Archived News for Research Sector Professionals

The Victorian Minister for Innovation, Services and Small Business Louise Asher has called for applications for the 2012 Victoria Prize for Science and Innovation, and the 2012 Victoria Fellowships.

Ms Asher said the Victoria Prize for Science and Innovation will recognise two outstanding scientists this year for their lifelong commitment and achievements. Two individual awards of $50,000 each will be presented – one for work in life sciences and one for work in physical sciences.

As part of the Victoria Fellowships, the Government will provide $18,000 to up to twelve outstanding early-career researchers and innovators to enhance their careers with international study missions.

Applications close on Friday 29 June 2012. Application forms are available at www.business.vic.gov.au/vicprize or www.business.vic.gov.au/vicfellows 

Research and demonstration grants totalling $72.5 million have been awarded as part of the first round of the Federal Government’s  Filling the Research Gap and Action on the Ground programs that are part of the $429 million Carbon Farming Futures program.

The ethical, legal and social implications (ELSI) of genomic research are the focus of a new international collaboration to use web 2.0 technologies to build a "collaboratory" infrastructure for ELSI research globally. 

Swinburne University of Technology Vice-Chancellor Professor Linda Kristjanson has announced the appointment of Professor George Collins to the role of Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Development).

Professor Collins has more than 30 years experience in research and research management, and is currently the Chief Executive Officer of the CAST Cooperative Research Centre. He is also Professor of Materials Science in the School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering at The University of Queensland.

Professor Collins was previously Chief of Research at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) where he coordinated research in environmental science, radiopharmaceutical development, materials engineering and applications of neutron scattering.

As a researcher, Professor Collins has achieved international recognition in the field of plasma surface engineering.

Professor Collins will take up his appointment with Swinburne on 1 August 2012.

The upgraded facilities of the Sydney Institute of Marine Science (SIMS) have been officially opened at Chowder Bay in Mosman, following investment of $20 million to upgrade and construct laboratories, expand seawater research aquarium facilities and purchase and install a range of marine research equipment.

A University of Queensland researcher has discovered nine new genes that drive the development of breast cancer, taking the tally of all genes associated with breast cancer development to 40.

Published recently in Nature journal, the study is part of an international initiative to sequence the genomes of a variety of cancers. Professor Sunil Lakhani from the UQ Centre for Clinical Research along with an international team of breast cancer researchers lead by Professor Michael Stratton (Sanger Institute, UK), examined all the genes in the genomes of 100 cases of breast cancer.

Professor Sunil Lakhani said mutated cancer-causing genes (called driver genes) were different in different cancer samples, indicating that breast cancer is genetically very diverse.

“Understanding the consequences of this diversity will be important in progressing towards more rational treatment,” Professor Lakhani said.

“The idea behind the work was to establish ‘the landscape' of genetic changes in breast cancer with a view to understanding which genes drive a breast cell to become cancerous.”

“Recently, we have begun to appreciate that breast cancer is not one disease but has several different subtypes. However, what the study shows is that the diversity and differences between patients is much greater than appreciated. Although 28 of the 100 cancers had a single driver mutation, some had as many as six. There were 40 different cancer genes implicated in the development of the cancer and in 73 different combinations – almost every cancer is therefore unique.”

“It is showing us that we will have to use broad information about cancer subtypes (as we do at present in the clinic) and combine it with the unique genomic features of each patients cancer in order to provide individualised treatment plans – which will be a challenge, but hopefully will also improve outcomes by providing new opportunities to target the mutations with specific drugs.”

The research was carried out at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, one of the world's leading genome centres, located in the UK.

The Australian National University (ANU) has announced the appointment of Professor Matthew Colless as Director of the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics.

Ten new desalination research projects will share in $2.7 million from the Australian Government funded National Centre of Excellence in Desalination Australia (NCEDA).

The Defence Science and Technology Organisation’s nutrition research facility at Scottsdale in Tasmania is to undergo an $18.7 million upgrade.

Researchers at the University of South Australia’s Ian Wark Research Institute and Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Science at Monash University have developed a way to use innovative nanotechnologies to ensure disease-controlling drugs are absorbed in the body much more efficiently.

The South Australian Government has signed an agreement with the Centre for Automotive Safety Research (CASR) to extend funding for its road safety research for another five years.

The Western Australian Government has announced the formation of a new resources research institute aimed at driving innovation.

A new research cluster called the Methane Research Cluster has been formed to focus on reduction of livestock methane emissions in Australia, which accounts for  10 per cent of the country’s overall greenhouse gas emissions.

New research from the UK and Australia suggests that the rate of acidification of the world’s oceans is having a bigger effect on the population of plankton than previously anticipated.

Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Greg Combet, has announced the appointment of Professor Veena Sahjwalla to the Climate Commission.

The University of Adelaide has entered a partnership with the Shanxi College of Traditional Chinese Medicine and the Zhendong Pharmaceutical Company to form Zhendong Australia China Centre for Molecular Traditional Chinese Medicine.

A new autism research centre has been launched at Griffith University’s Mt Gravatt campus.

The Victorian Government has announced a major overhaul and substantial changes to the deployment of staff of  the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) with the aim of refocusing it towards delivering research and development to rural stakeholders.

The Federal Government has outlined an additional $126 million in funding for science and research in universities in 2012-13.

The Federal Government has announced $29.8 million in spending for the creation of a new Manufacturing Technology Innovation Centre.