UWA HO CH 3 CH 3 CH 3 CHCH 2 C by Lindy Brophy A large family in Sydney could hold the key to cholesterol-induced heart disease. Dr John Burnett, a medical biochemist at Royal Perth Hospital and clinical senior lecturer in UWA’s School of Surgery and Pathology, and his team believe they have discovered a potential major health breakthrough by studying a family that has a rare genetic disorder associated with low levels of LDL, the ‘bad’ cholesterol in the blood. Some of the family members have extremely low cholesterol levels, which potentially reduces their risk of heart disease. “They have a ‘missense’ mutation in the APOB gene that alters a single amino acid, (out of 4,530) in the apo B protein, and it makes all the difference,” said Dr Burnett, who was working in Sydney ten years ago, when the family and its unique disorder came to light. A woman from a large Christian Lebanese family had her cholesterol level tested and it was found that she had LDL cholesterol. As this was highly unusual, she was referred to a lipid disorders clinic and Dr Burnett, whose special area is lipid research, became involved. “We since found that 14 of her extended family, including parents, siblings, children, nieces and nephews, have extremely low levels and there is one other family member who, like her, has hardly any LDL cholesterol at all,” Dr Burnett said. Such low levels protect people from heart disease and usually lead to longevity. Dr Burnett said the family members in the woman’s parents’ generation are all in their 80s and healthy. “As far as we have been able to ascertain, over 10 years of research, there is no down-side to this genetic mutation. All the family members are well and healthy, even though, as a cultural group, they would have an increased risk of developing high LDL levels and premature heart disease,” he said. “Understanding a naturally-occurring low cholesterol state in people is a novel approach that might lead to new strategies to help those with the “opposite problem of high cholesterol and cardiovascular disease.” Dr Burnett said there had been other cases of Cholesterol research takes heart from Lebanese family Continued on page 4 news The University of Western Australia ESTABLISHED 1911 24 MARCH 2003 Volume 22 Number 2 The family tree shows the initial patient (arrowed), circles indicate females and squares males, black indicates lower levels of cholesterol.
Transcript
UWA
HO
CH3
CH3
CH3
CHCH2C
by Lindy Brophy
Alarge family in Sydney could hold the key tocholesterol-induced heart disease.
Dr John Burnett, a medical biochemist at Royal PerthHospital and clinical senior lecturer in UWA’s School of Surgeryand Pathology, and his team believe they have discovered apotential major health breakthrough by studying a family thathas a rare genetic disorder associated with low levels of LDL,the ‘bad’ cholesterol in the blood.
Some of the family members have extremely low cholesterollevels, which potentially reduces their risk of heart disease.
“They have a ‘missense’ mutation in the APOB gene thatalters a single amino acid, (out of 4,530) in the apo B protein,and it makes all the difference,” said Dr Burnett, who was
working in Sydney ten years ago, when the family and its uniquedisorder came to light.
A woman from a large Christian Lebanese family had hercholesterol level tested and it was found that she had LDLcholesterol. As this was highly unusual, she was referred to alipid disorders clinic and Dr Burnett, whose special area is lipidresearch, became involved.
“We since found that 14 of her extended family, includingparents, siblings, children, nieces and nephews, have extremelylow levels and there is one other family member who, like her,has hardly any LDL cholesterol at all,” Dr Burnett said.
Such low levels protect people from heart disease andusually lead to longevity. Dr Burnett said the family members inthe woman’s parents’ generation are all in their 80s and healthy.
“As far as we have been able to ascertain, over 10 years ofresearch, there is no down-side to this genetic mutation. Allthe family members are well and healthy, even though, as a
cultural group, they would have anincreased risk of developing high LDL levelsand premature heart disease,” he said.
“Understanding a naturally-occurringlow cholesterol state in people is a novelapproach that might lead to new strategiesto help those with the “opposite problemof high cholesterol and cardiovasculardisease.”
Dr Burnett said therehad been other cases of
Cholesterol research takesheart from Lebanese family
Continuedon page 4
newsThe University of Western AustraliaESTABLISHED 1911
24 MARCH 2003 Volume 22 Number 2
The family tree shows the initial patient (arrowed), circles indicatefemales and squares males, black indicates lower levels of cholesterol.
2 UWAnews
THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA • 24 MARCH 2003
We are all aware of the great Moreton Bay Fig treewhich stands in all its grand glory at the heart
of the old campus. For many graduates, it is the verysymbol of the wonderful Crawley campus itself.
How did it come to grow as it did? One answer wasprovided by Emeritus Professor George Seddon who gave atypically erudite and fascinating lecture in the Tropical Groveone early evening last week – as part of the founding of the new“Friends of the Grounds” group of graduates being chaired byMrs Rose Chaney, following pioneer work by Justice Kennedy,our former Chancellor.
The fig tree was introduced into the gardens by theredoubtable George Munns, Gardener Extraordinary … and theblood and bones used to nourish the young tree was apparentlysupplied by the carcass of a cow, which was brought from thecattle pens at the south end of the campus!
This graphic image remained in my mind as, several timeslately, the value of the campus has been raised in universitydiscussions – whether it was in regard to the marketing plan, orSenate’s strategic review of University capacities and goals, orthe Guild President’s welcome to the Class of 2003.
That social dimension of the ‘UWA experience’ symbolisedby the Campus, is indeed an integral part of the UWA degree, acritical addition to our academic emphasis on the teaching-research nexus, or the comprehensive educational programswhich value generic arts and sciences as a preparation for workand citizenship.
In a complex and conflicted world, the campus can seem likean oasis of beauty and calm, a perfect environment for learningand recreation, fun and friendships.
Yet, even our beautiful campus changes as the worldchanges. And, more than that, the campus becomes the centrefor learning about the wider world, both a way into the worldand also a gateway for empowering new knowledge fromaround the globe.
The most powerful and dramatic statement of thesefunctions was the opening of the Innovation Precinct by the
Under theGreat Fig Tree
Premier recently. This superb ICT laboratory building is hometo the Motorola Software Engineering Laboratories and cuttingedge IT research, in conjunction with our engineering andscience faculties. The very design of the building — the mostdramatic statement of modernity on the campus and itsprecinct — is a statement about the future: a future premisedon international partnerships, involving UWA, WA and globalbusiness.
That international theme also ran through other events oncampus. The beautiful sunken garden was the venue forwelcoming the new post-graduate students, many of whomcome from outside WA and outside Australia, as the Dean ofthe Postgraduate Research School rightly reminded us. TheSunken Garden was also the venue for a significant and wellattended gathering recognising International Women’s Day atwhich Caroline Wood, of the Centre for Water Research,passionately recounted the inequality and violence suffered bywomen in countries around the globe.
The annual Perth International Arts Festival has just closedand we have farewelled the Director of the past four years,Sean Doran, on his appointment to the English National OperaCompany, at a party in the grounds. PIAF brings performingartists from many cultures to WA and provides a remarkablelink to international arts developments. UWA is the proudfounding sponsor of PIAF, which remains a testament not onlyto community service but to internationalisation.
