BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES DEPARTMENT MATTERS | August 25, 2017

Dear all,

Thanks again to all staff and students who helped out with last weekend’s Open Day – your efforts are greatly appreciated! A busy week of department events with our farewell to Leanne Armand and book launch for Dick Frankham’s latest book on genetic management of fragmented populations. We wish Leanne all the best for her new career stage. And well done to Jenny and her admin support for organising both events.

cheers,

Michelle

Save the Date

This coming week 28th August – 1st September

Tue 29th: R-Users Group; 3:00pm – 5:00pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).

Wed 30th: Department Morning Tea; 10:30am – 11:30am; The Hill.

Wed 30th: Department seminar – Professor Michael Gillings, MQ; 1pm – 2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).

Thu 31st: Writing Workshop; 2:30-4:30pm, E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).

Fri 1st Sep: HDR Cafe; 12:00pm – 1:00pm; C5C 209 (RSVP req)

Following week 4th – 8th September

Tue 5th: Department Meeting; 1pm – 2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).

Wed 6th: Department Morning Tea; 10:30am – 11:30am; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).

Wed 6th: Department seminar – Dr Tanya Latty, USyd; 1pm – 2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).

Thu 7th: Writing Workshop; 2:30-4:30pm, E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).

Coming up

Every Thursday for the next few months: Writing Workshop; 2:30-4:00pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).

Sept 19th: ECR Showcase; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).

Sept 27th: MQ Graduation ceremony for Biological Sciences (Academic staff register here)

Oct 3rd: Special Seminar: A/Prof Maren Wellenreuther “Women in Science: Highlighting the changing face of evolutionary biology”; 1 – 2pm; C8A 310 Senate Room.

Nov 13-14: Department Retreat for Academic Staff; venue TBC.

Dec 5th: Formal Department meeting for grading, followed by the Christmas Party

Department seminar schedule
September 13th: Dr Caragh Threlfall, The University of Melbourne
September 20th: Dr Kate Lynch, MQ Departmental ECR
October 4th: Dr Lesley Lancaster, University of Aberdeen
October 11th: Dr John Martin, Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney
October 18th: Associate Professor Matthew England, The University of NSW
October 25th: Associate Professor Carla Sgro, Monash University
November 1st: Dr Ajay Narendra, Macquarie University
November 8th: Associate Professor Bob Wong, Monash University
November 15th: Associate Professor Nathan Lo, The University of Sydney

General News and Announcements

Open Day 2017

Some of the sights (sorry, no sounds) of the Department of Biological Sciences Open Day displays for 2017.

Farewelling Leanne Armand

Associate Professor Leanne Armand is leaving us for the open skies of the ACT, and the ANU.  Here are some pictures of her farewell this week.

Staff Wellbeing Week will be commencing from 7 to 14 September.

What is it about?

Staff Wellbeing Week presents a number of opportunities for you to focus on and learn more about ways to improve your health and wellbeing.

This event forms part of the University’s continuing commitment to supporting your health and wellbeing. Featuring informative lunchtime sessions, campus walks, exercise classes, healthy cooking demonstrations, art classes and FREE access at the Sports and Aquatic Centre for staff all week.

Useful links

• Wellbeing Week Launch & Welcome on Thursday, 7 September – http://www.cvent.com/events/staff-wellbeing-week/custom-18-426820fa621342a3b3fc6d90fee15459.aspx
• Staff Wellbeing Week further information – https://staff.mq.edu.au/work/wellbeing/wellbeing-week-2017
• Program and Events information – http://www.cvent.com/events/staff-wellbeing-week/agenda-426820fa621342a3b3fc6d90fee15459.aspx
• Register now link – https://www.cvent.com/events/staff-wellbeing-week/registration-426820fa621342a3b3fc6d90fee15459.aspx?fqp=true

If you would like further information about the wellbeing programs offered, please speak to Wendy Brotha on ext. 1037 or if you require general assistance please contact <diane.abinoja@mq.edu.au>.

