What's On at UWA

Please join AIIA WA and the Perth USAsia Centre with Alyssa Ayres to launch her new book Our Time has Come: How India is Making Its Place in the World. In Our Time Has Come, Alyssa Ayres considers the role India will play internationally, the obstacles it continues to face, and the implications of its rise for the United States and other nations. “We are witnessing a country chart its course to power, and explicitly seeking not to displace others but to be recognized among the club of world powers, one in which it believes its membership is long overdue.” Copies of the book will be available for purchase at a special discounted price of $30.00 from 6.15pm – 6.30pm and between 7.30pm – 7.45pm. Tickets to this event are free but registration is essential.

While reducing excess body weight or fat is important for certain athletes and for the treatment of overweight and obesity, it is essential that weight loss interventions do not result in losses of physical strength or lean tissues such as muscle and bone, any of which could impair physical abilities and increase the risk of structural diseases such as sarcopenia or osteoporosis.

A dietary intervention showing potential for reducing body weight and fat without excessive loss of lean tissues is a novel form of intermittent energy restriction (IER) entailing repeated cycles on a moderately kilojoule-restricted diet for 2-4 weeks, interspersed with 2-week periods of energy balance, where kilojoule intake is matched to energy requirements and weight is maintained. In a randomized controlled trial of 51 men with obesity, this form of IER significantly improved weight and fat loss compared to continuous energy restriction (CER): weight loss 14.1 ± 5.6 versus 9.1 ± 2.9 kg; fat loss 12.3 ± 4.8 versus 8.0 ± 4.2 kg; means ± SD, P<0.01 for both comparisons), with no difference in loss of fat free mass (1.8 ± 1.6 versus 1.2 ± 2.5 kg; P = 0.4)1.

Another dietary intervention with potential for body weight and fat loss without excessive loss of strength or lean tissues in people with overweight or obesity is – paradoxically – fast weight loss, achieved via total meal replacement diets. The TEMPO Diet Trial (ACTRN12612000651886) has shown that at 1 year after commencement of a diet involving either fast or slow weight loss in postmenopausal women with obesity, there was no difference between diets with respect to muscle (handgrip) strength, fat free mass or bone mineral density, despite the fact that women on the fast diet lost almost twice as much weight and fat as women on the slow diet (16.9 ± 7.1 versus 9.7 ± 7.5% of body weight, and 11.1 ± 5.6 versus 6.1 ± 5.5 kg of fat mass; P<0.001 and P<0.05, respectively).

In light of the greater weight and fat loss achieved using IER as opposed to CER, as well as the lack of apparent deleterious effect of fast versus slow weight loss on muscle strength or lean mass despite markedly greater weight and fat loss, an NHMRC-funded randomised controlled trial, commencing 2018, aims to determine whether greater weight and fat loss – without greater loss of strength or lean tissues – can be achieved via intermittent use of fast weight loss in adults with overweight or obesity. If yes, then determining the mechanisms for any potential advantage of IER over CER (e.g. via reduced energy efficiency as a result of switching between carbohydrate and lipid or ketone oxidation in skeletal muscle) could enable IER interventions to be further improved. Moreover, future work to determine whether/how physical activity improves weight loss outcomes from IER (e.g. via attenuation of the drive to eat as a result of greater lean mass retention) could provide motivating reasons for people with overweight or obesity to exercise during weight loss interventions.

1. Byrne NM, Sainsbury A, King NA, Hills AP, Wood RE Intermittent energy restriction improves weight loss efficiency in obese men – the MATADOR study. International Journal of Obesity 2017 doi: 10.1038/ijo.2017.206 [Epub ahead of print]

Biography

With a Bachelor of Science from the University of Western Australia and a PhD from the University of Geneva, Switzerland, Professor Amanda Salis (publishing as Sainsbury) leads full-time research into dietary treatments for overweight and obesity at the University of Sydney’s Boden Institute of Obesity, Nutrition, Exercise & Eating Disorders in the Charles Perkins Centre. Her translational research into hypothalamic control of appetite, eating behavior, energy expenditure, body weight and body composition spans transgenic mice, adults with overweight or obesity, as well as adult athletes. Her randomized controlled trials comparing long-term effects of fast versus slow weight loss – using intermittent versus continuous energy restriction – are funded by a Senior Research Fellowship and Project Grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). She is the author of two books about adult weight management that are available internationally in three languages and are used by consumers, community health centres / gyms, and by healthcare professionals (e.g. general practitioners, physiotherapists, dieticians, diabetes educators and psychologists).

“Bio-inspired nanoclusters and bio-derived nanoparticles” Renee Goreham The MacDiarmid Institute, School of Chemical and Physical Sciences, University of Wellington

Megan Macnaughtan Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, Louisiana State University.

