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Today's date is Friday, March 29, 2024
School of Molecular Sciences
 July 2013
Monday 01
9:00 - EVENT - Masterclass: Research with Impact : Planning a pathway to impact for your research Website | More Information
This masterclass for doctoral and early career doctoral researchers will focus on the development of plans for achieving research impact through collaborations and the two-way exchange of knowledge between the university and a range of external stakeholders.
Tuesday 16
9:00 - COURSE - ANOVA, Linear Regression and Logistic Regression : A Short Course using SPSS Website | More Information
This course covers techniques that can be used to analyse data with continuous and categorical variables. The course will begin with simple linear regression and then proceed with approaches that can be used with more than two variables such as multiple regression. ANOVA with interactions and blocking will also be covered. The course will end with techniques that address the analysis of binary or ordinal variables.

Subsidised fees are available for UWA Graduate Research Students.

 August 2013
Sunday 11
10:00 - OPEN DAY - 2013 Open Day : Join us for our Centenary Open Day and experience all that UWA has to offer Website | More Information
Come and find out about our undergraduate and postgraduate courses, career options, scholarship opportunities, our valuable research, community programs and facilities.

There's also residential college tours, hands-on activities, live music, entertainment, and plenty of fun activities for the whole family as we celebrate our 100th birthday.

 September 2013
Wednesday 04
15:00 - VISITING SPEAKER - Molecular Functions as Targets to Control Plant Sap Feeding Insect Pests : Plant sap - extreme diet, utilized through lifecycle of hemipteran insects only More Information
We are investigating insect adaptations for plant sap utilization from the perspective of molecular physiology, with the goal to identify molecular targets to control pest species.
Friday 27
16:00 - SEMINAR - A Beckman Coulter Discovery Science Award Lecture Prof. Glenn King (UQ, Institute for Molecular Bioscience, Division of Chemistry & Structural Biology) "Natural insecticides from spider venom for the control of crop pests and disease vectors" More Information
Part of The Bayliss Seminar Series http://www.chembiochem.uwa.edu.au/research/seminars

 October 2013
Wednesday 09
16:00 - SEMINAR - First-Principles Computational Thermochemistry: Theory and Applications More Information
During the past decade, computational chemistry has had an increasingly important impact on almost all branches of chemistry as a new approach for solving chemical problems at the molecular level and in obtaining information that is not accessible by experiment (e.g. in investigations involving transient, reactive, toxic, rare, or hypothetical species).

Theoretical methods have now been refined to the point where, for medium-sized systems with up to ~50 non-hydrogen atoms, they can determine very accurate molecular structures, reaction energies, barrier heights, spectroscopic constants and electrical properties.

First-principles thermochemical methods, such as Wn theories,1 combine large-scale electronic structure calculations with sophisticated extrapolation techniques to achieve unprecedented accuracies in thermochemical predictions. I will briefly review the Wn theories and show that they can reproduce the most accurate experimental thermochemical data with a 2σ uncertainty of under 1 kJ mol–1.1 For spectroscopic constants, Wn methods afford predictions with near-spectroscopic accuracy (i.e. 2σ uncertainty of ~1 cm–1).2 I will also present recent theoretical advances that extend the applicability of these theories to larger systems.3 Finally, some illustrative applications to water clusters,4 water-catalyzed proton-transfers,5 DNA bases,3 amino acids,6 tetrapeptides,7 corannulene8 and C60 will be given.

 November 2013
Monday 04
16:00 - SEMINAR - CMCA Seminar: Multimodal imaging for research More Information
Dr Gary Cowin was awarded a BSc (HONS), majoring in synthetic organic chemistry, from the University of New England followed by a PhD investigating renal metabolism from the University of Queensland. Dr Gary Cowin is the Facility Fellow for the Queensland Node of the National Imaging Facility (NIF) as part of the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Scheme (NCRIS), based at the Centre for Advanced Imaging, University of Queensland. He is an MR physicist undertaking development and implementation of research programs on a range of research (Bruker) and clinical (Siemens) MRI systems and multimodality imaging, MRI/PET/CT, for plant, animal and human research. Specific areas of research include prostate, liver, spinal cord and development of simultaneous MRI/PET imaging. The MRI/PET system is the World's first commercial prototype that enables simultaneous acquisition of MRI and PET images for preclinical research. This MRI/PET system is a flagship instrument of the National Imaging Facility.
Tuesday 12
15:00 - VISITING SPEAKER - Variable parasites - variable defences? More Information
A world recognised specialist in the field of ecology and evolution of host-parasite interactions, Paul’s research interests focus on the coevolution and ecology of host-parasite interactions.

