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September 2008: SUCCESSFUL BODEN CONFERENCE "PLANT ENERGY AND WATER PRODUCTIVITY"

[Photo caption: Conference Attendees (click to expand image... warning: 4.3Mb download!)]

Plant scientists from around Australia and the world met at ANU to consider strategies necessary to develop improved plants for agriculture and biofuels and to assess and manage plants in natural environments (see the conference abstract).

Organised by the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology at ANU and CSIRO Plant Industry, the three day meeting brought together a diverse group of experts in the field of photosynthesis and plant energy production. The combination of basic researchers in molecular biology through to plant breeders and ecologists provided a fertile setting for translational biology, which is promoting the use of basic research for practical outcomes.

Some Quotes...

This was a great conference -- impeccably organized, wonderful science, and a good integration of many different perspectives on plant photosynthesis, productivity and water relations. I was very pleased to be a participant.

Professor Sarah M. Assmann
Penn State University
President, American Society of Plant Biologists

This was certainly the best conference I have been in a number of years. The speakers were outstanding and the topics highly relevant. But the best part was the interactions that the conference catalyzed. Even though the attendees spanned a huge range of disciplines, everyone made a big effort to communicate and interact. Moreover, everyone seemed open and very communicative about their results. There were many presentations with unpublished data. As a result, there was substantial progress without conflict.

Professor David M. Kramer
Institute of Biological Chemistry
Washington State University

I found the conference extremely valuable. It was a great collection of presentations focussed on different aspects of an area of common interest. The relatively small number of participants provided an excellent opportunity for personal contact with leaders in particular research areas.

Dr Linda Tabe
CSIRO Plant Industry

Powerful Plants hits National Science Week

[Photo caption:Powerful Plants Workshop attendees learn the fine art of micropipetting with PEB Scientist Matt Gordon.] Click on image to expand.

Plant Energy Biology's education program Powerful Plants has been showcased in two events across Australia during National Science Week 2008.

Western Australian secondary school students involved in the Powerful Plants program were treated to the inspiring National Science Week student event "ExSCItement" which was organised by Plant Energy Biology and the University of Western Australia's UniDiscovery program.

The event featured key note speaker and 2005 Australian of the Year, Dr Fiona Wood and a collection of well known and aspiring scientists to excite and enthuse students to the next generation of scientific research and careers.

Winning Powerful Plants students also featured and presented their plant research projects to the 250 attending students and were also presented with their awards by Dr Wood.

The Powerful Plants Workshops were also held as part of the National Science Week celebrations in Canberra at The Australian National University (ANU). Attendees to this Powerful Plants event were treated to hands on activities such as gel electrophoresis, DNA extractions and chloroplast streaming. Each activity was run by PEB scientists and all participants had a great day being introduced to the wonders of plant science.

Bao Yugang Guest Professorship

[Photo caption:PEB CI Professor Jim Whelan and Yang Wei President of Zhejiang University.] click to expand image

The ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology congratulates Chief Investigator Professor Jim Whelan for receiving the Bao Yugang Guest Professorship which was presented by President YANG Wei, President of Zhejiang University (ZHU),China.

The Bao Yugang Guest Professorship honours Professor Whelan as an internationally recognized plant scientist. His appointment will focus on improving international exchange and development in plant science and genomics between ZHU and The University of Western Australia (UWA), by means of lecturing, teaching courses, and research collaborations.

Professor Whelan is also Co Director of ZHU/UWA Joint Research Laboratory in Genomics and Nutriomics which couples the expertise in energy biology and Arabidopsis research at the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology at with the expertise in plant nutrition and rice genetics at the College of Life Sciences at ZJU.

Bringing plant science to Mudgee

[Photo caption: Renee Simms and Katynna Gill bring Plant Powerstation to the Mudgee Small Farm Field Days, NSW.] click to expand image

What do plant scientists really get up to? How do they do their work? What sorts of research are they doing right now?

