What's On at UWA

You are invited to attend this live demonstration of the new Hirox KH-8700. This will be an overview of the system and demonstration including the 3D rotary lenses, multifocal functions and a variety of unique lenses and adaptors. All are welcome to attend.

Analyses of shipwreck artefacts are essential in order to gain information about the chemical nature of materials, provenance, state of deterioration and even technological information about formation processes. For more than 20 years, conservation scientists from the WA Museum and UWA staff have collaborated to resolve many such issues, particularly those associated with organic archaeological materials. Solution NMR spectroscopy, for example, has been used to identify pitches, resins and tars, to gain information about the precursors to these materials and to reveal information about the heating regimes that they were subjected to in their preparation while solid state NMR spectroscopy has been used to determine the deterioration of waterlogged wood and ivory and to identify chemical processes that have occurred after their conservation treatment. Dr Godfrey’s illustrated presentation will highlight archaeological, conservation and analytical aspects of work undertaken on a variety of objects from local and international shipwrecks

The 3MT competition challenges research students to give a dynamic and engaging presentation about their research and its significance in a way that can be understood by everybody. The audience will select the "People's Choice" winner.

The Annual Lecture is the highlight of the year for the UWA Historical Society and Convocation and we are delighted to welcome Winthrop Professor Cheryl Praeger to the podium to reflect upon her years on Campus and subsequent experiences and achievements.

Mathematician Cheryl Praeger has served the University of Western Australia as Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, and Professor since 1976. She leads a flourishing research group in pure mathematics and is in the top one per cent of highly cited mathematicians in the world.

Attendance is free.

With the recently acquired IVIS Lumina and Maestro instruments at UWA, researchers now have the ability to longitudinally and non-invasively monitor cancer (and other disease states) in small animal models using optical light. This seminar is intended to provide a high-level overview of the capabilities on the instruments, as well as answer any user specific questions. Focus areas will include: Monitoring tumour growth, Stem Cell research and Atherosclerosis, Tracking gene expression

UWA opens up the whole campus to the public.

Come and find out about the courses on offer, career options, scholarship opportunities, our valuable research, community programs and facilities.

There's also residential college tours, hands-on activities, live music and entertainment, and plenty of fun activities for the whole family.

CBSM aims to promote biological science in Western Australia by encouraging the interaction of scientists, students and industry representatives from all aspects of life science.

The meeting is designed to provide a platform for the exchange of ideas and expertise to keep the life sciences in WA at the cutting edge. This annual meeting includes plenary presentations by national and international scientists and in 2012 will incorporate concurrent specialist symposia each with its own keynote speaker and session of local senior scientists.

CBSM is also geared toward students and the development of students among their peers. Several sessions are set aside for student presentations and for many it represents their first chance to present their work in a conference setting. These honours and post-graduate students work in universities, research institutes, and industry around Western Australia. In this way CBSM offers a unique “snapshot” of what is happening in local biological science and now attracts 250-300 delegates every year, with nearly 40 oral presentations, over 70 scientific posters and 30 trade booths. Check out the program at www.cbsmwa.org.au/program.

So where will you be on Friday the 24th of August? Join us at the University Club, The University of Western Australia for CBSM 2012!

www.cbsmwa.org.au - [email protected]

This workshop is recommended to anyone who is currently using or is thinking of using FlowJo for flow cytometry data analysis. The sessions will be very informative and you will pick up some new tricks! Sessions include: 10.00 am Basic Functionality, Groups Layouts, Tables, Batching, and 11.00am Compensation, Transforms, Advanced Analysis Platforms

Phosphorus - a non-renewable resource - is a key element in food production and maintaining sustainable ecosystems. Predictions suggest global P fertiliser production may peak around 2030’s and will be one third of that peak level by the end of the 21st century. This will have a major impact on agriculture, especially heavily fertilised low P sandy soils of Western Australia.

This workshop is a “hands-on” computing exercise and is scheduled to be conducted in the Pharmacology Computing Laboratory (room G17, M block QEII). Class size is strictly limited to 40 participants. Until 5 pm Monday 27th August, priority will be given to those with a current CMCA registration after which participation will be open to all on a “first in” basis. The workshop is free to attend but registration is essential. Please contact CMCA admin ([email protected]) to register. Also note, if you register and then fail to attend the workshop, a $50 non-attendance fee may be levied.

