What's On at UWA

A recent meta-study concluded that the use of computer-aided detection/diagnosis (CAD) "in breast MRI has little influence on the sensitivity and specificity of experienced radiologists and therefore their interpretation remains essential". In this talk I describe ongoing collaborative research to improve the sensitivity and specificity of breast MRI, and concomitantly its clinical utility, by combining multi-modal MRI with novel multi-parametric and multi-dimensional image analysis techniques. In particular we are developing methods to quantitatively characterise tissue morphology, microvasculature, and microstructure from spatially aligned multi-modal MR images including anatomical T1- and T2-weighted images, as well as images acquired using dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI, and diffusion-weighted imaging. We are also developing image analysis methods to automatically extract these features, segment (delineate) suspicious tissue, and classify the tissue as benign or malignant. Results to date include a novel registration evaluation framework based on a biomechanical breast model that permits realistic simulation of tissue deformation, new spatiotemporal features for improved discrimination of benign and malignant lesions in DCE-MRI, and most recently the first fully automatic method for breast lesion detection and delineation.

Magnus von Unge is Professor and Senior Ear Surgeon at Akershus University Hospital, University of Oslo, Norway. He is member of the Swedish Surgical Society, Association for Research in Otolaryngology and Politzer Society, and has served on the editorial board of ACTA Otolaryngologica.

Professor von Unge presented his scientific thesis on the mechanical properties of the tympanic membrane at the Karolinska Institute and continues research on changes in the tympanic membrane structure and function in inflammatory middle ear disease. Some of these studies were done in collaboration with the biomedical physics group at the University of Antwerp, Belgium, that resulted inter alia in the first paper in English on multipotent and pluripotent stem cell applications for the treatment of middle ear defects. His research focuses on the regenerative properties of the human tympanic membrane for the purpose of tissue engineering and activation of repair processes, as well as other otological issues, such as changes to the chorda tympani in middle ear disease and after middle ear surgery, and the long-term effects of different types of grommets.

The Dental Student Calender is commencing with the first big ticket item of the year. Prime and Bond! A great chance to meet new and old dental students and become part of the Dentistry Faculty family.

Once a year we hold a colloquium in which we display the posters presented at research meetings during the previous 12 months. Please come and see the work presented in this manner by the School in 2014. we will provide something BBQ'd to sustain you while you chat with the staff and students who have conducted the work.

Professor Giles Plant obtained his PhD degree from The University of Western Australia and is now Basic Science Director of the Stanford Partnership for Spinal Cord Injury and Repair in the Department of Neurosurgery at Stanford University. The aim of Giles' research is to elucidate new cellular and molecular repair strategies to improve functional and anatomical outcomes following spinal cord injury (SCI). Current research areas include examining the efficacy of human neural stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cell (iPS) lines to improve functional outcomes in cervical SCI and assessing the capacity of adult and embryonic olfactory glia to induce axonal regeneration and myelination in the injured and demyelinated CNS. This research utilises spinal cord contusion injury modeling and behavioral assessments using forelimb and hindlimb tests as well as a variety of molecular and cellular techniques to assess the results of stem and glial cell spinal transplantation.

The University of Western Australia's Careers Fair provides excellent opportunities for students to engage, network and meet prospective employers looking to recruit students for graduate programs, vacation work, internships and voluntary positions. From first year to final year, Undergraduate to Post-Graduate, the Careers Fair is for you. Come along and meet more than 80 exhibitors and attend the 10 presentations.

After graduating from The University of Western Australia, Professor Anthony Levitt undertook his specialty training in Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, which he completed in 1989. From 1992-2002 he was Head of the Mood Disorders Programs, initially at the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health in Toronto, followed by McMaster University in Hamilton, and subsequently, the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto. In 2002 Professor Levitt was appointed Chief of the Department of Psychiatry at Sunnybrook and at the Women's College Hospital, and in 2014 became Chief of the Brain Sciences Program at Sunnybrook. He has published over 130 peer-reviewed manuscripts; served for 4 years as Chair of the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (formerly MRC) Randomized Controlled Trials Committee, and has participated in large-scale, multi-site clinical trials for the past 2 decades. Professor Levitt's clinical practice and research is focused on the treatment of patients with resistant mood and anxiety disorders. He also has expertise in the facilitation of patient and family access to care in complex mental health and addiction systems. As a result of his expertise in this area of clinical medicine, Professor Levitt was recently appointed Medical Director of the newly created Family Navigation Project - a non-profit program designed to provide expert navigation of the mental health and addictions service system for youth aged 13-26 with serious mental health and/or addiction problems.

