The University of Queensland has maintained its position as one of the nation's leading research universities by attracting the fourth highest number of new large project grants, in 1998 allocations from the Australian Research Council (ARC).
The University also received the majority of new ARC large grant funds allocated to Queensland. The University received 61 percent of the State's 104 new grants valued at $5.84 million for 1998.
The ARC is the Australian Government's major research funding agency for funding across all disciplines (with the exception of clinical/medical research which is funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council) and its funding allocations are seen as an independent indicator of research quality.
The Federal Minister for Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs, David Kemp, announced $38.25 million for 655 new projects to begin next year. This compares to the 1997 allocation of $35.6 million for 640 new projects.
Top ranking institutions for new ARC large grants were:
- The University of Sydney, 80 grants valued at $4.884 million;
- University of Melbourne, 75 grants valued at $4.189 million;
- the University of New South Wales, 67 grants valued at $4.175 million;
- the University of Queensland, 63 grants valued at $3.447 million;
- Monash University, 45 grants valued at $2.583 million; and
- Adelaide University, 40 grants valued at $2.337 million.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Paul Greenfield said he was pleased that one in five University of Queensland researchers was successful in the round, but regretted that the Government did not have the funds to support many other excellent research programs.
The University's success rate of 20 percent compared favourably to the national success rate of 19.9 percent, he said.
Professor Greenfield said available data showed the University had achieved its ninth consecutive year with the fourth highest allocation in new ARC large grants.
The biggest new University of Queensland grant in this ARC scheme was $240,000 over three years (with funding of $80,000 for 1998, 1999 and 2000) for a project led by Professor John Mattick, head of the Special Research Centre for Molecular and Cellular Biology, sequencing the genome of Pseudomonas.
The aim of this project, which will be part of an international consortium, is to sequence the entire genome (the total DNA information content) of the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
This bacterium is a complex organism which can live in a wide range of different environments, including soil, water and animals, and has a very wide range of biochemical pathways and adaptive responses.
It is a key model organism for the bacterial kingdom as well as an important pathogen affecting both animals and humans, including individuals suffering cystic fibrosis or burns, or who are immunologically compromised as a result of AIDS or cancer chemotherapy. It is also capable of degrading a broad range of chemical compounds, and has considerable potential for bioremediation of chemical pollution. The characterisation of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa genome will provide the basis for understanding its biology and its evolution, and will be an important contribution to the international exploration of the genetic blueprints of all living organisms.
The next largest new University of Queensland ARC large grant was $239,500 (withfunding of $80,000 for 1998, $79,500 for 1999 and $80,000 for 2000) for a Department of Physiology and Pharmacology project led by Associate Professor Robert Parton examining the functional role of SNARE regulatory proteins in lysosomal.
This project will examine how a compartment within the cell, the lysosome, is made and how it works. The lysosome is a membrane-enclosed bag of proteins which receives material from outside the cell. This material is enclosed by pockets of the cell membrane and then is carried into the cell interior where it is deposited into the lysosome.
The function of the lysosome within a cell can be considered analogous to that of the stomach in a body; the stomach receives ingested material which is then digested and the basic components are used by the body. In the same way, the lysosome digests the material coming into the cell so that the basic building blocks can be used by the cell. The formation of the lysosome, a process controlled by a class of regulatory proteins termed SNARE proteins, is basically the same in man, worms, or in baker's yeast showing the fundamental importance of the lysosome. This project, which is a close collaboration between the laboratories of Dr Parton (Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis, Physiology and Pharmacology, Centre for Molecular and Cellular Biology (CMCB)), Professor David James (CMCB, Physiology and Pharmacology Department) and Dr Rob Piper (University of Iowa) involves using genetic information from simple organisms such as yeast to build up a picture of the molecules involved in the formation and function of the lysosomes in higher organisms such as man.
The University of Queensland has been named the lead institution in one ARC research infrastructure (equipment and facilities) grant and will participate in a further nine grants.
Successful applications were:
- a laser continuous flow isotope radio mass spectrometer for in situ stable isotope analysis, $200,000, lead institution the University of Queensland, UQ researcher Dr Sue Golding (Earth Sciences);
- a laser facility for diagnostics in multiphase flows, $400,000, the University of Newcastle, Dr Tony Howes (UQ Chemical Engineering);
- AgriGate - Australia's first Internet gateway to quality filtered information resources for Australian agricultural researchers, $55,000, the University of Melbourne, Janine Schmidt (UQ Library);
- specialised environmental space for the Newcastle plant growth facility, $250,000, University of Newcastle, Dr David Mulligan (UQ Centre for Mined Land Rehabilitation);
- High performance computing infrastructure for the Australian Co-operative Supercomputer facility, $560,000, University of Adelaide, Dr Kevin Burrage (UQ Advanced Computational Modelling Centre);
- CHEMINFO: a WWW-based site comprising an electronic database of evaluated metadata records describing and linking national and international chemistry-related information, $140,000, the University of New South Wales, Janine Schmidt (UQ Library);
- digitisation of Australian theses, $171,500, the University of New South Wales, Janine Schmidt (UQ Library);
- atomic probe field ion microscope, $525,000, Monash University, Dr John Drennan (UQ Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis) and Professor Gordon Dunlop (CRC - CAST);
- Australia's literary heritage: a national bibliographic databank, $100,000, Monash University, Professor John Hay (UQ Vice-Chancellor);
- facility for studies of magnetic and transport properties of materials, $115,000, Griffith University, Professor Ian Mackinnon (UQ CMM/ACD).
For more information, contact Director, Research Services Jan Massey (telephone 07 3365 3640).