We look outwards from under the Great Fig Tree and agood thing that we do so. More than 40 per cent of ourgraduates will work outside WA, and an increasing percentageactually overseas. All graduates will work in an environmentshaped by forms of globalisation. Research of internationalexcellence requires international alliances and qualityperformance needs external benchmarks. ‘Culturalcompetencies’ are needed by all of us to live as citizens of theworld.
Campus in the Community ...1963-87, was the evocative title ofProfessor Brian de Garis’ history of UWA. Today the bookcould well be titled Campus in the World Community.
UWAnews 3
THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA • 24 MARCH 2003
If all his international awards were medals he had towear, Professor Murugesu Sivapalan would walk with astoop.
But the professor of hydrology at the Centre for WaterResearch, known to all simply as Siva, can hold his head high ashe travels to France next month to receive his latest accolades.
The European Geophysical Society (EGS) and the AmericanGeophysical Union (AGU) are holding a combined meeting atwhich Professor Siva, a world leader in catchment hydrology,will be honoured, early in April.
He will be presented with the EGS’s prestigious John DaltonMedal for 2003, for outstanding contributions to theoreticalhydrology, and he will be made a Fellow of the AGU, foreminent contributions to geophysics.
Professor Siva is the first Australian and the first from theAustralasian region to receive the John Dalton medal. ’“It hasalways gone to giants in the field of hydrology and I feel I don’tbelong there,” he said modestly.
But his election to the AGU is proof of his standing in thegeophysical community. Of the 900 fellows in the Union, fewerthan 100 are hydrologists, and only a dozen of them are non-Americans. Professor Siva is only the second Australian to beelected to the elite Union.
His hat-trick in April will be accepting an AustralianCentenary Medal from the Governor-General.
On top of these three honours, Professor Siva has recentlybeen made chair of a 12-member task-force to lead theInternational Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) in itsDecade on Prediction in Ungauged Basins (PUB).
“It is a highly scientific issue with a high societal relevance,”Professor Siva said.
“All over the world, water quality and quantity are impactedon by people and the way they live. We need the best possiblemonitoring (or gauging) system, so we can track not only howmuch rain falls in specific places but what happens to the waterafter that.
“The same amount of rain in two different places can havevastly different consequences. Governments everywhere havecut back on rain gauges, thinking they are making cuts thatwon’t hurt anybody. But gauging water is of the utmostimportance if we are to know where to start to improve waterquality and quantity throughout the world,” he said.
“We aim to make maximum use of remote sensing viasatellites. By increasing the level of our knowledge andunderstanding and combining all the tools we have, we will bebetter able to manage the world’s water.”
Professor Siva said the field of hydrology had been seriouslyfragmented around the world but this PUB initiative wasbringing the hydrology community together.
“We have chosen, as our logo, The Blind Man and theElephant, the traditional Indian story of six blind men’sperception of an elephant.
“Each of them felt a different part of the animal, so they allhad different ideas (partly right but all wrong) about theelephant. The man who felt the tail said the elephant was like astrong rope; the man who felt a leg said the elephant was like abig tree; the one who felt his trunk said the elephant was like asnake, and so on.
“All the scientists have different views but we are comingtogether to get an answer to one big problem,” Professor Sivasaid.
“Some people typecast me as a theoretical scientist, but Ilove the challenge of working on something practical thatsatisfies me as an engineer, as well as a scientist,” he said.
Professor Siva has lived and worked on five continents andbeen decorated for his work in Europe, Asia, Australia andNorth America. He has been at the Centre for Water Researchfor 14 years.
The international hydrologists’ logo: six blind men’s perception of anelephant : “All the scientists have different views but we are comingtogether to get an answer to one big problem…”
World recognitionfor taking on aworld-wide problem
Professor Siva: “… I love the challenge of working on somethingpractical that satisfies me as an engineer, as well as a scientist…”
4 UWAnews
THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA • 24 MARCH 2003
The team in Dr Burnett’s lipid research lab,tackling heart disease from a differentperspective …
BACK, FROM LEFT: Assoc Prof Hugh Barrett(School of Medicine and Pharmacology), DrJohn Burnett and A/Prof Frank vanBockxmeer (School of Surgery andPathology).
FRONT, FROM LEFT: Ken Robertson (SeniorScientist-In-Charge (Research), RPH), GwenCrawford and Amanda Whitfield (PhDstudent, School of Surgery and Pathology).
The rightpeople for
the job
An irritating task for one personcan be a liberating change oflifestyle for another.
Three new assistants in the Facultyof Life and Physical Sciences, employedthrough UWA’s Workforce DiversityStrategy, have freed up administrativestaff by taking over some of theroutine, time-consuming work of filing,mailing and deliveries.
For two days a week, AnojaNawaratna, Lara Stock and Greg Ryanwork in the Faculty, and achieve a sense
Dean of Life and Physical Sciences, Professor George Stewart, gets to know the new staff:Anoja Nawaratna, Lara Stock and Greg Ryan
of satisfaction as well as supplementingtheir pensions.
Employment consultant ShirleyRussell, from South MetropolitanPersonnel (SMP), which specialises inplacing people who have difficultygett ing employment , i s in i t ia l lysupervising the new staff. Once theyare sett led in, they wi l l have apermanent supervisor, although theywill eventually undertake tasks suchas inter-school deliveries, on theirown.
“This is a first for the University, tohave a supervised cohort of employeeswith high support needs,” said MsRussell, who, with UWA Diversityofficer Malcolm Fialho, has facilitatedseveral diversity employment projects atthe University.
“There are people at UWA who cannow more easily achieve what they wantbecause of people like Anoja, Lara andGreg. By taking on basic clerical work,they can free up other clerical andadministrative staff to move on to morecomplicated work,” she said.
Anoja, who uses a wheelchair, saysshe is still learning some alternativeroutes around the campus because themost direct routes between buildingsare not always wheelchair-friendly.
Greg has previously worked for GoodSamaritan Industries, doing mail deliveries,and is computer-proficient. Lara has alsohad previous clerical experience.
Faculty administrative assistant SusanPippet, said there was always “loads ofwork to do in the Faculty at this time ofthe year.
“Their help is invaluable,” she said.“And, later in the year, there will beplenty of photocopying of course workand mail-outs.”
Another UWA employee from theDiversity Job Bank, Jamie Graham hasmoved from economics to architecture.
Continued from page 1
extremely low cholesterol levels, but they had all been associatedwith a truncated or shortened apo B protein. The critical proteinin this case is full length. It is simply one single metabolicmalfunction that produces cholesterol levels as low as if theaffected family members were taking high doses of statin drugs.
In collaboration with Canadian researchers, his lipid researchlab has done some intricate cell work to find out what is goingon in these individuals. “We are now in the position togenerating a ‘knock in’ mouse with the same mutation added in,
Cholesterol research
which will tell us a whole lot more,” Dr Burnett said.His PhD student, Amanda Whitfield, is off to Canada to
further the research. Dr Burnett said he would love to go toLebanon to see if he could trace the origin of this geneticmalformation.
His ground-breaking work will be published in theprestigious scientific journal, The Journal of BiologicalChemistry next month. It has been partly supported by a RaineMedical Research Foundation priming grant.
UWAnews 5
THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA • 24 MARCH 2003
The multi-billion dollar oil and gas industry off ournorth-west coast will continue to benefit from majorfunding to UWA by the Australian Research Council.