As head of the Experimental Ecology research group at ETH, his pioneering works on host-parasite interactions paved the way for innovative research worldwide.

The trypanosome Crithidia bombi infects several species of Bombus (bumblebees); here, we focus on B. terrestris. The parasite is spread by contacts on flowers and evidence shows that the infecting populations in the hosts are very prevalent and highly variable. At the same time, the presumably relevant genetic complements of the hosts are highly conserved. One alternative defence strategy is by variable gene expression and the synergistic actions of effector molecules. The concept and evidence for such a process are discussed.

 December 2013
Tuesday 03
13:00 - SEMINAR - Imaging ligand-receptor interactions at the single cell level : Raine Visiting Professor Lecture Series More Information
Professor Stephen Hill studied Pharmacology in Bristol (BSc, 1976) and then undertook PhD studies in the Department of Pharmacology in Cambridge (PhD 1979). After postdoctoral studies in Cambridge (1979-1981) he was appointed to a lecturer position in the Department of Pharmacy at the University of Nottingham. He joined the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology (now the School of Life Sciences) in 1984 and was subsequently promoted to Reader (1989) and Professor of Molecular Pharmacology (1995). In 1997 he became Director of the Institute of Cell Signalling and then Head of the School of Biomedical Sciences in 2008. He has published over 160 papers and his research has concentrated mainly on the molecular pharmacology of G protein-coupled receptors and cross-talk between intracellular signaling cascades. Currently, the emphasis of his work is on the study of single ligand-receptor interactions in membrane microdomains using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy. He is a founding director of the University of Nottingham spin-out company CellAura Technologies Ltd that provides fluorescent ligands to the scientific community. He has served on the Editorial Boards of the British Journal of Pharmacology and Current Opinion on Pharmacology. He was Vice-President (Meetings) of the British Pharmacological Society (2004-2006) and was the BPS Sandoz (Novartis) Prize winner in 1987 and the BPS Australasian Lecturer in 2006. He was elected a Fellow of the British Pharmacological Society in 2004. According to ISI, he is one of the top 250 pre-eminent individual researchers in pharmacology as measured by citations to their work (www.ISIhighlycited.com). He is currently Chair of the MRC Molecular & Cellular Medicine Research Board (having been a previous member between 2006-2011; Deputy Chair from 2008) and has previously served on the Wellcome Trust Physiology & Pharmacology Panel and the Wellcome Trust Career Development Interview Panel (both as Deputy Chair).
Thursday 05
10:00 - SEMINAR - Analysing Biodiversity via Organelle Genomes : CHANGE OF DATE !!!!!!! Pls note: was Fri 6, now Thu 5 Dec! More Information
A Joint Seminar with speakers from ARC CoE Plant Energy Biology (UWA) and Kings Park Botanic Gardens & Parks Authority labs.

 February 2014
Tuesday 25
13:00 - SEMINAR - Reprogramming to skeletal muscle for cell therapy and disease modeling : School of Anatomy, Physiology & Human Biology Seminar Series More Information
The Seminar: Reprogramming adult somatic cells to different cell types has opened a whole new window of possibilities for cell therapy in degenerative diseases. In our lab we are designing strategies to create clinical grade myoblasts precursors to be used in clinical cell therapy and as disease models, following two different strategies: differentiating induced pluripotent stem cells or by direct transdifferentiation from adult somatic cells.

