RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

Research and teaching in the Faculty of Science at Wollongong makes a valuable contribution to Australian society and to our understanding of a wide range of important scientific issues.

The vitality and quality of research in the Faculty of Science is demonstrated by the Faculty’s high level of competitive research funding and record of publishing in prestigious international journals.

Other examples of international and local recognition for our research include the following recent achievements and awards to staff and students.

IN THE AREA OF MEDICAL RESEARCH

Award for outstanding contribution to medicinal chemistry research in Australia.

Professor John Bremner received the Royal Australian Chemical Institute’s 2001 Adrien Albert Award for outstanding contribution to medicinal chemistry research in Australia. He presented the Adrien Albert lecture at the World Chemistry Congress held in Brisbane in July. Professor Bremner was the co-discoverer of the first alkaloids from the large plant family, Proteaceae. He has made skilful use of alkaloids as starting materials in synthesis of potential new drugs. He has also pioneered an innovative approach to medicinal chemistry teaching in Australia. On going medicinal chemistry research is vital because of increasing resistance to current medications for infectious disease resulting from the overuse of drugs as well as the ability of certain disease-causing agents to change their structure to fight prescribed medications. A common theme of this work is to locate new compounds that can be developed into new antibacterial agents that will help overcome the problem of resistance to current antibiotics. Professor Bremner, along with a team of co-workers including marine biologist Dr. Kirsten Benkendorff, has achieved some success in this area with the discovery of a novel antibacterial lead compound in the eggs of marine snails. Work is currently in progress to modify the properties of this new compound to turn it into a clinical drug.

Cambridge research scholarship award to study the causes of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases

A recent graduate from the Department of Chemistry, Dr. Andrew Aquilina has been awarded the prestigious Howard Florey Fellowship in Biomedical Sciences. Dr. Aquilina will use his Fellowship to work at Cambridge University, UK, using advanced structural techniques to study a class of molecules known as chaperone proteins that exist in all living organisms. These proteins are of interest because of their possible involvement in diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

In the area of polymer and materials research

A conference on multifunctional polymers organised by the Intelligent Polymer Research Institute (IPRI) attracts visit by Chemistry Nobel Prize winner for 2000.

Professor Alan MacDiarmid of the University of Pennsylvania won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry last year for his revolutionary discovery that polymers can be made to conduct electricity. Conducting polymers will reshape the new millennium as they can replace metals to create cheap, disposable electronic products. The University is also fortunate to have Professor MacDiarmid as chair of the IPRI International Advisory Board. The Multifunctional Polymer Conference brought eminent scientists from around the world to discuss electronic noses and other polymer senses, corrosion protection, light emitting polymers, photovoltaic polymers, polymeric muscles and electronic fabrics.
o Professor Leon Kane-Maguire was selected to give the Royal Australian Chemical Institute’s 2001 Nyholm Youth Lectures on ‘Plastics with Attitude’
The Nyholm lectures given by a distinguished educator/scientist present a ‘hot’ area of chemistry in an interesting and entertaining way to high school students throughout New South Wales. Professor Kane-Maguire’s lectures described some of the latest research developments from the Intelligent Polymer Research Institute.

In the area of Environmental Science

A major award to marine biologist to assist NSW Fisheries in achieving a sustainable, lucrative fishery in NSW waters.

Dr. Ron West of the Environmental Science Unit has been awarded a large grant (jointly with NSW Fisheries) by the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation to study the ‘Life history, reproductive biology, habitat use and fishery status of the eastern garfish and river garfish in NSW’. Over the past 50 years’ NSW commercial landings of garfishes have ranged between 250 and 400 tonnes per year with a potential value of up to $1m per year. Unfortunately, despite over a century of exploitation, little is known about the biology, life history, or habitat requirements of the two main NSW garfish species and no research has been conducted on the fishery itself. With a dramatic drop in catches and concern about the degradation of key estuarine habitats, there now exists an urgent need to carry out research on these two exploited species.

In the Area of Biological Sciences

Antarctic research into global change boosted by the Smithsonian Fellowship

PhD student, Jane Wasley, is examining how Antarctic vegetation is responding to global climate change. This work, within the Institute for Conservation Biology and supervised by Dr. Sharon Robinson and Assoc Professor Andy Davis, aims to determine how plants in Antarctica respond to changes in water availability, nutrient levels and UV-B radiation. Research is funded through grants from the Australian Antarctic Division. In addition, comparative research in the USA and Costa Rica was facilitated by a Smithsonian Institute Fellowship awarded to Jane to work with Dr. Catherine Lovelock at the Smithsonian Institute. Part of Jane’s PhD also involved work with Professor Marianne Popp at the Institute of Ecology and Conservation Biology, University of Vienna, Austria, on how sugar compounds allow Antarctic moss to survive desiccation.

In the area of Earth Science

Earth Sciences research is greatly enhanced by the acquisition of a world-class dating facility and the expertise of an Australian Research Council (ARC) Senior Research Fellow

Dr. Richard Roberts, a Wollongong PhD graduate and formerly of University of Melbourne, who took up a position here this year, has been awarded a prestigious ARC Senior Research Fellowship for five years’ to research ‘single-grain optical dating: systematics, statistics, and applications in the earth and archaeological sciences’. As well as refining and developing the dating method itself, Dr. Roberts will apply reliable dating to two of the most important current debates in world archaeology: the timing of arrival of modern humans in Indonesia and Australia, and the age of the spectacular rock art of northern Australia, a major class of evidence for fully modern human behaviour. In addition, these modern dating techniques can be used to analyse geological deposits containing high-resolution records of Quaternary climate change and evidence for major shifts in the flora and fauna; they can also provide new insights into the role played by biological organisms in the formation of soils and the disturbance of archaeological deposits, and the significance of soils as longterm carbon sinks.

School of Earth and Environmental Sciences provides leader of international UNESCO project on coastal evolution and sea-level change

Associate Professor Colin Murray-Wallace is Project Leader of International Geological Correlation Program Project 437, ‘Coastal environmental change during sea-level highstands’, a project funded by UNESCO and the International Union of Geological Sciences. Over 400 scientists from 72 countries are currently involved in this project, which is funded for five years (1999-2003) and has held annual meetings in Hawaii, Argentina and the United Kingdom. One focus of the IGCP Project 437 is studying the response of coastal environments to sea-level change.