These questions were answered by the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, from the University of Sydney, at the Mudgee Small Farm Field Days on Friday 18 and Saturday 19 July.

Mudgee is a rural town in NSW located about four hours north-west of Sydney. The Mudgee Small Farm Field Days are the biggest event in the region each year and attract around 30 000 visitors to the field days.

The ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology ran its popular Plant Powerstation expo stand with hands-on biology activities at the Mudgee Small Farm Field Days, making front page news in the Mudgee Guardian, plus feature articles in The Land and the Western Magazine.

Kids and adults extracted DNA from strawberries and looked at plant cells down the microscope at Plant Powerstation, while learning more about the cutting edge plant science conducted by the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology.

“Enthusing people about plant science has never been more important,” said Katynna Gill, Science Communication and Education Officer for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Plant Energy Biology, at the University of Sydney. “Plant science is vital and informs Australia’s $60 billion plant industry, including plant-based agriculture and plant products.”

“The hands-on activities are fun and introduce concepts in plant science and genetics research to the general public,” said Katynna. “It’s also a great opportunity for potential students to ask questions about studying science at university and get some insight into what it’s really like.”

Congratulations Abby!

The ASPS -Functional Plant Biology Best Paper Award for a young scientist in 2007 was recently awarded to Abby Cuttriss for a research article written with Barry Pogson and collaborators during her graduate studies at the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, Australian National University http://www.publish.csiro.au/nid/102/aid/2285.htm.

Nominations were judged on the basis of reviewers' reports, and selected by the executive council of the Australian Society of Plant Scientists. The article, 'Regulation of lutein biosynthesis and prolamellar body formation in Arabidopsis', is an investigation of the regulation of the photosynthetic carotenoid pigment lutein, and its role in plastid development. Abby is currently a postdoctoral research associate at the City University of New York and will return to Canberra to present the paper at COMBIO2008.

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Intellectual Property Training workshop for PEB at ANU

In a course tailored specifically for CPEB, Dr Matthew Rimmer from the ANU College of Law covered a number of topics including: patent validity, patent ownership, infringement/offenses, plant breeders' rights, confidential information and copyright law. Dr Rimmer is a senior lecturer and an associate director of the Australian Centre for Intellectual Property in Agriculture. Centre participants appreciated the training opportunity and have pledged to keep good laboratory notebooks! This workshop is part of the centres Professional Training Program and ongoing commitment to deveopment of its staff and students.

Powerful Plants teacher training in Cambodia

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Education officer Sue Cossetto took the CPEB Powerful Plants education program to the National Institute of Education in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Sue ran a series of workshops for secondary teachers from around Cambodia. "The ever-popular DNA extraction was a highlight!" Sue reflected. "Although we did have our challenges, we had to improvise on materials, including the use of chop sticks to spool DNA".

In addition to the workshops, Sue was an evaluator at the Teachers Science Fair. CPEB sponsored a Plant Science Teaching Prize. The winning group presented a project titles 'An easy procedure to study stomata and their response to different environmental conditions.'

Bindhu Holavanahalli with PEB Mentor Dr Aneta Ivanova

Young Scientist wins International Prize

Bindhu Holavanahalli, a 17 year old student who is a particpant in the "Young Scientist" education program of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology (PEB) at The University of Western Australia (UWA) has won fourth prize in the International BioGENEius Challenge held in San Diego. As one of 16 international finalists to compete in the final stage of the Sanofi-aventis BioGENEius Challenge which took place in San Diego at the Bio2008 Conference in June, Bindhu was presented with her award in front of a crowd of over 2500 people and also had the opportunity to meet Arnold Schwartzenegger and Federal Science Minister Kim Carr. She was also congratulated by Western Australia's Chief Scientist Professor Lyn Beazley.

