Bosch Institute News - January to March, 2009
Rebecca L Cooper Award Evening - 21 March 2009
Dr Rita Machalaani of the Nervous System, Senses and Movement Research Theme of Bosch was presented with the 2008/2009 Rebecca L Cooper Award at the 25th Anniversary of the Rebecca L Cooper Foundation on 21 March 2009. The occasion was marked by a harbour cruise attended by 200 guests. Rita was awarded the prize for her outstanding publication in 2008 on the underlying causes of cot death. At the dinner, several other Bosch members received grants-in-aid from the Cooper Foundation. They included Angeliese Sanchez-Perez, Judy Black, Denise Yue and Stephen Twigg (represented by Susan McLennan), Tailoi Chan-Ling (represented by Mark Weible), Ron Trent, Chris Murphy and Clare Goldsbury.
Renewal of ARC Centre of Excellence in Vision Science
Funding for the ARC Centre of Excellence in Vision Science, with Chief Investigator, Professor Jonathan Stone, has been renewed for the period 2010-3. The University of Sydney 'node' of the Centre has until now had one CI - Professor Dreher from Anatomy and Histology. It has expanded with the recent arrival of Professor Stone in Physiology and will continue to expand with Dr Sam Solomon joining the Centre in 2010, assuring his funding for that period.
Professor Paul Martin and Dr Ulrike Grunert are also set to join the USyd node, when they move to the Save Sight Institute.
Bosch Young Investigators & School of Medical Sciences New Researchers Program
The Annual Bosch New Investigators Program, supported by the School of Medical Sciences, was held on the mornings of March 3 and 4, 2009, in the Medical Foundation Building Auditorium.
This program primarily serves to introduce our new biomedical researchers to the facilities on offer, as well as some of the basic fundamentals of working in a laboratory and undertaking and completing a research project.
It was well attended with close to 80 students, comprising primarily of Honours students from the four School disciplines of Anatomy & Histology, Physiology, Pathology and Pharmacology. A small number of Masters and PhD candidates, new to the Faculty, were also involved. The students were given an excellent overview covering OHS, IP and Ethics and an introduction to the Bosch facilities.
On a more practical note, they were instructed on how best to design their experiments, how to present their work, as well as put together a thesis, with insights into digital imaging and managing their literature.
The Executive Director of the Bosch Institute, Prof. Nick Hunt, entertained the students with a warm welcome, followed by a welcome by the Head of School, Prof. Murphy who put on lunch. It was a very productive and informative program that owes much of its success to the assistance and time of many, including Roland Smith, Greg Gehring, Carol Armour, Jeremy Cullis, Sonia Cattley, Donna Lai, Sabita Rana, Louise Cole, Stephanie Leung, Nick Hunt, Chris Murphy, Jasmine Henderson and David Allen. A sincere thanks to all.
Frank Lovicu, Bosch Young Investigators Coordinator
Dr Christine Koeppl - Invited Presenter - 32nd Midwinter Meeting of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology (ARO), held in Baltimore, USA
Dr. Christine Koeppl from the Nervous System, Senses and Movement Research Theme gave an invited presentation at the recent 32nd Midwinter Meeting of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology (ARO), held in Baltimore, USA, Feb 14-19, 2009.
The Midwinter Meeting of the ARO is the major annual meeting of hearing researchers all over the world, with about 1200 attendees. Each year, the president of the Association chooses a topic for the Presidential Symposium and invites 6-8 speakers to review this field for the wider audience of ARO. The Presidential Symposium is traditionally held on the first morning of the meeting, with no parallel sessions scheduled.
This year, the current president Prof. Paul Fuchs from Johns Hopkins University, chose to highlight "Comparative Studies of the Ear - of (more than) mice and men". Christine was honoured to be one of seven invited speakers covering a diverse range of animal models in hearing research. She talked about her work on the avian inner ear and auditory brainstem and its relevance to mammalian hearing mechanisms.
The Symposium was extremely well received and will, as the first one in a long series of Presidential Symposia, be published as a Special Issue of the journal Hearing Research.
NHMRC Career Development Award - Congratulations Renae!
Dr Renae Ryan was success in obtaining an NHMRC Career Development Award commencing in 2009.
These elite awards are very competitive so I would like to congratulate Renae on her success.
She is a previous winner of the Bosch Institute¹s Rebecca L Cooper Award for Best Publication by a Postdoctoral Researcher.
Congratulations Professor David Allen!
NH&MRC Program Grants for 2010-2014 have just been announced and Professor David Allen is part of the successful program based at both the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute and the University of Sydney.
Professor Robert Graham, Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, was awarded $9.35m. The program focuses on Molecular Mechanisms of Cardiac Function and Disease.
Adult-onset heart disease remains the leading cause of death and disability in our society, with almost two million Australians affected. Furthermore, structural heart malformations are the most common type of abnormality at birth and the leading cause of deaths in infants dying from non-infectious causes. Many of these problems are due to defects in the development, repair and/or function of heart muscle cells or cardiomyocytes. Thus, the program proposes to understand, in fine detail, cardiomyocyte as well as integrated heart development, biology, physiology and function as a prerequisite for the development of major advances in the prevention and treatment of these disorders.
Wound Healing in Diabetic Foot Ulcers - Investigation Success
The studies of one of Susan McLennan students in the Organ & Tissue Replacement Research Theme has been investigating the role of matrix metalloproteinases as markers or mediators of poor wound healing in diabetic foot ulcers.
This has recently been published in Diabetes Care:- Liu Y, Min D, Bolton T, Nubé V, Twigg SM, Yue DK, McLennan SV. Increased Matrix Metalloproteinase-9 Predicts Poor Wound Healing in Diabetic Foot Ulcers. Diabetes Care. Jan;32(1):117-9, 2009.
This work was awarded the Marvin Levin Award for best abstract in its section at the American Diabetes Society Meeting in 2007.
One of the articles also recently won the Comfeel literary award for the best 2008 original research article: Announced March 2009 McLennan SV, Min D, Yue DK. Matrix metalloproteinases their role in poor wound healing in diabetes. Wound Practice and Research 16: 116-120, 2008
