SoMS Newsletter - April 2006
Staff
New Contact for Purchasing
Our Purchasing Office David Lyon retired last month on the 24th March. We wish him well in his retirement and thank him for all his help and support during his service to the Faculty and School. Your new contact for purchasing is Sue Povaly. Sue is located in MG14B and her phone number is ext 51382. Please assist Sue by using the purchase order requisition form (Word - 176KB) for all orders. All sections of this form must be completed and signed by the grant holder or delegated person. Please contact Julie Hatzi on ext 53799 or if you require any assistance with filling in the document or require project and account details.
Museum Manager
I am pleased to announce the appointment of Robert Lansdown as the new Museum Manager. Robert joins us from the UNSW Student Recruitment Office, Marketing and Development. We will hold a morning tea later this month to introduce him to everyone.
New President of the Australian Neuroscience Society
SoMS Professor (Conjoint) Glenda Halliday has taken up the position of President of the Australian Neuroscience Society. Professor Halliday, who will be in the position for the next two years, continues a strong association between UNSW, the School and the Society. She takes over from Scientia and SoMS Professor (Conjoint) George Paxinos, who was President for 2004-2005. The full news story is available on the SoMS website.
Security
The new security system will be trialled during the Easter break while the students are away to minimise possible problems. In the meantime, the entrance close to High Street on the ground floor is operating (ExGD2) so you can try your swipe card to ensure that it is working.
Research
Paper of the Month
The Research Committee is pleased to announce that the Paper of the Month for March goes to a trilogy of articles published consecutively in the Journal of Neurophysiology. The papers address the processing of vibratory inputs in humans and cats:
D Mahns, N M Perkins, V Sahai, L Robinson & M J Rowe, “Vibrotactile frequency discrimination in human hairy skin”, J Neurophysiol, 95:1442-1450.
V Sahai, D A Mahns, L Robinson, N M Perkins, G T Coleman & M J Rowe, “Processing of vibrotactile Inputs from hairy skin by neurons of the dorsal column nuclei in the cat”, J Neurophysiol, 95:1451-1464.
V Sahai, D A Mahns, N M Perkins, L Robinson & M J Rowe, “Vibrotactile coding capacities of spinocervical tract neurons in the cat”, J Neurophysiol, 95:1465-1477.
Vineet Sahai, the first author on papers 2 and 3, is a PhD student in Mark’s lab. Well done to all the authors, a set of 3 papers is a rare accomplishment.
This month was a particularly difficult decision with 8 papers to consider and the Committee would also like to award “Highly commended” to the following studies by Ingrid Gelissen and collaborators: I C Gelissen, M Harris, K-A Rye, C Quinn, A J Brown, M Kockx, S Cartland, M Packianathan, L Kritharides & W Jessup, “ABCA1 and ABCG1 synergize to mediate cholesterol exports to ApoA-I”, Arterioscler. Thromb. Vasc. Biol., 26:534-540 and Erdahl Teber and associates: E. T Teber, E Crawford, K B Bolton, D Van Dyk, P R Schofield, V Kapoor & W B Church, “Djinn Lite: a tool for customised gene transcript modelling, annotation-data enrichment and exploration”, BMC Bioinformatics 7, 33-41.
Grants and Awards
Vice Chancellor’s Teaching and Research Award
Dr Nicodemus Tedla has been honoured with a 2006-2007 Vice-Chancellor’s Teaching and Research Award. The award is valued at $80,000 per annum running for two years from Session One 2006. Dr Tedla will be focusing on the promotion of student learning using an online self-assessment for a course in musculoskeletal disease. The full news story is available on the SoMS website.
Viertel (Sylvia and Charles) Charitable Foundation
- Senior Medical Research Fellowships
Applications are invited for fellowships for those who have already started, and wish to continue a career in medical research in Australia. The Fellowship is awarded for a period of no more than five years. The award includes the Fellow's salary at senior lecturer level, plus project grants funds which may be used for salaries, consumables, equipment, etc.
- Establishment Grants for Viertel Clinical Investigators
Awards are made in order to stimulate and encourage clinical research in Australia. In particular the grants are intended to assist new investigators to establish their research programs at the time of the difficult transition from doctoral and post-doctoral training posts to their first definitive career positions in an academic environment. Viertel Clinical Investigators will be awarded a once only grant of $55,000.
Website: http://www.anz.com/aus/fin/Trustees/
Research Office Deadline: 24 April 2006
Pfizer (Australia) Neuroscience Research Grants
The sponsor is offering research grants to young medically qualified neuroscientists, who have obtained specialist qualifications within the last five years, or are currently in advanced training, to conduct their own state of the art research in the fields of neuroscience including psychiatry, pain medicine, neurology, and associated areas. The grants are valued at up to $55,000 and will be awarded for one year only. Applicants must be a citizen or permanent resident of Australia.
Website: http://www.nsrgrants.com.au/Guidelines.html
Research Office Deadline: 10 May 2006
The Life and Physical awards for young scientists (aged 35 and below)
Science Minister's Prize for Life Scientist of the Year ($50,000); and Malcolm McIntoch Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year ($50,000). These prizes are awarded only to an individual to recognise and reward outstanding research by younger scientists and to demonstrate to the public and to school students and science undergraduates in particular, that early stage career achievement in science can be world-class importance.
