BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES DEPARTMENT MATTERS | May 12, 2017

Dear all,

Big changes are slowly taking place in our department admin team. We farewelled Laura McMillan this week – Laura has been in the department for 28 years (!) and has chosen to retire to spend time with family, travel and apparently clean her fridge. We thank her for so many years of service and wish her all the very best – we’ll miss her! Rosie Neville will also be leaving us (this is her last day) for a position in the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences – we thank her for her contribution to the department and cheerful front desk welcoming presence over this last year – best wishes for the future!

I’m on a Faculty delegation to Japan next week so please see Grant or Andy if you need anything!

cheerio,

Michelle

Save the Date

This coming week 15th – 19th May

Mon 15th: Eurovision Morning Tea; 10:30am – 11am; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).

Wed 17th: Associate Professor Vanessa Hayes, The University of Sydney and The Garvan Institute; 1pm – 2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).

Thu 18th: Writing Workshop; 2:30-4:30pm, E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).

Following week 22nd – 26th May

Wed 24th: Morning Tea with HoD; 10:30am – 11am; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).

Wed 24th: Professor Mike Archer, The University of NSW, PANGEA Research Centre & CREATE School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences; 1pm – 2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).

Thu 25th: 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).

June 13 – 15th: HDR Conference; Timetable TBA; E7B Lecture Theatres.

July 19th: E8C Digital Teaching Lab Induction; TBA; E8C-106.

July 21st: F7B Digital Teaching Lab Induction; TBA; F7B-108.

July 24th: E8A Digital Teaching Lab Induction; TBA; E8A-120.

Department seminar schedule

May 31st:  Professor Michael Romero, Tufts University; 1pm – 2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).

June 7th:  Dr Ceridwen Fraser, ANU; 1pm – 2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).

June 14th:  Dr Caragh Threlfall, The University of Melbourne; 1pm – 2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).

June 21st:  Professor Bill Ballard, The University of NSW; 1pm – 2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).

June 28th:  Professor Madeleine Beekman, The University of Sydney; 1pm – 2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).

General News and Announcements

Department of Biological Sciences Participates in Spartan Beast Race

Members of the Department of Biology participated in the Spartan Beast race at Picton on the weekend and completed the challenge of 40 obstacles (lots of mud, hills, water, barbed wire, etc.) over 21km on the weekend. Involved were Tarun Rajan, Tim Maher, Ina Geedicke, René Heim, Martyna Kotowska and myself from the department plus Koos Gruntjes from Crunch.

Farewell and All The Best to Laura McMillian

Laura is retiring after 30 years at Macquarie Biological Sciences.  We wish her all the best, and hopes her future endeavours are as successful as here time with us!

Here are some pictures from her farewell on Wednesday.

Eurovision Ahoy

It is that time of the year when talent and good taste are abandoned and Eurovision takes hold! Sweepstakes are ready for purchase in the HOD office ($2/country or 3 for $5).

Eurovision morning tea on Monday May 15, 10:30 (E8A Tearoom)!

Stop Trump-watching and do something sensible like follow our blog (new URL): http://www.thescienceofeurovision.website/ reviewing every entry for Eurovision!

DEPARTMENTAL SEMINAR SERIES

Day/Date/Time/Place: Wednesday, 17th May, 1-2pm, E8A-280 (Tea Room)

Speaker: Associate Professor Vanessa Hayes, The University of Sydney and The Garvan Institute.

Title: Precision medicine for prostate cancer – What are we missing?

Abstract: Precision medicine requires a complete assessment of the individual patient, including environment, lifestyle and genetics. This information is then used to prevent and treat disease that is specific for the individual. Precision medicine therefore moves away from the current model of treating diseases according to their classification. While there are no known modifiable risk factors for prostate cancer, prostate cancer is a genetic disease, impacted by inherited and acquired (somatic) genomic variation. Presenting with a high degree of clinical and genetic heterogeneity, prostate cancer is an ideal candidate for the hopes of precision medicine. Although genetics is a significant contributor to prostate cancer, there is still a large percentage of missing heritability for this common cancer, while genomic subtyping is less advanced then other cancer types. The Hayes lab is using novel approaches to define the genetics of prostate cancer. Looking for the missing heritability has taken the team back to our human origins in Africa, while understanding the genomic drivers of tumour development has required the team to adopt novel genomic technologies from genome sequencing to genome mapping. The prostate cancer genome is displaying a unique level of genomic variation that is likely driven by a remarkable genome shattering and reassembly. Ultimately genomics has opened doors for the future of precision medicine. Professor Hayes will discuss the current developments for the application of precision medicine for prostate cancer.