The national research funding body recognises the roleplayed in the industry by UWA’s Centre for OffshoreFoundation Systems (COFS) and recently renewed its fundingfor its third three year period.
The ARC’s triennial review of the Centre was highlycomplimentary and recommended funding be continued at thecurrent level of $931,877 per annum, indexed every year.
“The Panel’s assessment of COFS is that it is a dynamic,exciting research centre with outstanding fundamental researchoutputs, strong links to industry, and very successful researchtraining,” said the ARC report.
“It has achieved an international reputation for qualityinnovation and practical solutions to complex engineeringproblems. It is advanced in its preparations to become acoherent, integrated, self-sustaining component of theUniversity.
“The links forged with government and industry demonstratethat the Centre has established a firm base from which toattract funding through grants and commercial means.”
The founding director of COFS, Professor Mark Randolph, ison long service leave, from which he will soon return as theRankine lecturer, presenting the prestigious annual lectureorganised by the British Geotechnical Society at ImperialCollege. It is considered a true measure of internationalleadership in geomechanics, civil and geotechnical engineering.
Just before going on leave last year, Professor Randolph wasalso honoured with election as a Fellow of the Royal Academyof Engineering (UK).
In his absence, Dr MarkCassidy, one of COFS’ keyresearchers and a lecturer incivil engineering, explained thatProfessor Randolph had set upthe Centre in 1997 after the oiland gas industry had hugeproblems with instillation of the Goodwin and North Rankinplatforms on the North-West Shelf, which cost many millions ofdollars and loss of a full year of revenue.
“At that time the understanding of foundation response wasmainly based on experience in the more mature North Sea andGulf of Mexico sectors. In a nutshell, the platforms had beendesigned much the same as other off-shore drilling platforms inplaces like the North Sea,” Dr Cassidy said. “Of course,conditions off the coast of WA are very different, and designmethodologies must change with these soil conditions. This isthe impetus for the research at COFS. It was this situation thatgave Mark the impetus for the centre.”
With a node of COFS in Sydney, research and support staffnumbering more than 40, and the centre now accounting for
PhD student GeorgeVlahos with a modelof a jack-up rig
about half of all PhDs graduating in this field world-wide, it isone of the world’s biggest off-shore foundation modellingfacilities.
Research staff and students have presented 158 conferencepapers at international conferences and, between 1997 and2001, have had 106 journal articles published, about a quarter of
them in the top twogeotechnical journals in theworld.
The centre’s reputation isillustrated by threeinternational contracts wonbetween 2000 and 2002. The
first of these was a $750,000 contract with the Oil and NaturalGas Company of India (NGI) for the development of a modeltesting capability for their Institute of Engineering and OffshoreTechnology in Mumbai.
Another project was funded by the American PetroleumInstitute for establishing design and analysis techniques fordeepwater anchoring. The third was a collaboration with theNorwegian Geotechnical Institute to establish improvedmethods for in situ characterisation of deepwater sediments(funded by a group of six oil companies).
The ARC report said that research outputs from COFS hadsaved industry many millions of dollars and that there was acommitment by industry partners to develop a FuturesFoundation to guarantee support for ongoing research by thecentre both now and in the period beyond ARC funding.
Foundationresearch
shored up
It is one of the world’s biggest off-shore
foundation modelling facilities.
6 UWAnews
THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA • 24 MARCH 2003
Racing towardsanEngineering degree
When lawyer Sue Gordon is madean Honorary Doctor of Lettersduring this season’s graduationceremonies, she will still have veryvivid memories of the first timeshe received a degree from UWA.
In fact, it was only a year ago whenthe children’s court magistrate wasawarded her law degree, after eightyears of part-time study.
Sue Gordon was the first full-timemagistrate appointed to the PerthChildren’s Court and the first Aboriginalmagistrate in WA.
Her ground-breaking careercontinued with last year’s governmentinquiry into child abuse in Aboriginalcommunities, which she conducted.
The University recognises MsGordon’s contribution to thecommunity with her HonoraryDoctorate, one of three to beconferred during the graduation season.
The thirdyear of one ofthe Univers-ity’s most
popular studentprojects hasstarted on a high
note.The 2002 UWA Motorsport Team
finished brilliantly in the Formula SAEcompetition in Melbourne inDecember, coming second overall,beating all the international teams andjust losing out on first place to theUniversity of Wollongong, by a mere40 points out of a total of 1,000.
This success has revved up theengineering students who have alreadystarted work on this year’s racing car,aiming to go all the way to the top thistime.
The other two are being awarded toTony Howarth (Honorary Doctor ofLaws) and Robert Paton (HonoraryDoctor of Surgery).
More than 2,300 graduands will taketo the stage in Winthrop Hall, overseven ceremonies, the last of which ison April 3.
The 2,361 degrees awarded include71 PhDs. Once again, the mostgraduates from one faculty come fromthe Faculty of Economics andCommerce, with 357 Bachelors ofCommerce being conferred.
Also graduating are 249 engineers, 96medical doctors and 131 lawyers.
Watch out for more graduationstories in the next issue of UWA News.
The 2002 team, along with theWollongong team, was invited torepresent Australia in the United Statesstudent racing car competition, againstentries from 140 universities.
“Unfortunately,” said TerryKarunaratna, last year’s projectcoordinator, “we had to pull out ofthat competition as we did not haveenough time to prepare the car tocomply with the 2003 US competitionrules.
“But it was a great effort and aterrific result and now there’s only oneway to go’ — up!”
The University and the Chamber ofAutomobile Industries WA are onceagain the major sponsors of theMotorsport project and challenge.UWAnews will keep you up to date withtheir progress during the year.
Racing towardsan Engineering degree
Sue Gordon — Honorary Doctor of Letters
Graduations,time for the
rewards
The UWA racing car at its launch late lastyear attracted a lot of media attention
While conservation of theenvironment has been underthe spotlight for decades, localresearchers have only recentlydrawn together newinformation to supportconservation programs.
The preservation of plantbiodiversity is the subject of aunique partnership between UWA’splant biologists and Kings Park staff.
This collaboration washighlighted at the launch of theirjoint book in Kings Park last month.Microorganisms in Plant Conservationand Biodiversity was edited byUWA’s Professor of plantpathology, Krishnapillai Sivasitham-param, and Kings Park staff, plantconservationist Kingsley Dixon andresearch botanist Russell Barrett.
The book was launched byEnvironment Minister, Dr JudyEdwards.
Partnerspublish
UWAnews 7
THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA • 24 MARCH 2003
The events of September 11,2001, ushered in a period of
economic, financial and politicalinstability, and created an evenbigger challenge for two PhDstudents in economics.
Suhejla Hoti and Felix Chan areundertaking leading edge research inmodelling financial volatility, or risk, atthe international level.
Both students shine in their chosenfield, and have won international awardsfor best student papers andpresentations, have published in leadinginternational journals, and havepresented their research work atprestigious institutions and universitiesin Australia, New Zealand, Europe andAsia.
Felix Chan is supervised by ProfessorMichael McAleer, who also advisesSuhejla Hoti, her supervisors beingProfessor Ken Clements and ProfessorLes Oxley (Head of Economics atUniversity of Canterbury and AdjunctProfessor at UWA).