Website: http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/news/noticeboard/notice06/_files/awards.htm
Deadline: 19 May 2006
Events
Brain Sciences UNSW “What’s Hot” Symposium
Brain Sciences UNSW held their inaugural one-day "What’s Hot" symposium on Thursday April 6th. The symposium highlighted the latest Neuroscience research being conducted by staff and students in Brain Sciences UNSW. The SOMS Neuroscience group was well represented at the event, with presentations by Pascal Carrive (Beyond the Brain: Spinal Cord and Periphery), Gilles Guillemin (Aging and Degeneration) and Margaret Morris (The Brain, Appetite and Obesity). SOMS postdocs, Gila Moalem-Taylor, David K. Chelvanayagam and Wei Qu, presented posters of their work, as did SOMS research students Michael Lee, Teri Furlong, Edwin Lim, Angela Laird and Kaka Ting.
Congratulations go to three of our SOMS Neuroscience students who made a clean sweep of the awards for best student posters. Angela Laird achieved the Best Student Poster award for her presentation entitled: The effect of treadmill training on cardiovascular dysfunction in spinal cord injured rats (Laird, Carrive and Waite) while Teri Furlong and Edwin Lim achieved highly commended awards for their presentations. Thanks to all SOMS Neuroscientists who attended and to Jarray Ambrose from EMU for her expert artistic contribution to the logo and awards. The full news story is available on the SoMS website.
Opening of the Surgical Skills Laboratory
Following the recent renovations of the dissecting room and Surgical Skills Laboratory, the CASSU team held a reception to mark the opening their new office and the laboratory on Monday 13th March. Planning for the renovations began in 2003 and the project was jointly funded by proceeds from CASSU activities and UNSW. The new-look facility features a unique extraction system for the dissecting room.
BMSF Workshops
The Bioanalytical Mass Spectrometry Facility (BMSF) on Level 3 of the Wallace Wurth Building provides advanced training in mass spectrometry, proteomics and related separation methods via focused short courses. To find out more please visit the BMSF website for further information.
OHS
OHS Committee – New Members
The Committee has gained some new members from the recently held elections. All other continuing members were re-elected to their committee positions. Elected unopposed were the following staff:
- Antonetta Di Stefano – CVR
- Maaike Kockx - Radiation/ CVR
- Andrew Bryant - Anatomy/ Morgue
- Alan Mitchell – Technical/ Museum
- Wendy Wartho (for Jenny McLoughlin) – Admin
- Nicole Jackson – Postgraduate/IDRU
- Maria Matuszek – Health Sciences
Visit the SoMS OHS website for a full list of committee members.
RMU Training
RMU will soon be charging staff and students for training courses. If you or anyone you supervise requires OHS training please check the RMU Training website and email training requests to m.price@unsw.edu.au with both the registrant's and supervisors full name, staff/student number, email address, contact number and course preference. Staff and students are reminded to attend relevant OHS training programs identified by their supervisor and/or through their induction.
Museum
Tokyo Bunka Medical Vocational College Visit
On Wednesday 23 March, 9 UNSW Medical Students met with 24 visiting Japanese students from Tokyo Bunka Medical Vocational College at the Lowenbrau Keller Restaurant in the Rocks. During the meal, UNSW students had the opportunity to brush up on their Japanese, and the Japanese tried out their English skills – a fun time was had by all! The evening marked the end of a busy day for the visiting students; they had spent the morning visiting the SEALS unit at the Prince of Wales Hospital, lunched at the AGSM, received a lecture on Pathology in Australia by Dr Madan Kandara of SOMS and made a tour of the Museum of Human Disease at UNSW, before heading back to their hotel and making their way to dinner.
National Science Week 2006
The recipients of National Science Week 2006 grants have been announced and the Museum of Human Disease has made the list! National Science Week runs from Saturday August 12th to Sunday August 20th. The Museum will aim to increase the public's understanding and appreciation of the role of Science in maintaining and improving our society, by hosting "Gut Wrenching Science" in the Museum for visitor groups during the week. A "Gut Feelings" evening forum will be held, with experts in the latest advances in gastroenterology, diet , exercise, and pathology taking questions from the audience regarding problems that cause a "pain in the gut". For a list of all Science Week Grant recipients, see http://www.dest.gov.au/Ministers/Media/Bishop/2006/03/B001290306.asp
Eating and Drinking in the Museum
If you are bringing groups into the Museum of Human Disease, can you please remind students that it is strictly a Non Eating or Drinking Area. OHS regulations do not permit eating or drinking in a Museum environment. This rule applies to all areas within the Museum, especially the PC lab (G05A) at the rear.
School Retreat
There will be a School Retreat for SOMS academics held on campus on 19 and 20 July 2006. This retreat will concentrate on the future direction of the School and academics who are interested in attending should reserve these dates and let me know of any issues that could be discussed at this meeting. Further details will follow shortly.