What's On at UWA

Visible spectrum radiometry (or ocean colour remote sensing) is currently the only means of observing surface ocean biology at synoptic scales with high spatio-temporal resolution and it has long been a goal of the ocean colour community to identify phytoplankton taxa, species or size class. Better understanding of phytoplankton community abundance, structure, distribution and physiological rates is important for improving estimates of ecosystem function, the flux of atmospheric carbon dioxide to the oceans and ocean biogeochemical feedbacks on climate. For example, small cells may absorb nutrients and CO2 with higher efficiency under nutrient-limited conditions, whereas large cells can sink more rapidly and are thought to contribute more to export production. These size classes can be further subdivided into functional types with important roles in a range of elemental cycles (e.g. sulphur, silica). I will give an introductory ‘users guide’ to the approaches we have used to identify phytoplankton groups in the ocean and will present results from several recent studies that have significantly advanced this field through the development and application of satellite algorithms for estimating dominance and fractional contributions of PSC, PFT and size-specific photosynthetic rates.

Currently at University of Queensland, Dr Mylne will speak about his past, current and future plans for his Fellowship at UWA. Welcome Dr Mylne! "At UWA I intend to focus on three areas; 1) study the various genetic ‘innovations’ that create these ultra-stable peptides, 2) hone in on the in vivo biochemical process that produce such biomedically relevant peptides; and 3) develop a new biological system to discover the elusive biochemical targets of important anti-malarials drugs." DETAILED CV AVAILABLE !!! email [email protected]

A public lecture by Professor Oliver P. Rafferty SJ Heythrop College, London University & 2012 St Thomas More College Chair in Jesuit Studies.

This lecture will look at religiously motivated violence in three historically conditioned phases and the attitude of religious authorities to them:

the Crusades, with emphasis on the first Crusade the Church’s attitude to political violence in Ireland and contemporary issues with Islamic fundamentalist violence. The Crusades were undoubtedly blessed by the church, and mandated by Blessed Urban II, with the promulgation of an indulgence for those who ‘took the cross’. Individuals were in effect promised paradise for engaging in a war that had religious purposes and intent - the recovery of Jerusalem. This was the ideology, even if the results were different.

The church’s attitude to political violence in Ireland was more ambiguous. Nevertheless it ultimately supported the party of revolution, (at least by 1918) a party which manipulated religious imagery for its political ends - the ideas of self-sacrifice and resurrection. The contemporary issue with Islamic fundamentalist violence raises a different aspect to the problem.

Since there is no centralised authority in Islam, the ability of individuals and groups to interpret sacred texts in justification of violence is given much greater scope, and therefore it could be argued that the ethos of the faith is such that political violence can be justified on the basis of God’s will, much in the same way as it was during the Crusades.

Is the result of all this to undermine the role of religion as an instrument of peace in the world, and therefore to give ammunition to hostile non-believers who assert that religion in itself is fundamentally a cause of suffering in the world?

These issues also touch on a broader problem within Christianity, and that is the problem for the state of engaging Christians to fight in war in clear defiance of the fifth commandment and the teaching of Christ about turning the other cheek - just war theory notwithstanding.

This lecture is presented by St Thomas More College, in partnership with the Institute of Advanced Studies at The University of Western Australia.

Cost: Free, but seats are limited. RSVP to [email protected].

'The mis-use of religion in the justification of political violence: a comparative analysis'

This year's St Thomas More College Chair of Jesuit Studies is Professor Oliver Rafferty SJ, Lecturer in Irish and Ecclesiastical History at Heythrop College, University of London. A Past President of the Irish Historical Society, Professor Rafferty will address the subject of religion as a justification for political violence, from the Crusades down to the present day.

This public lecture is presented in association with the Institute of Advanced Studies, UWA.

"Nicholas Wiseman, Ecclesiastical Politics and Anglo-Irish Relations in the Mid 19th Century"

Professor Oliver Rafferty SJ, the 2012 St Thomas More College Chair of Jesuit Studies, will present the third in a series of six lectures on nineteenth century Irish history.

The Chair of Jesuit Studies is jointly recognised by the the University of Western Australia and the University of Notre Dame Australia, and aims to bring a leading academic from the worldwide Jesuit community to Perth each year.

Professor Rafferty is visiting from Heythrop College, University of London, where he specialises in Irish and Ecclesiastical history. He will present the remaining five seminars in the same locations, and at the same time, on Fridays 7th, 14th, and 21st September.

With a thriving community of composers and celebrated staff mentoring their progress, aural portraits by some of the finest young composers in Western Australia are revealed amongst two inimitable treasures of the orchestral repertoire.

