The Cyanotoxin and Non-protein Amino Acid beta-Methylamino-L-Alanine (L-BMAA) in the Food Chain: Incorporation into Proteins and Its Impact on Human Health
By: Dunlop, Rachael A., and Gilles J. Guillemin. Neurotoxicity research (2019): 1-10. | Find with Google Scholar »
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Dear all,
Lots of good news this week around the department – take a moment to read about them all and join in the congratulations!
The Department has organised for a Respect.Now.Always training session for academic and professional staff on 29 October – please make sure you put it in your diaries.
And a reminder that the Faculty Safety Fair is this Wednesday 10am-2pm – come along, join the fun and learn something interesting about Health & Safety!
Cheers
Michelle
Save the Date
This week 8th – 11th October
Mon 7th: Labour Day Holiday.
Wed 9th: Faculty Safety Fair.
Wed 9th: Department Morning Tea; 10:30-11am, 205B Culloden Rd.
Wed 9th: Department Seminar – Professor Bernd Meyer, Monash University; 1pm – 2pm; 14EAR(E8A)-280 (Biology Tea Room).
Thu 10th: AARGH: R-Users Group (RUG) Help Session; 3.30 PM – 5.30 PM; Continuum room (75 Talavera road, room 3114); snacks provided, BYO mug).
Following week 14th – 18th October
Mon 14th: Special Seminar – Ian Hutton, naturalist from Lord Howe island; 1pm – 2pm; 14EAR(E8A)-280 (Biology Tea Room).
Wed 16th: Department Morning Tea; 10.30-11am; (Biology Tea Room).
Wed 16th: Department Seminar – Professor Shinichi Nakagawa, UNSW; 1pm – 2pm; 14EAR(E8A)-280 (Biology Tea Room).
Thu 17th: Biology Social Club; 5.00pm – 7.00pm; Biology Courtyard.
Weekly Events
Wed: Shut up and Write Sessions; 11.00am – 12.00pm; 6WW(E8C)-212 or 14EAR(E8A)-360A.
Thu: Venture Café; 3–8pm; (map). Find out what is on each week here – https://venturecafesydney.org/
Fri: Writing Workshops with Prof Ken Cheng – to support HDRs and ECRs with scientific writing; 2–4pm; Ken’s office at 205b Culloden Road, G12.
Fri: Behaviour and Evolution Journal Club; Friday at 12:30pm (bring your lunch); 205B Culloden Rd Boardroom.
Weekly Biological Sciences seminar program is here
Future Speakers:
Oct 23rd: Professor Lin Schwarzkopf, James Cook University.
Oct 30th: Dr Nate Lo, University of Sydney.
Nov 6th: Dr Tatiana Soares da Costa, La Trobe University.
Future Events
Oct 29th: Respect.Now.Always Training Session for Staff; 1pm – 2pm; 14EAR(E8A)-280 (Biology Tea Room).
Dec 3rd: Department Formal Exam Meeting.
Dec 5th: Department Research Retreat.
General News and Announcements
CONGRATULATIONS
MQ Academic Staff Awards – Congratulations to all of our finalists in the university’s academic staff awards, with the winners announced at the awards ceremony on Monday 18 November.
Professor Phillip Taylor
Excellence in Research: Five Future-shaping Research Priorities
Dr Bruno Alves Buzatto
Vice-Chancellor’s Learning and Teaching Student Nominated Award
Dr Matthew Bulbert
Biology Capstone (with team members: Fiona Jones, Associate Professor Martin Whiting and Serene Lin-Stephens)
Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence
ARC Centre of Excellence Successes
It was announced today that the Federal Government has committed $35million to establish the ARC Centre of Excellence in Synthetic Biology, led by the Department of Molecular Sciences’ Prof Ian Paulsen, to advance environmentally sustainable biomanufacturing. Michael Gillings is also one of the named Chief Investigators on the Centre, which should generate substantial research activity in this field.
It was also announced that the ARC Centre of Excellence for Plant Success in Nature and Agriculture has been awarded a similar level of funding. This CoE will be led by Prof Christine Beveridge at University of Queensland, with Prof Ian Wright leading a node at Macquarie (with some help from Brian Atwell, Rachael Gallagher & Michelle Leishman).