Westpac Purple Hearts Ball - Conquering Women's Cancers All proceeds support medical research into the prevention, treatment & cure of women's cancers at the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research.

Live entertainment on the night - Singer - Samantha Jade, Band - Amanda Dee & Soothe and Magnolia Jones, Famous Sharon and Rabia Siddique.

Tickets are $160 each or $1550 for a table of 10 for a delicious 3 course meal & drinks

Dress (men & women) - evening formal/glamorous

More info & ticket bookings via [email protected] OR www.purpleheartsball.com.au

Department of Neuroscience, University of Florence.

Title: Cross-sensory integration and calibration during development

Much evidence suggests that humans integrate information between senses in a statistically optimal manner, maximizing the precision of performance. We have recently shown that reliability-based integration of vision and touch develops only after about 8 years of age. In younger children one sense dominates the other: for size discrimination touch dominates vision but for orientation discrimination visual dominates. We suggest that the dominance of one or other sense reflects cross-modal calibration of developing systems: one sense calibrates the other, rather than fusing with it to improve precision. But unlike sensory fusion, it is the more robust and accurate sense that dominates the calibration, even if it is the less precise. Several lines of evidence support this idea: congenitally blind children show a selective deficit in haptic orientation-discrimination, and dyskinetic children (with highly impaired movement control) show a selective deficit in visual size judgments. Both these impairments could result from a lack of cross-sensory calibration in early development.

If you're a Year 12 student (or a parent of a Year 12 student), this session will provide information about UWA's courses, admission requirements and how to achieve your study and career goals.

UWA Prospective Students Office staff will be on hand to answer your queries following the presentation.

School of Psychology, University of Western Australia

Ben has been a student in the UWA School of Psychology for the last 10 years or so. He completed his honours thesis, Masters of Psychology (Clinical) and PhD under the supervision of Prof colin MacLeod. This culminated in Ben being awarded the 2014 Robert Street Prize for outstanding Phd thesis. The aims of the research Ben has carried out across his career, to date, have been twofold:

1)to delineate the patterns of biased information processing that associated with individual differences in emotional vulnerability and emotional well-being; and

2)to determine the causal nature of the association between each such processing bias and emotional disposition.

Ben is currently working as a post-doctoral researcher at the Centre for the Advancement of Research on Emotion (CARE), in the School of Psychology at UWA, under the guidance of...well if you don't know by now you haven't been reading this bio carefully enough.

Title: The attentional basis of variability in positive emotional disposition

Despite theoretical interest in, and beneficial outcomes associated with, high positive emotional disposition, investigators have only recently sought to develop a sophisticated understanding of the psychological mechanisms that underpin this disposition. In this colloquium, I will present an overview of my PhD research program, which took an important first step in this direction by seeking to establish the attentional basis of variability in positive emotional disposition. The reported studies show that attentional bias to positive information not only characterises, but also can make a causal contribution to, elevated levels of this disposition. The ways in which this work intersects with research that I, and others, are presently carrying out at UWA School of Psychology's Centre for the Advancement of Research on Emotion (CARE) will also be discussed.

Book your tickets today and join us to celebrate and support an important cause. Cost $170 per head, includes a sumptuous lunch with wine and beer. Email [email protected]

Prof Seow's presentation will focus on recent findings on the structural and functional properties in smooth muscle and how these unique smooth muscle properties allow the muscle to function over a much larger length range compared with that in skeletal muscle, and also how dysregulation of these properties could lead to dysfunction of hollow organs containing smooth muscle.