Under the mentorship of Dr Aneta Ivanova at PEB, Bindhu was able to complete a project which used cutting edge biotechnology to investigate the effects of post harvest treatments sulphur dioxide and resveratrol on table grapes (Vitis vinefera). This research project was developed in conjunction with previous research by Centre Chief Investigator Professor Jim Whelan, Dr Micheal Considine and Professor Kevin Croft as part of a ARC linkage grant and Department of Agriculture support and was seen as a perfect opportunity for a Bindhu to engage her interests and skills. The International BioGENEius challenge is a competition introduced and supported by the Department of Industry and Resources in Western Australia and Bindhu and fellow Australian participant Oliver Tester were the first finalists in the pilot project of this competition. The centre would like to thank all of the particpants and staff involved throughout this project and congratulate Bindhu on her award.

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AnnoJ visualisation of the epigenome of Arabidopsis

Centre researchers Julian Tonti-Filippini and Harvey Millar collaborated with researchers from the JR Ecker Laboratory at the Salk Institute in San Diego to analyse DNA methylation and the mRNA and smRNA components of the transcriptome by new deep sequencing technologies. Julian's AnnoJ Web 2.0 genome browser, developed in the centre, was a key tool in the visualisation of this huge dataset. This groundbreaking research was published April 17th in Cell and the data can be viewed via AnnoJ at Salk.

Plant Phenomics Workshop at ANU, December 2007

The ANU node of PEB developed and ran a unique Plant Phenomics training workshop. Designed to deepen attendee's knowledge on a range of phenotyping techniques, this course fills a gap in training opportunities available in Australia. Given by highly regarded scientists from ANU and CSIRO, this workshop proved to be very popular with participants from Charles Sturt University, Macquarie University, Tasmanian Institute of Agricultural Research, NSW Department of Primary Industry, The Australian Cotton Research Institute, ACPFG , CSIRO, ANU and University of Sydney. For details on workshop offerings see our flyer (PDF).

Photo: Dr Xavier Sirault explains how to measure water potential using the thermocouple psychrometer. (left to right) Meisha Holloway-Phillips (Tasmanian Institute of Agricultural Research), Stewart Field (National Wine & Grape Industry Centre, Charles Sturt Uni), Xavier Sirault (CSIRO Plant Industry), Jason Smith (Viticulture, School of Wine and Food Sciences, Charles Sturt Uni), Gonzalo Estavillo (PEB, ANU). full-sized image

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Centre researchers trained in Technology translation

As part of its ongoing commitment to deliver end-user benefits from its intellectual capital, the Centre augmented the continuing support of UWA's Office of Industry & Innovation by engaging Deloitte Growth Solutions Pty Ltd to deliver a technology translation training course. Held over 2 days at The UWA Old Boatshed on the banks of The Swan River, the course received unanimous acclaim from participants.

"Commercialisation Workshop: an introduction to the commercialisation of valuable intellectual property" broke new ground for most participants, revealing another dimension to their research.

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Centre undergraduate student wins prize at elite Bachelor of Philosophy conference

Ashley Carron-Arthur won the "best seminar" prize at ANU's third annual Bachelor of Philosophy (PhB) conference in the College of Science. The PhB program is an exciting research-focused degree wherein one quarter of the student's study is individually tailored research projects.

The prize is based on the quality of presentation, research content and their ability to answer questions. Significantly, Ashley was giving his first ever talk to this group of high flyers who were in their 2nd and 3rd year of study, yet Ashley's project 'Characterising the PIN6 gene for auxin transport' took a prize. He was co-supervised by Barry Pogson and Chris Cazzonelli.

