Division of Environmental and Life Sciences

News From the Dean
The weekly update from the Dean of Division, Prof Liz Deane

Event Report: Sydney Thompson Group Prize Night
Recently hosted by CBMS, ELS and APAF

Opportunities
- Research Assistant Required for Field Work at Lizard Island!!
- Australian Universities Quality Forum 2008, call for submissions

Events
- State Library of NSW Exhibition "Impact: A Changing Land"
- Garvan Institute Free Seminar - "the Ageing Brain"
- "Gold for Physics" : free seminar on what it takes to run the infamous 'Physics Olympiad'
- ELS Seminar Series

News from the Dean

Dear Colleagues

Sadly this is my last newsletter as I leave to take up my new position at ANU next Monday!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for all their hard work over the seven and a half years I have been Dean here. In particular I wish to thank all our Heads of Departments, past and present for their strong leadership role; our Associate Dean Teaching and Learning, Kevin McCracken for his sterling leadership of our outstanding T & L Committee and the many occasions he has been Acting Dean; we all miss Geoff Humphreys our Associate Dean, Research who passed away last year and I thank Simon Turner for stepping into the breach. Peter Bull, our energetic Chair of Outreach Committee who keep the ELS profile high and Trish Fanning and Jim Kohen who Chair our HDR Committee and look after our research student matters so well.

Our technical and administrative staff have played a pivotal role in our ongoing success. The ELS Centre staff, Marie Howitt, Anthony Hale, Darina Nevicka, Teresa Potalivo, Catherine Wong, Meredith McGregor, Jane Yang and Laura McMillan have led the University in showing how to look after the needs of staff and students (even those not in ELS!) and Penny Wilson has constantly displayed patient guidance of the International students. Our Department executive officers, Maria Hyland, Gunnella Murphy, Julia Wee, Karinna Handley, Kristina Willis, Mingsham Sim, Paula Wells, Anne Cox and Wendy Southwell have provided much valued on-the-ground support to HoDs and Department staff. My thanks to my own executive officers, Jane Edgson and Paula Wells, who have supported me through good and bad times and kept me well organised! To Carolynne Paine who has looked after so many aspects of ELS staff and student activity it is impossible to describe and Gill Ellis who has guided us through the shaky financial shoals - not to mention space allocations. Finally all the technical staff, particularly our Technical Manager, Rod Nurthen, who have kept important lab and fieldwork operations going for staff and students alike. I also particularly thank Russell Field and the OH&S committee for dealing with this challenging task in a superb and committed way.

There are really too many people to mention but to all I give my heartfelt thanks for working with me in a great Division - with plenty of achievements to be proud of and more to come.

All my best wishes as ELS move into the new Science Facility.

Kevin McCracken has now taken over as Dean - a great choice!

Liz

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Sydney Protein Group Thompson Prize night

This year's Sydney Protein Group Thompson prize evening was recently held at Macquarie University in the Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences.

The Thompson Prize, named after the eminent local protein scientist, E.O.P. (Ted) Thompson, was inaugurated in 1992 and is awarded for the best presentation by a young local scientist in the field of protein structure and function. The evening saw some very impressive talks by the five PhD student finalists, including Macquarie University student Meghna Sobti from Assoc Professor Bridget Mabbutt's research group. Meghna's research talk was about the ring-forming Lsm proteins, which have diverse roles in RNA-processing pathways such as splicing, post-transcriptional modification and degradation. The winning talk was by George Craft from the CMRI Westmead who gave us an interesting insight into the dynamic world of synaptic vesicle endocytosis in nerve terminals and the role of the dephosphin amphiphysin I. The event was judged by Daniela Stock (Victor Chang Research Institute), Nicki Packer (Dept CBMS, Macquarie Uni) and Stuart Cordwell (Univ Syd) who deserve a big thanks for giving their time to judge this event and who also had a hard time deciding the winner for the evening.

The talks were followed by supper (sponsored by the Sydney Protein Group and the Division of Environmental Life Sciences) and drinks (sponsored by APAF) in the biology courtyard setting. Special thanks to the Macquarie University organisers of the night: Bridget Mabbutt, Tom Roberts and Louise Brown.

Thompson Prize finalists: Lily Ting, Ignatius Pang, George
Craft, Meghna Sobti and Mugdha Bhati

Stuart Cordwell - one of the evening's judges - presents the
Thompson Prize to George Craft of CMRI.

The judges - Daniela Stock, Nicki Packer and Stuart Cordwell -
receive their thank you gifts.

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Opportunities

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Research Assistant Required for Field Work at Lizard Island!!
Lizard Island group, Great Barrier Reef.
Project: Rapid assessment of local shark populations using a portable video-acoustic system.

Dates for 2008:
Leave Sydney (driving to Cairns) – Wednesday 12th March
(Fly to Lizard Island from Cairns – Wednesday 19th March
Return to Cairns – Thursday 17th April)
Return to Sydney (driving from Cairns) – Monday 21st April

Minimum qualifications:
PADI Rescue Diver, DAN Oxygen Provider and a Commercial Dive Medical (these qualifications are pretty easy to acquire if you don’t already have them but can dive and are interested in the trip).

Costs:
The assistant will need to cover the cost of their travel to and from Lizard Island as well as food and any spending money for the trip. Accommodation at the Lizard Island Research Station is covered by the research funding. Total expense is likely to be around $1200.