Dr. Seow specializes in smooth and skeletal muscle cell biology/physiology. His current research focus is on the mechanical function, ultrastructure and biochemistry of airway smooth muscle, in health and disease. There are two main components of his current CIHR-funded research program. One focuses on the basic mechanism of contraction in smooth muscle, the other focuses on airway hyperresponsiveness related to dysfunction of airway smooth muscle. His other research interests include skeletal muscle mechanics, ATPase cycle associated with the crossbridge cycle, and mathematical modeling of muscle function.

We know much more about how skeletal muscle contracts than we do about smooth muscle. The main reason is that we do not have a clear idea about the structure of the contractile unit (sarcomere equivalent) in smooth muscle. My presentation will focus on recent findings on the structural and functional properties in smooth muscle and how these unique smooth muscle properties allow the muscle to function over a much larger length range compared with that in skeletal muscle, and also how dysregulation of these properties could lead to dysfunction of hollow organs containing smooth muscle.

School of Psychology and Speech Pathology, Curtin University

After completing my PhD at the University of Giessen, Germany, I joined the School of Psychology, University of Queensland as a post-doctoral researcher (1990-93) and member of the academic staff (1994-2014). I was awarded an ARC Australian Professional Fellowship in 2007 and a UQ Vice Chancellor's Research Fellowship in 2012. In 2014, I joined Curtin University as a Professor in the School of Psychology and Speech Pathology. My teaching covers courses in Human Associative Learning, Psychophysiology, and Behavioural Neuroscience. My research, both basic and applied, is concerned with emotion, attention and their interaction. In particular, it is concerned with the processes involved in the acquisition of likes and dislikes and with the manner in which emotionally salient events are processed.

Title: The many faces of fear

There is currently little question that associative learning is critically involved in the acquisition of emotional responses, be they positive like preferences or negative like fear and anxiety. However, less is known about the manner in which we can reduce emotional responses once acquired and how we can make this reduction lasting to avoid, for instance, relapse after successful treatment of an anxiety disorder. One way to address this issue is to explore the acquisition and extinction of human fear learning, in particular the resistance to extinction observed for so-called fear relevant stimuli related to animal fear (snakes and spiders), interpersonal fear (angry faces) or intergroup fear (other race faces). I will present a series of studies that have investigated the similarities and differences in fear conditioning across these different stimulus domains. A second approach is to delineate the circumstances under which recovery of fear after successful extinction can be observed. Preliminary data from our lab suggest that these may be more varied than was thought originally.

The National Disability Insurance Scheme brings transformational changes to the disability sector. Most significant is the doubling of the 70,000 workforce over the next few years and the opportunities this will bring for new entrants to the industry and the contribution to the lives of people living with a disability. The presentation will build awareness of the new scheme; what it offers both undergraduates and graduates as well as addressing key skills and attributes for working in the sector.

The presentation will be particularly relevant to the schools of Social Sciences, Health Science, Business, Computing, Sport Science, Business, Exercise and Health.

Presenters:

Tricia Mason ( Snr Project Officer Workforce) and David Rogers (Recruitment and Training Coordinator, Workforce Development)

Tricia and David have over 30 years' experience in education and training. They are currently driving workforce initiatives for National Disability Services, a peak body for 123 disability service organisations, tasked with assisting government to implement the National Disability Insurance Scheme

Nevellene Linquist

Nevellene is HR Manager for VisAbility and Guide Dogs WA. Nevellene has a Business degree with majors in HR and IR and 10+ years work experience in HR, working in Advisor and Manager capacity. At VisAbility Nevellene is responsible to work with all staff to develop a positive value driven organisational culture, which fosters leadership, accountability, innovation and continuous improvement. The role is a key driver and leader in ensuring the effective development and implementation of HR strategies, policies and processes.