fullsize Jing Li answers delegates' questions	fullsize His Excellency ZhaoHongzhu and Jing Li talk starch in Steve Smith's laboratory.	fullsize His Excellency ZhaoHongzhu and Jing Li talk starch in Steve Smith's laboratory.
fullsize His Excellency Zhao Hongzhu	Visit to Plant Energy Biology by His Excellency Zhao Hongzhu His Excellency Zhao Hongzhu, 60, newly appointed Party Secretary of Zhejiang Province, China, visited the Perth laboratories of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology with 12 fellow officials from Zhejiang Province, as part of a fact-finding mission and celebrations to mark the 20th anniversary of the sister-states relationship between WA and Zhejiang Province. Zhao was particularly interested in the Centre's work on rice, and was given presentations by Centre members Dr Shaobai Huang and Dr Jing Li, on rice organelle proteomics and mutants of starch metabolism (respectively).	fullsize Shaobai Huang, His Excellence Zhao Hongzhu and Holger Eubel discuss electrophoresis separation of organelles.
fullsize Steve Smith and His Excellency ZhaoHongzhu watch Jing Li's starch demonstration	fullsize Centre Director Ian Small and His Excellency Zhao Hongzhu head to the transcriptomics lab	fullsize Steve Smith and His Excellency ZhaoHongzhu watch Jing Li's starch demonstration

Australian Science Festival, Canberra 2007

Plant Energy Biology provided workshops for school students as part of the Australian Science Festival. Over 200 students extracted plant DNA, calculated the rate of cytoplasmic streaming in a cell, ran gel-electrophoresis and observed plant cells under the microscope. This unique, hands-on experience was appreciated by students and teachers alike. Also in Canberra, Plant Energy Biology’s public outreach efforts at the Night Markets were presented on the local TV news, stimulating the public’s interest in plants and science.

Activities were run by PEB staff and students: Matt Gordon, Steve Graham, Dawar Hussain, Chris Cazzonelli, Gonzalo Estavillo, Melanie Carmody, Luke Hendrickson, Will Pye, Peter Crisp and Sue Cossetto.

PEB staff Will Pye explains cytoplasmic streaming in plant cells to high school students (full size image).

Isolating DNA, using the centrifuge and vortexing were all popular with the school kids (PEB PhD student Matt Gordon with students). (full size image)

Plant Energy Biology at Science in the City 2007

In the lead up to National Science Week in August 2007, Plant Energy Biology exhibited at Science in the City – Sydney's largest science event. Science in the City, hosted by the Australian Museum, provides primary and high school students with a fantastic opportunity to get involved in science and see the huge variety of career opportunities available in science.

The Plant Energy Biology interactive exhibition booth offered exciting activities such as DNA isolation from strawberries, gel electrophoresis separating coloured dyes from chocolate smarties, and a plasma screen showing cytoplasmic streaming in plant cells.

Crushing strawberries and extracting the gooey DNA proved to be particularly popular with the 5 704 high school and 4 140 primary school students who attended the event.

The hands on activities were run by Plant Energy Biology staff: Angela Ho, Michelle Barthet and Renee Simms, plus Sydney University plant biologists: Matt Spencer, Danny Liu, Emilie Cameron and Leonie Whiffen.

The Plant Energy Biology stand at Science in the City, Australian Museum, Sydney, attracted thousands of high school and primary school students. The Plant Powerstation is manned by (l-r) Matt Spencer, Renee Simms and Angela Ho. view image full size

A student at Science in the City isolates DNA from strawberries – one of the popular activities offered by the Plant Energy Biology Plant Powerstation stand. view image full size

Centre welcomes Visiting UC Berkeley student

Making the change from California's mid-summer to Perth's mid-winter wasn't too much of a hardship for Eugene Verkhovsky, Visiting Undergrad Biology Student from UC Berkeley, USA. Eugene is extending his interest in sterol metabolism by spending a semester in Steve Smith's metabolomics lab. Eugene leaves us in November to head back to the northern winter.

