
Where: The University of Western Australia
Cost: $220 per person
For more information or to register please visit our website.