What's On at UWA

All welcome to attend the School of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine 2012 Seminar Series (RPH). On a weekly basis we have local/guest speakers presenting to a wide audience typically in the fields of immunology, molecular biology and cancer related research. This week we are privileged to have a local speaker. Professor Charles Bond from the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Western Australia presenting on "Structural studies of gene regulatory protein in eukaryotes". The event is sponsored by Life Technologies and light refreshments are provided. For further inquiries please contact using the provided email. Look forward to seeing you there!

The Seminar: Promotion of lung volume recruitment in atelectatic lung and maintenance of existing recruited lung are vital goals of contemporary ventilatory support. In the mature lung, the recruitment of terminal airspaces are governed by power-law distributions, arising from avalanches associated with threshold pressure phenomena propagating down a branching tree structure. There is increasing evidence that the superimposition of noise on the pressure waveform during conventional can promote recruitment of collapsed lung zones when the peak inspiratory pressure is at or around the lower inflexure and that this approach may also promote production of endogenous surfactant. The mechanism likely involves the phenomenon of stochastic resonance. Stochastic resonance is most simply described as the addition of noise to a weak input signal to enhance output in a nonlinear system. It is a widespread, naturally occurring phenomenon that can be seen reflected in the patterns of world weather, fluctuations on the stock market, population biology, and optimal functioning of neural networks, to name but a few. The essential ingredients for stochastic resonance are a nonlinear dynamic system, a weak biologic signal, and superimposed noise. Recent studies comparing variable to constant volume and rhythm ventilation patterns in newborn lambs demonstrate a physiological advantage of variable input for lung volume recruitment, and upregulation of surfactant protein and developmental genes, suggesting that the newborn lung is programmed to respond to variability, and that variability may confer survival advantage. The Speaker: Professor Jane Pillow is a clinical academic neonatologist at the University of Western Australia and Co-Director of the newly formed UWA Centre for Neonatal Research and Education. She is acknowledged internationally as an expert in the area of neonatal respiratory physiology and mechanical ventilation. Prof Pillow is internationally renowned for her particular expertise in high-frequency ventilation, having undertaken completed her PhD thesis in 2000 on “Optimising High-Frequency Oscillatory Ventilation in Neonates”. Since completing her PhD with Distinction in 2000, Prof Pillow’s research interests have expanded to include high-frequency jet ventilation, variable ventilation, bubble CPAP, patient triggered ventilation and minimising lung and diaphragmatic injury during resuscitation. Her research group in Perth undertakes animal studies using the preterm lamb as a model of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome, many of which are performed in collaboration with interstate and international colleagues in medical, physiological, anatomical and biomedical engineering departments. Future plans for the lamb work include the development of a preterm lamb intensive care unit for long term ventilation of preterm lambs. At KEMH, Professor Pillow also runs a neonatal lung function laboratory, and is involved in clinical trials and follow-up functional studies of children born prematurely in addition to involvement in clinical trials. Jane has obtained over $4.5 million AUD in research funding, including 4 grants from the NHMRC (3 as CIA) and 3 grants from the NIH and has had continuous scholarship and fellowship funding from the NHMRC and Viertel Foundation since 1997. She has extensive involvement in peer-review activities relevant to neonatal research, mechanical ventilation and respiratory physiology. In addition to her academic responsibilities, Prof Pillow is a Consultant Neonatologist in the Women’s and Newborn’s Health Service. She is currently based within the UWA Centre of Neonatal Research and Education and the Neonatal Clinical Care Unit at King Edward Memorial Hospital in Perth, which has 100 neonatal beds including 30 bed NICU, but which caters frequently for up to 40 infants on mechanical ventilation or CPAP.

Luminescent species find applications in a wide variety of fields, including optical technologies and devices, sensors, biomedical diagnostics and many more. Our group is interested in the design of transition metal and lanthanoid coordination compounds that possess phosphorescent properties, as well as their use in materials and life science. This presentation will illustrate efforts within our research group centred on the synthesis of organometallic tetrazolato metal complexes and the investigation of their photophysical properties. As these complexes exhibit efficient luminescent properties, we have also assessed their cellular incubation and cytotoxicity, and the results highlight these species are promising candidates for the design of improved cellular labels. More recent results on the use of N-heterocyclic carbene ligands for the construction of luminescent metal complexes will also be presented.