Official Visit to UWA by British High Commissioner

The Centre was delighted to host a visit by Her Excellency the Rt.Hon. Helen Liddell, High Commissioner, British High Commission, UK (Canberra).
Before a whistle-stop tour of the Center, Centre Director Ian Small gave a brief presentation on the Centre's research programs. Her Excellency was
treated to a display of research into starch metabolism mutants by Dr Sarah Purdy, and expressed great interest in the Centre's Education, Training and Outreach program. "

Dr A Liddel, HE Rt Hon Helen Liddell and Ms A Turner looking at starch metabolism mutant plants

BioGENEius Challenge

On Thursday 23rd August, Premier of Western Australia and Minister for Science, Hon. Mr Alan Carpenter, accompanied by Minister for Industry and Development Mr Fran Logan visited the western node of PEB to meet three students that are receiving specialist scientific mentoring through PEB’s “Young Scientist” education training and outreach program. These students will be the first students outside North America to participate in the sanofi-aventis International BioGENEius Challenge. This experience is being supported by the Department of Industry and Development and sees the three students completing a scientific research project with PEB scientists and going straight through to the finals of the BioGENEius Challenge in San Diego 2008 which is run in conjuction with the BIO 2008 conference, the largest biotechnology conference in the world. Premier Carpenter also used this opportunity to announce $4.17million funding package for the State’s biotechnology sector.

Premier of Western Australia and Minister for Science Mr Alan Carpenter (left) and Minister of Industry and Resources Mr Fran Logan (right) learning the fine art of pipetting under the watchful eye of Shenton College BioGENEius students, Bindhu Holavanahalli (left) and Vinayak Hutchinson (far right). Photo courtesy of Paul Ricketts (DUIT Multimedia)

ExSCItement at UWA

Tuesday 21st of August saw the start National Science Week celebrations with "ExSCItement", an event held by the western node of PEB at the University of Western Australia, with the support of Agilent Technologies Australia. This event welcomed over 250 school students who have been involved in the centres education program "Powerful Plants" to a day packed full of interactive science and inspiration for a new generation of young scientists. Students were introduced to Nobel Laureates, Professors Barry Marshall and Robin Warren and also recognised award winning Powerful Plants research students who presented their projects.

Eugenia Mazur of Westcoast PEAC (middle) receives her Powerful Plants “Outstanding Science Research Award (Primary)” from Nobel Laureates Professors Barry Marshall (left) and Robin Warren (right).

First Rebeiz Foundation for Basic Research 2006 Paper Prize

On June 16, 2007, the First Rebeiz Foundation for Basic Research 2006 Paper Prize was awarded to Drs. Britta Förster, Ulrike Mathesius and Barry J. Pogson (right) for their paper on the ‘‘Comparative Proteomics of High- Light Stress in the Model Alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (Proteomics 6:4309-4320, 2006).’’ Since Förster and her two coworkers could not attend the ceremony, the award was mailed to the recipients at the Australian National University, Canberra.

The paper was chosen for the award by five world leaders in photosynthesis research. To place this award in context there were 2,092 papers published on photosynthesis in 2006. (Read more...)

Left to right: Barry Pogson, Ulrike Mathesius, and Britta Förster in their laboratory in Australia (2007). The photograph is a courtesy of Förster.

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Steve Smith@Parliament

Steve Smith attended the inaugural Science@Parliament event at Parliament House in Perth (14th August 2007). He briefed members of Parliament about issues surrounding Genetically Modified (GM) crops. Western Australia has a moratorium on commercial growth of GM crops and is currently reviewing this policy. Steve sits on the Ministerial GMO Specialist Advisory Panel which advises the Minister for Agriculture and Food, The Hon Kim Chance MLC.

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Centre Research Associate wins Award at International Conference

Congratulations to Kristina Kühn, Research Associate working in Jim Whelan's group at the Perth node of the Centre. At the recent International Congress on Plant Mitochondrial Biology ( ICPMB2007, Nara, Japan, June 25th - 29th ) Kristina was awarded the prestigious Biochemical Society Poster Prize. Her poster (as a pdf 2M) and Abstract (as a word document or html) described work reconstituting an in vitro transcription system to examine the transcription of mitochondrial genes by the mitochondrial RNAP RpoTm and the dual-targeted RpoTmp.

Kristina received her award from Professor Chris Leaver, Sibthorpian Professor of Plant Science, Head of Department, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, UK, on behalf of the Biochemical Society.

full size Photo: Drs Hema Indrasamy (IP Australia) and Dawar Hussain (PEB) learn details of DIGE.