“Felix and Suhejla would have to beamong the best PhD students at UWAin terms of international awards,seminar and conference presentations,and journal publications,” ProfessorMcAleer said.
Suhejla, originally from Albania, andin her final year of her PhD research, isworking on modelling country riskratings.
“After the events of September 11,2001, the risks associated with engagingin international financial operations haveincreased substantially, and becomemore difficult to measure for decisionmakers in the economic, financial andpolitical sectors,” Suhejla said.
“There is plenty of informationavailable from ratings agencies aboutcountry risk and its components,namely economic, financial and political,but I want to analyse just how accuratethese agency risk ratings are. I want toexamine all the risk components, and
see how they interact to determine therisk that a particular country actuallyfaces,” she said.
“The 1970s saw a lending boom byWestern banks to poorly developedcountries, but there was not enough
work done on the risks these bankswere taking. The repayment problemsof the poorer countries had disastrouseffects on lending institutions in some ofthe richer countries.”
Suhejla’s research analyses not onlywhat is happening inside a country, butwhat is occurring in neighbouringstates, which states play the biggestroles in influencing other countries,and how these factors interact witheach other to affect the risk in aparticular country.
“Political considerations are a verybig part of modelling country risk,” shesaid.
Economics
Suhejla Hoti and Felix Chan …reducing the risk
Felix Chan’s thesis is an econometricanalysis of intellectual property, orcreations of the mind. Originally fromHong Kong, and about half-way throughhis PhD research, Felix took upProfessor McAleer’s suggestion ofexamining the econometrics ofintellectual property, particularlypatents, and investigating the effects ofsuch innovations on the financial market,economic growth, technical change, andfactor productivity.
“Patents are an indication of acountry’s technological capability andintellectual property,” Felix said.
In a recent joint paper with ProfessorMcAleer and Dr Dora Marinova(Murdoch University), Felix has analysedthe patent shares of the major foreigncountries in the USA using sophisticatedtime series techniques.
“With the world’s biggest economicmarket, the USA has always been amagnet for registering patents byinnovative local and foreign companies,”he said.
His thesis is the first to provide aneconometric analysis of intellectualproperty, particularly patents, usingnovel time series methods.
a riskybusiness
“Felix and Suhejla would have
to be among the best PhD
students at UWA.”
8 UWAnews
THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA • 24 MARCH 2003
The health of the computer system at UWA isdependent on regular doses of RAV AntiVirus.
Twice a day, the system scans the RAV central database inRomania for the latest virus handlers, and downloads any newones.
Marie Corrigan, manager,University CommunicationsServices, said UWA’sInformation TechnologyAdvisory Group decided toacquire the RAV system abouta year ago, as the Universitybecame more and moredependent on email.
“Right now, the University receives about 80,000 emails aday and around 45,000 emails go out from us. That doesn’tinclude intra-campus emails.
“Email in and out of UWA and between most UWA subnetsis redirected via a machine called asclepius.uwa.edu.au whereRAV will inspect the contents and disable any viruses it finds,”Ms Corrigan said.
She explained that when an email with an attachment iscoming in, it is scanned for virus ‘fingerprints’. If it has a virus,RAV removes the attachment and sends on the rest of the email.
“We tried sending a second message to the receiverexplaining about the virus, but discrepancies in the arrival timesof the original message and the explanatory message causedconfusion,” she said.
“So now, if an attachment has been found to have a virus,you will just get the sentence: ‘RAV AntiVirus has deleted thisfile because it contained a dangerous code!’
“If anybody at the University is concerned about notreceiving the stripped attachment, we can let them have it on adisc,” Ms Corrigan said. “But nobody has expressed thatconcern to us yet.”
Marie Corrigan and senior network systems programmer Toivo Pedaste … keeping viruses at bay
She said hoaxes were a big problem, especially the onesthat warned receivers to ‘tell everybody on your mailinglist!’
UCS has a website where you can check hoaxes and scamsbefore you consider tellingeverybody about ‘this terriblevirus’. It’s at: www.ucs.uwa.edu.au/web/ info/ucs/viruses
The biggest number ofviruses removed from UWAemails in one day was 8,372on Thursday October 3 lastyear. October was a
particularly bad month for viruses, with more than 4,000 beingremoved on some other individual days. But, usually, an averageof 1,000 viruses a day are removed.
Ms Corrigan said RAV AntiVirus cost UWA $11,000 for thesoftware and we pay an annual maintenance fee of $1,100. TheUniversity is also part of AusCERT, the national ComputerEmergency Response Team for Australia and New Zealand.AusCERT maintains a trusted network of computer securityexperts around the world and provides prevention, responseand mitigation strategies for its members, which include all theuniversities in Australia and New Zealand.
If you would like to know more about how the email filteringsystem at UWA works, from the point of view of the ordinaryemail user, you can go to: www.ucs.uwa.edu.au/web/info/ucs/viruses/filtering
Despite a rigorous system, there is still the opportunity forviruses to be spread.
“At this stage, we scan or filter attachments to emails, but,over the past year or so, there has been an increasing incidenceof viruses picked up from Websites, when the user downloadssomething,” Ms Corrigan said.
FiltersystemkeepsUWAonline
… the University receivesabout 80,000 emails
a day …
UWAnews 9
THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA • 24 MARCH 2003
rarechoice
Research fellow Vera Morgan iscarrying the flag for UWA
research staff.She has recently been appointed the
President-elect of the AustralasianSociety of Psychiatric Research (ASPR).
Ms Morgan, from the School ofPsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences,is the society’s first non-professorialappointment. She is also the firstWestern Australian to be elected tothe chair and only the second womanto take the position.
A member of the executive of ASPRsince 1999, Ms Morgan takes over theleadership of the society in December,for three years.
Her election is seen as a coup in afield that is male-dominated, both at theclinical level and within the executive ofthe ASPR.
“But ASPR is a really interestingexciting organisation,” Ms Morgan said.
“It was started in 1978 by a group ofpsychiatrists, who wanted a broaderand stronger base so they included non-clinicians working in psychiatricresearch in Australia (later extended toNew Zealand) and so they includedresearchers from many disciplines.
“The annual conference is always amulti-disciplinary affair, withpsychiatrists, psychologists, statisticians,epidemiologists, neuroscientists,geneticists, health economists and otherscoming together to report on their mostrecent work, to stay abreast ofdevelopments in their own and relatedfields, to strengthen old collaborationsand to develop new ones.
“Funding bodies such as the NationalInstitutes of Health in the US arestarting to place greater emphasis onmultidisciplinary collaborative researchrather than the old model of specialistscientists working in isolation. Yetmultidisciplinary collaboration has beenthe underpinning ideology of ASPRsince its inception.”
Researchleader a
With a social sciences background,including statistics and law, Ms Morganis now a psychiatric epidemiologist,whose current research concentrateson the psychiatric illnesses ofschizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Ms Morgan’s main methodology usesthe linked data from the StateGovernment’s Department of Health.“It’s a very rich data source. Registersare without doubt some of the mostpowerful repositories of longitudinaldata for epidemiological research.
