What's On at UWA

Combining music, dance and story-telling, this performance will be an unforgettable opportunity to experience the riches of the Balinese performing arts.

Featuring some forty musicians and dancers from the Indonesian Institute of Arts, Denpasar.

Presented as a free ticketed event by the Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia in partnership with The University of Western Australia.

Wednesday 14 November 2012, 12.30pm - 1.30pm, The Sunken Garden, UWA

RSVP essential: [email protected] / 08 6488 7836

The present ecological situation of the Black Sea in relation to increased shipping from ports in the Black Sea, the prospect of considerably high tanker traffic carrying Caspian and Central Asian oil through the Aegean and the excessive loads of nutrients and other harmful substances flowing from rivers such as Danube, Dniper and Dnister has generated fears in Greece and Turkey, as well as among environmentalists throughout the world, of still more acute threats to the ecosystem and cleanliness of the Aegean Sea.

A numerical simulation of the surface buoyant mega plume that is formed from the Black Sea brackish water discharge into the North Aegean Sea, through the Dardanelles Straits, has been performed using the ELCOM hydrodynamic model after validation with laboratory model results and available field and remote sensing data. Important climatological factors, such as air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, solar radiation, atmospheric pressure and rainfall that affect the water circulation in North Aegean as well as the Coriolis force effect, are taken into account. The choice of the 3D hydrodynamic model ELCOM was made due to its advanced ability to monitor and predict the Black Sea pollutants that outflow in the North Aegean Sea using passive non-dimensional computational tracers.

The simulation was conducted for a total flow time of 16 years. Suitable tracers are introduced in order to predict the long term fate and distribution of pollutants that are transported from the Black sea into the North Aegean. The overall results of the present investigation indicate that the BSP concentration is very high at the coastal waters of Thassos, Samothraki, and Limnos islands, as well as along the mainland coastal waters between Alexandroupolis and Strymonikos Gulf, during summer and autumn when strong water column stratification occurs. In general, the BSP concentration in the North Aegean surface waters reaches considerable high values (47– 58 % of the initial pollutant concentration at Dardanelles outflow) within 16 years. Even for depths more than 500 m the BSP concentration is still remarkable, slightly increasing with time. The increase of the BSP concentration with respect to time at various depths (from free surface up to 750 m) was also investigated.

Biography

Kyriakos received the BEng Degree of Civil Engineering in 2000 and the MSc Degree in Concrete Technology, Construction and Management in 2002 from the Department of Civil Engineering at Dundee University in Scotland. He then received his MSc Degree in Hydraulic Mechanics in 2007 and his Ph.D. Degree in 2012 from the Department of Civil Engineering at Democritus University of Thrace in Greece. He is currently working as a researcher at Democritus University of Thrace and he is member of the Technical Chamber of Greece (TEE) and the ECRR (European Center for River Restoration).

His research interests are mainly in the area of Environmental Fluid Mechanics, CFD Modelling, Experimental Modelling and Physical and Chemical Oceanography and Limnology.

PS* This seminar is free and open to the public & no RSVP required.

****All Welcome****

Dr Terry Boyle is an early carer investigator whose research aims to identity and improve our understanding of modifiable risk factors (particularly physical activity and sedentary behaviour) for cancer. His recently completed PhD research involved investigating the effects of physical activity, sedentary behaviour and resistance training on the risk of colorectal cancer. These studies were among the first in the world to investigate these issues, and have provided new insights into the cancer-preventive effects of physical activity. His current research focuses on the influence of physical activity and sedentary behaviour on health and psychosocial outcomes in cancer survivors.

Grant Morahan is the inaugural Diabetes Research Foundation Professor and Professor of Systems Genetics at the University of Western Australia, and the Director of the Centre for Diabetes Research at the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research. Before coming to WA, he was at The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research for many years, where he led a research team working on the genetics of complex diseases and researching immunological tolerance.

Professor Morahan is a member of the Steering Committee of the international Type I Diabetes Genetics Consortium; was the founding President of the Immunology Group of Victoria and State Councilor of the Australasian Society for Immunology; Principal Investigator of the Asia-Pacific Type I Diabetes Genetics Network; a member of the worldwide Faculty of 1000; a founding member of the Complex Trait Consortium; a member of several Editorial Boards; and has established two biotechnology companies, Geniad and GordianTec.