HRE3309_Wellbeing Week A3 Schedule Poster_V07
HRE3309_Wellbeing Week A3 Poster_V10-1

The Big Anxiety Festival
A unique series of events presents a wonderful opportunity  to break down the barriers and stigma around mental health, in particular anxiety.

Anxiety is the most common mental health condition in Australia, so innovative new event The Big Anxiety Festival should be well-attended. Launching in Sydney from September 20 through November 11, the new festival is an initiative developed by UNSW and the Black Dog Institute, along with over 25 partners across Greater Sydney. Bringing together artists, scientists, technologists and thinkers, the two-month festival aims to use art as a means to transform the way people think about and deal with mental health.

The inaugural festival will present over 60 events across Sydney with hubs located at Circular Quay’s Customs House, Riverside Theatre in Parramatta and UNSW, with five major themes on focus — awkward conversations, lived experiences, the ‘NeurodiverseCity’, mood experiments and power, politics and institutions. The immersive exhibitions will include the world’s highest resolution 3D cinema, international art shows, theatrical performances, contemporary dance, interactive media events and public forums for all ages.

A highlight of the program includes a design competition, during which students will build ‘relaxation pods’ that they feel encourage strong mental health. The pods will be designed in collaboration with specialist architects and be exhibited during the festival. Participation will also contribute to mental health research, with Black Dog Institute measuring the social and health benefits throughout the festival events.

According to the ABS National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing 2007, anxiety is the prominent mental health condition in Australia, with one in four people experiencing anxiety at some point. Add to that, 65 percent of Australians with a mental health problem don’t seek help according to the NSW Mental Health Commission. The Big Anxiety Festival hopes to change all that by creating meaningful interactions that expand awareness, support neurodiversity and promote mental health.

The Big Anxiety Festival will run from September 20 to November 11, with the full program available here. The majority of events are free and wheelchair accessible, with select events Auslan interpreted, audio described, and with tactile tours.

https://www.thebiganxiety.org/

DEPARTMENTAL SEMINAR SERIES

Day/Date/Time/Place: Wednesday, 30th August, 1-2pm, E8A-280 (Tea Room).

Speaker: Professor Michael Gillings, MQU.

Title: The Antibiotic Resistance Crisis: Origin and Destinations of Clinical Class 1 Integrons

Abstract: Human effects on the planet are so pervasive that we have entered a new Geological Epoch, the Anthropocene. The likely start of this Epoch is the 1950s, coinciding with the beginning of the antibiotic era. In many ways, the rise of antibiotic resistance is a paradigm for human effects on the biosphere, including imposing strong selection pressure, altering abundance, and changing the distribution of genes and organisms.

These phenomena can be illustrated by examining the origins and spectacular rise of one genetic element; the clinical class 1 integron. Integrons acquire and express genes obtained by lateral gene transfer. The class 1 integrons are a diverse family of these elements, commonly found in environmental Betaproteobacteria, where they have a role in generating genome diversity and adaptability.

Human attempts to control bacterial growth with antimicrobial agents provided an opportunity for these integrons. Use of disinfectants, exposure to mercury, and use of sulphonamides, the first true antibiotic, generated a selection regime that helped fix a DNA element that went on to become the clinical class 1 integron, now found in large numbers of antibiotic resistant pathogens.

The class 1 integrons found in clinical pathogens all contain highly conserved motifs, and this implies that they have a single common ancestor. Sometime during the 20^th Century, the clinical integron originated as a DNA rearrangement that occurred in a single cell, at a single point in time and space. This immediate ancestor carried the integron gene acquisition machinery, genes for resistance to quaternary ammonium compounds and sulphonamides, and a mercury resistance operon. These genes were embedded within a nested series of transposons, which were, in turn, probably carried on an IncP plasmid.

Descendants of this element have had a spectacular increase in distribution and abundance, exhibiting many similarities to invasive species that prosper under human impacts. They are found in over 70 bacterial species of medical importance. They are common residents in the gut of humans and animals, and have spread to every continent. They have become linked to diverse transposons, metal, disinfectant and antibiotic resistance genes. These integrons have also become significant pollutants, but with one critical advantage: they can replicate.