Dick Frankham Receives Award for Conservation Books – On Thursday October 3, Emeritus Professor Dick Frankham was awarded the Whitley Certificate of Special Commendation from the Royal Zoological Society of NSW for the publication of books on Australasian Zoology with an emphasis on the conservation of its fauna. The Whitley Medal for a single book and the Certificate of Special Commendation are the two most prestigious Awards in Australasian Zoology. Tim Flannery was the recipient of the Whitley Special Commendation award in 2018.
The award was for four conservation genetics textbooks/professional references books that Dick and his teams have written.
The Whitley Awards night at the Australian Museum had a strong Macquarie Biology flavour with Pat Hutchings (President of the Royal Zoological Society of NSW) as MC, Noel Tait chairing the Whitley Book Awards committee (and the person who nominated Dick), and Mark Eldridge as presented for Dick and his books. Further, Michael Gillings was the presenter for the Whitley Medal for a single book.
Congratulations to our ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR RESEARCHERS who have been named among the most influential researchers in the Life Sciences and Earth Sciences category in The Australian 2019 Research Magazine
Field Animal Behaviour and Ethology
Lead institution Macquarie University
Here is what Sakkie (Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research) wrote:
I write to congratulate you and your team for being recognised as Australia’s Lead Institution in Animal Behaviour and Ethology in The Australian’s annual report on Australia’s most influential researchers.
This is a brilliant achievement and recognition of the calibre, commitment and vision of Macquarie’s people. We could not be prouder.
I thank you again for your ongoing contributions to Macquarie, this is outstanding news.
The Biodiversity Node of the NSW Adaptation Research Hub, hosted by Macquarie University, was featured in the latest edition of the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment’s “Biodiversity Special Edition” of the AdaptNSW newsletter. Three scientists from the Department of Biological Sciences, Dr Nola Hancock, A/Prof Linda Beaumont and Dr Rachael Gallagher, were featured as prominent women in conservation.
Click the link to view in your web browser.
AND IN OTHER NEWS…
The Respect.Now.Always Team is Running a Training Session for the department’s academic and professional staff on Tuesday 29 October 1-2pm in the Biology tearoom. The goal of the session is to help academic and professional staff be aware of what is appropriate behaviour in the workplace, including interactions with students and colleagues, and to be aware of the support & resources available. This is an important aspect of the inclusive and respectful culture that we value. All academic and professional staff should attend unless they have a prior teaching or related commitment.
Please RSVP via the calendar invitation or to Calli Miller by Friday 11th October (for catering purposes).
LGBTIQ Awareness Workshop: Ally Training – A couple of Ally training sessions have been scheduled in the next couple of months. Please find below more info and links to register for the training below:
In this 2 hour workshop you will learn why LGBTIQ inclusion is important to the Macquarie University community and explore the impact of Heteronormativity, Homophobia, Transphobia & prejudice. This training is open to all students, academic and professional staff at Macquarie.
CSIRO STEM Professionals in Schools Program – STEM Professionals in Schools is a national volunteer program that facilitates partnerships between schools and industry to bring real STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) into the classroom. PhD student Julianna Kadar was paired with Cranbrook Senior School this year and completed a project on ocean health and sustainability. Their final lesson involved the class ‘tagging’ a volunteer student with a shark tag and having them mimic shark behaviours in a pool like resting, swimming, foraging, and diving. Afterwards they analysed the data together using the techniques that marine biologists are using today. The school prioritizes giving back to the community and wants to contribute in real ways to research, so the students are planning on helping Julianna analyse some of her shark data!
Plant of the Week -click the thumbnails for larger images-
Above illustration: Wu Zhang Hua, Flora of China Illustrations Vol. 9, Fig. 148, 8-10.
This week – Rosa banksiae – an enigma.
The cultivated Banksia Rose is very different from the rose in its natural environment in the forests of south-western China. Rosa banksiae is often referred to as a cultigen – a general purpose name for a plant whose origin or selection is due to intentional human activity. The term cultivar is a formal classification in the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants.
OPPORTUNITIES
Research on Plant-Pollinator Relationships – opportunities for involvement as student, volunteer or collaborator, with field trips scheduled to Port Macquarie during Nov/Dec 2019 and Jan 2020. If interested, please contact Professor Graham Pyke at <Graham.Pyke@mq.edu.au>.
For more details, please consult this word document.
2019-20 Fisheries Scientific Committee Student Research Grant Round Now Open – The Fisheries Scientific Committee (FSC) is now accepting applications for the 2019-20 Student Research Grants Round. The FSC has available $3,000 to fund 1-2 student projects, aimed at filling gaps in research information for threatened or potentially threatened species of fish and marine vegetation in NSW.
