September 2025 - NCIC Newsletter

Dear all,

Welcome to the September edition of the NCIC newsletter. It’s been a highly productive period at NCIC, with our teams advancing a broad spectrum of impactful research across transplant, cancer, and immunocompromised patient populations. Over the past few months, our work has included clinical trials, point prevalence studies, innovative diagnostic tools, and immune profiling, resulting in a number of key publications in leading journals such as Clinical Infectious Diseases, BMJ Open, Transplant Infectious Disease, Mycoses, and Clinical & Translational Immunology.

Research Updates

Recently published in Clinical Infectious Diseases, the C-Smart trial demonstrated that a nasal spray containing interferon-alpha (IFN-α)—a naturally occurring protein with broad antiviral properties—reduced the risk of COVID-19 infection by 40% compared with placebo.

The study gained significant media attention, with 44 articles published across Australia, the United States, Europe, and the United Kingdom. Collectively, print and broadcast coverage reached more than 310,000 people.

Congratulations to the team on this important collaboration, which represents a novel and impactful advance in protecting immunocompromised patients.

Senior author, Associate Professor Ben Teh, has recently led the development of new international guidelines for the management of Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI), a common and potentially serious gut infection.

Published by the 10th European Conference on Infections in Leukemia (ECIL-10), the guidelines provide evidence-based recommendations to address the unique challenges of diagnosing and treating CDI in haematology patients, who are at significantly higher risk of severe illness and complications.

We are pleased to announce that the protocol for the PROSPER point prevalence study - aiming to estimate the prevalence of key healthcare-associated and opportunistic infections in Australian transplant and cancer populations, has been published in BMJ Open (Volume 15, Issue 7, e100798).

This study represents Australia’s first multi-site, ICH-adapted point prevalence survey (PPS) focused on cancer and transplant patients, employing a surveillance methodology based on the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control’s PPS protocol. It will capture crucial data on infection prevalence, current infection prevention and control practices, and surveillance strategies across multiple healthcare facilities.

With ethical approval secured from the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre’s Human Research Ethics Committee, the study will enrich future IPC policy and surveillance frameworks tailored to this highly vulnerable population.

NCIC Recent Publications

PMCC ID Unit meeting -Special Presentation: NCIC Showcase

Upcoming Events

Tomorrow is 2nd Antifungal Stewardship Workshop

Join us for the 2nd Antifungal Stewardship Workshop- a dynamic in-person event dedicated to exploring critical and emerging issues in antifungal stewardship.

Date: Saturday 6th of September
Location: Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre

Expressions of Interest for Full time Research Fellow Position

We also, taking expressions of interest for a full time Research Fellow position available for 2026. This research position is not accredited. AHPRA certification (or ability to gain) and at least 1-year advanced training in Infectious Diseases is highly desirable. You will be paid as a full time Research Assistant and will be embedded in our clinical research team. We are looking for local or international ID physicians who want to gain research and trials experience.

Please reach out to Monica.slavin@petermac.org if you would like to discuss either of these opportunities further.

Follow us!

We look forward to connecting with you on both LinkedIn and BlueSky.


Kind regards,

Prof Monica Slavin, MBBS, MD, FRACP, FAAHMS
Head, Department Infectious Disease, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre

Professor of Infection in Cancer and Transplantation, University of Melbourne Department of Infectious Diseases and the Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology

Director, National Centre for Infections in Cancer