Theoretical and experimental studies on magnetoelectroelastic bone remodelling process. The project combines biotechnology and material science which will have national economic, social and environment impact. It can benefit industry by providing knowledge that help scientists understand remodeling under coupled fields and is used to develop bone replacement. By better understanding remodeling due to multi-field loading, we can assist scientists in aeronautical industry in developing countermeas ....Theoretical and experimental studies on magnetoelectroelastic bone remodelling process. The project combines biotechnology and material science which will have national economic, social and environment impact. It can benefit industry by providing knowledge that help scientists understand remodeling under coupled fields and is used to develop bone replacement. By better understanding remodeling due to multi-field loading, we can assist scientists in aeronautical industry in developing countermeasures that reduce or eliminate bone loss resulting from long-duration space flight. It can provide knowledge that can be used to explore underlying mechanisms controlling bone remodeling and self-repair in gaining insight into debilitating diseases such as osteoporosis, to develop high-performance prosthetics for medical injury healing.Read moreRead less
Evolvability and the Evolution of Complexity. Anyone engaging in a moment's reflection on the striking richness, diversity, and complexity of the biological world is faced with the question: how did it get here? Though natural selection is central to answering this question, important new work has identified various conditions that make some lineages of organisms "evolvable": capable of changing in ways that radically expand the range of further possible changes. This project will clarify and in ....Evolvability and the Evolution of Complexity. Anyone engaging in a moment's reflection on the striking richness, diversity, and complexity of the biological world is faced with the question: how did it get here? Though natural selection is central to answering this question, important new work has identified various conditions that make some lineages of organisms "evolvable": capable of changing in ways that radically expand the range of further possible changes. This project will clarify and integrate these various conditions using empirical examples and simple models. The resulting work from this project will provide a clearer general understanding of what biological complexity is, and how science has compelling candidates for understanding how it evolves.Read moreRead less
Pleistocene evolutionary dynamics and past environments of Siberia: Reconstructions using luminescence dating of ancient DNA sedimentary archives. This study will yield critical new insights into faunal-environment interactions in Siberia and their long-term implications for the evolution and extinction of Siberia's biota. These fundamental issues are of relevance to Australian archaeology, palaeontology and biogeography, and so our discoveries are of direct interest to Australian researchers st ....Pleistocene evolutionary dynamics and past environments of Siberia: Reconstructions using luminescence dating of ancient DNA sedimentary archives. This study will yield critical new insights into faunal-environment interactions in Siberia and their long-term implications for the evolution and extinction of Siberia's biota. These fundamental issues are of relevance to Australian archaeology, palaeontology and biogeography, and so our discoveries are of direct interest to Australian researchers studying these disciplines. The methodological advancements in OSL dating and DNA techniques that will accompany this research will enhance Australia's international scientific standing and create new opportunities for collaborative initiatives in both cutting-edge scientific research and consulting activities.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0566602
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$87,933.00
Summary
Development of a collaborative online environment and workbench for the investigation of protein folding. The investigation of protein folding – one the most important unsolved biological problems, is generating large amounts of complex data. This proposal aims to develop a highly collaborative content management system and interactive data mining tools that will allow the open exchange and analysis of protein folding data. A chief goal of this proposal is, by creating a rich informatics envir ....Development of a collaborative online environment and workbench for the investigation of protein folding. The investigation of protein folding – one the most important unsolved biological problems, is generating large amounts of complex data. This proposal aims to develop a highly collaborative content management system and interactive data mining tools that will allow the open exchange and analysis of protein folding data. A chief goal of this proposal is, by creating a rich informatics environment, to foster the exchange of ideas and rapid dissemination of new data across the international array of groups working in parallel on various aspects of the folding problem.Read moreRead less
A modelling challenge: bridging the gap between molecular and neuronal networks. We will develop innovative frameworks, which unify small-scale molecular activity with electrical signals in branches of brain cells. This research aims to enhance our understanding how molecular scale phenomena influence brain disease, via studying the model dynamics using cutting-edge techniques on a supercomputer. The socio-economic benefits to Australia include: (i) Enhancing Australia's international reputation ....A modelling challenge: bridging the gap between molecular and neuronal networks. We will develop innovative frameworks, which unify small-scale molecular activity with electrical signals in branches of brain cells. This research aims to enhance our understanding how molecular scale phenomena influence brain disease, via studying the model dynamics using cutting-edge techniques on a supercomputer. The socio-economic benefits to Australia include: (i) Enhancing Australia's international reputation for cutting-edge multidisciplinary research; (ii) international collaborations will be strengthened; (iii) outcomes will potentially lead to commercialisation opportunities; (iv) results will ultimately lay the foundations to explore the cellular and molecular origin of brain disorders.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0567460
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$85,000.00
Summary
Development of a collaborative environment for high throughput biology discovery pipelines. Modern biological science involves the parallel high-throughput investigation of many hundreds of different experimental targets. Traditional approaches for recording, analysing, mining and cross comparing experimental data are inadequate for conducting high throughput experiments. This proposal aims to develop new algorithms in the high throughput arena that will revolutionize biological discovery.