Functional Genomics Workshop at ANU

Chief Investigator Steve Smith gave a very well received keynote lecture at this year’s workshop. The workshop was well attended with the majority of attendees coming from IP Australia. IP Australia administers the patents, designs, trade marks and Plant Breeder's Rights systems. The Centre sponsors and assists in running the workshop.

UWA Researcher Blazes Trail to Mexico

Ground-breaking research into the link between seed growth and smoke has secured plant biologist Dave Nelson a trip to Mexico.

Dr Nelson, a researcher at the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, at The University of Western Australia, is investigating how it is that some plant seeds are triggered to germinate after exposure to smoke.

His innovative work on a novel group of natural compounds that play a role in regulating plant development has earned him funding to present his research findings at the next International Plant Growth Substance Association conference in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, from July 21 to 25, 2007, an event held once every three years.

See the media release for more details. An MP3 of Dave's interview on ABC Radio is also available.

Photo: David Nelson

Friday, June 1, 2007

Stressed out plants earn UWA researcher overseas ticket

PhD student Adam Carroll, from The University of Western Australian, is about to trade his bike for a jumbo jet as he travels around the world to present his research findings on how plants deal with environmental stress.

Mr Carroll cycles a 30km round-trip each day from his home in the Perth suburb of Nollamara to his laboratory at the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, at The University of Western Australia.

But he’ll soon be making his first trip outside Australia after being selected by three leading international research conferences to present different aspects of his work at international conferences in the UK, China and Japan.

Using his PhD scholarship from the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC), Mr Carroll is investigating how plants tolerate the stress inflicted by harsh environmental factors such as drought, salinity and extreme temperatures.

“Managing stress is a drain on our energy and it’s no different for plants,” Mr Carroll said. “But how they do it is largely unknown so I’m looking at how plants redirect their internal energy supplies to cope with environmentally imposed stresses.”

See the media release for more details.

"Powerful Plants" lauching students into Science

May 9th 2007: "Powerful Plants" lauching students into Science: see the media release for more details.

Photo (left to right): Lister Staveley-Smith, John Mackenzie, Julian Gale, Lyn Beazley, Klaus Regenauer-Lieb, Ian Small and Peter Quinn

Centre Director meets fellow "Fellows"

May 2007: Plant Energy Biology Centre Director, Professor Ian Small recently took the opportunity to meet his fellow WA Premier’s Research Fellows at a 2nd February lunch hosted by Western Australia’s Chief Scientist Professor Lyn Beazley. Under the Fellowship Program, established in 2003/4, Fellows are chosen against demanding criteria, including their demonstrated ability to …

build and sustain world-class research teams with international links
increase the level of external funding brought into Western Australia
significantly enhance research efforts in strategic areas.

Having had the chance to meet each other and compare disciplines at that venue, Fellows met with Premier Alan Carpenter for lunch on 6th February 2007.

Real-time RT-PCR Workshop at ANU

Eight third-year undergraduates were treated to a CPEB Honours Pathway
Option workshop covering the theoretical and practical aspects of real-time RT-PCR. Students prepared and analysed their own samples. The ANU node hosted the workshop which was aimed at students considering an Honours year.

Photo (left to right): Joy Thompson, Rob Allen, Pip Wilson (PEB PhD candidate), Tracy Yuen

2006 Annual Report from Plant Energy Biology

Hot off the press, the Centre’s 2006 Annual Report documents how this exciting new venture is progressing in its goals. It highlights our recent discoveries towards understanding the controls governing the formation of the energy organelles of plants, the primary products they produce, the signalling and communication between energy organelles and the cell nucleus, and their integrated functioning as an energy system. If you want to know more about who we are, what we do, what is plant energy biology, why we work with Arabidopsis, or how oxidative stress and photorespiration emerge as multi-organelle issues for plants, then download our Annual report 2006 . It also sets out what we strive to give back to our community.