This workshop is a “hands-on” computing exercise and is scheduled to be conducted in the Pharmacology Computing Laboratory (room G17, M block QEII). Class size is strictly limited to 40 participants. Until 5 pm Monday 27th August, priority will be given to those with a current CMCA registration after which participation will be open to all on a “first in” basis. The workshop is free to attend but registration is essential. Please contact CMCA admin ([email protected]) to register. Also note, if you register and then fail to attend the workshop, a $50 non-attendance fee may be levied.

It is a great pleasure to invite you to participate in the very 1st Symposium on Plant Signalling & Behaviour (SPSB 2012) to be held at the University of Western Australia on 16th-21st September 2012.

The SPSB 2012 was conceived out of a desire to support and advance this new and exciting research area by bringing together a diverse group of researchers who are working and are concerned with plants, but who are doing so from very different perspectives. The aim of the symposium is to build a transdisciplinary bridge for the new emergent knowledge and view of the plant world to be shared widely and flourish into rewarding collaborative explorations.

Within a hot cauldron of creative thinking, the SPSB 2012 aims at providing you with the opportunity to showcase your recent research findings, to advance our current knowledge and understanding of plants and to exchange ideas with colleagues on themes ranging from Plant Cell Biology & Signalling to Plant Sensory & Behavioural Ecology, and Theoretical Botany.

SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACTS - now OPEN!!

Title: Coral-dinoflagellate symbiosis: evolution, ecology and interaction states

Abstract: Corals form an obligate symbiosis with unicellular photosynthetic dinoflagellates. The diversity of dinoflagellates associated with a host is the result of both evolutionary and ecological influences. While mutualism is the paradigm for coral-dinoflagellate symbiosis, recent evidence shows that not all host-symbiont interactions are equally beneficial. The dynamics of host-symbiont partnerships and the exchange of nutrients that ultimately defines the interaction state of the symbiosis are important factors that contribute to the variability in response of corals to changes in the environment.

Biography: PhD 2006, University of Sydney 2006-2011, Postdoctoral Fellow, Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, University of Hawaii 2011-current, IOMRC Post-Doctoral Fellow

CMCA will be hosting a seminar on cell health by Laura Morley from Merck Millipore on Thursday 11th October 2012 from 1-2pm in the Pharmacology Seminar Room (Rm 1.18, 1st floor, M Block, QEII Medical Centre). The seminar will cover topics including viability, cell cycle and apoptosis assays and will introduce the Muse Cell Analyser instrument.

The seminar will be followed by a demonstration of the Muse Cell Analyser at CMCA@QEII in lab 1.42 at 2pm.

Respiratory infections (including ear, nose, throat and lung infections) caused by viruses and bacteria are the most common diseases in children (and adults). Some children are particularly vulnerable to these, developing chronic or recurrent disease and reducing their quality of life, educational outcomes and life expectancy. Ways in which bacteria persist particularly in high-risk populations are poorly understood, as are immune responses to these bacteria. This means that many treatments that target the acute infection have little effect on the chronic or recurrent nature of the diseases. Likewise, preventions are difficult to develop in these vulnerable populations. Our work in the Vaccine Trials Groups and the School of Paediatrics and Child Health focuses on elucidating the role of bacterial biofilms (slime), intracellular infection and host immune response in the development of chronic and recurrent respiratory disease. This presentation will provide an overview of the work we have done and are currently conducting, including both basic research and translational studies.

Whilst trade and enterprise have led Australia's bilateral relations with China, education promotes mutual understanding and long lasting links. This year's forum will focus on developing Chinese language and cultural competency in schools, universities and industry. His Excellency Mr Chen Yuming, Chinese Ambassador to Australia, will provide the keynote address and a panel of business leaders and education representatives will share their experiences.