Ravel Bolero Emerging Composers Bartok Concerto for Orchestra

2 Illustrated Lectures: Baths and Bathing in the Roman World by Dr. Sandra Ottley; 2012 field trip to Jarash, Jordan by Don Boyer. 1:30pm, Saturday 25 August, Social Sciences Lecture Theatre, University of Western Australia. Programme: 1:30pm - Baths and Bathing in the Roman World; 2:30pm - tea break ($7 for RAG Members $10 for non-members); 3:00pm - Annual General Meeting; 3:30pm - 2012 field trip to Jarash, Jordan. Please let us know of your interest by emailing Norah Cooper [email protected]. For more information on the RAG visit http://www.humanities.uwa.edu.au/research/cah/roman-archaeology

LIWA invites you to a free seminar on: "Genome-wide Association Studies Success in Ophthalmology" by W/Prof David Mackey, Managing Director, Lions Eye Institute. Time: 12 noon for light lunch with 12.30pm – 1.30pm presentation.

A public lecture by Dr Kenneth J. McNamara, Dept of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge.

On a March day in 1887 the skeletons of a young woman and a child were found on top of a windswept hill in southern England where they had lain in their shallow grave for about 4,000 years. Little would be remembered today about this discovery were it not for one very strange feature of the burial. Nestling close to the very fragile bones were hundreds of fossil sea urchins, each emblazoned by a five-pointed star.

Since that day archaeologists have excavated many graves that contain fossil sea urchins. Such discoveries, along with the recovery of fossil urchins from many other types of archaeological excavations throughout much of Europe, the Near East and northern Africa, have revealed that people have been collecting fossil urchins for an extraordinarily long period of time.

Just what did these prehistoric collectors make of them? Sports of the Devil? Gifts from the Gods? Why did they bother to collect them? And more importantly, what drove them to so often bury them with their dead?

In this talk Dr McNamara will try to answer these questions and explore what Norse mythology tell us about the Vikings’ association of fossil urchins with hand axes; why another species of human 400,000 years ago made a hand axe with a fossil urchin in it; why the lives of a Roman Emperor and an ancient Egyptian priest were both touched by fossil urchins; why, 10,000 years ago, people in the eastern Mediterranean region apparently viewed these fossils as fertility symbols; what prompted a Medieval church-builder in England to frame a window with a collection of fossil urchins; and why today we are still fascinated by five-pointed stars.

Cost: Free. RSVP to [email protected]

The Seminar: The cellular and molecular biology of airway smooth muscle (ASM) is typically studied with single-cell cultures grown on solid, thus extremely stiff, 2D substrates. However cells in vivo exist as part of complex 3D structures and experience a much softer mechanical environment. It is well established in other cell types that altering substrate stiffness or growing cells in 3D exerts potent effects on phenotype and function. These factors may be especially relevant to the study of ASM function in asthma, a disease characterized by structural remodeling of the airway wall and a stiffer microenvironment experienced by ASM.

In this seminar, two key research projects will be presented to demonstrate the importance of the mechanical environment on in vitro ASM function: 1) use of a polyacrylamide hydrogel model used to alter substrate stiffness, and 2) the development and characterisation of a physiologically relevant 3D ‘microtissue’ culture model that allows for in vitro contractile force measurement, and shows great promise to simulate the biomechanical changes associated with asthma.

The Speaker: Adrian West’s scientific career was born and raised at the University of Western Australia. He undertook his BSc, Honours and PhD in the Department of Physiology where he studied the molecular mechanisms of intestinal haem iron absorption under Dr Phillip Oates. A lucky opportunity allowed Adrian to switch fields for his first postdoc to work in Prof Howard Mitchell’s respiratory physiology laboratory. During this time, he studied the effects of dynamic mechanical strain on acute regulation of airway smooth muscle (ASM) force and developed an interest in bridging the gap between whole-organ and cell-level mechanical properties.

Realising that engineers get to play with the coolest toys, Adrian moved to Dalhousie University in Canada for his second postdoc to work with an upcoming biomedical engineer, Dr Geoffrey Maksym. In this current position he is using novel cell culture and tissue engineering techniques to study how chronic changes in the biomechanical environment regulate ASM dysfunction, and how this may contribute to the pathogenesis of asthma.

Groups and Combinatorics Seminar

BIll Smyth (McMaster University/Kings College London/UWA)

will speak on

Are Three Squares Impossible?

at 1pm Tuesday 28th of August in MLR2.

Abstract: This talk describes work done over the last 30 years or so both to understand and to compute repetitions in strings -- especially since 1999. We will discover that, although much has been learned, much combinatorial insight gained, there remains much more that is unknown about the occurrence of repetitions in strings and the restrictions they are subject to. I present combinatorial results discovered only recently, and I suggest that possibly extensions of these results can be used to compute repetitions in an entirely new way. I hope that members of the audience will be motivated to work on some of the many open problems that remain, thus to extend combinatorial knowledge even further.

