The Post Graduate Symposium was held on June 5th off the Great Court and was a great success with five of our brightest PhD students presenting their final Seminars. The research presented was an exciting exposé of breakthrough science on glycine receptors (Stephan Pless from the Lynch Lab), M-channels (Friderike Schuetz from the Adams Lab), perceptual rivalry (Trung Ngo from the Pettigrew Lab), the biology and ecology of stingrays (Simon Pierce from the Bennett lab) and elasmobranch bycatch (Peter Kyne from the Bennett Lab). The excellent presentations were witnessed by a large audience who enjoyed a wonderful lunch afterwards under the shade of a marquis within the Great Court. The presentations were followed by a Keynote from Prof. Walter Thomas. Thanks to all of the people responsible for making the half day event such a great success, especially Ms. Gabrielle Pascoe, Prof. Steve Taylor and members of the Post Grad Committee. We would also like to wish all the talented students all the very best for the future.

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Publication Prize Winners
Lenore Litherland was awarded 1st prize  ($2,500) for her publication Colour vision in coral reef fish in the Journal of Experimental Biology.
Michael Morgan was awarded 2nd prize ($1,500) for  Pharmacokinetics of a C5a receptor antagonist in the rat after different sites of enteral administration in the European Journal of Pharmacological Science.

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Teaching and Learning Strategic Grants Scheme
Congratulations to Terry Tunny, Kay Colthorpe and Hardy Ernst who has just been awarded UQ T&L Strategic Grants for 2008. Three of the four successful grants in BACS were won by SBMS staff. This is a marvellous achievement and speaks to the quality of our staff and their scholarship.

Kay Colthorpe - Enhancing student learning using a scenario-based learning approach to physiology teaching for students of the allied health sciences - $21,576
Terry Tunny - Does teaching physiology in clinical context via eLearning develop clinical reasoning skills - $23,000
Hardy Ernst - Enhancing students' learning experience through mLearning; using VOD casts to motivate and engage students - $7230.

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Postgraduate Games - Beach Volleyball

The evening of Wednesday 14th May saw all the closet volleyball players come out and test their skills in the SBMS beach volleyball tournament. A group of 40 plus staff and students gathered to compete for the privilege of taking home the grand prize of a warm 6-pack. Shyuan Ngo and the Postgraduate Student Society committee organised a wonderful event on the beach courts located near the athletics track. The weather was mild, the company was pleasant, but the skill was missing. That is, all except in Team Markovich who fought off a tough challenge from Team Noakes to win the trophy. There continues to be contention over the recruitment of professional imports into the Markovich camp (Senate is yet to make a ruling).

Start practising those soccer skills for the next team challenge!

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Where am I from?
Well nowhere in particular. We moved around Canada and England a lot when I was a child. But my formative years (5-12) were spent on a small farm in rural Ontario, Canada where we raised chickens, pigs, horses and honey bees. This is where I acquired my love of the natural world. I spent most of my time, out of doors, watching tadpoles hatch, dragon flies metamorphose and tracking foxes, bears and wolves with my dog. Later, we moved to the city (Ottawa the nation’s capital) and it was here, thanks to some great science teachers that I started to get really interested in biology. Around then I also started keeping and breeding aquarium fish, a past time that I have incorporated into my work.
My education
My BSc, was done at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. I took my time completing my degree (8 years) because the west coast of Canada is an incredible place to live, with ancient temperate rainforests, beautiful mountains and an endless coastline with fantastic surfing and diving. To finance my degree I enrolled in the cooperative education program that allowed me to work in biology related jobs on alternate semesters. I got experience in: Provincial Government monitoring industrial pollution; aquaculture industry working on a salmon farm; doing field work surveying for the elusive northern goshawk (Accipiter gentiles); and lab work investigating how mangrove swamps uptake and cycle nutrients in Fiji. During my last semester at the University of Victoria, I met my wife Nicola in ichthyology class, fitting since we both went on to do fish research.
For my MSc, I collected as many airmile points as possible. I went to Memorial University of Newfoundland, over 5000 km away on the opposite coast of Canada, where I studied larval feeding behaviour of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua). I then took my newfound knowledge over 10 000 km to the Federal University of the State of Santa Catarina, in Florianópolis, Brasil, where I looked at  larval feeding behaviour of fat snook (Centropomus parallelus) a local species being considered for aquaculture.
For my PhD, I returned to University of Victoria, where my wife was doing her Masters looking at hydrodynamics of adipose fins in salmon and other fishes. It was here that I began my investigations into the dynamic changes in visual pigments of fishes. After the completion of my PhD, I spent two years lecturing in neuroethology and teaching animal behaviour labs, while I awaited decisions on my post doctoral funding opportunities. It was a great chance to publish a couple of chapters of my thesis, give some thought to my academic career and most importantly start a family. We just had our first child, Morgan, September 25, 2007. It has been a wonderful adventure having him in our lives, and I am learning all about finding balance in my life, which is hard when you are starting an exciting new research program in a new institution
My research here at UQ
I have now joined the laboratory of Prof. Shaun Collin in the Sensory Neurobiology Group here at SBMS. My focus while at UQ will be investigating visual adaptations of fishes. I have started looking at the eyes of a very interesting fish that lives right here in Queensland, the archer fish (Toxotes chatareus). They are of particular interest because they use jets of water to knock aerial prey down to the water’s surface where they can be consumed. Their ability to spit makes them a useful model for testing the visual system because they are easily trained to preferentially spit at one target over another.
So far my first few months in Brisbane have been fantastic, despite the University’s best attempts to drown me in paper work and inductions. I have received a warm welcome in the School and feel very much at home already. I look forward to a productive stay here at UQ.