His research has included genetics of type 1 diabetes in humans and in animal models; genetics of asthma, obesity, neurological diseases and malaria; characterization of mechanisms of immune tolerance; and production of monoclonal antibodies. His work has resulted in the publication of over 150 scientific papers, including publications in Nature, Science, PNAS, Lancet, Nature Genetics, etc.

In this seminar, he will introduce two world-leading technologies: methods for identifying subtypes of complex diseases, ranging from type 1 diabetes to Alzheimer’s disease, to melanoma and other cancers; and “The Gene Mine”, a resource that could accelerate genetic research and provide new animal models of disease. These technologies are available to WA researchers interested in new collaborations.

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.

The Seminar: Despite the considerable knowledge we have accumulated about gibbons (Primates: Hylobatidae), which now include 17 recognized species, some of the most basic questions about their biology remain unanswered. One challenge is to explain why there is so little overlap in ranges (sympatry) between species, and a related phenomenon, the general lack of ecological radiation of the species. There are several possible reasons, which will lead to a discussion of the unique ecology and behavior patterns, including foraging habits, competition and social structure. The ecology and behavior of two species, Hylobates lar and H. pileatus, in a contact zone in Thailand will be brought into focus, as this zone provides an important testing ground for several theories.

The Speaker: Warren Brockelman is a retired professor of Biology at Mahidol University, Thailand and currently serves as an advisor at the Institute of Molecular Biosciences at Mahidol University, and works as an Associate Researcher at the BIOTEC Central Research Unit, National Science and Technology Development Agency. His basic interests lie in ecology and population biology, but he has carried out research in several distinct fields including amphibian ecology, human helminth transmission and primate ecology. Since 1975, his interests have emphasized the ecology and behavior of gibbons, and also the transmission of human parasites.

The Seminar: Respiratory loads have long been used to stress the respiratory muscles. When these loads cause failure, however, this has been attributed to inadequate pressure generation by the respiratory muscles, especially the diaphragm. Recently, we discovered that in a rat model of load-induced failure, inspiratory drive to the diaphragm was still elevated at the time of failure, indicating that the origin of failure was not central. However, blood pressure decreased and we observed that cardiac troponin, a marker specific for myocardial necrosis, was present. Troponin was released regardless of the type of respiratory load (inspiratory resistive, repeated inspiratory occlusions, and expiratory threshold). Thus, respiratory loads, by causing arterial hypoxemia, reduce O2 delivery to the heart and respiratory muscles. Inadequate O2 delivery, in the face of increased O2 demands, leads therefore to cardiorespiratory, not respiratory, failure. These results may be relevant to acute exacerbations of respiratory diseases, particularly when supplementary O2 is not available.

The Speaker: Prof Iscoe completed his undergraduate and Doctoral studies at McGill University and his post-doc at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He now holds a cross-appointment with the Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences and Department of Medicine at Queen’s University. Prof Iscoe is a respiratory physiologist with a research interests in the control of the diaphragm; skeletal muscle fatigue and injury; cardiorespiratory failure; treatment of carbon monoxide poisoning; and hypercoagulability in obstructive sleep apnoea.

Seminar on how to complete your Student Exchange application. Staff and Exchange Reps will be available to assist you. Bring your laptop!

A target to reduce phosphorus flows into the Gippsland Lakes in south-eastern Australia by 40% in order to improve water quality has previously been established by stakeholders. This target, like many others worldwide, has been set mostly on the basis of environmental concerns, with limited consideration of issues such as technical feasibility and socio-economic constraints.

This talk will outline an integrated analysis at the catchment scale to assess the agricultural land management changes required to achieve this target, and to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of these changes. It appears technically feasible to achieve a 40% reduction in P load entering the Lakes. However, there is little or no chance of investment in a 40% reduction being cost-effective. On the other hand, a 20% P reduction could be achieved at much lower cost.

The major implications of this work for agriculturally induced diffuse-source pollution include the need for feedback between goal setting and program costs, and consideration of factors such as the levels of landholder adoption of new practices that are required and the feasibility of achieving those adoption levels.

Short Bio,

David Pannell is Winthrop Professor in the School of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Western Australia, Director of the Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy, and a Federation Fellow of the Australian Research Council.

His research includes the economics of land and water conservation; environmental policy; farmer adoption of land conservation practices; risk management; and economics of farming systems. He was President of the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society in 2000.

Author of 170 journal articles and book chapters, David’s research has won awards in the USA, Australia, Canada and the UK, including the 2009 Eureka Prize for Interdisciplinary Research.

PS* This seminar is free and open to the public & no RSVP required.