Outreach Opportunities and Requests – We Need Your Help

Outreach

Do you have any outreach activities coming up or recently completed? DON’T FORGET to let us know via the outreach form – (an average of 1min 46sec to fill in but worth so much more in terms of brownie points for the department) – ACCESS OUTREACH FORM HERE

Science Festival Gigs for August – We Need You!

1. Excite schools and public at the Australian Museum

For this year’s science festival the faculty will have a booth/space at the Australian Museum. The museum is the central hub of the festival and hence has high flow through traffic including both public and high schools. This is a great opportunity for Macquarie and a great one for those of you wanting to increase your outreach profile as well as broaden the knowledge of the public.

We need volunteers for:

Primary school days: 8^th (AM) and 11^th (Anytime)

Super Public day: 12^th (Anytime)

High School days: 15^th (anytime), 16^th (AM), 17^th (Anytime), 18^th (AM)

Your commitment:

At minimum, a couple of hours with whatever display/activity of your choosing

Have fun telling passer-by’s about the cool stuff you do

I particularly encourage participation on the high school days.

2. National Indigenous Science Education Program (NISEP)

The National Indigenous Science Education Program (NISEP), Redfern Community Centre and City of Sydney are once again running the Indigenous Science Experience at Redfern – 16-18^th and 20^th August. If you would like to contribute an activity to this, please contact the biology outreach team or Joanne Jamie directly for more information. It’s a wonderful opportunity to showcase our disciplines. I highly recommend (for those who have not contributed previously) checking out the YouTube channel to see previous years’ events:www.youtube.com/user/NISEPmq

Annual Report Anecdotes

Did you do an outreach activity last year that you were particularly proud of?

I need some nice examples for the Annual report and apparently, I need them by like yesterday. So, if you do please send through a few lines about what it was and a picture or two (if you have one – if not please send details anyway).

For any of these items please contact: <matthew.bulbert@mq.edu.au> or talk to any member of the outreach team which include Kath McCellan, Chris Reid, Ken Cheng, Jemma Geoghegan, Alexandra Carthey, Kerstin Bilgmann and Julian May. It is important you talk to us about any activities. Thanks

IDAHoT (International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia)

Wednesday 17th May, 12-2pm, Marxine’s Courtyard

Please register here: https://www.cvent.com/c/express/dbd84d50-5418-4dc5-8195-60179e4301a4

Touch Footy Comp coming soon!

Hear ye hear ye! The inaugural Faculty of Science and Engineering ‘Department of Origin’ Touch Football competition will be held this coming July. Teams are mixed and must have both staff and HDR participants.  It will be a lunch time competition running for about five weeks. So if are you keen to do your department proud or for a bit of fun start forming a team. Contact Scott Wilson <scott.p.wilson@mq.edu.au> to nominate your team captain and for further details. Who knows, you could be lifting the coveted trophy at the end and more importantly have the bragging rights for the rest of the year.

Preliminary Analysis of 2017/18 Federal Budget

You might find useful this summary of what the budget means for science and research — thanks to Mark Westoby for passing this on.

What the Budget means for science and research

Postgraduate Research Award in Fundamental Ecology

https://www.ecolsoc.org.au/students/awards-and-grants/2012-wiley-blackwell

Use of the Biology Gardens for Teaching

The Biology Gardens are a common resource for the Department’s teaching, research and enjoyment. If unit conveners wish to use the Gardens for teaching purposes please contact Rachael Gallagher to let her know the proposed dates and any sampling required (e.g. what you’d like to sample, estimates of numbers) to ensure that impact to the Gardens is acceptable and managed.

Here are some easy guidelines:

1. Please don’t let students walk on the garden beds
2. Remove minimal amounts only
3. Ensure students are supervised when they are using the garden as a resource
4. Please don’t move rocks
5. If plant material (flowers, leaves, stems) is removed (with prior approval from Rachel) then secateurs should be used.

