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How a piece of mobile DNA could change your mind

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$25,000 Centenary Institute Lawrence Creative Prize goes to young Brisbane researcher

Today one of Australia’s most creative young medical researchers has won a $25,000 prize to help him develop his research into how a common, short piece of DNA affects the operation of the brain.

A/Prof Geoff Faulkner of the Mater Research Institute in Brisbane thinks the differences in the way each human brain functions could be determined by a segment of mobile DNA, known as L1, which has the capacity to insert itself into the genome of individual brain cells. His work may have consequences for how memories form, for brain disorders such as schizophrenia, and even spills over into diseases such as haemophilia, muscular dystrophy and some forms of cancer.

[Read more…] about How a piece of mobile DNA could change your mind

2014 Centenary Institute Lawrence Creative Prize

  • Finalists from Melbourne and BrisbaneCentenary Logo
  • Winner announced 11 November 2014

The winner of the $25,000 Centenary Institute Lawrence Creative Prize will be announced on Tuesday 11 November during a lunchtime reception at UBS in Sydney.

“It’s a small step towards recognising that the most creative medical research is usually done by researchers early in their career—at a time when it’s hardest for them to secure funding,” says Centenary Executive Director, Professor Mathew Vadas AO.

The three finalists (in alphabetical order) are:

How a piece of mobile DNA could change your mindFaulkner

A/Prof Geoff Faulkner of the Mater Research Institute in Brisbane thinks the differences in the way each human brain functions could be determined by a segment of mobile DNA known as L1.

L1 has the capacity to insert itself into the genome of individual brain cells. Just how many L1 sequences are inserted and where they occur is unique to each brain cell and may determine how it operates. Showing the impact of this is the subject of Geoff’s Lawrence Creative Prize proposal. If he’s right, it could have significant consequences for our understanding of memory and of brain disorders such as schizophrenia.

Cellular decisions that affect behaviour

Palmer

Dr Lucy Palmer from the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health in Melbourne wants to know how brain cells in mammals process and integrate the information they receive from the sensory environment and how this information impacts on animal behaviour.

She has been working on the neurons in the rodent brain which receive sensory information from their hind limbs, and has shown that a lot of processing occurs in the dendrites, the long filaments of the cells where information is received. Now she wants to determine how the decisions a cell makes—to pass on information or not—affects what an animal does.

Sorting out healthy embryosPlachta

Dr Nicolas Plachta from the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute and EMBL Australia at Monash University is working on developing better and simpler ways of determining the health of the embryos to be implanted in IVF. And he does so by learning more about the very early stages of embryonic life.

Nico has already developed special microscope technology which allows him to study in single living embryonic cells the movement of individual molecules. This has enabled him to determine how the cells making up the embryo differ from those which form the placenta. And he has also documented shape changes in cells which signal the health of early embryos. He now wants to continue that work looking for other molecular and cellular signs of embryo health, and studying the possibilities for medical intervention.

More on each of the finalists below.  [Read more…] about 2014 Centenary Institute Lawrence Creative Prize

Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science 2014

The winners of the 2014 Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science are:

Sam Berkovic and Ingrid Scheffer have changed the way the world thinks about epilepsy. They will receive the $300 000 Prime Minister’s Prize for Science. Their discoveries of the links between epilepsy and genes have opened the way to better targeted research, diagnosis, management and treatment for many forms of epilepsy. Laureate Professor Sam Berkovic AC and Professor Ingrid Scheffer AO are associated with the University of Melbourne, the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, and Austin Health. Read citation in full. [Read more…] about Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science 2014

The genetics of epilepsy: bringing hope to families: 2014 Prime Minister’s Prize for Science

Sam Berkovic and Ingrid Scheffer

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Sam Berkovic and Ingrid Scheffer have changed the way the world thinks about epilepsy, the debilitating condition that affects about 50 million people.

Twenty years ago doctors tended to regard most forms of epilepsy as acquired rather than inherited. In other words, they believed epilepsy was mostly due to injury: the result of things like a crack on the head in a car accident, a bad fall in the playground, a tumour, or something having gone wrong in labour. Parents felt responsible, and the resulting guilt was enormous. [Read more…] about The genetics of epilepsy: bringing hope to families: 2014 Prime Minister’s Prize for Science

Regulating genes to treat illness, grow food, and understand the brain: 2014 Frank Fenner Prize for Life Scientist of the Year

