BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES DEPARTMENT MATTERS | December 2, 2016

Dear all,

Next week we will have the formal department meeting on Tuesday followed by our end-of-year party in the Biology courtyard. All academics are expected to attend the formal department meeting where the S2 grades will be presented. RSVPs for the end-of-year party were due this week and it looks like we’ll have a very full courtyard (fingers crossed for excellent weather!). If you RSVP’d for the Faculty end-of-year function to be held on 9th December, your wristband can be picked up from the HoD office.

Next week is also my last week before heading off for a long family holiday. I encourage everyone to take advantage of the quiet time over Christmas/January and give yourself a well-earned break – but don’t forget to complete your HR annual leave application online!

cheerio

Michelle

Save the Date

This coming week 5th – 9th December

Mon 5th: MRes Poster Session; 10-11am; E8A-280 (Tea Room).

Mon 5th: Special Seminar Lectureship in Genetics and Bioinformatics Dr Karl Hassan; 11am – 12pm; E8A-280 (Tea Room).

Mon 5th Dec: Research Enrichment Program; 2-3pm in the ‘continuum room’ (level 3 of the 75T building).

Tue 6th: Department Formal Exam Meeting for Semester 2 2016; 11am; E8A-280 (Tea Room). Followed by…

Tue 6th: Department Christmas Party; from 12.30pm Biology courtyard.

Wed 7th: Department Morning Tea; 10:30am – 11am;  E8A-280 (Tea Room).

Fri 9th: Faculty of Science & Engineering Xmas BBQ; 12pm – 2pm; E8 Courtyard.

Following week 12th – 16th December

Tue/Wed 13-14th: Macquarie Minds showcase; Macquarie University.

Coming up

2017

Feb 21st: E8A Digital Teaching Lab Induction; 9am – 12:30pm; E8A-120 (Red Lab).

Feb 23rd: E8C Digital Teaching Lab Induction; 9am – 12:00pm; E8C-106.

Feb 24th: F7B Digital Teaching Lab Induction; 9:30am – 11:00am; F7B-108 (and 105).

General News and Announcements

Do you have some left over Christmas decorations, languishing in a box at home, unused and unloved?  Then we have your solution!

Bring in your spare tinsel, baubles and other Christmas decorations to HoD office on Monday, 5th Dec, and we’ll put them to good use at our sustainable Christmas Party.  We’ll also hang on to them to use in future years, giving them a new home.  Thoughtful, eh?

Congratulations to…

1. Leanne Armand and Darrell Kemp for their promotion to Associate Professor – well done both!
2. Samiya Tabassum who won the Mike Bull Prize for Best student led paper in Austral Ecology – fantastic!

Meeting The Need With Speed

We have a great opportunity for postgrads to talk about their work to inspire the next generation. In consultation with our partnership schools, the department is embarking on an exciting new outreach project in which you will have the chance to present your research to class-size groups of senior high school students.

The format:

Intellectual speed dating: typically you have 5 mins to talk to a group of students about your work after which you rotate through a series of student groups.

The benefits:

1) Inspiring the next generation by exposing them to the latest scientific research as well as an opportunity to communicate with top researchers in the field (you),

2) An opportunity for you to hone your scientific communication skills.

3) Build your outreach profile which is becoming increasingly important for jobs and promotions

When:

These will begin to roll out next year, but we are after an expression of interest to get things rolling and to potentially organise a workshop on scientific communication to complement the activity.

If you are keen to participate, please contact Dan Bateman <daniel.bateman@mq.edu.au>.

Safety Alert – PPE

It is great to see so many people wearing their PPE.

Please remember that gloves must not been worn in the corridors or when opening doors and that lab coats cannot be worn in offices, kitchens or tearooms.

Biology WHS committee

Celebrating Macquarie Women

On Monday 12th December the University’s draft Gender Equity Strategy will be launched by the Vice-Chancellor at a morning tea to celebrate the many achievements of women at Macquarie University in 2016. Please find information here

Wentworth Group Science Program

Applications are now open for the 2017 Wentworth Group Science Program. The application form for the 2017 Scholarships can be downloaded from http://wentworthgroup.org/science-program/.

The Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists is offering scholarships to Australian postgraduate students to assist them in bridging the gap between science and public policy.

Since its inception in 2002, the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists has been active in advancing solutions to secure the long term health of Australia’s environment.

Comprised of eminent scientists and thinkers, the Wentworth Group has three core objectives:

• Driving innovation in the management of Australia’s land, water, coasts and biodiversity;
• Engaging business, community and political leaders in a dialogue to find and implement solutions to the challenge of environmental stewardship facing the future of Australian society; and
• Building capacity by mentoring and supporting young natural resources scientists and resource economists to develop their skills and understanding of public policy.