How to apply – Visit the FSC website to access the online application form.
Applications close 11.59 pm (AEDT) on Friday 1 November 2019.
Postdoctoral Fellowships – Lizard Island Research Station, AU
These enable early-career scientists to conduct research at the Lizard Island Research Station. Fellowships are worth up to AUD 15,000 each towards bench fees, travel costs, freight, field and lab consumables and other field work expenses.
Maximum award: AUD 30,000
Closing date: 11 October
SEMINARS AND WORKSHOPS
Biological Sciences Seminar – Date/Time: Wednesday, 9th October, 2019; 1pm – 2pm. Speaker: Professor Bernd Meyer, Monash University. Title: Task allocation in social insects: computational models reveal that ecologies can drive modes of specialisation. Venue: 14EAR-280 (Biology Tea Room). More information on this and all department seminars ON OUR WEBPAGE HERE.
Special Biological Sciences Seminar – Date/Time: Monday, 14th October, 2019; 1pm – 2pm. Speaker: Ian Hutton, naturalist from Lord Howe island. Title: Lord Howe Island World Heritage values, its conservation and the threats. Venue: 14EAR-280 (Biology Tea Room).
Molecular Sciences Seminar – Date/Time: Tuesday, 19th October, 2019; 1pm – 2pm. Speaker: Associate Professor Manuel Rodriguez-Concepcion from Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics (CRAG). Title: Synthetic pathways to make and store carotenoids in plants. Venue: 4WW 322 Seminar room.
Shut Up and Write Sessions – every Wednesday 11am. It’s pretty simple, we shut up… and we write. Using the pomodoro technique we’ll meet at 11am to write, stop 25 minutes in for a 10 min break, then settle down again for another 25 minutes of writing. You’ll be amazed how productive you can be. More details on the concept here: https://thesiswhisperer.com/shut-up-and-write/
Room will be either 6WW(E8C)-212 or 14EAR(E8A)-360A, email <lizzy.lowe@mq.edu.au> to confirm or with any questions.
All welcome!
Lunchtime Litter Collection – The days may be cooler, but they’re also clear and sunny. Lunchtime is a great time to go for a walk and get some vitamin D! It’s also a great time to join the Biology Litter Collection competition! The next event will be Tuesday 8th October, 1pm. Meet in the Biology courtyard, bring a bucket or bag if you can.
We’ll be holding events throughout the rest of the year, every few weeks. At each event you go out to collect litter, between 1 and 1:30pm. Collections will be assessed at the end of each collection and gold stars awarded accordingly. Event results are tallied at the end of the year with a prize for the best collector.
Event dates: Tues 8th October; Tues 12th November; Tues 10th December.
Venture Café – Want to know more about innovation, and how to achieve it? Come along to the Venture Cafe, Thursday, 3pm – 8pm, (map). Find out what is on each week here – https://venturecafesydney.org/
This week: 3.00pm: Innovate Hear – Customer (Patient) Value Proposition Canvas; 3.00pm: Future Mobility – Places to Move; 4.00pm: Drop-in Session – Let’s Move, Mac Park; 5.30pm: Panel: Tech Driven Mobility; 6.30pm: Powered by Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning.
Wildlife at the Watering Hole – 3rd Tuesday of each month, 6:30pm @ Botany View Hotel, King St Newtown!
HDR NEWS AND OPPORTUNITIES
Research Enrichment Program (REP) Workshop Series – The Department now has a fully fledged research enrichment program for 2019 – you can find out about upcoming workshops here (click on this PDF). All HDR students are encouraged to attend several of these workshops each year to develop their skills and track record for the post-PhD world. Supervisors please encourage your students!
PhD Students: got a grant? Dept. will co-fund up to $1500 – The Department would like to encourage students to seek external sources of funding, and has a small budget with which to support successful candidates.New limits from 2019:PhD students ONLY: Dept. will match up to $1500 of external (non-MQ) funding ONCE during the student’s candidature.
If you have received a grant (student as chief investigator) and wish to request co-funding, please forward a copy of the award letter to <sharyon.odonnell@mq.edu.au> and <wenjing.wang@mq.edu.au>.