“I am currently working on severalregister studies including: reproductivepathology in mothers with a psychoticdisorder (schizophrenia, affectivepsychoses) compared to unaffectedmothers, and outcomes for theiroffspring over time; criminal offendingby individuals with a psychiatric disordercompared to those without a psychiatrichistory; and the comorbid intellectual
“… multidisciplinary collaboration hasbeen the underpinning ideology of ASPR
since its inception.”disability among persons with apsychiatric disorder.
“One in five Australians have had amental health problem over the past 12months, and mental disorders areestimated to contribute to 19 per centof the total burden associated withdisease in Australia.
“As president of ASPR, I will beworking hard to ensure that funding forpsychiatric research is increased,” shesaid. “Mental health research receivesonly nine per cent of the NHMRCfunding dollar.”
Ms Morgan also expressed a stronginterest in work-related issues faced byresearch staff in universities. “Thesepeople play a critical role in ourresearch centres and laboratories. Ihope my new position will give me anopportunity to look at better ways ofsupporting these staff and improvingtheir employment conditions.”
rarechoice
10 UWAnews
THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA • 24 MARCH 2003
Connecting to India and beyond
Australia sits on the edge ofthe Indian Ocean but,
politically, commercially andeducationally, turns its gaze northand east.
Political geographer Dennis Rumleyis working away at changing theperspective, encouraging greaterAustralian involvement in the IndianOcean.
Associate Professor Rumley hasrecently returned from threeconferences in India, the primeobjective being the launch of a newIndian Ocean Research Group.
The IORG aims to bring the memberstates together regularly and initiateresearch programs to enhance thestability of the region, along withecological sustainability.
Policy-oriented research on topicsincluding terrorism, the impact ofcolonialism, and each state’s geo-political position (how they seethemselves) will be studied to helpachieve a cohesive union.
“But before we can build a cohesivegroup, the bilateral links must be strong.So Professor Sanjay Chaturvedi, from
Panjab University, and I have beenworking on strategies to strengthenlinks between Australia and India,”Professor Rumley said.
Professor Chaturvedi and ProfessorRumley are the forces behind the IORG,which was launched at a conference inChandigarh. Australia’s HighCommissioner to India, Penny Wensleyattended the launch, as did geographerand UWA’s curator of maps, Dr VivForbes.
“In India, Australian Studies isa popular subject, but inAustralia, Indian studies arerunning right down. We arelooking at setting up post-graduate studies to address this.
“And then there’s trade between thetwo countries. It is almost minimal, yetIndia is a huge country with massivemarkets. But our trade relationship isno better than it was in the 1930s.
“We need to work on the notion ofAustralia looking west and India lookingeast. We are yet to impact because wetend to miss each other!” he said.
This was confirmed at a conference
on India-Australia relations in Delhi,which Professor Rumley also attended.Commissioner Wensley told theconference that, when India looked atits neighbours, it seldom lookedeastward, beyond the Indian Ocean toAustralia.
At the third conference, a two-dayseminar on globalisation and politicaleconomy of north-west India, ProfessorRumley was the guest of honour, andspoke about Australia’s growing interestin the fast-growing Indian economy.
While working on the relationshipbetween India and Australia, ProfessorRumley is still keen to get all the IndianOcean states working together.
“We are hoping to have our annualmeeting at the end of this year in eitherAfrica or Iran. There are a lot of voicesin the Indian Ocean that are not heard.We are particularly keen on Africaninvolvement, but money is always aproblem for the African states.
“If we can meet in Africa, it makes iteasier for them to be there.”
There is more information about theIndian Ocean Research Group at http://www.iorg.puchd.ac.in/
Dennis Rumley, High Commissioner Penny Wensley, Sanjay Chaturvedi and UWA’s Viv Forbes in India to kick off the new research group
UWAnews 11
THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA • 24 MARCH 2003
If you or your colleagues have another ‘life’ away from campus,climbing mountains, cooking exotic feasts, sculpting or kite-surfing,please let us know and we can share it with everybody. [email protected]
The words ‘racing car’ and ‘crash’ are often uttered inclose proximity.
But Dr Stuart Bunt, senior lecturer in Anatomy and HumanBiology, insists that his Personal Passion, building and drivingracing cars, is not a dangerous hobby.
“At Wanneroo, where I race, the track is so curvey that it isimpossible to get up to speeds of much more than 150kph. Wehave roll bars, helmets, full fire-proof suits, and the driver andthe car are inspected by safety officials before every race,” DrBunt said.
But it still fulfils his love of speed, competition andexcitement.
Dr Bunt drives a Westfield in the Marque Sports C class, inwhich he and other drivers can make just about whateverinternal modifications they want to engine, brakes and wheels,but the body must stay looking pretty much original.
Racing about once a month since 1997, Dr Bunt is currentlybuilding a new racing car in his garage at the race track andhasn’t been on the track for many months.
New racing car drivers must take lessons (“more about whatthe flags mean, racetrack etiquette and what to do in anemergency rather than driving skill lessons”), pass a driving testat speed on the circuit and become a licensed racing driverbefore they can take part in competitive races on the track.
“Once you do it, you realise how hard it is to driveseriously fast. You’re literally at the edge of crashing all thetime. But circuit racing is actually more about precision thanhooning along at high speeds. The winner is the driver who candrive just this side of spinning off, every lap, knowing just howfast, and on what line, to take corners and bends withoutcoming off the track,” he said.
Dr Bunt has never won a race — he competes in a mixedclass, driving alongside much bigger and more powerful carswith up to 550hp at their disposal. But he came fourth in thestate championship in his first season, in 1998.
His worst injury has been a dislocated finger when anothercar hit him from the side and spun the steering wheel out of hishands, catching his finger as it went.
“I’ve been hit from the side, from behind, from in front and
even had another car run right over the top of me,” he said.“But to go fast you have to keep cool and calm, in the midst
of all the noise and dust and heat and speed.”It doesn’t sound like the most relaxing of passions, but Dr
Bunt says the concentration needed means he can’t think aboutwork, family or anything else. So, in a way, it is relaxing!
He said he learnt to fix his own cars as a starving student inthe UK. “Made for the Mediterranean climate, older Alfas didn’tlast too long in England, so they were the best cheap cars tobuy. I learnt to weld so I could fix the body as well as theengine. Our family of four drivers now has four Alfas, three ofthem brought out from Scotland, and I work on them all.”
Motor racing may not be the most ecological sport, but tomake up for the petrol he uses while racing at Wanneroo, DrBunt rides an economical motor bike to and from theUniversity.
A series looking at thePersonal Passions of people on campus …Passions
personal
12 UWAnews
THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA • 24 MARCH 2003
last wordTH
E
ONCE UPON A TIME there were some curious menand women. They were curious about their curiosity.
They began to talk amongst themselves and to think. Theyenjoyed that. They began to teach each other and to learn fromeach other and to think and test new ideas. And their numbersgrew and their little community flourished. But it wassometimes very hot just talking and thinking and teaching andlearning and testing new ideas and so they all agreed to meetunder shady olive trees and form an academy to better pursuetheir love of knowledge and understanding. So was born thegroves of academe.