The Speaker: Dr. Belen Alvarez-Palomo is senior scientist at the group of Dr. Michael edel, at the Department of Physiological Science, at the Univerisity of Barcelona in Spain. Dr. Alvarez-Palomo got her PhD by the University of Barcelona in the year 2000 working on skeletal muscle turnover in cancer cachexia, and later she performed a postdoctoral stay in The Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam, working on cell migration, and a second postdoc in Instituto Municipal de Investigacion Medica in Barcelona, working with the regulation of Mesenchymal to Epithelial transition.
Friday 28
10:00 - SYMPOSIUM - Lung Symposium Website | More Information
“The utilisation of transcriptomics and breathomics in airway Diseases”

Prof Peter J. Sterk Head of Research, Department of Respiratory Medicine, Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam

“Hedgehog pathway: a novel target for mesothelioma”

Prof Steve Mutsaers Head, Tissue Repair Unit, Lung Institute of WA

“Innovative strategies for airways disease”

A/Prof Yuben Moodley Head, Stem Cell Research Unit, Lung Institute of WA

“Development of antisense oligonucleotides for asthma”

Dr Svetlana Baltic Unit Manager, Molecular Genetics Unit, Lung Institute of WA

 March 2014
Tuesday 04
13:00 - SEMINAR - The Role of Vascular Basement Membranes in Cerebral Vessel Structural and Functional Integrity : School of Anatomy, Physiology & Human Biology Seminar Series More Information
The Seminar: Basement membrane (BM) composition varies with both blood vessel and with tissue type. Of all BM components, the laminin family shows the greatest variability and represents the biological active component of BMs, interacting with a wide repertoire of integrin and non-integrin receptors to control functions such as vessel integrity and permeability. Microvessels of the central nervous system (CNS) have a unique composition of cellular and extracellular matrix layers that collectively constitute the blood-brain barrier. In addition to the endothelial cell monolayer and its underlying BM, cerebral microvessels are ensheathed by astrocyte endfeet and leptomeningeal cells, which contribute to a second BM, the so-called parenchymal BM as it delineates the border to the brain parenchyma. While considerable information is available on the cellular constitutents of the CNS microvessels and their contribution to the BBB, little is known about the BM layers. Our work has shown that endothelial and parenchymal BMs of CNS vessels are structurally and functionally distinct, and has highlighted their importance in the restricted permeability characteristic of the CNS microvessels. In particular, laminin isoforms are heterogeneously localized along the length of the endothelial BM of microvessels and play an important role in defining sites of high and low penetrability by infiltrating cells, such as extravasating leukocytes during inflammation1. In addition, endothelial laminins impact on endothelial stiffness and the ability of the vessels to detect and respond to shear. By contrast, ECM components of the parenchymal border confer tensile strength and as consequence penetration of this border requires focal matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9 activity2. Data will be presented on the biochemical differences of BMs of CNS microvessels, and how vascular laminins and MMP-2 and MMP-9 act to control vascular integrity in the context of leukocyte extravasation1.

1. Wu, C., F. Ivars, P. Anderson, R. Hallmann, D. Vestweber, P. Nilsson, H. Robenek, K. Tryggvason, J. Song, E. Korpos, K. Loser, S. Beissert, E. Georges-Labouesse, & L.M. Sorokin. 2009. Nat Med. 15, 519-27 2. Agrawal, S., Anderson, P., Durbeej, M., van Rooijen, N., Ivars, F., Opdenakker, G., & Sorokin, L. M. 2006. J. Exp. Med. 203, 1007-1019

The Speaker: Lydia Sorokin obtained her PhD from the Physiology Department at the University of Western Australia in receptor-mediated endocytosis and carried out her first postdoctoral position at the Friedrich-Miescher laboratory of the Max-Planck Society in Tübingen, Germany, where she commenced her work on the extracellular matrix. She has spent the last 22 years in Germany and Sweden and is currently professor and director of Pathobiochemistry at the Westfälische Wilhelms University in Münster, Germany. Her interests are the biochemistry, ultrastructure and function of basement membranes, with an emphasis on vascular basement membranes and inflammation, and the role of the ECM in secondary lymphoid organs

17:00 - SEMINAR - WA Flow Meeting More Information
WA Flow is back for 2014, with our first meeting kicking off on Tuesday 4th March at 5 pm in the Seminar Room G24 at the Perkins Institute for Medical Research. The first meeting of the year will be a report back from delegates of the 36th Australasian Cytometry Society (formerly the Australasian Flow Cytometry Group) Meeting which took place in Wellington, NZ in December. Presenters will report on the exciting new developments in Research, Clinical and Core Technology streams of the conference. We are also developing an exciting program of WA Flow events for the rest of the year!