Are You a HDR Student? Need h=Help with Writing? HDR Mentors in collaboration with HDR Learning Skills is running another round of Peer Writing Assistance (PWA) for the rest of the year! This program is designed to support MRES and HDR candidates in managing thesis writing and research-related concerns. All peer writing assistants have undergone training for their role and are current PhD candidates at Macquarie.
The PWA program is based on the principle of collaborative learning in which a more experienced research student helps you develop stronger academic and research skills. Peer Writing Assistants are not teachers. Rather, they are trained to function as a ‘friendly audience’ or ‘fresh pair of eyes’ to help you gain new perspectives on your writing or research ideas.
Registrations are now open for individual consultation bookings. If you are interested, please go to book in for a 45-minute session with a PWA here.
And:
Writing Workshops – Convened by Ken Cheng, running weekly for most of the year: Fridays 2-4pm in Ken’s office at 205b Culloden Road, G12.
These writing workshops are meant for HDR students and early-career researchers. In these face-to-face encounters, writing at any stage of any genre is welcome, from first draft to final polish, from empirical paper to literature review to popular news story. Ken envisages personal feedback linked perhaps with rounds of revisions on selected passages during the session. The aim is not just to get stuff written, but to write everything well.
Those interested in attending a session should email Ken Cheng <ken.cheng@mq.edu.au> by Wednesday 12:00-noon, preferably with a draft attached of what they are working on and some indication of what they especially need help with.
ADMIN THINGS
The Department’s Annual Report 2018 is now published and available here. It is packed full of news and events and showcases our people and achievements for the year. A cracker of a read! It will be available on the website very soon, so please pass on to your networks, colleagues and friends.
Need to Contact the Biology Admin Team via Email? Please send your email to <fse.bio-adm@mq.edu.au> or drop in and see us. The old google group (sci.bio-adm) email no longer works, if you have this email as a remembered address please delete.
Outreach Activities – Have You Participated in an Activity for Biology Recently? Don’t forget to fill in the super-quick form here – ACCESS OUTREACH FORM HERE
Building Name Changes – Cheat Sheet – If you are trying to identify buildings on campus with new names or old names, please use this link to convert them from old to new or vice versa.
THIS AND THAT
Do You Want a Volunteer? Juana David Santa Beancur is an international Biology student from the University of Caldas, Colombia and is interested in volunteering with us in the areas of Marine Biology and Biodiversity. If you would be interested in hosting him, or would like more information please contact Calli Miller: <calli.miller@mq.edu.au>.
Tea Bags – Part 2 – Find out if your teabag is biodgradeable or not.
A couple of years ago we reported that tea bags were hanging around in the worm farm long after everything else had being converted to castings. This prompted us to encourage everyone to use loose leaf tea or biodegradable teabags. Some tea suppliers are catching up and reducing the use of plastic in their teabags. Find out if yours are good.
Editorial for Nature: Why Universities Have Got Research Culture Wrong: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02951-4
On Your Bike in October! Biketober Business Challenge is on from 1-31 October 2019 and Macquarie Uni really wants to win! There are loads of prizes for riding and encouraging each other and our friends to get involved. If you haven’t cycled for years, don’t worry! You only have to ride a bike for 10 minutes for your participation to count towards our team’s score. And you can ride anywhere, any time during the Challenge.
You already ride? Great! Keep up the great work. If you have Strava or MapMyRide don’t forget to sync it with your Biketober account! Your rides will then be logged automatically.
To register and join the Macquarie University Department of Biological Sciences’ team, visit here.
Call for Cystic Fibrosis Christmas Markets Volunteers! Cystic Fibrosis Australia is in need of Volunteers for their Christmas markets on December 5th and 6th at Martin place. Volunteers are needed to sell Raffle tickets/Merchandise and all funds received support Cystic Fibrosis research and advocacy. All Fixed term and continuing staff are eligible to two days community volunteering leave. Such fund raising events are also great for team building. Please email queries or expressions of interest to Prasanth Subramani <prasanth.subramani@mq.edu.au>.
Volunteers CFA_Markets_Flyer CM_20191
Harvest Hub – great food that doesn’t cost the earth
Do you want:
- To eat with the seasons?
- Have fresh fruit and veg delivered weekly?
- Buy from local growers and support local farmer more directly?
- Access weekly specials and a flexible, easy to use ordering system?
- Have produce delivered to you at work?
- Buy grains and cereals too?
Then try Harvest Hub www.harvesthub.com.au
Hub name: MACQUARIE04 F: @harvesthubau
More information?