2006 Annual Report (high resolution format ~14 Mb)

Wayne Snedden visits the Centre at ANU from Ontario, Canada

The ANU node of the centre has recently hosted Wayne Snedden who met with the staff and students and gave seminars to the ANU-CSIRO Plant Science Seminar Series. Wayne Snedden spoke on the role of calmodulins and calmodulin-like proteins in Arabidopsis. In addition to the science Wayne spent a day in the Snowy Mountains fly fishing.

Photo: Wayne Snedden with Centre researcher Chris Cazzonelli

Grant Cramer visits the Centre at ANU from Nevada, USA

Grant Cramer, University of Nevada, who works on the functional genomics of abiotic stress tolerance in grapevines, recently visited the ANU node of the Centre. Grant presented a seminar to the ANU-CSIRO Plant Science Seminar Series on his research. He had numerous discussions with researchers around Canberra that were well received and enjoyed “testing” the quality of the local wine industry.

Research student from Sheffield visits Centre in Canberra

Katie Field, PhD student from the University of Sheffield UK is spending 4 months in the laboratory of Barry Pogson, ANU in 2007. She was awarded a scholarship from the Sheffield University Excellence Exchange Scheme to work on the metabolomics of drought stress. Her interest and skills are very complementary to the Centre’s.

Per Gardestrom from Umeå Plant Science Centre spends sabbatical in Perth

Professor Per Gardestrom from the Umeå Plant Science Centre in Sweden, spent most of January and February 2007 in the Centre in Perth. Per is a world authority on mitochondrial function and its relationship to photosynthesis, and he was Editor-in-Chief of Physiologia Plantarum for many years. His sabbatical visit provided the opportunity to discuss common research interests and to build collaborations. Per gave two Centre lectures and a seminar during his visit. The Umeå Plant Science Centre (a Swedish Centre of Excellence) and the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology are now seeking to establish a formal collaboration providing the opportunity for joint projects and exchanges of students and research scientists.

Top ranked universities in Life and Agricultural Sciences

The 2006 Shanghai Jiao Tong rankings for university research quality places the Centre's 3 universities in the top 5 in Australia. In Life and Agricultural Sciences, UWA and ANU ranked 1st and 2nd (37th and 44th in the World). ANU is top in Natural Sciences and Mathematics while Sydney is top for Engineering, Technology and Computer Sciences.

Click here for more information in the recent Australian Newspaper article

Photo: Young Scientist, Vinayak Hutchinson of Shenton College experiencing cutting edge scientific techniques with PhD student Lois Ho at ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology laboratories.

Centre 'Young Scientist Program'

The Plant Energy Biology Young Scientist program introduces gifted and talented secondary students to cutting edge research and involves them in scientific project work with world class scientists at the Plant Energy Centre laboratories. Vinayak Hutchinson is a student in the Academic Talent Program at Shenton College and has been identified as a brilliant young scientist by his teachers. Whilst in Year 9 he has just successfully completed Year 11 maths units and will be studying several Year 12 subjects in 2007. Due to his strength in mathematics and science subjects Vinayak was identified as the perfect first candidate for the Young Scientist program, which seeks to enrich and enhance the natural talents of young scientists and encourage them towards careers in cutting edge scientific research. Having developed the program, Yvonne Van Der Ploeg Education, Training and Outreach Officer for Plant Energy Biology is excited to welcome Vinayak as the first participant to the program.

Click here to read more (media release .DOC)

Julian Tonti-Filippini

Centre Student receives Hackett Scholarship in 2007

Julian Tonti-Filippini undertook his honours year in Genetics in the Centre in 2006, and joins the centre in 2007 as a PhD student working on proteogenomic mapping and the exploration of peptide mass spectral data from Arabidopsis. Julian has been awarded the prestigious Hackett Scholarship from The University of Western Australia, indicating he was in the top two ranked PhD candidates accepted by the University. He was also awarded the Ernest and Evelyn Havill Shacklock top-up scholarship for the top ranked PhD candidate for the Faculty of Life and Physical Sciences.

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