To Build on Discovery

Associate Professor Martin at UQ's Institute for Molecular Bioscience

The research rush of the "noughties" is being propelled by computers with astonishing capabilities, rapid technological advances, and new specialist facilities.

Scientists at The University of Queensland have access to some of the most advanced technology, world-class infrastructure, and up-to-date facilities.

The most recent of these to get the go-ahead is the $15.8 million Australian Computational Earth Systems Simulator (ACcESS) facility.

ACcESS, one of 15 national research facilities established under the Federal Government's Major National Research Facilities (MNRF) program, received additional funding through the Queensland Government's Smart State Research Facilities Fund.

The simulator will consist of integrated software systems for multi-scale, multi-physics simulations of Earth systems, combined with parallel supercomputer hardware to simulate the dynamics of the entire Earth.

Led by Professor Peter Mora from the Earth Systems Science Computational Centre (ESSC) the facility will, for the first time, provide the capacity to make predictions of national and international significance.

This will drive scientific advancement and breakthroughs in Earth systems science and technology.

Examples include quantum leaps in understanding of Earth evolution at global, crustal, regional and microscopic scales; new knowledge of the physics of crustal fault systems required to underpin earthquake prediction; and new understanding and predictive capabilities of geological processes such as tectonics and mineralisation.

Earth Systems Science Computational Centre (ESSC) www.uq.edu.au/uqresearchers/unit/quakes.html

A further $1.5 million of Queensland Government Smart State funding will help establish a $5.2 million Cryo-electron microscopy facility as part of the Nanostructural Analysis Network Organisation (NANO) MNRF, which was awarded $11.5 million in Federal funding.

The facility will be pivotal in the design and development of new drugs. Adding to UQ's ability to provide its scientists with the most modern technology was success in the Australian Research Council Linkage Infrastructure Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) scheme.

UQ this year ranked second nationally in grants through the scheme, with Professor Perry Bartlett, from the School of Biomedical Sciences, receiving the largest ARC LIEF grant awarded to the University.

The funding of $500,000 will allow Professor Bartlett and his team to establish the world's first cell-sorting facility dedicated to the production of nerve cells suitable for molecular characterisation and screening.

This will provide the basis for identifying key molecules regulating brain function and human ageing, as well as those regulating repair after injury or illness, such as a stroke.

Such information is of great importance to the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. A $320,000 ARC LIEF grant to a team led by Associate Professor Jenny Martin from UQ's Centre for Protein Research will be used to establish a high-throughput structural biology screening facility for Queensland researchers.

The facility will enable the structure of hundreds of new proteins to be determined each year and will contribute significantly to biology research.

It will also contribute to allied fields of biotechnology, including drug discovery and bioinformatics.

An ARC LIEF grant of $312,000 was awarded to Dr Phil Graham for an Australian Creative Resources Archive to digitise cultural materials and create an accessible archive for Australian researchers, artists, entrepreneurs, and the public, specifically to stimulate broadband content development.

This unique facility and associated research will also provide a platform for productive research collaborations with Australian content producers.

Also funded this year were Professor Mark Ragan's computational infrastructure for high-throughput genome bioinformatics and Professor Mark Riley's magnetic circular dichroism spectrometers for the study of metal-centred molecules.

These add to already impressive facilities such as The Wesley Hospital University of Queensland Centre for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).

The University's Centre for Magnetic Resonance is responsible for technologies incorporated in 70 percent of recently-installed magnetic resonance systems produced in the international $3 billion annual market.

State-of-the-art research infrastructure attracts high quality staff and helps position the University at the forefront of a number of strategically important areas.

With such resources at their disposal, there is little doubt The University and its researchers will be key players in the new age of discovery.

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