These scholarships are intended to inspire and motivate. Students studying science, economics, geography, philosophy, law and/or engineering (especially those majoring in environmental science/studies/management/law or ecology) are encouraged to apply.

The scholarship funds will cover participation at a Wentworth Group Master Class in March 2017.

Note – the scholarship cannot be used as a stipend.

We are seeking students committed to advancing solutions that will secure the long term health of Australia’s land, water, coasts and biodiversity.

Application forms are available at http://wentworthgroup.org/science-program/

Applications close at 5pm (EDST) on Monday 9 January 2017.

For further details, please email <admin@wentworthgroup.org>.

Lizard Lab Needs Your Help

The lizard lab is collecting used newspapers to use during husbandry. Right now they are running low on newspapers and are asking people to not throw their papers away after they are done reading but keep them and bring them to Macquarie so they can collect them. This would be a great help and will be greatly appreciated by their animals.

Also, they are currently looking for wild eastern bluetongue lizards to participate in a non-invasive study looking into predator avoidance and tongue colour. They would like to find out who knows where to find one or has a bluetongue lizard in their garden and if it is ok if we come and collect it (we have the appropriate ARA approval and collection permit). People can contact Sergio Naretto <narettosergio@gmail.com> (0406264491) and we will organise the collection.

If you need any more details, please feel free to contact Brigit Szabo <birgit.szabo@gmx.at> at any time!

Plant of the Week

This week – Philodendron bipinnatifidum –  click the link for more information.

New Researchers Arriving Soon

Two Malaysian fruit fly chemical ecologists, Alvin Hee and Suk Ling Wee, will join the department through December. This visit is part of a greater effort to build national and international fruit fly biosecurity links – Malaysia is of particular interest because so many of Australia’s greatest biosecurity threats can be found there.  Development of lures for detection and monitoring of biosecurity threats is an important element of Macquarie’s fruit fly program, especially in the ARC Centre for Fruit flty Biosecurity Innovation.  Anyone wanting to meet Alvin or Suk Ling during their visit should contact Phil Taylor.

Alvin Hee of Universiti Putra, Malaysia, conducts research on identification of semiochemicals from fruit flies and plants, including the many orchids that are pollinated by fruit flies.  Alvin is especially fascinated by the attraction of certain male fruit flies to methyl eugenol (ME) and related plant compounds. Having investigated the role of ME in the chemical ecology of oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (a relative of Australia’s Queensland fruit fly), particularly its sex pheromone transport, Alvin is now focused on proteomic and genomic approaches to understanding the olfactory basis of attraction to ME.  Alvin is active in building networks amongst fruit fly researchers in the Asia-Pacific region and has recently hosted the successful First Symposium of Tephritid Workers in Asia, Australia and Oceania (TAAO) [at which MQ’s own Maurizio Benelli and Tahereh Moadelli won first and second prize for student presentations].

Suk-Ling Wee of Universiti Kebangsaan in Malaysia conducts research on insect behaviour and chemical ecology – identification of semiochemicals that mediate insect-insect, plant-insect and plant-insect-predator interactions, as well as use of sterile insect technique in area-wide control and management of insect pests. She has worked on pheromones, allomones, kairomones and synomones and their effects on the behaviour of fruit flies; radiation biology and cytological studies on moths in relation to sterile insect techniques; pheromone, behaviour and electrophysiological studies on weevils. Currently she is focused on a diverse range of chemical ecology projects involving agricultural pests (fruit flies, moths), biological control agents (black soldier flies), plant-insect interaction (Rafflesia), insect diversity (fruit flies, dung beetles), and forensic entomology (blow flies).  Suk-Ling is currently in Australia on an Endeavour Research Fellowship investigating male attractants of an emerging fruit fly pest, Bactrocera jarvisi.

New Honorary Associate

Patrick Smith is a new Honorary Associate. His collaboration with Glenn Brock involves Palaeozoic and Mesozoic Palaeontology.  Patrick’s PhD research largely focuses on the taxonomy and biostratigraphy of important fossil groups from the Cambrian Series 2–3 (Ordian–Mindyallan) units of the Pertaoorrta Group in the Amadeus Basin. Patrcik and Glenn  are looking at the faunas from the Goyder Formation, including a highly diverse trilobite assemblage. At the same time he has started new work on the taxonomy of micro-vertebrates from the Cretaceous Rolling Downs Group in the Eromanga Basin. Presently he is working on new Early Cretaceous (Albian) teleost fish genera and enantiornithine bird material with Mr Rodney Berrell, Dr Timothy Holland and Dr Stephen Poropat.   He may also be involved in PACE placements.

New Publications

In the Media

Recent Completions