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Science In Public

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$185 million investment to fast-track treatments for rare and ‘untreatable’ cancers

A private public partnership to strengthen Australia’s position at the forefront of the cancer treatment revolution.

Announced by the Australian Government at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research today.

Over the past decade, immunotherapy and other new treatments have transformed outcomes for thousands of Australians diagnosed with cancer. However, 46,000 Australians a year are diagnosed with cancers with limited treatment options.

[Read more…] about $185 million investment to fast-track treatments for rare and ‘untreatable’ cancers

National Grant Round Recipients for 2022

Congratulations to the 35 recipients of National Science Week grants for 2022.

Minister for Science and Technology The Hon Melissa Price MP said “Science plays a huge part in our daily life, even if we don’t always realise. The great events and activities in National Science Week are not only fun and interactive, but they can show us just how much we use science in our everyday life.

“This year, we’ve got a huge range of events and there’s something for everyone, whether it’s learning about the science of bush tucker, quantum physics, robotics or even how our bodies work.”

Read the Minister’s press release.

More than $500,000 was allocated to projects from across Australia. The grant round was conducted by AusIndustry.

[Read more…] about National Grant Round Recipients for 2022

Inspiring the next generation for National Science Week

Media release from the Hon Melissa Price MP, Minister for Science and Technology

A quantum technology road trip, robotics competitions and an inflatable digestive system ‘poo palace’ are just some of the science projects being supported by the Morrison Government’s 2022 National Science Week grants.

Thirty-five public science projects will share in more than $500,000 as part of Australia’s annual celebration of science and technology. 

The grants include funding for:

  • The University of Melbourne’s interactive travelling science and art show bringing quantum physics to regional and rural areas.
  • Student Robotics Club of South Australia’s Robot Scrimmage competition day where students can work together to battle it out.
  • The Hunter Medical Research Institute’s oversized inflatable re-creation of the digestive system where children can conduct interactive food experiments and learn about digestion.

Minister for Science and Technology Melissa Price said National Science Week was a great way to encourage interest and participation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). 

[Read more…] about Inspiring the next generation for National Science Week

Single test for over 50 genetic diseases will cut diagnosis from decades to days

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  • A single DNA test has been developed that can screen a patient’s genome for over 50 genetic neurological and neuromuscular diseases such as Huntington’s disease, muscular dystrophies and fragile X syndrome.
  • The new test avoids a ‘diagnostic odyssey’ for patients that can take decades.
  • The team, from Australia, UK and Israel, has shown, in a paper today in Science Advances that the test is accurate. They are now working on validations to make it available in pathology labs.
  • They expect it to be standard in global pathology labs within five years.

A new DNA test, developed by researchers at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney and collaborators from Australia, UK and Israel, has been shown to identify a range of hard-to-diagnose neurological and neuromuscular genetic diseases quicker and more-accurately than existing tests.

[Read more…] about Single test for over 50 genetic diseases will cut diagnosis from decades to days

What ingredients went into the galactic blender to create the Milky Way?

Our galaxy is a giant ‘smoothie’ of blended stars and gas but a new study tells us where the components came from

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In its early days, the Milky Way was like a giant smoothie, as if galaxies consisting of billions of stars, and an enormous amount of gas had been thrown together into a gigantic blender. But a new study picks apart this mixture by analysing individual stars to identify which originated inside the galaxy and which began life outside.

[Read more…] about What ingredients went into the galactic blender to create the Milky Way?

Young adults with old knees: preventing arthritis after ACL knee injuries

Half of people who have ACL knee surgery get arthritis by 40, but exercise therapy study by La Trobe researcher / ex-AFLW footballer shows we can keep people active

Australians have the highest rates of ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) knee injuries worldwide, and young Australians are most at risk, with a 74% increase in knee surgery in people under 25 since 2000. Half the people who’ve had a knee reconstruction develop knee arthritis in their 30s, which means a less active lifestyle and potentially even a knee replacement in middle-age.

La Trobe University researcher Dr Brooke Patterson, a former basketballer and AFLW footballer, is driven by her own ACL injury to prevent the rise of this crippling condition and keep people playing sport for longer.

[Read more…] about Young adults with old knees: preventing arthritis after ACL knee injuries

Building a silicon quantum computer chip atom by atom

An atomic array in silicon paves the way for large scale devices

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A University of Melbourne led team have perfected a technique for embedding single atoms in a silicon wafer one-by-one. Their technology offers the potential to make quantum computers using the same methods that have given us cheap and reliable conventional devices containing billions of transistors.

“We could ‘hear’ the electronic click as each atom dropped into one of 10,000 sites in our prototype device. Our vision is to use this technique to build a very, very large-scale quantum device,” says Professor David Jamieson of The University of Melbourne, lead author of the Advanced Materials paper describing the process.

[Read more…] about Building a silicon quantum computer chip atom by atom

Too much heavy metal stops stars producing

Stars evolve according to the elements they manufacture

Stars are giant factories that produce most of the elements in the Universe – including the elements in us, and in the Earth’s metal deposits. But what stars produce changes over time.

Two new papers published in MNRAS shed light on how the youngest generation of stars will eventually stop contributing metals back to the universe.

The authors are all members of ASTRO 3D, the ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions. They are based at Monash University, the Australian National University (ANU), and the Space Telescope Science Institute.

[Read more…] about Too much heavy metal stops stars producing

Closing in on the first light in the Universe

Research using new antennas in the Australian hinterland has reduced background noise and brought us closer to finding a 13-billion-year-old signal

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The early Universe was dark, filled with a hot soup of opaque particles. These condensed to form neutral hydrogen which coalesced to form the first stars in what astronomers call the Epoch of Reionisation (EoR).

“Finding the weak signal of this first light will help us understand how the early stars and galaxies formed,” says Dr Christene Lynch from ASTRO 3D, the ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions.

Dr Lynch is first author on a paper published in Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia. She and her colleagues from Curtin University and the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research have reduced the background noise in their observations allowing them to home in on the elusive signal.

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2021 Metcalf Prizes for Stem Cell Research

More ‘good cells’, safer treatments for leukaemia patients – Siok Tey, Brisbane

Making a virtual human cell to explore how we’re made and how we can regenerate damaged organs – Pengyi Yang, Sydney

WINNERS OF THE NATIONAL STEM CELL FOUNDATION OF AUSTRALIA’S METCALF PRIZES ANNOUNCED TODAY

SCIENTISTS AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEWS:

Research to improve bone marrow transplantation and to use computer science to understand how stem cells work has won two Australian researchers $55,000 each in the annual Metcalf Prizes for Stem Cell Research, awarded by the National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia.

[Read more…] about 2021 Metcalf Prizes for Stem Cell Research