Plant of the Week

Tobacco, Nicotiana tabacum, has long been used by the people of Central and South America before it was introduced to Europe by the Spanish in the early 1500s. However, you might be surprised to know that 21 of ~ 70 known species of Nicotiana are Australian endemics.

New Adjunct Fellow

Dr Pat Hutchings a Senior Fellow at the Australian Museum has recently become an adjunct Fellow at Macquarie University, previously having been a Senior Principal Research Scientist at the Australian Museum for many years.

Pat has had a long involvement with Biological Sciences, supervising several PhD students and an Honours student. In addition, she has given several lectures on her favorite group of animals the marine annelids to highlight their amazing diversity and their importance in marine ecosystems and is keen to continue to do this to hopefully inspire more students to work on this amazing group.

Together with Jane Williamson we are about to embark on a new group, marine flatworms, with a Spanish student Jorge Rodriguez Monter who will be taking up an International Scholarship in November 2017, Jorge plans to investigate the fauna of SE  Australia using both morphological and molecular techniques. So both of us will be on a steep learning curve.

Meanwhile Pat is continuing to work on the systematics and phylogeny of terebellid worms and will be a regular visitor to the SEM lab.

REP Masterclass: Developmental Plasticity and Evolution

Wednesday 20th September (9:00 – 13:00 with short breaks).

Organised by David Wells, this offering will include substantial opportunity for discussion. Everyone very welcome to attend.

The Modern Synthesis has been the dominant paradigm in evolutionary biology since the 1930s and 1940s, but proposals to modify it, typically by extending it in various ways, have recently become more insistent. This workshop will examine the proposed Extended Evolutionary Synthesis by examining the work of one specific proponent, Mary Jane West-Eberhard, whose book, Developmental Plasticity and Evolution, arguably represents the most comprehensive attempt at synthesis. The work of others will be discussed as appropriate. Evolution by natural selection has three pre-requisites: variation, selection and inheritance. WestEberhard does not disagree with this, but argues that it needs to be seen in the context of development understood as all phenotypic change during the lifetimes of individual organisms or higher units of organization. For example, she argues that some of what appears to be evolution by natural selection is actually the rearrangement of pre-existing developmental modules, with little or no genetic change. Where there is genetic change, it is genetic accommodation to the changes occurring in the phenotype. In general, West-Eberhard treats genes as ‘followers rather than leaders’ in evolution. How strong is the empirical evidence for this view, and does her synthesis hang together? WestEberhard’s focus is on the arrangement of components in a system, not on the action of any one component, specifically the gene. Particular attention will be paid to her liberal use of the concept of ‘emergence’, understood as a macro-level phenomenon such as evolutionary novelty arising from micro-level phenomena, while nevertheless having autonomy from the micro-level base on which it depends. There will be substantial opportunity for discussion.

Click here to register for ‘Developmental Plasticity and Evolution’

REP Masterclass: Making Your Science Matter: Linking Science with Action to Improve the World

Two-hour workshop running on Tuesday, October 24th (2-4 pm)

Instructors:
Dr. Elizabeth Madin, Macquarie University
Dr. Emily Darling, Wildlife Conservation Society
Dr. Marah Hardt, Future of Fish
Prof. Lesley Hughes, Macquarie University

Co-badged with MQU Marine Research Centre

We all want to feel like our research matters…but it is sometimes hard to know how to make it relevant to people and institutions beyond academia. How can we best make our science understood, appreciated, and perhaps even acted upon by policy-makers? These are the kinds of questions we will delve into. Inspired by the book “Escape from the Ivory Tower” by Nancy Baron, this short course will help you improve your ability to design and communicate your science to benefit the world at large.

Participant numbers will be capped (first-in secures a place).

Click here to register for ‘Making your science matter: Linking science with action to improve the world’

Did You Participate in an Outreach Activity Recently for the Department? (and we know you did during Science Week!)

Don’t for get to fill in the super-quick form here – – ACCESS OUTREACH FORM HERE

Additions to the Department Matters

You may have noticed that we try to keep all the articles to the same format for the Department Matters, however, rest assured, they do NOT all turn up in this format!  To help keep your Department Matters looking as good as possible, when sending in additions to the Newsletter, please try to keep these formatting guidelines in mind.