The WA Flow group is an open group and is a collaboration of all the research institutions and clinical flow laboratories in Western Australia. BD have kindly offered to support the WA Flow Group meetings and will be providing light refreshments and catering for our meetings (hopefully this will entice you to come and network at the post-meeting refreshments!). We meet on the first Tuesday, every second month. All CMCA flow users should attend.
Wednesday 05
16:00 - SEMINAR - Microbes and turbulence : This seminar series is part of the CWR at UWA. Website | More Information
Microbes have been studied forever. So has turbulence. In a broad range of environments, microbes are routinely exposed to turbulence, yet physicists have ignored microbes and biologists have ignored turbulence. In this talk I will illustrate the fascinating dynamics that unfold when microbes are considered in the context of turbulent flow.

I will focus on motile microbes and will use microfluidic experiments and mathematical modeling to show how turbulence affects the swimming of microbes, un-mixes them counter to one's intuition, and shapes their competition for nutrients. In addition to representing a new class of problems in active physics, these processes are broadly important for environmental dynamics including trophic interactions and biogeochemical cycling in natural ecosystems such as oceans and lakes.

Bio blurb,

Roman Stocker is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT, where he heads the Environmental Microfluidics Group. Roman's research focuses on microscale biophysical processes in the environment, with a special interest in the ocean.

His group develops original microfluidic technology and image analysis techniques to understand microbes in the context of their physical (e.g., flow), chemical (e.g., nutrients) and ecological (e.g., other organisms) landscape, by directly observing microbes and making them 'come to life' for the non-microscopist. This approach has resulted in a broad range of fundamental new insights on microbial dynamics, particularly motility and chemotaxis.



PS* This seminar is free and open to the public & no RSVP required.

****All Welcome****
Tuesday 11
18:45 - EVENT - 2014 Bayliss Youth Lecture : Join Dr Alan Payne for the 2014 Bayliss Youth Lecture as he answers these questions and illustrates the huge potential of organic chemistry to change people’s lives. Website | More Information
Announcing the 2014 Bayliss Youth Lecture presented by the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, Western Australian Branch. This is a free public lecture. Please come along and advertise this lecture to all students, friends and family.

Making Molecules: Big ideas from small molecules Dr Alan Payne, Curtin University

• What does a gold coin have to do with a tropical parasitic disease?

• How can a native WA plant be converted to the next generation of anti-cholesterol drugs?

• How does building a ‘crazy’ molecule in the lab lead to better fruit in the supermarket?

Join Dr Alan Payne for the 2014 Bayliss Youth Lecture as he answers these questions and illustrates the huge potential of organic chemistry to change people’s lives.

To book, visit http://baylissyouthlecture2014.eventbrite.com.au/
Thursday 20
15:30 - SEMINAR - CMCA Seminar Series: ZEISS Xradia 3D X-ray Microscopes More Information
The ZEISS Xradia Versa family and ZEISS Xradia Ultra lab platforms offer a multi-lengthscale solution. State of the art X-ray computed tomography (CT) scanning technology combined with highly specialized, proprietary X-ray optics deliver the highest performance lab-based 3D X-ray microscopes, providing a range of imaging modes from ~30 micron resolution all the way down to 50nm spatial resolution. The Xradia Versa uses patented X-ray detectors and a microscope turret of magnifying objective detectors for easy zooming. Scan mode from 30 micron resolution all the way down to 700 nm spatial resolution. The Xradia Ultra nanoscale X-ray microscope is the only commercially available X-ray microscope that utilizes synchrotron quality X-ray optics and provides true spatial resolution down to <50nm