All welcome

Intended Audience:

Those who are engaged in postgraduate supervision and who want to reflect upon, develop and refine their current conceptions and practice of supervision. This workshop not only provides grounding in the Graduate Research School's guidelines, policies and procedures for the effective supervision of research students, but also addresses issues related to managing the personal relationship between supervisor and student. This workshop additionally touches on aspects of supervising international students, and provides a context for exploring these in further detail in the subsequent half-day workshop, 'Supervising International Students'.

Workshop Description:

• Supervision in context - UWA's vision for the future;

• The supervisor-student relationship;

• Professionalising postgraduate supervision;

• Important issues relating to international students;

• Postgraduate student and experienced supervisor panels.

Dr Martelotto is a cell and molecular biologist involved in full time basic research for the last 12 years. After completing his bachelor (biotechnology) degree and PhD in Biological Sciences and Molecular Biology in Argentina, Dr Martelotto was recruited by the Victorian AgriBiosciences Centre of the Department of Primary Industries (La Trobe University) to work as a plant molecular biologist. During this time Dr Martelotto designed and developed a series of cutting-edge molecular biology strategies that led to a major patent inventorship in plant biotechnology (WO/2010/028456). This experience enhanced his training in advanced molecular biology techniques of direct relevance to all forms of biologic and medical research. His work has also been recognised by several prestigious awards, including the Rosario Society of Biology Award, the Argentinean Society of Genetics Award and the UNR PhD Academic Merit Award (Argentina). In 2008, Dr Martelotto joined the Watkins’ laboratory at the Monash Institute of Medical Research (MIMR) as a Postdoctoral Fellow. In 3 years, he developed a mastery of cancer biology, and expertise in the techniques and concepts of mammalian Hedgehog (Hh) signalling associated with extraordinary productivity and dedication. Dr Martelotto played a central role in the identification of Hedgehog (Hh) signalling as one of the most important pathways driving tumour initiation, progression and regeneration after chemotherapy in SCLC. As part of this work, he extensively characterized a series of unique primary xenograft models of SCLC generated from chemo-naïve patients for their capacity to respond to platinum-based chemotherapy. This discovery brought important clues for designing new treatment approaches to increase the effectiveness of chemotherapy and therefore reduce the risk of relapse. These achievements have been recognised by the MIMR Flagship Research Award in 2010, and a co-first authorship on a recent publication in Nature Medicine (2011) describing the mechanistic basis for Hh signalling in SCLC self-renewal that will be presented at the WAIMR seminar series. In May 2012 Dr Martelotto joined Dr Archa Fox’s lab (WAIMR) to investigate the mechanism of nuclear retention of RNA.

UWA’s Institute of Advanced Studies, Research Services and the Centre for Software Practice present the inaugural Inquiring Minds public lecture by Peter Quinn, Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics, UWA and Director, International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR).

Professor Professor Quinn will review the current status of the international SKA effort following the announcement of the site decision in May this year that saw the project shared between Southern Africa and Australia/NZ. He will outline some of the amazing scientific and technological challenges and opportunities before us in WA as we ramp up to explore the Universe to a depth that will revolutionize our understanding of space and time.

JEFFREY CHIPPS SMITH Kay Fortson Chair in European Art and Professor of Art History The University of Texas

Percussion Purity! Masterworks from the percussion and piano repertoire come together in this extraordinary performance featuring some of West Australia's finest musicians; Paul Tanner, Louise Devenish, Graeme Gilling and Emily Green-Armytage. Works include Luciano Berio's Linea, and George Crumb's Music for a Summer Evening (Makrokosmoas lll)

Tourist movement is a complex process. It can be modelled from a number of different perspectives; for example, Tourism, Geography, Economics, Mathematics, Computer Sciences and Psychology. This talk aims to discuss a sound methodology, using Markov and Semi-Markov processes to model the spatial and temporal movement of tourists.

The objective is to understand, predict, control for, and optimise the decisions made by tourists in their choice of attractions.

Bioeroding sponges are the most important internal bioeroders on many coral reefs, but are often overlooked because of their cryptic habit. In comparison with extensive research into reef calcification, bioerosion in general is critically understudied, and the mechanisms of reef degradation by sponges are still not fully understood. While calcifying organisms are routinely surveyed in monitoring programs, the distribution and abundance of bioeroding sponges is rarely assessed. We do not have comprehensive data on the rate of bioerosion by sponges through time or on sponge bioerosion rates before and after disturbance events. However, it does appear that environmental changes will critically shift the natural balance between reef accretion and bioerosion. This presentation will summarise what is known about the biology of bioeroding sponges and address questions regarding their likely impacts on coral reef health. It will examine the effects they are currently having on reefs and whether these effects are expected to change through time. A special focus will be provided on recent results on effects of ocean acidification. The talk will also discuss how we can control and monitor sponge bioerosion and what research is needed to help us protect our reefs. It will further address important knowledge gaps, create greater awareness, provide useful tools for future studies and encourage research into this ecologically significant group.