A calcium supplement jelly made out of seaweed and lobster shells. Image sourced from: ABC News: Andie Noonan

Will kids want to eat seaweed jelly? Can the CSIRO ON Accelerate Program help?

A joint team presentation from Flinders researchers, CSIRO staff and Flinders Partners in Melbourne on the 6 April 2017 aimed to show investors just how and why kids should be eating it.

The seaweed jelly has been developed as a new calcium rich source of food to tackle the problem of only one in six people eating dairy. To be marketed specifically for children, the jelly is made from seaweed and lobster shells - a waste product in the lobster processing industry. Other methods of trying to increase calcium intake in children has not been successful in the past, but the researchers have developed this tasty jelly as a more enticing option. By using lobster shells waste product, and seaweed that is an underused resource, the cost effective jelly packaged in a lunchbox style ‘squishy pack’ was a hit on the final day of presentations.

SeaNU team: Dr Michael Conlon, Professor Wei Zhang, Mr Peng Su, and Dr Rebecca Perry
Image sourced from: CSIRO

The SeaNU team, consisting of Professor Wei Zhang (Flinders Centre for Marine Bioproducts Development), Mr Peng Su (Flinders Centre for Marine Bioproducts Development), Dr Michael Conlon (CSIRO Health & Biosecurity), Dr Damien Belobrajdic (CSIRO Health & Biosecurity), and Dr Rebecca Perry (Flinders Partners) took part in the 12 week program that culminated in the presentation day. This Flinders team was the only one out of the ten selected for ON Accelerate 3 that included staff from the CSIRO. The final ‘Demo Day’ included over 200 industry and stakeholder attendees, including from the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, the Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources, GE, DST Group, AGL Energy, Telstra, Merrill Lynch, and many others from startups, law firms and the education sector.

“Australia has a largely untapped resource of renewable seaweed (macroalgae) varieties which has so far been under-explored,” Wei said. “We have the dream here of developing a substantial seaweed; also other ocean-derived nutritional resource processing industry in South Australia based on this new efficient and environmentally friendly processing technology.”

Each team selected for ON Accelerate receives a $15,000 OPEX budget to assist them with participation in the program. SeaNU was awarded a $10,000 bonus at the midway point of the program for high performing teams. This highly competitive program is aimed at increasing the entrepreneurial skills of researchers by pairing them with mentors, hosting face-to-face workshops and ending with the Demo Day. ON Accelerate 4 will be opening later in the year and to register interest in the program, fill in the online form at the ON Accelerate page.

How about a new way to monitor and treat irregular heartbeats? Or developing new mobile technologies for intervention in heart disease? Or just work on providing better information so that the right intervention and prevention measures can be selected? The best way might be to attempt all three, and this is what Associate Professor Anand Ganesan, Matthew Flinders Fellow in Electrophysiology, is going to do.

Irregular heartbeats are the most common form of heart disease, with 1 in 4 people showing signs of it during their lifetime. Heart disease is still the number 1 killer in Australia and around the world.

Anand’s team is working on developing advanced computational techniques to analyse and understand atrial fibrillation (AF) – where the heart beats in an irregular fashion, to allow for faster, safer and more effective AF treatments.

The team is also interested in using mobile devices in community health. His team has developed mobile apps to monitor AF symptoms, and is working with Stepathlon, an international employee health and wellness provider (used by some of Australia’s largest companies), to improve large scale mobile health and lifestyle programs. In a previous study, published in the prestigious Journal of the American College of Cardiology, his team demonstrated that these types of large scale mobile health programs can lead to reproducible improvements in physical activity, sedentary behaviour and weight.

A Future Leader Fellowship from the Heart Foundation has been awarded to Anand based upon the three aims. The Future Leader Fellowship supports the best and brightest cardiovascular researchers who are within 10 years post PhD to develop their own research portfolios and become leaders of cardiovascular research groups.

“It is a real privilege to be funded by the Heart Foundation to carry out my research team’s program….we really genuinely hope to make a difference to the cardiovascular health of Australians and people around the world,” said Anand.

Nine Flinders Research Higher Degree students were recently acknowledged for the excellence of their research and communication skills.

The winners of the Flinders 2016 Best Research Higher Degree Student Publications were awarded at a ceremony in late February. Winners received $1,000 and were presented with a certificate at the ceremony. To be eligible for the award, the student must be enrolled in a Research Higher Degree at Flinders and the publication published in the current year or year before.

The winning papers and supervisors were:

Faculty of Education, Humanities and Law

Selim Reza - Law
"Hyper-individualized Recruitment: Rural-urban Labour Migration and Precarious Construction Work in Bangladesh." Migration, Mobility, & Displacement 2 (2): 40-61.
Supervisors: Dr Maria Giannacopoulos and Associate Professor Marinella Marmo

Susan Arthure - Humanities and Creative Arts (Archaeology)
"Being Irish: The Nineteenth Century South Australian Community of Baker’s Flat." Archaeologies, 11(2), pp169-188
Supervisors: Associate Professor Heather Burke and Dr Alice Gorman

Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences

Leena Baghdadi - Medicine
"The Impact of Traditional Cardiovascular Risk Factors on Cardiovascular Outcomes in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis" PLoS One. 2015 Feb 17;10(2):e0117952. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0117952. eCollection 2015. (Baghdadi LR, Woodman RJ, Shanahan EM, Mangoni AA.)
Supervisor: Professor Arduino Mangoni

