Hobart’s Kaylene Young believes she can persuade lazy stem cells in our brain to repair brain injuries and even treat diseases such as multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s.
Melbourne’s Jose Polo is unveiling the details of how stem cells can be produced from adult cells through a process of identity theft and reprogramming.
Today both receive inaugural $50,000 Metcalf Prizes from the National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia in recognition of their leadership in stem cell research.
And tomorrow, we release the next of our FameLab stories.
Dr Francis Torres, a physicist at the University of Western Australia, has developed a mirror device which could help find signs of life on Mars, and identify minerals and water deposits here on Earth.
“Our idea is to connect the sensors in existing space exploration tools to our amplifier so they can look deeper underground and find smaller and hard-to-find targets such as hidden mineral deposits, water or other bacterial life,” says Francis, who developed the resonator mirror as part of his PhD.
According to Francis, the amplifier technology could also enhance the detection sensitivity of Earth exploration tools and medical sensors.
And Michael Smout, our FameLab national champion, is now in the UK to compete in the world final talking about worm spit that heals and kills.
Also in national tours:
- The Graeme Clark Oration: Organs on Chips – in Melbourne on Thursday
- String theory with Michio Kaku – Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney
- And the Science of Doctor Who in Melbourne next week
In this bulletin:
- New national stem cell prizes awarded today
- Next up from FameLab – a ‘tango’ between light and mirrors
- National science tours this week
- Science in Public – our role
Cellular identify theft and waking up our brains – Metcalf Prizes in stem cell research awarded today
- Could we wake up our brain’s stem cells to repair injury and disease – Kaylene Young, Hobart
- How adult cells change identity as they’re turned into stem cells – Jose Polo, Melbourne
Profiles and photos available at: www.stemcellfoundation.net.au
Dr Kaylene Young of the Menzies Research Institute Tasmania and Dr Jose Polo of Monash University have both received inaugural $50,000 Metcalf Prizes from the National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia in recognition of their leadership in stem cell research.
Kaylene Young believes she can persuade lazy stem cells in our brain to repair brain injuries and even treat diseases such as multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s.
Kaylene and her colleagues have found neural stem cells and related progenitor cells – which feed, protect and assist nerve cells – in the outer part of the brain most prone to damage, known as the cortex.
By understanding the behaviour and function of these cells, they one day hope to use them for treating nervous and brain disorders or damage.
“Our ultimate goal is to harness the regenerative capacity of these cells for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, mental health disorders, and traumatic brain injury,” says Kaylene.
Kaylene is a National Health and Medical Research Council RD Wright Biomedical Research Fellow and Research Group Leader at the Menzies Research Institute Tasmania at the University of Tasmania.
The progenitor cells are the only cells, apart from other neurons, with which nerve cells communicate electrically, Kaylene says, and that means there may be an electrical means of controlling them or modifying their behaviour to induce regeneration.
Jose Polo is unveiling the details of how stem cells can be produced from adult cells through a process of identity theft and reprogramming.
His work in unravelling the development of induced pluripotent stem (iPS)cells -stem cells generated from adult cells in the skin, liver, blood and elsewhere – is an important step on a path which could lead to treating degenerative diseases and understanding some cancers.
Jose is a Sylvia and Charles Viertel Senior Medical Research Fellow at the Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology and the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute at Monash University.
“We’ve created the Metcalf Prizes to encourage early-career stem cell research pioneers,” says Dr Graeme Blackman, OAM, the Chairman of the Foundation.
“We were stunned by the quality of the applications. Our inaugural winners Kaylene Young and Jose Polo stood out from a remarkable field of young research leaders. We can expect great things from Australian stem cell research in next few years.”
The awards are named for Professor Donald Metcalf, AC, who transformed cancer treatment with his discoveries of critical molecules that tell stem cells to multiply and mature to boost the immune system.
Media contacts:
- Jose Polo, Monash University, 0407 745 998, (03) 9905 0005, jose.polo@monash.edu.au
- Kaylene Young, University of Tasmania, 0427 618 366, (03) 6226 7745, kaylene.young@utas.edu.au
- David Zerman, National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia, 0418 346 999, (03) 9524 3166, david@stemcellfoundation.net.au
- Niall Byrne, Science in Public, 0417 131 977, niall@scienceinpublic.com.au
- Laura Boland, Science in Public, 0408 166 426, laura@scienceinpublic.com.au
A ‘tango’ between light and mirrors
…could help find signs of life on Mars, and identify minerals and water deposits here on Earth.
