Professional Pinnacle

Dr Kobe and Professor Mattick

Two respected UQ scientists have joined an elite group of researchers receiving funding for projects of national and international significance.

Since being launched in 2002, the Australian Research Council (ARC) Federation Fellowships have become among the most coveted in the academic world.

UQ’s commitment to excellence in research was again recognised in 2005 with two of its world-renowned researchers being awarded Federation Fellowships, bringing the total number at UQ to 12.

Professor John Mattick, AO, the Director of UQ’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience, and Associate Professor Bostjan Kobe, from the School of Molecular and Microbial Sciences, were chosen for their demonstrated excellence in conducting outstanding and groundbreaking research.

Federation Fellows are world leaders in their chosen fields of research and the program is aimed at attracting some of the world’s best research talent to Australia, as well as offering opportunities for top Australian researchers to remain.
By providing an internationally competitive salary, the Federation Fellowships support and encourage Australian researchers to conduct research of significant national economic, environmental and social benefit.
Professor Mattick was recently recognised as developing one of the top 10 discoveries of 2004 by the world-leading journal Science, for his work on “junk” DNA.

His research will investigate ribonucleic acids, which comprise 98 percent of the output of the human genome. The project may transform the understanding of genetic programming and is expected to have far-reaching consequences in medicine, agriculture, engineering, biotechnology, information science and associated industries.

Associate Professor Kobe’s project is contributing to the worldwide effort in sequencing the genomes of humans and other organisms. This work has identified a large number of proteins with unknown functions. Determining their functions is one of the next great challenges in biology.

The research will lead to the discovery of new biological molecules, interactions and processes essential for the function of cells, identify new therapeutic targets and strategies to combat disease and identify new concepts in biotechnology and nanotechnology.

Another UQ Federation Fellow is trying to put the rapid advancement of the biosciences into a more understandable context and framework for society.

Associate Professor Bostjan Kobe www.uq.edu.au/uqresearchers/researcher/kobeb.html

 

Professor Paul Griffiths, a philosopher of science focusing on the contemporary life sciences, from the School of History, Philosophy, Religion and Classics, describes his research and that of other historians and philosophers associated with his project as work in “biohumanities”.

 

“I want to improve the understanding and implications of contemporary bioscience especially in the areas of genetics and molecular biology, two areas I think the public always hears about in the media but ones that are never properly explained in a way that is easy to understand,” Professor Griffiths said.

“Across fields as diverse as genomics, evolutionary biology and ecology, the biosciences are generating claims that society needs to analyse and understand.

“This means more than studying the moral and practical implications of certain biological facts. We need to understand how specific experimental findings come together to create a larger picture – what is it that has really been discovered?”

Educated at the University of Cambridge and the Australian National University, Professor Griffiths was Director of the Unit for History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Sydney until 2000, when he joined the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh.

He joined UQ in 2004 as Federation Fellow in Biohumanities and is also a visiting Professor in the Centre for Genomics in Society at the University of Exeter.

While Professor Griffiths is trying to make sense of biotechnology and the “big picture”, another UQ Federation Fellow is trying to make sense of the smallest of pictures.
 

Professor Paul Griffiths www.uq.edu.au/uqresearchers/researcher/griffithsp.html

 

Professor Alan Mark, from the School of Molecular and Microbial Sciences, is a biophysical chemist who spends his time in front of a computer simulating the structure and dynamics of proteins and other biomolecules.

“Computational modelling is changing the way we look at the structure and dynamics of proteins,” Professor Mark said.  Using simulations, we can follow proteins actually working at an atomic level, which is currently not possible by experiment in a lab.”

 

And he said thanks to an increase in computing power, simulations which used to take six months to perform can now be done in an afternoon, and problems thought intractable a few years ago are now possible.

“Since I first started in this area, the processing power has grown by four to five orders of magnitude,” he said.  This means we can now look at much larger structures and more realistic systems over much longer timescales.”

He said improvements in programming and processing power also meant that computational models were becoming much more accurate.

“For some peptides (small proteins), predicted structures are as accurate as those obtained using x-ray crystallography or nuclear magnetic resonance,” he said.

Professor Mark said developments in methodology and accuracy were answering questions about how proteins folded and how they then self-assembled into functional complexes.

“Through computational modelling we aim to produce a complete model of how these mini machines work,” he said.

Professor Mark said one application of his research was developing therapies based on the peptides they modelled.

“The self-assembly of certain proteins is central to a range of neurodegenerative diseases. Understanding how these proteins assemble is the key to designing better drugs and developing novel therapies,” he said.

 

Other UQ recipients of Federation Fellowships

Professor Perry Bartlett, Director of The Queensland Brain Institute, is engaged in groundbreaking work investigating the mechanisms that control the production of brain cells.  Professor Bartlett’s research looks at how a normal brain makes new nerve cells that influence learning and memory and whether those cells can be harnessed to repair parts of a brain damaged by stroke, accidents, Alzheimer’s disease or Multiple Sclerosis. Professor Bartlett aims to extend his discoveries to develop a new generation of therapies that stimulate new brain cell growth.
www.uq.edu.au/uqresearchers/researcher/bartlettpf.html

Professor Kevin Burrage, from the Advanced Computational Modelling Centre, is combining the modelling power of computers with the ever-evolving world of genes and cell biology.  With the mapping of the human genome complete, the hard work of deciphering its meaning continues. Professor Burrage’s work explores how the genetic components interact by modelling cell behaviour through simulation.

Professor Max Lu, Director of the ARC Centre for Functional Nanomaterials, is researching better power sources, not only for our growing transport needs, but also for the massive mobile technology market. He is working on advanced fuel cells such as low temperature, proton-conducting membrane fuel cells and direct methanol fuel cells that promise clean energy sources for the future.

Professor Anton Middelberg, from the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, is drawing on nanotechnology and biology to produce revolutionary products.  Designer emulsions and self-assembling particles inspired by viruses are products that form the focus for his research program, and are among those with potentially large commercial spin-offs.

Professor Gerard Milburn, from the School of Physical Sciences, is formulating principles for emerging quantum nanotechnologies.  The main applications to be investigated include quantum control, quantum communication and quantum information processing.

Professor Michael Nielsen, from the School of Physical Sciences, is investigating the use of quantum mechanical systems to carry and process information. This is opening the way for a revolution in information technology through innovations such as quantum computation and quantum teleportation. His project investigates the fundamental theory of quantum information science and aims to formulate general principles governing the power and behaviour of quantum information.

Professor John Quiggin, from the School of Economics and School of Political Science and International Studies, is focusing on the pressing issue of sustaining Australia’s most important water system, the Murray-Darling. Spanning five states and territories, the Murray-Darling basin is a complex social and technological system.  His work is concerned with the allocation and management of land, water and environmental resources.

Professor Matt Trau, Director of the Nanotechnology and Biomaterials Centre, is at the forefront of developments in nanoscience and nanotechnology, which promise to revolutionise the industrial base, transforming biology, medical science and practice. His project strives to achieve these aims by, for the first time, building and testing nano-scaled devices with the capacity to “read” massive amounts of biological information

On this site