"Allostery, oligomerization, and the dual functions of the Chlamydia trachomatis protein, Scc4”

Dr. Christian Pflüger studied Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry at the Philipps University of Marburg (Germany) where he received his Masters degree. He then pursued a PhD in Oncological Sciences at the University of Utah (U.S.A.) studying mechanisms of active DNA demethylation, DNA methylation changes in male germ cells during the process of ageing and post-transcriptional changes of polyadenylation in maturing human oocytes. His passion for studying epigenetic mechanisms led him to take a post-doc position in Prof. Ryan Lister's laboratory at UWA where he is currently involved in developing molecular tools to gain a deeper understanding of targeted epigenetic changes and their impact on transcriptional regulation.

A proctored full-length GAMSAT mock exam will be held by Gold Standard on March 10, 2018 at the University Hall. Attendees will be provided online access to worked solutions, which can be reviewed at your own convenience.

There will also be a live webinar (which will be recorded) on March 11 at 7 pm AEST, to have an open discussion about the exam with our GAMSAT teacher, Dr Brett Ferdinand.

Other course options:

- 7 full days of GAMSAT training camp (Jan 20-25 and Mar 10, 2018)

- 3-day course: Science Review (Jan 20-22, 2018) or GAMSAT Mock Exam with Interactive Review (Jan 23-25, 2018)

- 1-day attendance to focus on your weak area: Bridging Course, Science Review (Day 2 or Day 3), Mock Test or Advanced GAMSAT Topic Course

All attendance course options include course handouts and small-group sessions.

There's a widespread belief that people who are good at maths can go into finance and become obscenely rich. This talk tries to put that in perspective by describing a common approach to algorithmic trading, and exploring some of the reasons why it's harder than it sounds.

The seminar will give you an overview of:

. Intellectual Property - what it is and why it’s important

. Patenting - what you need to get a patent

. Developing your idea - including sources of funding

. Commercialisation - how to put your ideas to use

This event is free for UWA staff and students to attend.

RSVP via Eventbrite by Tuesday 13th March.

Title: Understanding and expanding photosynthetic organisms for terpenoid production

Konstatinos Vavitsas University of Queensland

Breast milk protects against infant infections, increases intelligence quotient, and probably reduces overweight and diabetes in later life 1. In contrast, protective effect of breast milk on development of allergies is far from being established 1.

The main objective of our research is the identification of factors which could endow breastfeeding with the capacity to prevent allergic disease as potently as it does for infectious disease.

Our working hypothesis is that maternal milk composition has not adapted to the needs of allergy prevention due to the recent and rapid increase of allergy. Modulation of breast milk composition may be the best strategy to counteract allergy development. In particular, we propose that breastmilk factors could impact on long term allergy susceptibility by affecting oral tolerance induction to allergens2.

Our data in mice have highlighted that neonates are intrinsically refractory to oral immune tolerance induction3, 4. In contrast to adults, neonates require exogenous factors, such TGF-b and IgG, to be responsive to tolerance induction to orally administered antigen3, 4.. These immune-modulatory factors are physiologically brought by maternal milk and their variable levels, as well as of allergens, may explain inconsistent findings on prevention of allergy by breastfeeding2, 5, 6. We further demonstrated that the mechanisms of oral tolerance physiologically develop during the first post-natal weeks to become independent of maternal factors7, 8. Vitamin A in maternal milk was found to be essential for this physiological maturation process7, 8. Finally, we recently observed, both in the mice and in human birth cohorts, that some respiratory allergens such as from house dust mite, can be found in breast milk and increase the risk of allergic disease in offspring9, 10. Protease from house dust mite induce a Th2 gut immune imbalance in the neonate that prevents oral tolerance induction (Rekima et al, in revision).

The identification of factors in early life that condition gut immune ontogeny should help to improve strategies of prevention of both allergic2 and infectious disease11, 12 .

Robyn Steward is a researcher, author, educator and campaigner on the autism spectrum and passionate about including the perspectives of people on the autism spectrum in research, especially on topics which are important to them. She endeavours to ensure these perspectives are heard by the scientific community - that is, that autism research is done with autistic people, rather than on, to, or, for them. In this talk, Robyn will speak about some of the research in which she has led in the past few years, including work on ‘stimming’ or repetitive behaviours in autistic people, and research on autistic people’s experiences of menstruation. She will share her experiences of working with (non-autistic) autism researchers, and especially with early-career researchers and clinicians.

In partnership with the Property Education Foundation, UWA is hosting a property industry Meet the Leaders Speed Networking event on the 22nd March. All UWA students interested in a career in the property industry are welcome to attend including students studying Geography, Planning, Urban Design, Law and Business. Students will have the opportunity to network with each industry representative.

Industry Leaders:

Joe Lenzo Chairman, Property Education Foundation (Immediate Past Executive Director of Property Council of Australia)

Frank Marra CEO, Landcorp

Andrew Byars General Manager – Property Investments, Perron Group

Troy Leber Head, Property Finance West, Personal & Business Banking, Bankwest

Alison Robertson Portfolio Manager, Brookfield

Col Dutton General Manager, Stockland WA

Peter Beekink Partner, Head of Property & Leasing Services, Lavan Legal

Cath Blake-Powell Director & Principal TPG Town Planning & Urban Design

Registration is $10, follow the link below to sign up.