Tuesday 3 June 2014
Scientist available for interview in Perth on Tuesday 3 June
Dr Francis Torres, a physicist at the University of Western Australia, has developed the mirror device at the heart of a new amplifier technology, which uses an interaction between a high-powered laser and mirror motion to magnify subtle metal, temperature and biological vibrations so they are more easily detected.
“Our idea is to connect the sensors in existing space exploration tools to our amplifier so they can look deeper underground and find smaller and hard-to-find targets such as hidden mineral deposits, water or other bacterial life,” says
Francis, who developed the resonator mirror as part of his PhD.
According to Francis, the amplifier technology could also enhance the detection sensitivity of Earth exploration tools and medical sensors.
The sensors of existing exploration tools vibrate when they detect something in the ground; however, if the object is too small or too deep, the vibration may be too subtle for the exploration tool to read/measure.
The amplifier technology works by attaching the sensor of an existing exploration tool to the back of the resonator mirror. When the sensor picks up a subtle vibration, it makes the resonator mirror vibrate as well. These vibrations then interact with the amplifier’s laser and two ordinary mirrors to increase the resonator’s vibrations so that the exploration tool can more easily read them.
“The amplification device is based on an interaction between laser light and the vibrations of a mirror. It’s a bit like a quantum tango,” says Francis, who presented his work at the FameLab Australia national final in Fremantle on
13 May.
“This dancing happens when a laser light bounces back and forth between two mirrors. These mirrors shake because of temperature and we call this shaking ‘sound’,” says Francis.
“Now picture sound and light as dancing partners. By mimicking each other’s shapes and moves, it’s possible for light to amplify the mirror motion. So, when we connect the other side of the resonator to available sensors, the laser light can amplify the small vibrations coming from the sensor, making them easier to detect.”
Francis collaborated with researchers from Taiwan, France, Queensland and Perth to fabricate the tiny silicon resonator mirrors, which measure 1mm by 1mm, trialling them in vacuum tanks and on laser and optical tools.
The researchers have now built a small amplifier, which they are testing at the Gravity Discovery Centre, an hour north of Perth.
“At this stage it’s a little early to send my mirrors out into space; however, our results are very promising for improving existing technology in a range of fields, such as earth and space exploration, biology and medicine,” Francis says.
“I dream of seeing Mars-rover like vehicles exploring other worlds and using a device with my name on it: the Framplifer,” he says.
FameLab is a global competition for early career scientists. Francis was a finalist in the Western Australia state competition, and represented WA in the national final.
Media contacts:
- Francis Torres, University of Western Australia, 0420 631 964, francis.achilles.torres@gmail.com
- Niall Byrne, Science in Public, 0417 131 977, niall@scienceinpublic.com.au
- Laura Boland, Science in Public, 0408 166 426, (03) 9398 1416, laura@scienceinpublic.com.au
National science tours
Graeme Clark Oration: organs on chips
Thursday 5 June – Melbourne
The 2014 Graeme Clark Oration will be delivered by Donald Ingber – a founder of the emerging field of biologically inspired engineering.
His most recent innovation is a technology for building tiny, complex, three-dimensional models of living human organs, or “Organs on Chips”, that mimic complicated human functions as a way to replace traditional animal-based methods for testing of drugs and establishment of human disease models.
Details at: http://ict4lifesciences.microevents.com.au/event/2014-graeme-clark-oration
Michio Kaku: the fundamentals of physics, for the first time in Australia
- Thursday 5 June – Brisbane
- Friday 6 June – Melbourne
- Saturday 7 June- Sydney
Michio Kaku continues Albert Einstein’s legacy and dream to unite the four fundamental forces of nature into one ‘unified field theory’, a theory that seeks to summarise all fundamental laws of the universe in one simple equation.
It’s string theory like you have never heard it before… accessible and understandable.
The Science of Doctor Who
13, 14 and 15 June – Melbourne
Rob Lloyd and his crew explore the mysteries of Doctor Who in an interactive audience experience. Featuring plenty of original scenes from the iconic BBC television series, we investigate time travel and teleportation, ask if regeneration is possible, and explain how the TARDIS can be bigger on the inside.
Details at: http://riaus.org.au/doctorwho
Science in Public
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