What's On at UWA

A systematic review requires a rigorous and systematic search of the literature and is a critical part of the systematic review process. In this introductory seminar, we will overview a comprehensive approach to systematic searching, key sources, and tools available to you. This workshop is intended for researchers planning on undertaking a systematic review in the STEM Faculties.

The Perth USAsia Centre will be hosting Ms Christine Holgate, Group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Australia Post, Professor Taeho Bark, President of the Global Commerce Institute of Lee&Ko and Professor Emeritus of the Graduate School of International Studies at Seoul National University and Ambassador Frank Lavin, CEO Export Now, Former US Under-Secretary of Commerce for International Trade; and Former US Ambassador to Singapore for a public discussion on recent trends and shifts in the regional trade system. The Indo-Pacific regional trade architecture is undergoing turbulent shifts prompted by an assertive Trump Administration trade policy which is affecting major trading partners and allies. Western Australia currently conducts 78% of its trade with countries in the region. Shifts in the regional trade system will have significant implications to Western Australia’s economic engagement with countries in the region. At this public event, Ms Christine Holgate will deliver a keynote address followed by a panel discussion with our visiting international trade experts, Professor Taeho Bark and Ambassador Frank Lavin. They will explore possible policy responses to changes in the regional trading system and strategies to ensure the continued economic security and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region. To enhance your understanding of recent shifts in the international trade system and its implications for Australia, please join us for an informative discussion by our visiting trade and business experts.

In the context of limited industry, dramatic human population growth, and driven by mercantilism since the 1950s, China has embarked on an unprecedented period of agricultural expansion, natural resource depletion, industrialization, economic reforms and urbanization. In order to understand how China’s governmental policies and eco-social development have shaped Asian environments. Information from the World Bank, the World Health Organization and China’s Red List of mammals was analyzed and compared between China and non-China Asian countries. It focuses on 42 variables that are primary drivers of Asian environmental change. The results indicate that for 11 of these drivers, relative to total land area, between 1960 to 2013 China contributed significantly more to environmental degradation than the rest of Asian nations combined. Similarly based on population size, China has contributed significantly more than the rest of Asian nations for 9 of these indicators. In the case of Co2 emissions from liquid and solid fuel consumptions and carbon dioxide damage, China’s negative impacts have increased significantly during the last 6 decades. Between 2004-2015, deforestation and other environmental damages in China have resulted in a 22% increase in the number of threatened mammal taxa, in particular, even-toed ungulates, bats and insectivores. Alarmingly for China’s human population, data from the World Health Organization indicate that the impact of environmental change has resulted in significantly higher proportions of liver, lung and stomach cancers, and a dramatic increase in PM10 and PM2.5 particulate matter in the air. The impacts of the unsustainable depletion of natural resources and land conversion, large scale deforestation and habitat destruction, agricultural and water pollution, excessive dam construction, air pollution, and urbanization on China’s biodiversity and human population are also examined. It argues that China’s policies of eco-social development have prioritized resource extraction, economic growth, and environmental degradation over sustainability and this has come at the expenses of human health, biodiversity, and the survivorship of natural environments.

Pan’s academic commitment in zoology, primatology and human biology since 1982 have resulted in more than 95 publications with more than 50 scholars in China, Australia, the UK, the USA, South Africa, Mexico, Brazil …. His more recent concentration on the conservation, environmental protection and human biology in China has sparked internationally through three of his projects: 1) Science Commentary (Pan RL, et al., 2016. New Conservation Strategy for China – A Model Starting With Primates. American Journal of Primatology 78 (11): 1137-1148); 2) “the Primate Extinction Crisis in China: Immediate Challenges and A Way Forward” (Li et al., in press in Biodiversity and Conservation – regarded as the first correspondence Pan is bringing together 21 national and international scholars to complete the project); and 3) “China’s Unique Role in Shaping the Asian Environment and its Impacts on Biodiversity and Human Society Since 1960s” (Li et al., ongoing for Nature – regarded as the first correspondence he is leading 13 national and international authors to accomplish the project).

Biomaterials: From blood compatibility to stem cell expansion

Please join us at this year’s Postgraduate Showcase: Frontiers in Agriculture, where some of UWA’s top postgraduate students undertaking research in agriculture and related areas will present their findings.

For more information, download the flyer https://www.ioa.uwa.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/3103493/PG-Showcase-Flyer-6-June-2018_FINAL.pdf

Register online at www.ioa.uwa.edu.au/events/register by Friday, 1 June 2018.

Insights into the roles of tryptophan C-mannosylation

A public lecture by Frans Swanepoel, Research Professor, Centre for Advancement of Scholarship, University of Pretoria, South Africa and 2018 UWA Institute of Advanced Studies Visiting Fellow.