Keen Work Experience Student

Rafya Usman is a very bright and motivated year 12 student studying science (biology and chemistry) at Auburn Girls High School. She is very keen to do any sort of work experience in our Department during the upcoming school holidays (July 3-15), even just for a few days.  If you’re interested in taking her on could you please contact Josie Hattingh, International Schools Coordinator at Auburn, on 0402-555-209 (or <josie.hattingh@det.nsw.edu.au>). Thank you!

Plant of the Week

For this week: Cotton – Gossypium. Surprisingly, in spite of its present day distribution, this is a plant of Gondwanan origins, and can be traced back to the Oligocene, about 25 – 30 million years ago.

Do You Want Help to Improve Your Writing? 

Ken Cheng and Jennifer Hallinan run weekly writing workshops, Thursdays 2:30-4:30pm E8B-215.

These writing workshops are meant for HDR students and early-career researchers. Writing at any stage of any genre is welcome in these face-to-face encounters, from first draft to final polish, from empirical paper to literature review to popular news story. The sessions will involve personal feedback linked with rounds of revisions on selected passages, but will vary depending on the needs of participants. The aim is not just to get stuff written, but to write everything well.

Those interested in attending a session should email both Ken Cheng <ken.cheng@mq.edu.au> and Jennifer Hallinan <jennifer.hallinan@mq.edu.au> by Wednesday 12:00, preferably with a draft attached of what they are working on and some indication of what they especially need help with.

New Student: Felix Amuji, supervised by Linda Beaumont

Thesis: Modelling climate change impacts on horticultural species.

New Seats in the Garden

We have a lovely new table setting in the Biology garden annexe.

Enjoy! But please don’t leave any rubbish behind when you sit there.

Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES): IPBES Second Order Drafts are now available for review

Opportunity to Review Regional Assessments

The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) has now made available, for those who have registered, the following documents:

·       the second order drafts of the chapters for the 4 Regional Assessments (Asia-Pacific, Africa, the Americas, Europe and Central Asia);

       o   the first order drafts of the Summaries for Policymakers of the 4 Regional Assessments;

·       the second order draft of the Thematic Assessment on Land Degradation and Restoration; and

        o   the first order draft of the Summary for Policymakers of the Land Degradation and Restoration Assessment.

If you’ve not registered to review the documents, it’s not too late! Jump on the IPBES website and follow the below instructions:

1.       You will need to register as a user of the IPBES website. The link is here – http://www.ipbes.net/user/register?destination=sod-review

2.       Once you create your account, log in to the IPBES site and then go to this link – http://www.ipbes.net/sod-review.

a.       This will allow you to now register as an external reviewer of the draft assessment reports, nominating the reports you’re interested in and which specific chapters.

The Department of the Environment and Energy would be most grateful if you could share your comments on the draft Assessments with us, noting that there is, of course, no obligation for you to do so.  Understanding the range of perspectives of experts on the draft Assessments will strengthen our Department’s understanding of the issues and strengthen the basis of the Australian Government feedback to IPBES.

Cooks River Alliance – Culture, Country, Connection

Friday 16 June, 2017 from 9am – 4pm Addison Road Community Centre 142 Addison Road, Marrickville

Join the Cook River Alliance to discover and celebrate Aboriginal stories and associations with the Cooks River through sharing traditional and contemporary knowledge. Learn about a new and comprehensive Aboriginal history of the Cooks River Hear oral histories of local Aboriginal people in a special exhibition Explore the Cooks River in 1770 via virtual simulation Plus musical performances, bush tucker, tours and exhibitions

This project is supported by the Cooks River Alliance and the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council, through funding from the Australian Government.

Register here: culture_country.eventbrite.com.au, or call 02 9748 9644

This is a free community event, bookings are essential.

Australian Society of Limnology 2017 Conference

The annual Australian Society of Limnology will be held at the Aerial UTS Function Centre from 24 – 29 September 2017.