****All Welcome****

Assistant Professor Vance Matthews is an NHMRC Career Development Award Fellow at the Western Australia Institute for Medical Research. Since completing his PhD in 2002, he has completed successful post-doctoral positions in Germany, Western Australia and Melbourne. The results of this work have been consistently cited and have been published in premier journals including Journal of Biological Chemistry, Blood, Hepatology, Cancer Cell, Cancer Research, Journal of Clinical Investigation, Journal of Experimental Medicine, Diabetes and Diabetologia. Assistant Professor Vance Matthews has been invited to present his research at the Interbranch HLA Laboratory (Halle, Germany), Storr Liver Unit (Westmead, Sydney), Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (Melbourne) and numerous conferences including the “Australian Biotherapeutics and Tissue Regeneration Forum”, “2nd Annual Molecular Mechanisms of Development Conference”, “The Australian Diabetes Society Annual Meeting” and lastly the “3rd World Congress on Diabetes and Metabolism” which was in Hyderabad, India in September 2012. He has been awarded fellowships and grants from the University of Western Australia, Medical Research Foundation and National Health and Medical Research Council and was awarded a competitive Early Career Scientist Grant from the Baker Heart Research Institute as well as two grants from the Diabetes Australia Research Trust. In addition, he was deputy chair for the 2011 Combined Biological Sciences Meeting, is a member of the “World Journal of Gastroenterology” editorial board and was a panel member for the NHMRC Early Career Fellowships in 2012. Lastly, he is an organising committee member for the “4th World Congress on Diabetes and Metabolism” to be held in Chicago in 2013.

Abstract Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is characterized by repeated collapse of the upper airway during sleep. It affects 4 - 9% of the adult population. Obesity is a major risk factor for OSA. Research and awareness of OSA is slowly but steadily on the rise and so are the co-morbid conditions associated with OSA such as metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease. The Information Technology (IT) boom in India has resulted in improved economic status for the country but this has been accompanied by increased consumption of junk food and a more sedentary lifestyle - changes which are driving an obesity epidemic in India. This epidemic will result in an increased incidence of OSA and its associated co-morbid conditions. This presentation will highlight the current status of sleep medicine and sleep research India, with a particular focus on OSA.

Associate Professor Nathan Pavlos completed his PhD (Cell Biology) at the University of Western Australia in 2005. He was a Visiting Researcher at the Department of Pathology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis USA and carried out his post-doctoral training in the Department of Neurobiology at the Max-Planck-Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Gottingen, Germany as a NHMRC CJ Martin (Biomedical) Research Fellow. He returned to UWA in 2010 and currently heads the Cellular Orthopaedic Laboratory within the Centre for Orthopaedic Research. His research interests include deciphering the membrane trafficking machinery of mammalian cells and their contribution to human disease with particular emphasis on bone-resorbing osteoclasts, which underpin several debilitating bone disorders such as osteoporosis, osteoarthritis and Paget’s disease.

His current research is supported by the NHMRC and has attracted several distinguished local and international awards including the Roger Merlick Young Investigator Award (ANZBMS), Webster Jee Young Investigator Award (ICHTS) and Raine Research Prize. He currently serves as Treasurer for the Australian Society for Orthopaedic Research and is a committee member for the Australian and New Zealand Bone and Mineral Society.

*Advanced methods in exposure assessment and epidemiology *Methods for combining exposure assessments and epidemiological models for use in risk assessment and risk prediction *Use of molecular markers in the identification of occupational and environmental risk factors *Heat stress and acclimatisation of workers, development of a biomarker of acclimatisation status *Risk assessment in environmental health decision making *Lessons learned from the Western Australian experience of mesothelioma

Professor Roel Vermeulen is Associate Professor at the Environmental Epidemiology Division of the Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, and Adjunct Professor in molecular epidemiology at the University Medical Centre at the same university. His research focuses on occupational and environmental risk factors for cancer, asthma and neurological diseases. He uses novel molecular and statistical approaches to assist in exposure assessment for epidemiological research and risk assessment. He has an extensive international portfolio of research projects in the field of chemical exposures in the workplace. He is currently involved in studies on the health effect of asbestos, benzene, diesel, dioxins, electromagnetic fields, formaldehyde, nanomaterials, PAHs, PCBs, pesticides, perfluorinated compounds and trichloroethylene. Dr. Vermeulen is a member of the Dutch Health Council, has served on multiple international committees and editorial boards, is an Associate Editor of the Annals of Occupational Hygiene and Frontiers in Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention, consults for national and international funding organization and scientific projects, and lectured at multiple national and international scientific meetings. He has co-authored over 200 peer-reviewed papers