As time went by, their fame spread and many came to seektheir advice on all manner of things. With their great knowledgeand understanding they were useful to people around aboutthem, to commoners and princes alike. Princes, bent onbecoming kings, gave them gifts and privileges and so gainedcontrol over them. They cut down their olive trees and builtthem great buildings. And religions, bent on becoming God’schosen religion, did likewise; they built them great buildings andgained control over them. Academies flourished in size andstrength and importance but not always in independence ofthought, wisdom and curiosity; though who could know at thetime. But gradually some very curious men and women began to
An offering of hope fromAssociate Professor Neville Bruce
think beyond the bounds of princes and religions. Academiesfomented with great and new thoughts: a renaissance of ideas.Princes and religions lost interest and control; wisdom andunderstanding triumphed. But the academies suffered too. Withdwindling princely and religious support, their buildings fell intodisrepair.
After many years an enlightened government, bent onbecoming The Government, came to their aid and built new andyet greater buildings and so gained control over them.Government promised eternal growth and directed all able andnear-able minded, HECS-extractable, commoners to processthrough the academies. They even searched far-off lands formore fee-extractable commoners. The commoners, (studentsor clients) were offered marvellous inducements to processthrough the academies. They were issued with diplomas,degrees and certifications, bits of paper that miraculouslyguaranteed knowledge and wisdom and superiority for the jobmarket. Government, ever wise, then granted academies thegreatest gift of all, the business and management ethos; corebusiness, benchmarking, best practice; a wondrous package ofintellectual advances.
Government, ever benevolent, then withdrew its support infavour of the ultimate benefactor, corporate business.Corporate business gained control and academies flourished yetagain. Buildings, shops, cafeterias, taverns, hairdressers,pharmacists, private schools, retirement villages, entertainmentcentres and all manner of vital commercial distractionsproliferated: another golden age of building and expansion. Andbusiness stimulated some very clever men and women to seeknew ways of operating the academy. They discovered thattalking and thinking and teaching and learning were more costeffective if conducted by little electrons spinning in little piecesof wire and crystals and semiconductors, all mixed up in atangled web: a great and, at the time, unrecognised selfdestructive breakthrough.
So business forsook the academy and transferred itsattention to the little electrons spinning in the tangled web. Sowas born the virtual academy. Clients also transferred theirallegiance to the little electrons of the tangled web. They werestill offered the inducements of diplomas and degrees andcertifications and found they could still find cafeterias, andtaverns and hairdressers and pharmacists and banks outside of
the academy. Everyone was happy. Almost everyone. Butthe academicians and the great buildings of the academy
all fell into disuse and disrepair. They became dusty anddirty and damaged. Gradually they crumbled, dust todust and ashes to ashes.
Only spirit remained, echoes of curious men andwomen, shades of seekers of knowledge and wisdom.Spirit retained and encapsulated perchance in a small
olive pip. A small olive pip spat out by a client in searchof the great new web of knowledge. A pip that one-
day will burst forth and send tiny roots into thecrumbled, building-fertilised soils of the old
academies. A small plant that will seekthe sun and mature into a shady tree.
A shady tree that will wait in hopefor the return of those curious menand women and the groves ofacademe.
The grovesof academerevivebut slowly
LIFT-OUT24 MARCH 2003 Volume 22 Number 2
CAMPUS DIARY • RESEARCH GRANTS AND CONTRACTS • CLASSIFIED ADS • NOTICES • REDUNDANT EQUIPMENT
&A/Prof John Kinder, Humanities: ‘Asociolinguistic history of the emergence ofvernacular language in Italy in the late MiddleAges’— $18,500 (2003).
Dr Alexandra Ludewig, Humanities: ‘Re-claiming the Baltic Region. Changing concepts ofHeimat in contemporary German cinema’—$19,961 (2003).
Dr Pamela Sharpe , Humanities, Dr P.Bertola (external), and A/Prof Charles Fox,Humanities: ‘Family and working life in thegoldfields: an oral history of Gwalia’— $14,683(2003).
Dr Jean-Marie Volet, Humanities: ‘Mongo Betiin the 1970s: the reconceptualisation of theFranco-African relationship at the intersection ofliterary and non-literary writings’— $9371(2003).
Ms Maria Harries, Social and Cultural Studies,and Dr Anthea Taylor, GSE: ‘A preliminaryinvestigation into notions of trust and risk inchildren’s neighbourhood interaction’— $15,645(2003).
Prof Dennis Haskell, Social and CulturalStudies: ‘From Yackandanda to Yokohama:national and individual identity in Japanese andAustralian fiction’— $18,000 (2003).
Dr Antony Hughes-D’Aeth and Dr TanyaDalziell, Social and Cultural Studies: ‘A study ofAustralian cinema since 1970’— $ 19,244 (2003).
These research staff took advantage of a professional developmentprogram designed especially for them.
Raising Research, a project run throughout last year by Organisational and StaffDevelopment Services (OSDS), targeted research-only staff who otherwise rarely takeadvantage of staff development opportunities.
Jacquie Adams, program co-ordinator for research, said the program aimed toaddress this group’s professional career development.
“Thirty research staff undertook to journey together learning new skills, identifyingand working on issues and concerns, networking and developing a mentoringprogram,” she said.
“It was very successful, the staff were most appreciative and, most importantly, theprogram will be run again this year.”
Research Route (a component of Raising Researchers) is run on similar lines to theLeadership Development for Women program, with a core workshop, skillsworkshops throughout the year, information sessions and a mentoring network.
Research enrichment programs are also available through the project. Moreinformation can be found at: www/uwa.edu.au/raisingresearchers/ or contact JacquieAdams on 9380 1502 or at [email protected]
Raising awareness of researchers
… and taking a breakResearch staff hard at work
Raine Visiting ProfessorshipsClosing Date 30th May 2003
Nominations are invited for Raine VisitingProfessorships for 2003/2004 with a closingdate of 30th May 2003.All Schools in the University may nownominate for Raine Visiting ProfessorshipAwards. These awards facilitate the visits ofdistinguished scholars to the University forthe purpose of advancing medical research.Two categories of Visiting Professorship areoffered: long-term visits fully funded by theRaine Foundation (Category 1Professorships) and short-term visits fundedon a shared basis with the host School(Category 2 Professorships).Nominations are invited each year inFebruary and July and up to three awardsmay be offered in each round. A copy of theConditions and Nomination Form areavailable from the Raine administrative officeor the web site as detailed below.
http://www.raine.uwa.edu.au/visit/RAINE MEDICAL RESEARCHFOUNDATION, Suite 24, HollywoodSpecialist Centre, 95 Monash Avenue,Nedlands, WA 6009Telephone: 9386 9880 Fax: 9386 9522Email: [email protected]
AUSTRALIAN SENATEThe Richard Baker
Senate PrizeThe President of the Australia Senate, Senator the Hon. Paul Calvert, invites entries for theRichard Baker Senate Prize, valued at $3000, for the best essay, article, thesis, dissertation,book or piece of journalism (in any medium) relating to the work of the Australian Senate.There are no residential, age, or other restrictions on eligibility for the prize. Entries maybe submitted by their authors or nominated by any other person.Entries for the prize must be submitted by 31 July 2003. Details of entry conditions may befound at http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/dept/index.htm
For further information contactWayne Hooper, Director, Research Section,
Department of the Senate, Parliament House, Canberra, ACT 2600PHONE 02 62773078 or EMAIL [email protected]
Research Grants & Contractswill feature in each issue of the UWANews.