Friday, 23 Mar 2018, 12 noon

Title: Lewis acids: Versatile catalysts for fundamental transformations, polymerizations and H/D exchange

Drasko Vidovic

Monash University

Crystal Adaptronics: Dynamic and Soft-Matter-Like Properties of Molecular Crystals

Presenter: Pance Naumov

New York University Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Abstract

During this seminar Amanda will discuss the roles of social media in academia: student engagement; public outreach; research dissemination; collaboration; academic promotion.

Bring along your smartphone and make sure you have a QR scanner app downloaded (search in Google Play or App Store).

Biography

Dr Amanda Meyer completed her Bachelor of Science double majoring in Anatomy & Human Biology and Physiology at UWA with first class honours in 2001. She completed her PhD between the School of Women's and Infants' Health and the School of Anatomy & Human Biology at UWA in 2006.

Amanda started Anatomy lecturing in February 2012 and since that time has coordinated 23 human gross anatomy units at Murdoch University. Since returning to UWA in November 2017, Amanda is teaching into and coordinating ANHB2217 Human Neurobiology & IMED1001 Form & Function and coordinating medical anatomy and teaching into the medical units IMED3001, IMED3002, IMED4443, IMED4211. Amanda is serving her second year on the council of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Clinical Anatomists. She is also a committee member for the Federative International Committee for Equality and Diversity in Anatomy and a financial member of the American Association of Anatomists. This year, Amanda joined the editorial board of the Anatomical Sciences Education Journal which is a Q1 journal in Anatomy.

Title: Is nitric oxide a freely diffusible gas in cells or stringently regulated by proteins? The macrophage and cancer cell relationship.

Professor Des Richardson

University of Sydney

Abstract: InAdditive manufacturing (AM) —the industrial version of 3D printing—is a revolutionary method which has tremendous potential in numerous applications areas in science and industry. AM allows rapid design and fabrication of highly customized parts e.g. it has been used to produce prototypes for engineers and designers, 3D printing for consumers and small business entrepreneurs has received a great deal of publicity recently. However, it is in manufacturing where the technology will ultimately have its most significant scientific and commercial impact. Many research challenges remain in translating the early promise of AM to industrial success in design & manufacturing of functional components and systems. Fabrication of high performance components using 3D printing is still a subject of intense research especially for multimaterial and multicomponent products and parts. Additive Biomanufacturing (ABM) is an emerging field within Advanced Manufacturing. ABM has unique technical needs and requirements in the bioprinting community combined with the quest for fundamental and translational research. Bioprinting is a sub-discipline of 3D printing, or the computer aided design and automated fabrication of tissues and organs. Bioprintng uses the principles of computer aided design (CAD) and additive manufacturing to combine scaffolds, cells embedded in hydrogels, also defined as bioinks, into a product that potentially can replace diseased or injured tissue or, as shown more recently in my lab as well as at other world leading biofabrication labs, the development of “in vitro biological constructs” for drug testing and/or personalised medicine concepts. While bioprinting processes have not advanced as greatly as 3D printing in recent years, many more challenges remain to be addressed, such as limited biomaterials available for use in ABM processes, relatively poor dimensional accuracy caused by the stair-stepping effect, insufficient repeatability and consistency of the produced in vitro biological constructs, and lack of in-process qualification and certification methodologies. In order to realize ABM’s potential to usher in the “fourth biomaterial revolution,” the tissue engineered constructs must be fabricated precipitately, economically, and reasonably quickly while meeting stringent functional requirements; such as 1) scaffold’s structural integrity, strength stability, and degradation, as well as cell-specific pore, shape, size, porosity, and inter-architecture; 2) biological requirements regarding cell loading density and spatial distributions, as well as cell attachment, growth, and new tissue formation; 3) mass transport considerations regarding pore topology and inter-connectivity; 4) anatomical requirements regarding anatomical compatibility and geometric fitting. As in the progression of many other emerging technologies, the greatest scientific advancements will come at the boundaries of fundamental material science, physics, engineering, chemistry, and biology. Significant research efforts are essential to expedite the transformation from random bioprinting to additive biomanufacture of innovative biomaterials that claim material flexibility, the ability to generate fine features, and high throughput. The primary take home message from this talk is that the biomaterials community need to go beyond established single material bioprinting processes, and applications that exhibit conventional levels of functionality to move beyond the state of the art and to perform ground-breaking research to underpin multi-material and multifunctional ABM processes and design systems. Such highly innovative multi material & multifunctional ABM platforms will effectively allow the biomanufacturing (defined as first printing of cells in bioinks and then further in vitro and/or in vivo phase) of tissues that are not only optimised to have tissue-specific biochemical and physical properties but, critically, provide maximum biological functional utility to the user in a wide range of applications. It is undoubteldy this shift in perspective, I propose in this talk, that will be the key driving force behind the evolution and innovation of the field of Additive Biomanufacturing in the years to come.