Abstract: The oceans, bounded by the atmosphere, lithosphere and shore, and covering 70% of the Earth's surface remain a poorly understood component of the Earth system. The changing climate, ocean circulation and chemistry, and depletion of ocean life are increasing at an alarming rate, largely a consequence of human activities. It is imperative to improve public understanding of the changes, consequences and possible future options, and to develop responsive informed public policies. A more quantified scientific database is required not achieved from a century of investigations using buoys, battery operated instruments and ship-based investigations. Advent of the first cabled ocean observatories (e.g. in Canada (NEPTUNE Canada, VENUS), US (OOI, MARS), Japan (DONET), China, Taiwan (MACHO), and European Union (EMSO)) demonstrates challenges, benefits, opportunities and added values for ocean science and commercial applications. Introducing abundant power and high bandwidth communications into diverse ocean environments allows: discrimination between short and long-term events, interactive experiments, real-time data/imagery, and complex multidisciplinary teams interrogating vast interoperable databases over decades. Cabled observatories will transform ocean sciences, with a progressive wiring of the oceans. NEPTUNE Canada completed installation of the subsea infrastructure with over 100 instruments in 2009-10, establishing the world's first regional cabled observatory (northeast Pacific; 800km backbone cable, with five nodes on the coast, continental slope, abyssal plain, and ocean-spreading ridge (100-2660m)). Principal scientific themes are: plate tectonic processes and earthquake-tsunami dynamics; seabed fluid fluxes and gas hydrates; ocean/climate dynamics and biotic effects; deep-sea ecosystem dynamics; engineering/computational research. New knowledge, scientific interpretations, and policy applications are addressing: ocean/climate change, ocean acidification, mitigating natural hazards, non-renewable and renewable natural resources. Socio-economic benefits include: resource/hazard/environmental management, sovereignty, security, transportation, data services, and public policy.

Bio: Chris Barnes is Professor Emeritus in the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria, and was Director of NEPTUNE Canada (2001-11), the world's first regional cabled ocean observatory network. For the previous decade, he served as Director of both the Centre for Earth and Ocean Research and the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences at the University of Victoria, British Columbia. He has a PhD in Geology from the University of Ottawa. He served as Chair of Earth Sciences both at the University of Waterloo, Ontario (1975-81) and at Memorial University of Newfoundland (1981-87); from 1987-89, he was the Director General of the Sedimentary and Marine Branch of the Geological Survey of Canada. He has served as President of the Geological Association of Canada, the Canadian Geoscience Council, and the Academy of Science of the Royal Society of Canada; and as a commissioner of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, as a member of the International Ocean Drilling Program, and on the Science Advisory Committees of EuroSITES, two Spanish ocean observatories, and Canada's Ocean Tracking Network. Fellowship has been awarded in the Royal Society of Canada and the National Academy of Sciences, Cordoba, Argentina. In 1996, he was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada.

Skin is the largest organ of human body. One of the major traumas to the skin is caused by burn injuries. Over a 170,000 people sustain burn injuries each year in Australia alone, of which majority are children. There are a number of possible treatments available clinically and their applicability depends on the extent of the injury. Current treatments are not only expensive but also have major limitations. Extensive work has been carried out to promote the healing process in such injuries however; the ever-arching problem of scar formation post healing is greatly overlooked. In this presentation a new tissue engineering approach will be discussed towards reduced scar wound healing. Different hybrid hydrogels and anti-scarring agents will be demonstrated as potential scaffold systems. Importance of cell motility will be highlighted along with cell proliferation to promote wound healing.

The Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation and Analysis (CMCA) provides local researchers and students in biology and biomaterials with access to infrastructure and expertise across imaging (small animal, optical, confocal, 3-D and electron microscopies), analytical (elemental, isotopic, and compound analysis) and flow cytometry (population analysis, phenotyping and sorting) platforms. With the ongoing acquisition of new bio-focussed key facilities and staff, this seminar will aim to present an overview of CMCA’s current capabilities in the biological and biomaterials space. In particular, new capabilities, research applications, plus current and future opportunities for local researchers working with bio-related samples to engage with CMCA will be presented.

The Australian Synchrotron Imaging and Medical Beamline opened for general users on 7 November. The new facility provides researchers with substantially enhanced capabilities over conventional techniques, and beamtime will become increasingly available during 2013.

CMCA is hosting an information seminar presented by Prof Rob Lewis from Monash University which will explain how researchers can utilise the new capabilities of this beamline in their research.

Who should attend? This seminar is for researchers in biomedical and preclinical research. Potential applications include research into cancer, degenerative diseases, regenerative medicine, in-vivo biological and physiological processes as well as material sciences.

The IM beamline offers: -Microbeam radiation therapy, including dosimetry with user-controlled beam energy and spatial distribution -Rapid-acquisition 3D imaging for small samples -Large-scale 2D imaging using different contrast modality (including the superior detail for soft tissue imaging provided by phase contrast).