Elizabeth Johnstone is in the first year of her Pharmacology PhD at the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research. Based in A/Prof Kevin Pfleger’s Molecular Endocrinology – GPCR lab, her research involves investigating the formation of angiotensin receptor complexes. Both the angiotensin type 1 (AT1R) and type 2 (AT2R) receptors are known to associate with other receptors resulting in the formation of heteromers with unique pharmacological profiles. So far Elizabeth has characterised the heteromer that forms between the AT2R and the related bradykinin type 2 receptor, showing that it has unique regulatory and internalisation properties from the monomeric AT2R.

James is a co-founder and Investment Director of Yuuwa Capital. He has a broad interest in the successful commercialisation of early stage technologies, with a particular focus on those stemming from the Life Sciences. James has been CEO of Argus Biomedical Pty Ltd and Resonance Health Ltd. He co-founded WAIMR spin-out company Dimerix Bioscience Pty Ltd and conceived the business concept behind UWA spin-out iCeutica, holding various Executive and non-Executive roles. James is a member of the “Panel of Experts” for UWA’s Pathfinder Fund, a Director of Linear Clinical Research Ltd and a previous member of the NHMRC Development Grant Review Panel.

The Speaker:

Professor Susan Shore from the Department of Otolaryngology, University of Michigan has been working in the field of Neuroanatomy and Neurophysiology of the auditory system for more than two decades. Much of her work has focused on the role of neural connections from other parts of the brain to the cochlear nucleus. A strong emphasis has been on two major projection systems: the somatosensory innervation to the external regions of the cochlear nucleus, and descending connections from other auditory structures to core regions of the cochlear nucleus. In addition to the normal innervation, her laboratory also study changes in these pathways after various forms of hearing loss, and their possible roles in tinnitus, loudness recruitment and central auditory processing.

Marc Diederich was awarded his PhD in molecular pharmacology in 1994 by the University Henri Poincaré Nancy 1, France. After training at the University of Cincinnati, USA, he focused his research on cancer and leukemia cell signaling pathways and gene expression mechanisms triggered by natural compounds with epigenetic-, anti-inflammatory- and cell death-inducing potential. Professor Diederich directs the Laboratory for molecular and cellular biology of cancer (LBMCC) at Kirchberg Hospital in Luxemburg. In 2012 he was appointed Associate Professor of Biochemistry at the College of Pharmacy of Seoul National University. Since 1998, he has been the organizer of the “Signal Transduction” meetings in Luxembourg. Professor Diederich’s research focuses on the development of novel anti-cancer drugs,for example, natural marine compounds which represent an interesting source of novel leads with potent chemotherapeutic or chemo-preventive activities. In the last decades, structure-activity-relationship studies have led to the development of naturally-derived or semi-synthetic analogues with improved bioactivity, a simplified synthetic target or less toxicity. Professor Diederich and his collaborators investigated for example chalcones that are aromatic ketones, known to exhibit anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer activities. Organic sulfur compounds (OSCs) derived from plants, fungi or bacteria can also serve as chemopreventive and/or chemotherapeutic agents and attracted Professor Diederich’s interest as a promising source for novel anti-cancer agents.

UWA will be hosting the first day of the inaugural Inter-Uni Summer School on Postgraduate Research Excellence.

For the first time ever, all five WA Universities are co-hosting a week-long summer school for postgraduate researchers. Each university will host one day of the event.

The program features guest speakers, interactive workshops and networking events. InSPiRE aims to encourage postgraduate researchers to interact with students from other universities to share resources and expertise, develop new collaborations and networks valuable for your future careers.

InSPiRE is open to any Higher Degree by Research student (Masters by Research or Doctoral candidates). Register early as places are strictly limited!

The O-Day Festival is a great opportunity to get involved with the social side of uni and activate your Guild membership, join clubs and societies and then wrap up the day with a huge concert on the Oak Lawn!

Headlining the O-Day Festival are hot Australian band, Last Dinosaurs - who are here as part of their First Degree Tour. Other acts include Sun City, DJ Lindsay, and some other special guests!

Time: 11am - 6:30pm (Concert starts at 2pm!) Place: James Oval and Oak Lawn, UWA When: 22nd February, 2013 Who: EVERYONE.

Don't miss the biggest student event on campus and and the best way to kick start your uni year!

The 2013 Guild O-Day Festival is an alcohol and drug free event.

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