The theme of this year’s conference is New Science for a Changing World. We will discuss how development, population growth, intensification of agriculture and climate change are affecting our waterways and wetlands as never before. At the same time, our science is giving us more understanding of these impacts. This conference will showcase the latest aquatic science, to help us identify and mitigate impacts.

please click here. For more information

Part of the Australian Society of Limnology 2017 Conference will be the Indigenous Water Knowledge and Cultural Flows Symposium

ASL is committed to increasing the capacity for traditional ecological knowledge. This year, ASL presents the second annual Indigenous Water Knowledge and Cultural Flows Symposium. The Symposium acknowledges the role of Indigenous people in water management and their connection to waterscapes, as well as land. It is being held on Tuesday, 26 September at 2.30pm, and bookings can be made directly through the registration page, or as an add-on to a full conference registration.

National speakers:

• Fred Hooper Chair Murray Darling Basin Authority – Northern Basin Aboriginal Nations,
• Sonia Copper – Yorta Yorta,
• Emily Ens & Ben Kitchener – Macquarie University (Joint Presentation),
• Lana Hartwig – Griffith University

International speakers:

We have confirmed that John Siroi of the Upper Columbia Unites Tribes as the primary Keynote Speaker, as well as representatives for the Ngai Tahu IWI of the NZ South Island will be the other International Keynote Speakers.

UNSW Stats Central: Introductory Statistics Workshops

Bleached – An Exhibition by Laura Jones

During 2016, Jane Williamson, Luke Strotz and I shared a laboratory on Lizard Island with the Artist Laura Jones. She was there to witness the state of the Great Barrier Reef first hand, and to prepare an exhibition based on what she saw there. The exhibition will open on Wednesday 17th May at Olsen Gallery Woollahra. For further information see the Link:

http://mailchi.mp/olsengallery/exhibition-invitation-laura-jones-bleached-wed-17-may-6-8pm?e=23b976c6d9

2017 Winter School in Mathematical & Computational Biology 
Early bird registration for Winter School now opens to 18 June 2017. Registration includes tasty lunches and morning/afternoon teas! All for only $290 for students if you register now!

A premier bioinformatics training event in Australia, the fourteenth annual Winter School in Mathematical & Computational Biology will be held 3 to 7 July 2017 at the Institute for Molecular Science, The University of Queensland, St Lucia. Only $290 for the whole week for early bird student registration including tasty lunches and morning/afternoon teas!

The series of winter schools is designed to introduce bioinformatics, mathematical and computational biology to advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students, postdoctoral researchers and others working in the fields of biology, mathematics, statistics, computer science, information technology, complex systems analysis, and chemical and medical sciences and engineering.

THEMES
* Next generation sequencing & bioinformatics
* Advances in single-cell sequencing analysis
* Modelling ecologies & populations
* Advanced data visualisation & computation
* Systems and synthetic biology

FEATURED SPEAKERS
— John Quackenbush, Harvard University
— Christine Wells, The University of Melbourne
— Helena Kilpinen, University College London
— David Edwards, University of Western Australia
— Nicole Cloonan, University of Auckland
— Eric Treml, The University of Melbourne
— Marcel Dinger, Garvan Institute of Medical Research

Speakers at Winter School are chosen as great presenters and world leaders in their field. For the complete list of speakers and presentation titles, visit website http://bioinformatics.org.au/ws17/.

WORKSHOP & BOOTCAMP
A Genomics Virtual Laboratory training workshop (limited places) will be run during the Winter School on Wednesday 5th July. A Software Carpentry Bootcamp (10-11 July) is also being run in conjunction with the Winter School. Both events were fully subscribed in days last year, so register early to avoid disappointment.

KEY DATES
Online registration: Now to 25 June 2017
– Early bird – from now to Sunday 18 June 2017
– Normal – 19 June to 25 June 2017

Student travel scholarship:
– Applications open on 15 May 2017
– Applications close on 31 May 2017

FEEDBACK FROM PREVIOUS WINTER SCHOOLS
“I would strongly encourage all biologists even without any mathematical background to attend the Winter School.”
“Fantastic speakers.” “Great networking opportunities.”
“It takes special talent to pull off a conference people actually enjoy attending and it was thanks to some of the more charismatic orators, that I was able to enjoy the Winter School so much.”
“Gave me the confidence I need to talk to other people and bioinformaticians about the analysis of my NGS data. Thanks.”

New Publications

In the Media

Recent Completions