Complex I has several unique features in plants. Most notably, it includes 15 extra subunits, some of which introduce side activities into this respiratory enzyme. For example, subunits resembling an archaebacterial gamma-type carbonic anhydrase form an integral part of complex I in plants. These carbonic anhydrase subunits constitute a spherical extra domain which is attached to the membrane arm of complex I on its matrix exposed side. Furthermore, L-galactono-1,4 dehydrogenase (GLDH), which catalyses the terminal step of ascorbate biosynthesis in plants, is associated with complex I in plants. Novel data on the structure of the NADH dehydrogenase complex and its multiple functions in plant cells will be presented and discussed.

LIWA invites you to a free seminar on: "Tumour suppressor activity of microRNA-7 and microRNA-331-3p" by Dr Keith Giles, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Western Australian Institute for Medical Research (WAIMR). Time: 12 noon for light lunch with 12.30pm – 1.30pm presentation.

The Seminar: It is generally thought that lung growth follows a trajectory such that an early life deficit in lung function is maintained throughout life. This has important implications for the development of chronic lung disease whereby early life impairments in lung growth may decrease the threshold for the development of respiratory symptoms, while increasing the susceptibility to insults that exacerbate disease. As such it is critical that we understand the environmental factors that impair (or promote) lung growth in early life in order to inform public health initiatives that will improve long term lung health in the community. This presentation will discuss the importance of in utero and early life environmental exposures in modulating lung development and the susceptibility to chronic lung disease using two case studies: 1) arsenic exposure via drinking water in utero and 2) vitamin D. While arsenic and vitamin D work in opposing directions, with arsenic having a negative impact on lung development and vitamin D having a positive impact, they are both associated with chronic lung disease in later life and can be modified through public health interventions. The impact of these exposures on lung development will be discussed in light of our recent studies using mouse models.

The Speaker: Associate Professor Graeme Zosky is a Principal Investigator and Head of the Lung Growth and Environmental Health Group at the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research. He has a PhD in Zoology from U.W.A. (2003) and a Masters in Biostatistics from the University of Sydney (2010). His research focuses on the role of early life exposures in the development of chronic lung disease later in life. He is also an international leader in the design and application of novel techniques for assessing lung mechanics in laboratory animals.

The beauty of electrochemistry at liquid-liquid interfaces is that it enables the detection of ions or ionisable species by ion-transfer reactions. As a result, problems associated with the detection of analytes by oxidation/reduction reactions at solid electrodes can be surmounted. These problems may include an inability to easily oxidise/reduce the target analyte(s), the simultaneous oxidation/reduction of interferences, or electrode fouling by reaction products. Proteins are extremely important analytical targets because of their roles in regulating biological processes and the fact that diseases often result in changes in protein behaviour. Such altered protein behaviour leads to these biomacromolecules becoming markers or indicators of that disease, so-called biomarkers. Not all proteins are redox-active and even redox-active proteins cannot always be easily detected by oxidation or reduction at a metal or carbon electrode. For this reason, the electrochemical behaviour and electrochemical detection of proteins via ion-transfer reactions at the interface between two immiscible electrolyte solutions (ITIES) has been of growing interest. This presentation will discuss the main idea that electrochemistry at liquid-liquid interfaces enables the detection of ions via non-redox reactions, which may be applied to detection of proteins. Recent progress towards achievement of nanomolar detection of proteins as well as formation and characteristics of nanoscale liquid-liquid interfaces will be presented.

My research shows that the chemical mimicry crucial to sexual deception is responsible for reproductive isolation and potentially even speciation. I also show through mating system analysis and studies of wasp behaviour that this strategy is a superbly adaptive solution to the problem flowers face of simultaneously attracting pollinators before persuading them to leave quickly.

An educational seminar day that will address local and global problems relating to infection control. Topics include antibiotic resistance and stewardship, superbugs, Clostridium difficile,viruses and pandemics, workplace sterilization, sharp safety and immunisation scheduling.

An educational seminar day that will address local and global problems relating to infection control. Topics include antibiotic resistance and stewardship, superbugs, Clostridium difficile,viruses and pandemics, workplace sterilization, sharp safety and immunisation scheduling.