Any queries about the research grants published in this issue should bedirected to the Research Grants Office, ext. 3702.
CAMPUS24 March – 6 April
DiaryWEEKDAY MASS5.15pm, Mon to Fri: St Thomas MoreCollege chapel. Catholic chaplain (ext.2405).
Monday 24 MarchPLANT BIOLOGY SEMINAR‘Pythium diseases of carrots in Australia’Dr Elaine Davison, 4pm, AgriculturalLecture Theatre.
Tuesday 25 MarchSOIL SCIENCE AND PLANTNUTRITION SEMINAR‘Biological laboratory safety’, SylviaLachberg, Safety and Health Office. 4pm,Agriculture Lecture Theatre.
Tuesday 25 MarchANATOMY AND HUMANBIOLOGY SEMINAR‘From centimetres to nanometres:flexibility in microscopy’, Dr Peta Clode.This seminar will highlight the wide rangeof structural, chemical and physiologicaldata that can be collected, from a grosslevel to the nano-scale, usingmicroscopical techniques in the biologicaland life sciences. Capabilities of new state-of-the-art facilities at the Centre forMicroscopy and Microanalysis will also bepresented. 1pm, Room 1.81, First Floor,Anatomy and Human Biology. Contact:Debbie Wright, 9380 3290, [email protected].
Wednesday 26 MarchPUBLIC LECTURE‘Experimental islands’, Professor GillianBeer, Cambridge University. In thislecture, Gillian Beer will combinediscussion of the problems of founding apopulation on islands in both actuality andfiction, and how the concept of the islandhas influenced political thinking andevolutionary theory. 6pm, WA MuseumFoyer, James Street Perth. Proudlypresented by Institute of AdvancedStudies, UWA and MuseumLink. No costbut bookings essential. Call Instituteof Advanced Studies on 9380 2020.
Thursday 27 MarchCHEMISTRY SEMINAR‘Glycoside hydrolase inhibitors: thesynthesis of a ‘glucose-like’ tetrahydro-1,2-oxazine, piperidine and 1,5-pentonolactam, and glucosylated analogues’, JamesMacdonald. 5.15pm, Simmonds LectureTheatre.
Friday 28 MarchMICROBIOLOGY SEMINAR‘Food, shelter—but no water?’ Prof PhilipWeinstein, School of Population Health.1pm, Microbiology Seminar Room 1.1(MSR), First Floor, L Block, QEIIMC.
Monday 31 MarchPLANT BIOLOGY SEMINAR‘Cool season grain legumes in drylandenvironments: species by environmentinteractions’, Prof Kadambot Siddique.4pm, Agriculture Lecture Theatre.
Tuesday 1 AprilSOIL SCIENCE AND PLANTNUTRITION SEMINAR‘The rapid catchment appraisal processand its outcomes’, Don Cummins, Dept ofAgriculture, Northam. 4pm, AgricultureLecture Theatre.
Friday 4 AprilCLIMA SEMINAR‘Grain legume/animal nutrition inter-action’, Dr Bruce Mullan, Dept ofAgriculture, WA. ‘Pasture/animal nutritioninteraction’, Dr Colin White, CSIRO. 4pmand 4.30pm, CLIMA Seminar Room.
MICROBIOLOGY SEMINAR‘Future directions of WAIMR’, Prof PeterKlinken, Director of WAIMR and Centrefor Medical Research. 1pm, SimmondsLecture Theatre.
Sunday 6 AprilLAWRENCE WILSON ARTGALLERY TALKA talk by Susan Norrie in relation to herexhibition ‘eddy: Susan Norrie’ opening atLawrence Wilson Art Gallery on 6 April.3pm, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery.Contact: Janice Baker, ext. 3709,[email protected].
Our caravan will be at UWA, just off the Rugby Oval on the following days:
Monday 24 March 9am to 4pm Monday 31 March 9am to 4pmTuesday 25 March 9am to 4pm Tuesday 1 April 9am to 4pmWednesday 26 March 9am to 4pm Wednesday 2 April 9am to 4pm
For an appointment please ring9421 2343 or 0417 098 926
Proudly sponsored by UWA
ADVANCE NOTICE
Monday 7 AprilPLANT BIOLOGY SEMINAR‘Evolution in action: plants evolvingherbicide resistance. An overview ofWAHRI research’, Prof. Steve Powles,4pm, Agricultural Lecture Theatre
Tuesday 8 AprilPERTH MEDIEVAL ANDRENAISSANCE GROUP TALK‘Writing, painting and mercantile practicein Boccaccio’s Decameron’, Olivia Mair,English. 7.30pm, English, Communicationand Cultural Studies, Ground Floor StaffCommon Room, Arts Building G13/14.
SOIL SCIENCE AND PLANTNUTRITION SEMINAR‘Fate of pesticides and their metabolites inthe environment’, Pauline Chau, SoilPhysics. ‘Infrared technology for predictingsoil properties’, Gina Pemberton, Biology.‘Stubble and soil water content: links tonutrient supply’, Shane Collins, PlantNutrition. 4pm, Agriculture LectureTheatre.
Uni
Prin
t 264
03
UniPrint is UWA’s in-house printshop. We provide afriendly and efficient print, copy and design service toall areas within the University.
• Graphic design and typesetting• Digital copying• General printing• Sale of course readers• Assistance with UWA and faculty
branding guidelines• On-campus copying• Daily delivery and pickup
Contact Ray Horn on 9380 8790 or David Prior on9380 8791 to discuss all your printing needs.
Focusing on recent research, resources andresponses to the issue of bullying featuring
outstanding key note presenters:
Coosje Griffiths, Manager of StudentServices, Department of Swan
“The No-Blame Approach and SchoolExperiences”
Donna Cross, Associate Professor atCurtin University,
“What Makes a Difference - NewEvidence in Bullying and Prevention
Reduction”
Eileen Karuckchi: School Psychologist“Mind Matters and the Secondary School
Experience”
Highly recommended for all thoseinterested in the emotional well-being ofothers in schools, tertiary institutions and
the workplace.
ST CATHERINE’S COLLEGE,STIRLING HIGHWAY,
NEDLANDSTuesday 8 April
8.30 a.m. for 9 a.m.–1 p.m.$40 includes morning tea and lunch
Parking is available in Park Road,Nedlands. There is a three-hour parkingrestriction and you may prefer to travel
on public transport.
For further information or torequest a registration form please
contact Karen Bothwell, OfficeAdministrator on 9386 3570.
Workskills Professionals are proud to be a wholly owned andoperated WA Company and are preferred suppliers to State andFederal Government agencies. Supplying staff in the areas of:
• Administration/Clerical • IT/Computing• Professional/Technical • Skilled/Unskilled Labour
We have been supplying candidates with previous tertiary(University) experience to UWA since 1993. We have developed aStar Education Performers list to capture these experienced people,enabling us to deliver a fast quality service.