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0775679
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$700,000.00
Summary
Advanced Microscopy Infrastructure for use in Frontier Technologies. This proposal seeks to establish key microscopy facilities to support the research projects from leading researchers from four major Universities. The new facilities build on the close collaborative links between the partner organisations and the request is for specialised equipment that is complementary to that available at, for example, the Australian Synchrotron. The new facilities will enhance progress in the the important ....Advanced Microscopy Infrastructure for use in Frontier Technologies. This proposal seeks to establish key microscopy facilities to support the research projects from leading researchers from four major Universities. The new facilities build on the close collaborative links between the partner organisations and the request is for specialised equipment that is complementary to that available at, for example, the Australian Synchrotron. The new facilities will enhance progress in the the important areas of nanotechnology, biotechnology and advanced materials to the benefit of the community and will play a crucial role in training the next generation of researchers to drive these critical areas of science and technology.Read moreRead less
Evolution of Mind: The representational capacities of gibbons (H. syndactylus) and the common ancestor of humans and apes. This research is the first systematic investigation into the mental capacity of gibbons. These apes are one of our closest genetic relatives. Results of the research will inform human-animal comparisons and investigations into the evolution of the human mind. More appropriate enrichment measures for captive apes could be developed as a result. It is hoped that this work will ....Evolution of Mind: The representational capacities of gibbons (H. syndactylus) and the common ancestor of humans and apes. This research is the first systematic investigation into the mental capacity of gibbons. These apes are one of our closest genetic relatives. Results of the research will inform human-animal comparisons and investigations into the evolution of the human mind. More appropriate enrichment measures for captive apes could be developed as a result. It is hoped that this work will also lead to new collaborations with Indonesia, home of many gibbon species. The proposed research continues Australia's outstanding tradition of excellence in basic research. Read moreRead less
The prediction of sleep/wake behaviour based on physiological and social factors. The prevalence of shiftwork has increased in Australia over the last few decades. Shiftworkers obtain less sleep, have greater difficulty maintaining good relationships, have poorer health, and are more likely to be injured at work than others. Using the largest dataset of its kind, we will substantially contribute to understanding the relationships between work hours, sleep, performance and safety. Ultimately, the ....The prediction of sleep/wake behaviour based on physiological and social factors. The prevalence of shiftwork has increased in Australia over the last few decades. Shiftworkers obtain less sleep, have greater difficulty maintaining good relationships, have poorer health, and are more likely to be injured at work than others. Using the largest dataset of its kind, we will substantially contribute to understanding the relationships between work hours, sleep, performance and safety. Ultimately, the project will answer a question critical to workplace safety - how much time off between shifts is needed to be alert and safe at work? The project will also produce tools to help industry design fatigue-friendly rosters, improving the safety, productivity and general well-being of shiftworkers in Australia and overseas.Read moreRead less
Disulfide Bonds and Protein Folding. This work will advance our understanding of protein folding, which has important implications in biotechnology, impacting on commercial production of recombinant proteins (for pharmaceutical and biomedical applications) and on 1000s of research laboratories worldwide that use recombinant technologies. This research could also contribute to medicine (new treatments for diseases of protein misfolding like Alzheimer's), and to membrane protein structural biology ....Disulfide Bonds and Protein Folding. This work will advance our understanding of protein folding, which has important implications in biotechnology, impacting on commercial production of recombinant proteins (for pharmaceutical and biomedical applications) and on 1000s of research laboratories worldwide that use recombinant technologies. This research could also contribute to medicine (new treatments for diseases of protein misfolding like Alzheimer's), and to membrane protein structural biology. This work could yield economic benefits in the long-term through patentable outcomes and will benefit the community by producing high impact research papers, providing training to Australians and forging links with renowned international scientists.Read moreRead less