ZEISS Xradia 520 Versa: The flagship product of the award-winning Xradia Versa family provides the most advanced and highest performing non-destructive, 3D imaging and analysis capabilities. Xradia 520 Versa extends the boundaries of non-destructive 3D imaging with advanced contrast tuning capabilities, extensive filtering options, and enhancements delivering greater accuracy and workflow. Xradia 520 Versa frees researchers to push the boundaries of lab-based imaging. With prominent facilities worldwide using non-destructive X-ray microscopy (XRM) to extend the use of valuable samples, the ZEISS Xradia Versa family proves a powerful component of a correlative microscopy solution. Xradia 520 Versa adds a host of innovations to ZEISS Xradia's industry-leading resolution, contrast and powerful advantages for conducting in situ studies under native or controlled conditions. The instrument delivers compositional contrast for better discernment between materials appearing nearly identical, faster time-to-results for time-sensitive applications, and superior ease-of-use for multi-user environments. Xradia Versa solutions are ideal for highly skilled users as well as busy imaging labs with diverse user needs and skillsets. Breakthrough applications for Xradia 520 Versa include compositional contrast in materials science, high aspect ratio tomography for semiconductor failure analysis and 4D studies of material evolution over time. Highlights include advanced contrast tuning capabilities, extensive filtering options, and faster time to results with higher throughput.
Tuesday 25
13:00 - SEMINAR - Intensive Care Research Unit � Opportunities for Perinatal Research Collaboration and Training : School of Anatomy, Physiology & Human Biology Seminar Series More Information
The Speaker: Professor Jane Pillow is a clinical academic neonatologist at the University of Western Australia. She is acknowledged internationally as an expert in the area of neonatal respiratory physiology and mechanical ventilation. She has a particular research interest in high-frequency ventilation, having completed her PhD thesis in 2000 on “Optimising High-Frequency Oscillatory Ventilation in Neonates”. Since completing her PhD with Distinction at ICHR, Prof Pillow’s research interests have expanded to focus on ways to minimise lung injury at the initiation of life and include high-frequency jet ventilation, variable ventilation, bubble CPAP, patient triggered ventilation and minimising lung injury during resuscitation. She has obtained over $11 million AUD in research funding, including grants from the NHMRC and the NIH, and is CIA on an NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence. Her preclinical research uses the preterm lamb as a model of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome. She also runs a neonatal lung function laboratory, and is involved in follow-up functional studies of children born prematurely. In addition to her academic responsibilities, Prof Pillow is a Consultant Neonatologist at King Edward Memorial Hospital, where she contributes to the around the clock care of up to 100 babies, including up to 40 infants receiving mechanical ventilator support. Professor Pillow bases her academic activity at the UWA School of Anatomy, Physiology and Human Biology.

The Seminar: Preclinical basic science is challenged increasingly by funding bodies focused on translational research outcomes. Nonetheless, there is little question that the preclinical sciences are a fundamental component of new advances in health care. Animal models of disease offer valuable insights into disease mechanisms, and offer value also for preclinical screening of new and controversial treatment. Preterm infants are a highly vulnerable population, for whom long-term outcomes of clinical interventions have life-long implications. A clinically relevant postnatal animal model offers rapid evaluation of safety, efficacy and long-term outcomes of new and/or controversial therapies for preterm infants and enhances research capacity. The Preclinical Intensive Care Research Unit or PICRU, is an exciting new nationally collaborative facility for evaluation of long-term outcomes of emerging fetal and neonatal treatments. The PICRU will be based in the Large Animal Facility at UWA, operating 24 hours/day for 7 days a week during study periods. The resource intensive nature of the studies makes optimization of research outcomes an imperative. Extensive tissue sampling and opportunities for longitudinal physiological recordings offer possibilities for collaborative gain. The PICRU will be staffed by paid undergraduates, enhancing the teaching-research nexus, and offering early exposure to the research environment. Initial funded studies commencing in September 2014 will target the neurodevelopmental and cardiorespiratory outcomes of postnatal steroids and ventilation strategy in the developing preterm lamb, and how these outcomes are influenced by an antenatal inflammatory stimulus.