Samuel Lundin is a Visiting Professor at the Marshall Center for Infectious Diseases Research and Training. He received his PhD in 1998 from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, where he worked on T-cell regulation of immunity and tolerance to food antigens. This was followed by joining the group of Prof Ann-Mari Svennerholm, also in Gothenburg, where he studied gastric immunity to Helicobacter pylori. Dr Lundin remained at the University of Gothenburg and set up his own group where he has continued working on immune regulation in relation to disease development in H. pylori-infected individuals harbor gastric CD4+CD25high Treg that suppress the T-cell response to the bacterium. During recent years the Lundin group has focused the research on mechanisms for stomach cancer development due to H. pylori infection. He has established biobanks of samples from H. pylori infected patients from both Sweden and Nicaragua, in order to study the stomach transcriptome in individuals with gastric precancerous conditions. In September 2014, Dr Lundin became a EU Marie Curie Fellow at the University of Western Australia, pursuing a project that will search for immunological serum biomarkers for early stomach cancer.

The Gates Foundation and its Grand Challenges partners are now accepting applications for a number of programs, including its Grand Challenges Explorations initiative, which encourages innovative and unconventional global health and development solutions.

To learn more about the Foundation, and how to approach its grant application process, you are invited to attend an information session featuring Dr Laura Boykin -- a Research Fellow, Computational Biologist, TED Fellow, and a CI on a new US$15.75 million Gates grant to the University of Greenwich's Natural Resources Institute entitled "African cassava whitefly: outbreak causes and sustainable solutions."

2015 UWA Gleddon Visiting Fellow Dr Kirill V. Larin, Biomedical Engineering, University of Houston, Texas, USA will talk about "Optical Coherence Tomography: imaging from molecules to whole (embryonic) body" and Dr Kirk W. Feindel, Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation and Analysis (CMCA), UWA will talk about "The evolution of noninvasive imaging for embryo characterisation". Refreshments will be served during an informal networking break. Please register your attendance to [email protected] by Friday 20 March (with 'Bioengineering Seminar-Thursday 26 March' in the subject line of your email.).

School of Health Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology

David started his career as a theoretical physicist, completing his PhD at Caltech under Nobel prize-winner Murray Gell-Mann. His interest in neurophysiology started there under the influence of Prof Jack Pettigrew. David's academic career has been diverse, successively at the National Vision Research Institute in Melbourne, the School of Optometry at the University of NSW in Sydney, the School of Psychological Science at La Trobe University in Melbourne and thence to the Brain Sciences Institute and Swinburne in 2000. He served as Director of the BSI from 2002-2004. He is currently Professor of Neuroscience in the Centre for Human Psychopharmacology at Swinburne. His academic interests include neural mechanisms of refractive control, neuroscience of normal and abnormal visual development, psychophysics of visual attention, non-linear electrophysiology and functional neuroimaging of cognitive function. He led the CogNOSS project to establish a MEG and fMRI neuroimaging facility under the one roof at Swinburne. His studies have implications particularly for development in children: dyslexia, amblyopia, autism, myopia and ADHD, as well as understanding of conscious awareness and mind/brain relations. David has published widely, mainly in the area of vision, visual development, myopia, single cell electrophysiology, evoked potential research, dyslexia, amblyopia, autism, and learning disability. David currently holds an Adjunct Professorship in Psychological Science at La Trobe University and is a visiting Research Professor at the 3rd Military Medical University of Chongqing, China.

Title: Causal processes in autism

ABSTRACT

Happe (2006) argued that there will be no single (genetic or cognitive) cause found for the diverse symptoms defining autism, on the basis of low correlations between its classic triad of behavioural symptoms. Despite this, there is growing evidence of a common visuotypy related to the degree of autistic tendency, even across the "normal" population, via Baron-Cohen's Autistic Spectrum Quotient (AQ). Electrophysiological and psychophysical evidence will be presented showing that autistic vision is characterized by an afferent magnocellular pathway abnormality. Also, evidence for deficiencies in global perceptual processing for those with high autistic tendency are manifest. The competition between global and local percept in the diamond illusion reveals a peripheral global neglect in those with high AQ, while with Navon figures, high AQ groups have difficulty in withdrawing attention from the salient local level when identifying the (incongruent) global level. To go from correlation to causation is quite a step. However, evidence from saccadic suppression experiments indicates a potential causal relation between saccadic suppression and local perceptual style. The implications for the development of core autistic symptoms are discussed.