Applications are invited for Raine Priming Grants in 2004, in accordance with theguidelines governing these awards.The Grants provide funding for research into any area of medical science thatinvestigates the nature, origin and cause of human disease, and the prevention, cure,alleviation and combating of such disease.Grants shall be offered for a two-year period subject to annual review, and may be usedto provide funding, or part funding, of salaries for researchers and/or technical staff,minor equipment, and consumables.The research shall be carried out at, or in association with, The University of WesternAustralia.
Guidelines and Application Forms are available from:
Raine Medical Research FoundationSuite 24, Hollywood Specialist Centre, 95 Monash Avenue, Nedlands, WA 6009
Telephone: 9386 9880 Fax: 9386 9522 Email: [email protected] the Internet at: www.raine.uwa.edu.au/grants
Application Forms must be received at the above office no later thanMonday, 5th May 2003 at 5.00p.m.
2004 RainePriming GrantsClosing Date: Monday 5 May 2003
Redundant Equipment for Sale
Schools are reminded that all University equipment available for sale must be advertised in the UWAnews. Receipts should be PeopleSoft account coded490 (computing with barcode), 491 (non-computing with barcode) or 493 (items with no barcode). If equipment has an existing barcode please contact
extension 3618/2546 for details.
CONDITION refers to the general condition of item ( 1 = as new; 2 = good; 3 = serviceable; 4 = unserviceable). AGE refers to the nearest year.
Bids should be accepted by Monday 7 April with schools to have first option
Classifieds
ITEM PRICE AGE COND. DEPT. CONTACT
4 x Computer Comdek550/128/8.6Gh/Rom/Zip $500 3 2 Economics Glenys ext.2920
Toshiba N/Book 430c/133/2Gb/Rom/Modem, CD Rom drive mayrequire replacement $200 4 3 Economics Glenys ext.2920
In-house designed/built variable-speedprecision saw (for parts only) Offers 18 4 CMM Martin ext.8092
FOR SALE
DESK, University-made cream melamine deskwith Jarrah trim. 150 cm x 80 cm. Matchingheavy duty corkboard with Jarrah frame. $140ono. Contact Kate on 9380 3703 or 93641181or email [email protected].
TO LET
GLYDE ST. MOSMAN PARK. 2-3 bedroomfurnished house available from April 1 2003 toJuly 1 2003. Close to river, ocean, shops etc.Rent negotiable. Contact Ian Walton on 93803105, [email protected], or Gareth Lee [email protected].
RAINE VISITING PROFESSORS’ LECTURE SERIESProfessor Thomas Buchanan
Director, Center for Biomedical Engineering Research andAcademic Director, Biomechanics and Movement Science Program
University of Delawarewill present a Raine Lecture entitled:
Using biomechanics and magnetic resonance imagingto understand the anterior cruciate ligament injured knee
on Friday 11th April 2003 at 1.00pmin School of Human Movement and Exercise Science Lecture Theatre
ALL WELCOMEProfessor Tom Buchanan is a biomedicalengineer and neuroscientist at theUniversity of Delaware, and Director of theBiomechanics and Movement ScienceProgram. He is also Editor-in-Chief of theJournal of Applied Biomechanics and on theeditorial board of the Journal ofBiomechanics. He has been a reviewer forover 25 journals in the fields ofrehabilitation, biomechanics, andneurophysiology, and was Program Chairfor the 1999 annual meeting of theAmerican Society of Biomechanics.After graduating in Applied Mechanics andEngineering Sciences at The University ofCalifornia, San Diego, Professor Buchanancompleted his doctoral degree inTheoretical and Applied Mechanics atNorthwestern University, followed by aFellowship at Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology in Brain and Cognitive Sciences.In 1989 Professor Buchanan was appointedAssociate Director of the Sensory MotorPerformance Program at the RehabilitationInstitute of Chicago during which time he
concurrently held a Faculty appointment atNorthwestern University in theDepartments of Physical Medicine andRehabilitation and Biomedical Engineering.In 1996 Professor Buchanan joined theDepartment of Mechanical Engineering atthe University of Delaware where he hisnow Director of the Center for BiomedicalEngineering Research.Professor Buchanan’s research is on topicsrelated to arthritis, stroke, and otherneuromuscular and musculoskeletaldisorders. He is known for his studies ofthe neural control of synergic muscles andhis EMG-based biomechanical models toestimate muscle forces. His current studiesinvolve the use of cine phase contrast MRIto examine in vivo joint kinematics andkinetics, functional electrical stimulation tohelp patients with neuromuscular disordersto regain their ability to walk, andrehabilitation robotics to re-train patientsto use their muscles following stroke.
Departmental Host: Lyn Ellis DrDavid Lloyd Raine Medical Research
Foundation, School of Human Movement and Exercise ScienceTelephone: 9386 9880 Telephone: 9380 3919
TO LET, SHORT TERM, West Perth town-house, 2-storey, 2 brm, lounge, small garden.Fully furnished. Available 25 March to 21 May.Phone: 9227 5838, mobile: 0407 704 767.
LOST
MACINTOSH IPOD, white and silver with whiteearphones attached. Lost in the vaccinity of theUWA Boatshed on Tuesday 8th March ataround 5.30 pm. Its return would mean much toits owner. Reward offered. Phone Pauline on9444 6120 or 0417 947 381
Newstaff
Deborah Allen, assistant disability officer,Student ServicesJeffrey Blenkins, bureau officer, AdministrativeServicesMilka Bukilic, administrative assistant, Vice-ChancelleryMarc Cartwright, research assistant, PlantBiologyJohn Coker, Library OfficerDr Kerryn Coleman, research associate,Population HealthAmanda Cross, graduate research assistant,Psychiatry and Clinical NeurosciencePaul Damon, research officer, Earth andGeographical SciencesElizabeth Devine, CSSD assistant, Oral HealthCentre of WADr Patrick Garratt, senior lecturer, Primary,Aboriginal and Rural Health CareRobert Glass, system administrator, AdminComputing ServicesJoanna Granich, graduate research assistant,Population HealthCarmel Hancock , medical laboratoryassistant, Biomedical and Chemical SciencesGabrielle Harvey, graduate research assistant,Psychiatry and Clinical NeuroscienceDr Du Quan Huynh , senior lecturer,Computer Science and Software EngineeringIlona Kelemen, dental clinic assistant, OralHealth Centre of WASimon Kobelke, graduate research assistant,WA Institute for Medical ResearchJennifer Leahy, laboratory technician,Biomedical and Chemical SciencesMarian Merga, library officerDr Kevin Murray, senior lecturer, Paediatricsand Child HealthPamela Nicol, lecturer, Paediatrics and ChildHealthJane Oakley, receptionist, Oral Health Centreof WASarah Parriman, administrative assistant,Indigenous StudiesJessica Pore, graduate research assistant, WAInstitute for Medical ResearchSarah Pye, graduate research assistant, WAInstitute for Medical ResearchRamprasad Ramani, visiting appointment,Graduate School of ManagementJulijana Sarich, graduate research assistant,WA Institute for Medical ResearchPia Savage, personal assistant, Library
The beginning of the academic year often signalsthe appointment of new staff, as well as an influx ofnew students. It makes a good time to begin aregular column welcoming new staff. In February,the University welcomed:
