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Introduction by Head of School Wecome back to MAGO. 2008 promises to be another exciting year for us all. In February, the School held its annual Retreat and I would like to thank all staff who attended for making it such a successful day. I also thank those who could not attend, but took the time to send me their comments. I was very pleased with the high level of participation and value the discussions which took place. I gave a commitment to follow up on themes discussed and five Taskforce groups were initiated: Science at UQ led by Colin Birch and Jacqui Batley; A Centre for Agriculture led by Ian Godwin and Mark Turner; Marketing led by Francine Bentley and Brad Campbell; Student Recruitment to LCAFS led by Max Shelton and Sharon Williams; and LCAFS Relationship with Industry and Other Groups led by Daryl Joyce. My meetings with Taskforce groups will guide input to the Faculty Strategic Planning Workshop that I will attend in mid-April. Last year it was my pleasure to host a lunch for Lee Hickey, the winner of the 2007 Ben Brown Medal. This issue features a history of the Ben Brown Medal and shows some of the photos taken at Lee's lunch. Congratulations Lee - well done. I would also like to congratulate Phuong Mai Hoang who is this year's winner of the David Farrell Postgraduate Award. In this issue we feature CALFS and introduce you to the committee members. CALFS, the undergraduate student social club and support network for NRAVS students at UQ, has been revitalized by the energy of Rachel Archbald, Byron Birch, Ashley Cooper, Whitney Dollemore, Cassie Duggan, and Tim Emery have injected into it. I hope you enjoy the first issue of MAGO for 2008. As before, I would welcome your comments. I wish everyone a safe and happy Easter. Regards 
Professor Kaye E Basford Head of School |
In this issue
Introduction by Head of School Spotlight on LCAFS To obtain a hard copy, use the print version which will print out on A4 paper in portrait mode. Note: Depending upon your printer configuration, some photographs may shift position slightly. |
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CALFS was established to fill a gap in the student social club and support network for NRAVS students at UQ. After some tough encounters in 2007, CALFS is finally up and running again. Its aims are to promote and encourage discussion of issues of rural importance through its social events, fundraisers and other activities.
The committee has been working tirelessly to organize events and functions for members in 2008. Some of these include:
CALFS will report more on these events in other issues of MAGO. For now please meet the 2008 committee members:
The committee has great plans and aspirations for CALFS not only in 2008 but in years to come. It's not an easy task but through the help of staff and students CALFS has the potential to be bigger and better every year.
Stay tuned for more CALFS updates in 08.
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The Ben Brown Memorial Medal for Agricultural Science is awarded in memory of former agricultural science student Ben Brown who graduated with first-class honours in 1990. Ben had also won the Bell Memorial Medal and a University Medal. He planned to undertake a PhD in plant breeding as he was awarded a GRDC fellowship for this purpose. Unfortunately, Ben contracted cerebral malaria in Thailand and died in hospital in Singapore.
Ben's family spent a great deal of effort in publishing the effects of malaria, particularly on travelers in Asia, and raised a considerable amount of money in support of research in this area. They also established the Ben Brown Memorial Medal and the Ben Brown Encouragement Award.
The Memorial Medal is awarded to the student who obtains the highest GPA score in plant breeding in the Bachelor of Agricultural science degree program. The winner of the Ben Brown Memorial Medal for 2007 was Lee Hickey. Lee's honours project was on pre-harvest sprouting in wheat. He has been awarded an Australian Post Graduate Award (APA) and an industry (GRDC) scholarship top-up and commenced a PhD project which aims to investigate techniques to rapidly introgress new genes into adapted bread wheat cultivars with Mark Dieters as his major advisor.
The School hosted a lunch for Lee, Robyn Lyons (Ben's sister), and Janet and Simon Brown (Ben's brother and sister-in-law). The following photos record this happy event.
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Staff and students will have observed several room refurbishments taking place at both Gatton and St Lucia campuses in recent months. At Gatton a stunning new reception area and admininistration office in the Plant Industries Building were recently completed following a major refurbishment on the upper floor. The refurbished spaces give the school's main reception area improved accessibility and functionality for students and staff alike. New photocopier and fax machines have also improved the administration.
The computer lab in the Hartley Teakle Building, St Lucia, has undergone a modest refurbishment with new carpet, data projectors, air conditioners, new seats and a fresh coat of paint. Most of the associated costs were paid for from a T&L grant awarded to the school in 2007. Twenty-eight new computers were also installed late last year on a lease arrangement organised by the Faculty. Other rooms modestly refurbished in Hartley Teakle include the seminar rooms on the third level southern wing and three postgraduate rooms in the central wing. A number of desks were generously donated by the social sciences library and now occupy spaces in C303, C307 and C407. Reasonably new second hand chairs were also donated and used to replace the old chairs previously located in the teaching room S429.
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Spotlight on LCAFS Postgraduate Students Welcome to the follolwing new postgraduate students John Abbot (PhD), Principal Advisor: Richard Burns, "Assesment and control of environmental impacts of pesticides on coastal ecosystems".
Robyn Cave (PhD), Principal Advisor: Margaret Johnston, "The influence of vernalization and day length on flowering Brunonia australis and the use of plant growth regultors to produce a compact floriferous product and control flowering".
Bruce Cleaves (MPhil), Principal Advisor: Victor Galea, "Fungal biological control of grapevine bunch rots".
Kurt Deifel (MPhil), Principal Advisor: Graeme Hammer, "Comparative study of drought adaptation in maize and sorghum".
Lee Hickey (PhD), Principal Advisor: Mark Dieters, "Investigation of techniques to rapidly introgress new genes into adapted bread wheat cultivars".
Elham Hosseini Nejad (PhD), Principal Advisor: Patrice Castignolles, "Supramolecular structure in high-amylose starches".
Mithila Jayasundera (PhD), Principal Advisor: Bhesh Bhandari, "Processing and formulation effects on texture modified foods for people with dysphagia: rheology, texture and particle size".
Anneline Padayachee (PhD), Principal Advisor: Mike Gidley, "Project title: Nutrient release from processed fruit and vegetable food components".
Kamani Ratnayake (PhD), Principal Advisor: Daryl Joyce, "Efficiency of postharvest vase treatments for cut flowers and foliage".
William Smith (PhD), Principal Advisor: Mark Turner, "Exploring gene regulation in the cheese bacterium Lactococcus".
Sarana Sommano (PhD), Principal Advisor: Daryl Joyce, "Project title: Discolouration in Backhousia myrtifolia (Cinnamon Myrtle) plant tissue".
Sarah Vaughan (PhD), Principal Advisor: Neal Menzies, "Project title: Evaluation of soil carbon and nitrogen cycles to improve nutrient efficiency in intensively copped vertosols in the sub-tropics".
Leigh Vial (PhD), Principal Advisor: Shu Fukai, "An assessment of the benefits of intensifying and diversifying the rice system in the Lao lowlands, and the dynamics of farmer decision making on these changed systems".
Dongjie Wang (PhD), Principal Advisor: Bruce D'Arcy, "In-vitro biomarkers for absorption of fruit polyphenols".
Adam Wightwick (PhD), Principal Advisor: Neal Menzies, "Managing copper inputs to viticultural soils for the protection of soil fertility: risk assessment, prevention and remediation". Congratulations to the following students who have been awarded their doctorate or masters: Guta Bedane (PhD), Guayule Seed Production, Harvesting and Processing.
Janine Conway (MPhil), Isolation and Pathogenicity testing of fungi and oomycetes from root lesions of Platysace Ianceolata.
Hailemichael Shewayrga Desmae (PhD), Genetic Diversity and Variability in Grain Quality of Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (l.) Moench) Landraces from North-Eastern Ethiopia.
Yusup Hidayat (MPhil), Biological Activities of Plant Extracts and Essential Oils against Helicoverpa armigeru.
The Vien Huynh (MPhil), Encapsulation of Lemon Myrtle Oil and its Biological Functionalities.
Rose Roche, Physiological Determinants of Yield and Maturity in Ultra-Narrow Row Cotton. |
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Bob Gilbert has been awarded a grant from the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), the world 'governing body' of chemistry, for an international working party on starch characterization. The Group's objective is to produce a reliable means to characterize starch by size separation techniques (such as size exclusion chromatography and field-flow fractionation), by critically examining and reconciling the various, and presently rather diverse, methodologies developed independently by leading groups in the field.
Improvements in human and animal nutritional needs, and industrial applications such as paper manufacture, require structure-property relations for starch. Characterising the structure is complex because one of the two types of starch in grains, amylopectin, is hyperbranched and of very high molecular weight. Size separation techniques (size-exclusion chromatography, field-flow fractionation), with multiple detection, provide in principle powerful tools for obtaining data which are sensitive to this complex structure. However, reliable application of these methods is bedevilled by two problems: (1) not all the starch may be dissolved, and (2) shear scission may occur during separation. Recognizing these problems, several leading researchers in the field over the last few years have independently devised various protocols, typically involving the use of solvents (eluents) such as dimethyl sulfoxide of varying degrees of dryness, with or without other additives such as dimethylacetamide and LiBr, various dissolution regimens, and various flow techniques. However, there has been no comparison of the data obtained from different set-ups. This project will bring together these leading groups to discuss the full technical details of their different procedures, including the reasons for these being chosen by the particular group, and perceived problems with these various methods. A round-robin will then be organised to characterise the same sample by the varying techniques. The results will be used to develop improved techniques which can be used by researchers world-wide to obtain reliable and reproducible results. Merle Bonnel has recently joined LCAFS in the role of part-time Administrative Assistant. Please take the time to introduce yourself to Merle and welcome her to LCAFS. Merle is located in room 201 of the Plant Industries Building in Gatton. She will be able to help you any morning. |
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New Grants Andrew Hewitt, $140,000, Understanding the control of adult mosquitoes to reduce arbovirus transmission while minimizing environmental and public health risk.
Colin Birch and Doug George, $73,446, The impact of fly and bottom ash from Tarong and Milmerran power stations on soil characteristics and plant performance.
Bhesh Bhandari and Allan Coombes, $20,000, Pathfinder Grant - Continuous Microparticle Encapsulation.
Margaret Johnston, $15,511, An evaluation of the temperature and daylength requirements of Australian potten colour species.
Victor Galea, $11,000, Improving management of Parkinsonia across Northern Australia.
Victor Galea, $11,000, Validation of a disease forecasting model to manage late blight (septoria) in celery.
Bob Gilbert, Sandra Hill, Kerry Huber, Alan Myers, Walther Burchard, Jay-Lin Jane, Patrice Castignolles, Peter Kilz, Michael Gidley, Matthew Morell, Qiang Liu, Norziah Mohd, Taihyun Chang, $6,667, International working party on starch characterization, Critically evaluated techniques for size separation characterization of starch.
Jane O'Sullivan, $5,000, Potential contribution of improved fallow species to Potassium nutrition of sweetpotato.
Mark Dieters, $1,100, Optimising production of timber and non-timber forest products in Laos agroforestry systems.
Extension to existing grants
Jack McHugh, $295,767, Promotion of conservation agriculture using permanent raised beds in irrigated cropping in the Hexi Corridor, Gensu, China.
Neal Menzies, $241,656, Integrated manure nutrient management in soybean/wheat cropping systems on vertisols in Madhya Pradesh and Queensland.