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Electronic Course Profile - All semester 2 course profiles should now be ready for publication to students.  If you have not been in and updated yours please do so now.
Lecture Allocations for Semester 2 - The excel spreadsheets showing lecture allocations for SBMS courses have been sent out to Course Coordinators.  If you have not been approached to confirm your teaching in semester two you should chase down the course coordinators now.  Spreadsheet were due back last week.
Assessment Schedules for Semester 2 - Assessment schedules are currently being finalized ready for approval by the Discipline Heads.  All Course Coordinators are reminded that schedules along with criteria sheets and guidelines are due back.

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New Rep - Kylie Greig (Marshall Lab) is the new Workplace Health & Safety Representative for the Sensory Neurobiology Group.  Kylie is back again after a few years working as Lab Manager at Heron Island and has a depth of knowledge in OHS at UQ particularly diving, boating and fieldwork safety and of course, fire safety & accident investigation!!!  If you have any OHS issues in the Ritchie Building please contact Kylie (kgreig@uq.edu.au or ext 54080) and she will be happy to help.

Course Complete - Congratulations to Bruno Rey who has just completed his Workplace Health & Safety Officers course and is now the certified WHSO for the Otto Building.

Group Login to Risk Assessment Database – Instead of just one person having the editing rights to lab risk assessments, create a “Group Login” which enables anyone you nominate to make changes.  A few labs have been caught out recently when trying to update risk assessments only to find that the original author has left or is on extended leave, which means a new risk assessment.

All you need to do is to send an email to Robyn Buck at the OHS Unit (r.buck@uq.edu.au) asking her to set up a group log in for the XYZ Lab.  You will need to include all the names, usernames and passwords for people you wish to have access to the login.

Waste Disposal - Sharps Bins – Sharps bins must be disposed of via the Clinical Waste System i.e. in a yellow bag, in a yellow bin.  There is someone out there who continually uses the SBMS cage for disposing of Sharps Bins and simply leaves unbagged bins on the ground in the corner of the cage.  Please, whoever you are, they need to go in a clinical waste bag in a clinical waste bin.  The newly installed security cameras from QBI can view the cage area,  so; please do the right thing next time.

Chemical Waste – Please remember to email the ChemStore (chemwaste@uq.edu.au) to arrange pick up from the SBMS waste room or locker.  Also take copy of the email arranging pickup to the waste room with your containers.  Your waste will not be picked up without this.  Another reminder, the ChemStore do not recycle all 2.5l Winchesters.  Only “safety glass” Winchesters and plastic 2.5l repack containers that indicate “Please return to the chemical store” are able to be recycled. 

Training video –Use of Class II Biosafety Cabinets.  Under “Publications”.

UQ staff stay safe -Over 3000 UQ staff have already completed the University's new online safety induction program, just eight weeks on from its launch. Secretary and Registrar, Douglas Porter, said he was delighted by the warm response to the General Safety Induction, which represents a key aspect of the University's commitment to employee safety and wellbeing. Continue..

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Stephen Anderson, Conference -June 2 - 13 (9 days) Idaho, USA
Lindsay Brown,   Student Recruitment/conference - May 31 - June 18 (12 days) India / Malaysia
Lindsay Brown, LSL - June 30 - July 13 (10 days)    
Kay Colthorpe, Conference - June 30 - July 4 (5 days)  Rotorua, NZ
Jon Curlewis, Recreation - June 11 - 18 (6 days)
Hardy Ernst, Conference-June 30 - July 4 (5 days) Rotorua, NZ
Elizabeth Gilliam,   Conference - June 5 - 19 (11 days)    Nice, France
Elizabeth Gilliam, Recreation - June 20 - 27 (6 days)
Jon Good, Conference - June 30 - July 4 (5 days)  Rotorua, NZ
Brad Launikonis, Conference - June 11 - 17 (5 days)  Melbourne
Daniel Markovich, Recreation -  June 5, 6, 30 - July 4 (7 days)
Justin Marhsall, Conference - May 30 - June 13 (11 days) Heron Island
Justin Marshall, Field work- June 1 - 14 (9 days) Heron Island
Justin Marshall, Conference - June 18 - 25 (6 days)  Whyalla
Boris Martinac, Conference - June 3 - 4 (2 days)  Canberra, ACT
Susan Mercer, Special Leave - June 23 - 25 (3 days)
Peter Noakes, Recreation - June 20 - 27 (6 days)
Phil Poronnik, Conference - June 18 - 20 (3 days) Melbourne
Ethan Scott, Conference - June 26 - 27 (2 days)  Melbourne
Conrad Sernia, LSL - June 2 - 6 (5 days)
Ian Shiels, LSL - March 31 - July 4 (70 days)
Peter Thorn, Recreation - June 30 - 11 July (10 days)
Kristy Weir, Recreation - June 10 (1 day)