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Ryan Lister

Genes are not enough to explain the difference between a skin cell and a stem cell, a leaf cell and a root cell, or the complexity of the human brain. Genes don’t explain the subtle ways in which your parents’ environment before you were conceived might affect your offspring. [Read more…] about Regulating genes to treat illness, grow food, and understand the brain: 2014 Frank Fenner Prize for Life Scientist of the Year

Australian crystals set to take over industry: 2014 Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year

_Y4A7589Matthew Hill

Forty per cent of the energy consumed by industry is used to separate things—in natural gas production, mineral processing, food production, pollution control. The list is endless. Each offers an application for Matthew Hill’s crystals. He has demonstrated that the space inside metal–organic frameworks (MOFs)—the world’s most porous materials—can be used as an efficient and long-lasting filter. [Read more…] about Australian crystals set to take over industry: 2014 Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year

A taste of real-world science to take to the real world: 2014 Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Secondary Schools

Geoff McNamara (Photo credit: WildBear)Geoff McNamara

From the moment students step into ‘Mr Mac’s Lab’, they’re greeted by dinosaurs, skeletons, spacecraft and a model galaxy that hovers overhead. Their eyes can’t help but gravitate towards the huge solar system at the back of the room. No matter where they look, Geoff McNamara wants his students learn something about science—whether the students realise they’re learning or not. [Read more…] about A taste of real-world science to take to the real world: 2014 Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Secondary Schools

Combining play, science and language: 2014 Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Primary Schools

Brian Schiller (Photo credit: WildBear)Brian Schiller

At Seacliff Primary School in Adelaide’s south, Brian Schiller’s students are describing states of matter, mixing of materials, and products of chemical reactions—in Japanese.

It’s just one way that Brian is creatively using science to enhance student learning in a range of curriculum areas.

“Science can be a basis for teaching many different subjects, such as language, music, numeracy, reading and writing,” he says. “Students can play and create, and relate their learning to the world around them.

“When my students are given practical experiences and a chance to learn through being active, they are then motivated to plan their paths of enquiry, present their ideas and then write about their discoveries. A good primary science class develops maths skills, language, and problem-solving and critical-thinking skills. The children and their learning are the focus of the classroom, and they inspire each other to such a great extent.”

Brian nurtures this creativity through student-initiated investigations, where the students bring the questions and Brian guides them in setting up investigations to get the answers.

But it’s not just the answers that Brian wants his students to get. It’s the ability to use their imaginations to ask “what if…?” or “why does…?” and to be able to find their own way to an answer using ‘fair testing’ and experimental controls.

For his contributions to science teaching and for taking it in new creative directions, Mr Brian Schiller has been awarded the 2014 Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Primary Schools.

[Read more…] about Combining play, science and language: 2014 Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Primary Schools

A new way of looking at the immune system; Imaging Centre launch

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  • Launch 15 October 2014 from 11 am at Building 75 (STRIP Building), Monash University, Clayton. Click for map.
  • With Professor Aidan Byrne, CEO of the Australian Research Council and MP Michael Sukkar.

The $39 million ARC Centre of Excellence in Advanced Molecular Imaging launches today with the mission of changing the way we see the immune system.

Understanding our immune system is central to fighting cancer and infectious diseases. And understanding why our immune system sometimes over-reacts is critical to tackling auto-immune diseases.

Yet many of the workings of our immune systems are a mystery, especially at a molecular level – for example:

  • How does trauma and infection trigger inflammation?
  • How does a T-cell recognise an infected and cancerous cell?
  • And how does it persuade other T-cells to join the fight?
  • What happens when our immune system over-reacts?
  • How is coeliac disease triggered?
  • How do diabetes and other autoimmune diseases start?
  • How can we persuade the immune system to accept organ transplants?

[Read more…] about A new way of looking at the immune system; Imaging Centre launch

The urban intelligence to make Townsville a resilient growing smart city

Can numbers give Townsville a secure future?

Townsville Data Hub to harvest data to help residents, businesses and Council create a secure future

Townsville City Council is partnering with the Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network (AURIN) on a major data project that will help guide Townsville’s future water and energy security. AURIN will be launched today in Melbourne at 3 pm.

The Townsville Data Hub will research information and trends on energy and water consumption that will assist residents, business, and Council plan for a sustainable future for the city’s predicted population growth.

Water and energy security is seen as fundamental areas of future planning for Townsville with the expected doubling of the city’s population over the next 25 years.

A related project showed last year that just giving households access to daily information about trends in their water use helps them use water smarter – saving on average ten per cent. The AURIN project will bring energy and water consumption data, and weather records and climate data, together with council’s land use, geospatial and demographic information. [Read more…] about The urban intelligence to make Townsville a resilient growing smart city