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Conferences
The Institution of Engineering and Technology Conference on Synthetic Biology, Systems Biology and Bioinformatics 20 to 22 April 2008 London, United Kingdom URL is http://www.theiet.org/biosysbio Following the very successful BioSysBio 2007 event held in Manchester, The IET BioSysBio 2008 will again bring together the best young researchers working in Synthetic Biology, Systems Biology and Bioinformatics, providing a platform to hear and discuss the most recent scientific advances and applications in these fascinating fields. The IET BioSysBio 2008 will also provide a focus on researcher training, with a series of hands on workshops integrated into the main program. It is the organiser's intention to provide a unique platform for graduate students and junior faculty to present to their peers via a series of short 10-20 minute presentations. Sessions will be chaired by leading experts who will also discuss their own work. A specific session will highlight some of the European entries in the International Genetically Engineered Machines competition (iGEM).
The 2nd International Conference on Bioinformatics and Biomedical Engineering The 1st International Conference on Bioinformatics and Biomedical Engineering (iCBBE2007) was held successfully in July 2007. More than 250 authors coming from 15 countries attended the conference. The 2nd International Conference on Bioinformatics and Biomedical Engineering will bring together top researchers from Asian Pacific areas, North America, Europe and around the world to exchange research results and address open issues in all aspects of bioinformatics and biomedical engineering. All accepted papers will be published by IEEE, AND will be indexed by EI Compendex.
The Second Saint-Petersburg International Conference on NanoBiotechnologies Biological systems are inherently nano in scale. Nanobiology is at the interface of physical and biological sciences. It is a new discipline, with the potential of revolutionizing medicine: it combines the tools, ideas and materials of nanoscience and biology; it addresses the biological problems that can be studied and solved by nanotechnology; it thinks out ways to construct molecular devices using biomacromolecules; and it attempts to build molecular machines utilizing concepts seen in nature. Biology is increasingly asking quantitative questions. Quantification is essential if we are to understand how the cell works, and details of its regulation. The physical sciences provide tools and strategies to obtain accurate measurements and simulate the information to allow the processes to be comprehended. The development of computational modeling and informatics software will enable scientists and engineers to apply nanotechnology to key areas of medical research, including diagnostics, biosensing, drug delivery and biomaterial design. The aim of this workshop is to set the discussion between biologists, physicists, computer scientists and engineers, traditionally divided groups, and bridge the gap between materials science and life science. The scientific program will consist of oral, poster and position presentations. This event will bring together leading scientists, representatives of industry, public research and governmental bodies and will provide the international forum for exchange of information and expertise in the area of Nanobiotechnology.
Horizons in Livestock Sciences; the Future of Agriculture - Value or Volume? This conference, the 5th in the successful Horizons in Livestock Sciences series, will explore the drivers of change in livestock research and the livestock industries, including demands and constraints, cutting-edge science for future animal-based agriculture, and industry transformation using case studies from the meat, dairy and fibre sectors. The conference is jointly hosted by AgResearch New Zealand, and CSIRO livestock Industries, Australia
APGC Symposium: Plant Functioning in a Changing Global Environment The 2008 APGC Symposium will be jointly organized by the University of Melbourne, Australia, the University of Groningen, The Netherlands, INRA Nancy, France and the Word Agroforestry Centre for Southeast Asia Region (ICRAF SEA), Bogor, Indonesia. The aim of the APGC Symposium Series is to bring together scientists of various disciplines, who are actively involved in research on responses of plant metabolism and functioning to air pollution and global change. The previous symposia in the Series were held in Oxford, UK, 1982, Munich, Germany, 1987, Blacksburg, USA, 1992, Egmond aan Zee, The Netherlands, 1997, Pulawy, Poland, 2001 and Tsukuba, Japan, 2004. |
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Bird's eye view of UQ
Talking Art - a guided tour with Nick Mitzevich
A little music at lunchtime
Personal training offer for UQ community
Figurative photography on display in UQ Art Museum |
 For enquiries regarding material for MAGO, please contact:Anne Webber Tel: +61 7 3365 2165 | Fax: +61 7 3365 1177 Email: a.webber@uq.edu.au |