Currently there are 1.3 billion people in Africa; more than five times the population in 1950. By 2050, Africa’s population will double to 2.6 billion, eventually reaching 4.2 billion by the end of the century – just about the entire world population in 1977. Africa is also the world’s most food insecure continent, with relatively low levels of agricultural productivity, low rural incomes, high rates of malnutrition, and a significantly worsening food trade balance. Ironically Africa has sufficient land, water and human resources to be a substantial contributor to the world’s food balance sheet, and to contribute to the growing global demand for both food staples and higher value added food, as well as to energy markets. Agriculture and the food sector also present significant opportunity for employment and wealth creation. This critical role of agriculture in fostering sustained competitiveness and profitability in the sector, in the face of a world economy that is rapidly transformed into a knowledge and network economy is acknowledged both within the scientific community and in Governments at large. Without question, agriculture and capacity strengthening are now back on the development agenda as Africa refocuses towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). African agriculture has a number of major strengths, but also faces a significant number of challenges, a set of unique opportunities. Africa has now entered a development stage where some analysts are taking a more positive outlook and narrative as opposed to the traditional ‘Afro-pessimism’ of the last five decades. A new school of thought is emerging, one that recognises that Africa is in a better position to help itself be food secure moving forward – agriculture has started growing, albeit slowly but sustainably over the last decade. However, a number of interesting trends distinguish the economic growth of Africa from other continents. The dominant growth detected here is by small intermediary groups who are responding to rapid urbanisation and the growing ‘middle-class’. Strategies to support growth in sustainable agriculture should thus be responsive to these trends in order to vastly improve food security on the African continent.

Searching the grey literature is an essential step in undertaking a systematic review - but what is grey literature, why is it so important and how do you find it? This seminar will provide you with some key tools and tips to assist you. Intended for researchers planning to undertake a systematic review. Registration required, please follow the link to register.

The Centre for Cell Therapy and Regenerative Medicine is holding a mid-Winter Symposium around the visit by a delegation of stem cell scientists from Helmholtz Centre Munich.

The Helmholtz presentations will be headlined by Micha Drukker, leader of the Pluripotent Stem Cell Differentiation Laboratory, who will give the Perkins/CCTRM lunchtime seminar. He will address the challenges and recent breakthroughs on producing clinical grade pluripotent cells.

Lunch will be followed by an early career researchers session, with ECR from Helmholtz mixed with those from UWA to present on the hottest topics in cell therapy and regenerative medicine.

Talks for the remainder of the Symposium sessions will come from the full spectrum of CCTRM participants presenting highlights from their latest research.

Do you want to ensure that your research data is secure, accessible and reusable into the future? Find out how you can apply research data management best practice in all phases of the research lifecycle to ensure this happens. UWA offers a suite of services which aim to help researchers meet funder and publisher requirements in terms of data storage and access.

Bring your questions, the presenters will be available for 15 minutes after the workshop for individual consultations.

Micha Drukker performed his PhD at The Hebrew University in Israel, and post doctoral studies at Stanford University Medical School, where he gained knowledge of stem cell regulation. Since 2012 he has been heading the research group “Human Pluripotent Stem Cell Differentiation” and the core facility “Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells” at the Institute of Stem Cell Research at Helmholtz Zentrum München in Germany. Dr Drukker’s currently studies the mechanisms that regulate early differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells, and the origin of developmental diseases. He is also leading a project for manufacturing and banking immune optimized human induced pluripotent stem cell lines as a starting point for differentiating into tissue regenerating cells, including beta cells for therapy of diabetes.

Telethon Kids Institute (UWA's Centre for Child Health Research) invites all prospective Honours, M.D., and higher degree by research students to join us for the evening to learn more about becoming a student with us!

Our supervisors will be speaking to students about their student projects and research areas. You will get to learn more about what we do, our current research projects, and our facilities. You will also get a chance to meet current students and learn more about our student programs, scholarships and support services.

When: Thursday 28th June, 5:00 – 6:30pm

Where: Telethon Kids Institute; 100 Roberts Rd, Subiaco WA 6008

RSVP: ProspectiveStudentEvening2018.splashthat.com

R is a free and extremely powerful language and software environment for statistical computing, data analysis, and graphics. This course is designed for those who have no experience with R, but have a basic understanding of statistics.

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.

Hosted by UWA Friends of the Grounds, this walking tour is designed for school children (ages 8+) and their families and will showcase just a small example of what the University has to offer.

Meet our Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Simon Biggs; be amazed at the history of Winthrop Hall; touch a meteorite, have a tour of the Geology museum, purchase rocks that are millions of years old, tour the newly-refurbished Reid Library; hug a tree that is more than 660 years old; see a fascinating science experiment and a host of other extras.

The tour starts under the Great Gate, Winthrop Hall.

The Western Australian Marine Science Institution is proud to support the launch of the Kimberley Society’s latest publication, The Natural World of the Kimberley.

The publication is the culmination of research results presented at the 2017 Kimberley Symposium including chapters on the WAMSI Kimberley Marine Research Program as well as land-based research conducted across Western Australia’s universities and state government authorities.

Research Impact Series Events:

Cosmos: Journey Through the Universe Thursday. 9 August, 18 October and 8 November 2018

Germaine Greer On Rape: Monday 3 September 2018

Raising the Bar Perth: 10 bars, 10 topics, 1 night only. Tuesday 11 September 2018

Achieving your Research Outcomes: Wednesday 17 - Thursday 18 October 2018

The iron-regulated metastasis suppressor N-myc downstream-regulated gene 1 (NDRG1) has been shown to inhibit numerous oncogenic signaling pathways in cancer cells. Recent findings have demonstrated that NDRG1 inhibits the ErbB family of receptors, which function as key inducers of carcinogenesis. NDRG1 attenuates ErbB signaling by inhibiting formation of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) and HER2/HER3 heterodimers and by down-regulating EGFR via a mechanism involving its degradation. Understanding the complex interplay between NDRG1, iron, and ErbB signaling is vital for identifying novel, more effective targets for cancer therapy.