Project Info:
We will be conducting field experiments into the validity of using sound to attract sharks for the purposes of a population assessment. This will involve 16 days boating around the outer reef of Lizard Island and eight days doing baseline surveys using SCUBA (note: we will not be attracting sharks when we are in the water!). There will be afternoons off as well as four full days for free time activities.

For more info please contact Jason Pallot on 0405 620 916 or jpallot@gse.mq.edu.au.

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The Australian Universities Quality Forum 2008

The Australian Universities Quality Forum 2008 (AUQF2008) will be held in Canberra in July. AUQF is the peak national forum for discussing and advancing quality assurance and quality enhancement in Australian higher education.

The theme for AUQF2008 is Quality Standards in Higher Education: Making a Difference. The conference will have five streams:

A. Academic Outcomes and Standards
B. Learning and Teaching
C. Community Engagement
D. Research
E. International

Further information, together with the link to the Call for Contributions, may be found on the AUQF web site at http://www.auqa.edu.au/auqf/2008/contributions/index.htm.

The University is keen to encourage the participation of Macquarie staff in this important conference. AUQF's deadline for paper submissions is Monday 10 March 2008.

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Events

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The State Library of NSW Exhibition

The State Library of NSW presents "Impact: A Changing Land". An exhibition exposing the controversial history of harm to and affection for the environment over 200 years.

Where: State Library of NSW, Macquarie Street, Sydney
When: Open 9am-8pm Mon-Thur, 9am-5pm Fri and 10am-5pm weekends until 24 February 2008
More Information: http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au
Cost: Free

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Wednesday 13 February 2008 - "The Ageing Brain" - Free Public Seminar

The latest neuroscience research is giving us new insight into how the brain changes with age. Overturning decades of dogma, scientists have now revealed that the brain continues to regenerate well into the later stages of life. Could this capacity to regenerate be harnessed to overcome diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's?

Time: 10:00am-12:00pm Feb 13 Cost: Free
Venue: NAB Auditorium, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, 384 Victoria Street, Darlinghurst
Bookings: Garvan Institute of Medical Research www.garvan.org.au (02) 9295 8110

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Gold, Gold, Gold…for Physics!

PUBLIC LECTURE

Professor Shuyan Xu
Denison Distinguished Visitor, School of Physics, University of Sydney, and
Professor of Physics, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Studies
Leader of the Plasma Sources and Applications Centre (PSAC)

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Kings, Presidents, foreign secretaries and Nobel Prize laureates, satellite news link-ups, and 800 delegates from 85 countries…a meeting of the UN? No, it’s the Physics Olypmiad and the delegates are 16 year old students solving, of all things, theoretical and practical physics problems, and loving it.

Join Professor Shuyan Xu, Chairman of the 37th International Physics Olympiad in Singapore, as he shares his insight on the massive scale of the 10 day event, which has been running since 1967. The enormous scope required millions of dollars of corporate sponsorship, University support and in-kind support from police, local facilities and even the airport.

The Olympiad is more than simply an opportunity for students to excel themselves. Students, accompanied by government officials, bring honour to their countries, meet like-minded people, and experience the international physics community. For the host University and/or country, this huge media event is the chance to attract the top students and researchers to their country.

As well as being the founding leader of the Plasma Sources and Applications Centre in 2001, at Nanyang Professor Xu also represents Singapore in a number of international committees, expert boards, and professional societies. His keen enthusiasm in physics education led him in 2006 to become Chairman of the 37th International Physics Olympiad. His long scientific career, including a PhD earned at Flinders University, has produced over 120 peer-reviewed papers, 170 conference proceedings, and two text books. In addition, his plasma research led to a patent in 2007.

This year’s Olympiad will be held in Iran, with countries stumbling over each other in their bid to host as far away as 2022.

WHEN: Tuesday 12th Feb, 6:30pm
Light refreshments will be served at 6.15pm.
WHERE: Slade Lecture Theatre, Ground floor of School of Physics, University of Sydney, Camperdown campus.
COST: Free, with booking.
RSVP: (02) 9351 3472 or outreach@physics.usyd.edu.au with name and number of seats required.

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ELS Seminar Series

Departments in ELS host seminars covering a wide range of topics associated with ongoing research projects and other areas of interest. The seminars are delivered by academics, research staff, and students from within the Division, as well as guest speakers from other institutions and industry. Details of times, dates, locations and topics of seminars to be held over the next few weeks are listed here.

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Snippets

Online security frightens customers
The more security used for Internet banking, the more suspicious the bank's system appears to a customer, show the results of a new study.

Overweight mums have fatter kids
Women who are overweight during pregnancy are more likely to have chubbier children, which are susceptible to health problems, warns new research.

Policy improved diabetes treatment
New policies have improved management of type 2 diabetes, however they have had little effect on the treatment of depression, according to a report.

Biology basis for prejudice
People who believe human differences are shaped by biology, not experience, are less likely to accept immigrants, show the results of a new study.

Stem cells treat babies before birth
Stem cells may be able to treat babies with brittle bone disease - before they are even born - according to the results of breakthrough foetal research.

Australians dangerously sleep deprived
Many Australians are dangerously sleep deprived and are putting themselves at risk of mental, social and health problems, according to new research.

China's import reputation improving
Research has found that New Zealanders rate Chinese imports below those from other countries, however China 's reputation is quickly improving.

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