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New Finance System Update - This will be a new, regular section in the SBMS Newsletter designed to give brief and informative updates on how the New Finance System (called ‘UniFi’) Project  is progressing and where we are with regards to implementation. If you haven’t already heard about Unifi -  the University is currently in the process of upgrading to a new finance system – with rollout planned for January 2009. The University has chosen to use a PeopleSoft operating system as its base.  Currently Business Services is developing new practices and processes that will replace the current methods used for Purchasing and Invoicing. To help with implementation and smooth the transition process, the School has appointed Tom Orth as a Project Officer. Tom’s work will encompass everything to do with the new system. His work will allow him to become a subject expert with respect to the new processes and procedures created by the system upgrade. As part of this work he will provide monthly updates in this space, on the status and progress of the UniFi Project.   

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BITS taking over networking requests - In regards to BITS taking over all networking requests I have written what is known as an Operating Level Agreement (OLA) and have presented this to ITS Networking and their Associate Director for their comment as of 7 April 2008. What this document will allow us to do is to clearly identify a commitment from ITS to complete networking requests within a specified period of time. If this period of time is failed to be delivered upon it then identifies appropriate escalation pathways and an agreement for what we are capable of doing if our commitments are failed to be met. This is the first time such a document has been established between ITS and any external client within the University and they are eager to see it work and be established as it could act as  blueprint model for the rest of the University. The benefit to us is the capability for BITS to provide a responsive service to following up on networking requests and the capability to provide a solution if there is a failure in reasonable delivery. I have a meeting on the 9 May 2008 to finalise this agreement between ITS and BITS. Once this is agreed to BITS can offer a committed service in handling all networking requests on behalf of the Faculty.

Virtual Desktops - There has been a recent shift in the commercial world as to the best way to deliver a “desktop experience” to staff. Some of you may have seen my presentation of a thin client as the new computer where I spoke about the actual “box on the desk” as being just a device to control the screen, keyboard and mouse while your actual processing occurs back in a server. To some of you this may sound very familiar from the time of the mainframe and terminal days. Yes, we have come full circle but we now do so in colour  (no green screens here) J. The benefit to us in establishing this service has numerous effects but some of the main benefits are as follows:

1. Massively reduced setup times for a new computer. If a thin client device or pre-existing desktop is available a standardised new staff desktop can be created in minutes (please be aware that actual service capability delivery times will have to be taken in to consideration). No more waiting around for ordered hardware.
2. The desktop can now be accessible from anywhere there is an internet connection and the UQ VPN client can be installed. Start writing a Word document in Brisbane, Australia and finish it off in Frankfurt, Germany as though you were still at your desk.
3. If the hardware the desktop is running on “dies” a fairly quick replacement of the hardware allows return to exactly where the staff member stopped working when the equipment failed.
4. Amortised savings of running desktops in this environment can be proven to be significantly cheaper than using the current standard desktop hardware
5. May be able to be run on existing desktops to extend the life of already purchased technology
6. Its so retro, its cool

The initial target audience of this new technology is people who use the computer predominantly for internet, email and Office application usage. Areas that require demanding graphics processing or significant scientific number crunching unfortunately fall outside the scope of the existing technology. Our initial expectation is that about 60% f the Faculty computing usage could be managed through this new service.

BITS is currently finalising a pilot test of this environment within the Faculty office and will soon be making this available as a standard service offering to the Faculty. If you are interested in exploring this pathway, please arrange to discuss with me your needs so we can ensure this service will suit your requirements.

ISO/IEC 20000 - BITS is currently starting on a project to bring its IT service management in line with the international standard ISO/IEC 20000. This will align us with what is considered as “industry best practice” and will ensure an effective and responsive support team that is measureable in performance against an accredited standard. As we progress along this pathway, it will result in better communication as to what BITS capabilities are and an improved management in ensuring BITS responsiveness to the identified organisational requirements of BACS.

Sharepoint - The SharePoint project is continuing ahead with the initial Phase 1 to be rolled out to the Faculty Office in late May/early June. SharePoint will provide us with the opportunity of effectively sharing information amongst the entire Faculty and enhancing our capability in finding and ensuring accuracy of information offered. While the initial stage is for the Faculty Office to enter information the concept is to ensure that information created by the Faculty Office is available to all as easily and efficiently as possible. If you wish to discuss the potential use of SharePoint within your sphere of operations, please do not hesitate to contact me and I will gladly work with you to show how SharePoint can enhance your operational capabilities.

High Performance Computing - The University has established a central High Performance Computing unit managed by Dr David Green. I have recently been discussing with him how this facility can be better utilised by the Faculty for its HPC needs and he is eager for us to offer an opportunity for him to demonstrate the resources available. As such, I will be contacting the Chairs of each School and Centre’s Research committees to see if I can arrange for David to present on the HPC services to each group.

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