- Check out the website
- Talk to Samantha Newton <samantha.newton@mq.edu.au>.
- Orders are delivered weekly, on Tuesdays
Correct Method for Submitting to Department Matters
Department Matters submissions now have their own email address. Please send all your news items for the newsletter to <fse.bionewsletter@mq.edu.au>
Also, please see the following to correctly format your additions, and keep them rolling in!
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.
- Please write in third person. The information is coming from the Newsletter, not directly from you.
- 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.
- 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.
- Keep your submission short and direct (two paragraphs) and if possible provide a document, email or link where readers can get more information. Any long submissions will be cropped.
Keeping to these guidelines will streamline your article’s addition to the newsletter. Thank you.
Have You Missed Out on an Issue of Department Matters? Back issues can be found at this newsletter archive link for your reading pleasure.
New Publications
Kynurenine Pathway Metabolites as Biomarkers for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
By: Tan, Vanessa Xiuwen, and Gilles J. Guillemin. Frontiers in Neuroscience 13 (2019): 1013. | Find with Google Scholar »Wild zebra finches that nest synchronously have long-term stable social ties
By: Brandl, Hanja B., Simon C. Griffith, Damien R. Farine, and Wiebke Schuett. Journal of Animal Ecology (2019). | Find with Google Scholar »Manipulation of natal host modifies adult reproductive behaviour in the butterfly Heliconius charithonia
By: Kemp, Darrell J. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 286, no. 1910 (2019): 20191225. | Find with Google Scholar »Strike kinematics in the whip spider Charon sp. (Amblypygi: Charontidae)
By: Seiter, Michael, Patrick Lemell, Rosa Gredler, and Jonas O. Wolff. The Journal of Arachnology 47, no. 2 (2019): 260-265. | Find with Google Scholar »Shelly fossils from the lower Cambrian White Point Conglomerate, Kangaroo Island, South Australia
By: Betts, Marissa J., Thomas M. Claybourn, Glenn A. Brock, James B. Jago, Christian B. Skovsted, and John R. Paterson. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 64, no. 3 (2019): 489-522. | Find with Google Scholar »Insights from invasion ecology: Can consideration of eco-evolutionary experience promote benefits from root mutualisms in plant production?
By: Ramoneda, J., Le Roux, J.J., Frossard, E., Bester, C., Oettlé, N., Frey, B., Gamper, H.A. AoB PLANTS, 2019, plz060, https://doi.org/10.1093/aobpla/plz060 | Find with Google Scholar »Reorganization of surviving mammal communities after the end-Pleistocene megafaunal extinction
By: Anikó B. Tóth, S. Kathleen Lyons, W. Andrew Barr, Anna K. Behrensmeyer, Jessica L. Blois, René Bobe, Matt Davis, Andrew Du, Jussi T. Eronen, J. Tyler Faith, Danielle Fraser, Nicholas J. Gotelli, Gary R. Graves, Advait M. Jukar, Joshua H. Miller, Silvia Pineda-Munoz, Laura C. Soul, Amelia Villaseñor, John Alroy. Science 20 Sep 2019: Vol. 365, Issue 6459, pp. 1305-1308 DOI: 10.1126/science.aaw1605 | Find with Google Scholar »In the Media
Robert Harcourt was featured on ABC News Breakfast
Professor Robert Harcourt from the Department of Biological Sciences was featured on ABC News Breakfast regarding a humpback whale caught in nets at Bilgola Beach.
Culum Brown was featured on ABC Radio Sydney Focus
Professor Culum Brown from the Department of Biological Sciences was featured on ABC Radio Sydney Focus regarding people’s fear of sharks and declining shark populations.
Lesley Hughes was featured on ABC Radio Nightlife
Distinguished Professor Lesley Hughes, Pro Vice-Chancellor Research Integrity and Development was featured on ABC Radio Nightlife regarding how to protect urban areas from increasingly intense bushfire seasons.
Julianna Kadar & Culum Brown were referenced in the Sydney Morning Herald
Julianna Kadar and Professor Culum Brown, from the Department of Biological Sciences, had their work on using Fitbit-style tags to determine shark activity levels was referenced in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Kerstin Bilgmann contributed to The Conversation
Dr Kerstin Bilgmann from the Department of Biological Sciences contributed the article ‘Curious Kids: which is smarter – a blue whale or an orca?’ to The Conversation.