 April 2014
Tuesday 01
13:00 - SEMINAR - Targeting Cancer Stem Cells Via Wnt/�-Catenin Antagonist, Secreted Frizzled Related Protein-4 : School of Anatomy, Physiology & Human Biology Seminar Series More Information
The Speaker: Professor Arun Dharmarajan obtained his PhD from the School of Anatomy, Physiology and Human Biology (then Department of Anatomy and Human Biology), University of Western Australia and carried out his postdoctoral position followed by faculty positions at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA. He spent the last 20 years in the School of Anatomy, Physiology and Human Biology and is currently professor at the School of Biomedical Sciences, Curtin University. His interests are Wnt signalling in particular a Wnt antagonist, Secreted Frizzled Related Protein-4 (sFRP4) and its role in apoptosis, cancer biology and more recently cancer stem cells.

The Seminar: Malignant tumors have a highly tumourigenic subpopulation, termed cancer stem cells (CSCs) that drive tumor formation and proliferation. CSCs, unlike the bulk of the cells within the tumour, are elusive to drug treatment. They are chemo- and radio-resistant and the central cause for tumour initiation and recurrence. These self-renewing cells are responsible for the flare-up of cancer and remission, long after treatment. The existence of CSCs has been confirmed in many tumour types including gliomas, breast, lung, prostate, head and neck, and colon cancers. Wnt/ß-catenin signalling plays a role in the proliferation of tumour cells and tumour progression and frizzled-4, a member of the Wnt signalling family, governs both stemness and invasiveness of glioma stem cells. In a recent study, we demonstrated that a naturally occurring Wnt antagonist, secreted frizzled-related protein 4 (sFRP4), chemosensitizes and inhibits glioma stem cell proliferation by reducing self-renewal and inducing differentiation. In a recent report, we examined the effect of sFRP4 in chemosensitizing the glioma cell line U138MG and glioma stem cells (GSCs) enriched from U138MG to chemotherapeutics. We found that sFRP4 alone, and in combination with either DOX or cisplatin, induced apoptosis and substantially decreased proliferation in a GSC-enriched population.
Tuesday 08
13:00 - SEMINAR - Art, site specific metagenomics and non-medical regenerative technologies : School of Anatomy, Physiology & Human Biology Seminar Series More Information
The Speaker: Oron Catts is an artist, researcher and curator whose pioneering work with the Tissue Culture and Art Project which he established in 1996 is considered a leading biological art project. In 2000 he co-founded SymbioticA, an artistic research centre housed within the School of Anatomy, Physiology and Human Biology, The University of Western Australia. Under Catts’ leadership SymbioticA has gone on to win the Prix Ars Electronica Golden Nica in Hybrid Art (2007) the WA Premier Science Award (2008) and became a Centre for Excellence in 2008. In 2009 Catts was recognized by Thames & Hudson’s “60 Innovators Shaping our Creative Future” book in the category “Beyond Design”, and by Icon Magazine (UK) as one of the top 20 Designers, “making the future and transforming the way we work”. His work has been widely exhibited internationally in venues such as NY MoMA, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo and National Art Museum of China. Catts was a Research Fellow in Harvard Medical School, a visiting Scholar at the Department of Art and Art History, Stanford University, a Visiting Professor of Design Interaction, Royal College of Arts, London, and a Visiting Professor at the School of Art, Design and Architecture, Aalto University, Helsinki where he was commissioned to set up Biofilia - Base for Biological Art and Design. Catts’ ideas and projects reach beyond the confines of art; his work is often cited as inspiration to diverse areas such as new materials, textiles, design, architecture, ethics, fiction, and food.

The Seminar: In the last three years I have been researching the unintentionality of human impact on environmental systems through a series of research trips to the far north of Lapland, and recently Western Australia. I have been exploring Metagenomics as a story telling tool; using environmental DNA sequencing of sites where human impacted the environment in unpredictable ways. In this talk I will combine these stories with my other research interest of regenerative biology for non-medical ends, such as consumer products, art and design. I will outline these developments in areas such as in vitro meat and leather, actuators and bio machine interfaces, speculative design and contemporary artistic practices. I will draw on my experience of using tissue engineering for non-medical ends to speculate about what lead to these applications and their possible future developments. Avoiding utopian and dystopian postures and using the notion of the contestable, I will highlight some philosophical and ethical consideration stemming from the notion of the unintentional consequences of human urge to understand and manipulate.

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