1. Please write in third person. The information is coming from the Newsletter, not directly from you.
2. Do not use fancy text formatting.  Bold heading, normal text, and only italics or bold to highlight.  No font size changes will make it through, sorry.
3. If sending via email, set your email output to basic.  HTML output will add all sort of formatting that will have to be removed before your article can go into the newsletter.

Keeping to these guidelines will streamline your article’s addition to the newsletter.  Thank you.

Metrics and Academia

Academic bibliometrics are modelled on business metrics. This is the SMH’s Business Editor Ross Gittin’s take on the problems business is having with them. Including: “….the problem is the naivety with which so many top executives have leapt into the metrics fashion, seeing it as a magic answer to their management task, a simple and easy way to incentivise their troops and ensure they’re all working to further the company’s greater good”.

http://www.smh.com.au/business/comment-and-analysis/metrics-obsessed-managers-should-be-careful-what-they-wish-for-unlike-the-banks-20170820-gy03je

2018 Science and Innovation Awards

Grant applications are now open for the 2018 Science and Innovation Awards for Young People in Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. If you’re 18-35, this is your chance to apply for a grant of up to $22,000 to fund your project on an innovative or emerging scientific issue that will benefit Australia’s primary industries. The Science Awards have already helped more than 210 young Australians make their ideas a reality and showcase their talent to the world. There are eleven industry Science Award categories open for applications: cotton; dairy; established, new and emerging rural industries; fisheries and aquaculture; grains; health and biosecurity; meat and livestock; pork; red meat processing; viticulture and oenology and wool. Each category includes a $22,000 grant.

Interested? Here are the next steps

• Go to GrantConnect for more information and the application form
• Read the information for applican ts and FAQs and check your eligibility
• understand what each Science Award partner is seeking  by reading their profiles and visiting their website
• discover what projects were successful in the 2017 round of the Science Awards
• start your application today using the application form from the GrantConnect website!

Applications close 5pm AEDT Friday 13 October 2017.

Need advice? Contact the Science Awards team at Science Awards

Entomology Prize

The Phil Carne Prize from the Australian Entomological Society closes to entries on the 31st August 2017. The Society’s Phil Carne Prize is aimed at fostering high quality entomological research in young scientists. The prize is a certificate and $1500. Finalists in the competition are selected by assessment of the submitted entries and all finalists are invited to present their papers at the Society’s Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference. A maximum of $1000 for each finalist will be provided towards conference expenses (registration, travel, accommodation) on receipts. The finalist presentations will be assessed and a Phil Carne Prize winner selected.

China-Australia International Workshop for Karst Bryology in Guizhou, China. 3^rd – 7^th August 2017

At the conclusion of the International Botanical Congress in Shenzhen, Alison Downing and colleague Josephine (Pina) Milne from the National Herbarium of Victoria, were privileged to be invited by Professor Zhang Zhao Hui from Guizhou Normal University in Guiyang, as special guests, to participate in the China-Australia International Workshop for Karst Bryology in Guizhou held by the Key Laboratory for Information Systems of Mountainous Areas and Protection of Ecological Environments of Guizhou Province.  See below for the full report and pictures.

Bryophytes on Karst Workshop Guizhou – report for Department

Job Seeker

Daniel Aspinall (43279082) is currently completing his final semester in the BSc majoring in Biology. He only has a single unit to complete this semester because of an enrolment glitch and will start in the Masters of Conservation Biology in 2018. He seeks casual employment in genetics and conservation or even some kind of volunteer work within the department to get familiar with research execution and data collection. He has a GPA of 4/4, and was included on the 2017 merit list for the top 1% of students. Availability: Monday before 2pm; Tuesday or Thursday any time; limited on Wednesdays and Fridays. Contact: <daniel.aspinall@students.mq.edu.au>.

New Publications

In the Media

Recent Completions

Dominic McAfee submitted his PhD Thesis entitled “Can Oysters Provide a Refuge to Coastal Biodiversity in a Changing World?”

Supervised by Associate Professor Melanie Bishop

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