Applications CLOSE 30th November for the Science Experience 2013. Current year 9 and 10 students apply on-line at the Science Experience website. Late applications will be accepted if a place is available. To check whether a program is fully booked at any time go to www.scienceexperience.com.au/when-where/wa

The Science Experience is a three day program of events for students about to enter Year 10 and Year 11. The program is held Tuesday 15th - Thursday 17th January 2013 and is designed to excite students about science and technology and introduce the students to the variety of career options in science and engineering, with the aim that more will choose to study and pursue a career in science.

Controversy continues to surround national student assessment in Australia. However, I argue that testing is neither good nor bad: the devil lies in what people – teachers, school, systems and even parents – do about the tests and the data they generate. I report the experiences of principals, teachers and curriculum consultants in one educational authority to describe how responsibility for interrogating, interpreting and applying data has gradually shifted from an external top-down approach to an internal bottom-up model in a planned, sustained and centrally supported manner, during the past eight years.

Carbon nanostructures have been the topic of two Nobel prizes to date, Chemistry in 1996 (fullerenes) and Physics in 2010 (graphene), but carbon’s versatile bonding has resulted in the discovery of a wide range of other exotic nanoforms. We will take a quick safari through this jungle of bamboos, peapods, nanohorns, scrolls, nanobuds, etc. To help make sense of this bewildering array of forms I will propose a nomenclature based on their structure.

The underlying structural differences of each carbon nanoform can fundamentally alter their reaction chemistry and mechanical and electronic properties. Using first principles calculations I will examine specific examples where these effects modify the underlying chemistry and physical properties of these materials, such as their oxidation behaviour and mutual interaction. As well as giving unique insight into experimental results, such calculations can predict fascinating new behaviour and open up undiscovered pathways for synthesis and post-processing.

As the world population grows and we are facing a 70% increase of food demand over the next four decades,the need to retain versatile and productive soils for food production and to maximise the output from the land is one of the most important issues of our time. This symposium will bring together world leading soil scientists to highlight the importance of soil health, from a national and global food security perspective. They will examine the role which science, technology and innovation can play in supporting Australian farmers in maintaining and developing healthy soils to achieve productivity gains and sustainable agricultural production. To participate in this workshop register online via www.soilhealthwa.eventbrite.com.au

The Seminar: With ageing, the progressive loss of skeletal muscle mass and function (sarcopenia) results in frailty, loss of independence and is a major cause of increased falls and fractures. Surprisingly little is known about the mechanisms of sarcopenia and these will prove to be complex. We have established a mouse model of sarcopenia and described the time course of age-related muscle wasting in C57Bl/6J mice. This model is currently used to investigate mechanisms of age-related muscle wasting. The talk will focus on three aspects of sarcopenia: 1) understanding molecular changes in ageing muscle with the aim to identify sarcopenia markers and develop therapies; 2) loss of myofibre innervation; 3) use of exercise as an intervention to prevent sarcopenia.

The Speaker: Tea Shavlakadze is a Research Associate Professor at the School of Anatomy, Physiology and Human Biology, the University of Western Australia. The research of TS has targeted factors controlling growth and maintenance of skeletal muscle mass and potential therapies for muscle disorders with a focus on in vivo studies using mouse models. Major areas of research include the role of Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1) in regulating skeletal muscle mass, and analyses of signalling pathways and other factors involved in many situations of skeletal muscle wasting.

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 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. For more information on CMCA see: www.cmca.uwa.edu.au/facilities

About the speaker: Peta Clode has been at the CMCA for almost 10 years. Currently she is head of CMCA’s biological and biomedical applications area. Peta’s main interests lie in metals in biology and cell structure-function relationships, with particular expertise in sample preparation, imaging and analytical techniques in the biosciences. Through her position at CMCA, Peta has experience working with plants, animals, cell cultures, bacteria, algae, polymers, liquid suspensions, biominerals, soils, parasites and various other sample types.

Dr Melonek completed her PhD in 2010 in Plant Cell Biology at University of Kiel, Germany. She continued her work in Kiel for the next 1.5 years but recently moved to Perth to join the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology at UWA. Her research will focus on characterization of proteins implicated in regulation of chloroplast gene expression in Arabidopsis. MORE INFO AT http://www.plantenergy.uwa.edu.au/aboutus/seminars/seminars.shtml or email [email protected]

LIWA invites you to a free seminar on: "Improving lung health by preventing prematurity" by W/Prof John Newnham, Head of School, School of Women's and Infants' Health, University of Western Australia. A light lunch will be served from 12.00pm with a 12.30pm – 1.30pm presentation.