Antonio Inserra - Medicine
"Inflammasome signaling affects anxiety- and depressive-like behavior and gut microbiome composition." Molecular Psychiatry 2016 Jun;21(6):797-805. doi: 10.1038/mp.2016.46. Epub 2016 Apr 19. (Wong ML, Inserra A, Lewis MD, Mastronardi CA, Leong L, Choo J, Kentish S, Xie P, Morrison M, Wesselingh SL, Rogers GB, Licinio J.)
Supervisor: Professor Julio Licinio

Faculty of Science and Engineering

Christopher Brauer - School of Biological Sciences
"Riverscape genomics of a threatened fish across a hydroclimatically heterogeneous river basin." Molecular Ecology, 25,  5093–5113. (Brauer, C. J., Hammer, M. P. and Beheregaray, L. B.)
Supervisor: Professor Luciano Beheregaray

Gholamreza Kefayati - School of Computer Science, Engineering and Mathematics
"Lattice Boltzmann Method for simulation of mixed convection of a Bingham fluid in a lid-driven cavity." International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 103, 725-743 (H.R. Kefayati and R.R. Huilgol.)
Supervisor: Professor Raj Huilgol

Max Worthington - School of Chemical and Physical Sciences
"Sulfur-Limonene Polysulfide: A Material Synthesized Entirely from Industrial By-Products and Its Use in Removing Toxic Metals from Water and Soil." Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 55, 1714-1718 (M. P. Crockett, A. M. Evans, M. J. H. Worthington*, I. S. Albuquerque, A. D. Slattery, C. T. Gibson, J. A. Campbell, D. A. Lewis, G. J. L. Bernardes, J. M. Chalker.)
Supervisor: Dr Justin Chalker

Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences

Jamie-Lee Pennesi - School of Psychology
"A systematic review of the existing models of disordered eating: Do they inform the development of effective interventions?" Clinical Psychology Review, 43, 175–192. (Pennesi, J.L., & Wade, T.D.)
Supervisor: Professor Tracey Wade

Benjamin McLean - School of Psychology
"Association of the jumping to conclusions and evidence integration biases with delusions in psychosis: A detailed meta-analysis." Schizophrenia Bulletin. (McLean, B.F., Mattiske, J.K., & Balzan, R.P.)
Supervisor: Dr Ryan Balzan and Dr Julie Mattiske

What to do after holding a well-attended international workshop at Flinders? Get a grant so that papers from the workshop can be shared with the rest of the international community, of course.

3D model and hologram of maritime archaeology
on show at the UNITWIN workshop

This is what Jonathan Benjamin and Wendy Van Duivenvoorde, School of Archaeology, have been successful in achieving. They have been awarded $12,208 from the Honor Frost Foundation (HFF) Maritime Archaeology Research grant for the production of an international, peer reviewed monograph.

HFF is aimed predominately at supporting maritime archaeology in the eastern Mediterranean. They also offer small grant awards that support the development of regional research, regional capacity building, and developing the discipline. The creation of a peer reviewed monograph from papers based upon, but not limited to, the workshop held on 24 and 25 November 2016 at Flinders.

“The papers presented will form the core of an international, peer reviewed edited volume. Other international specialists who were not able to make the workshop have been invited to contribute to add to the quality papers from the workshop,” said Jonathan. 

The workshop included speakers from France, South Korea, UK, Egypt, and Australia (local and interstate) and was a UNESCO UNITWIN workshop. UNESCO is the United Nationals Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, with UNITWIN being the abbreviation for the University Twinning and Networking Programme under UNESCO.

The aim of UNITWIN is to build university networks and encourage inter-university cooperation through the transfer of knowledge across borders. Flinders is the current Chair Holder of the UNITWIN Maritime Archaeology network.

The deadline for paper/chapter submissions is 1 April 2017 to john.mccarthy@flinders.edu.au. The aim is for the book launch to be held by late 2018.

MEDICINE, NURSING & HEALTH SCIENCES
Dr Lily Xiao, School of Nursing and Midwifery, was awarded $5,000 from the National Social Science Foundation of China for the project Developing skilled workforce in long-term care in community care settings to achieve healthy ageing outcomes.

Associate Professor Stuart Brierley, Matthew Flinders Fellow in Gastrointestinal Neuroscience, was awarded $220,000 from Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Inc for the project Investigating the mechanisms of action of Linaclotide on colonic and bladder afferent pathways.

Dr Mary-Louise Rogers, Motor Neurone Disease and Neurotrophic Research Laboratory, was awarded $94,925 from the Motor Neurone Disease Research Institute for the project CSF and serum p75 extracellular domain as validation of a fluid  biomarker for MND.

Dr Ivanka Pritchard, School of Health Sciences, was awarded $10,000 from Cystic Fibrosis Australia for the project Determining factors that influence the acceptance and adoption of a gene therapy for cystic fibrosis airway disease.

SCIENCE & ENGINEERING
Dr Kate Laver, School of Health Science, and Professor Maria Crotty, School of Health Science, were awarded $276,695 as part of the Cognitive Decline Partnership Centre for the project Evidence-based programs to improve the wellbeing of people with dementia and their carers: Implementing COPE in the Australian health context.

Professor Karen Reynolds, Matthew Flinders Distinguished Professor, was awarded $44,010 from the Aged Care Industry IT Company Pty Ltd for the project A technology roadmap for the aged care sector in Australia.

Professor Sabine Dittmann, School of Biological Sciences, has been awarded $4,334 from the Nature Conservancy Australia Program for the project Benthic sediment sampling for baseline survey of proposed artificial reef in Gulf St Vincent.

Dr Diane Colombelli-Negrel, School of Biological Sciences, has been awarded $4,980 from the Foundation for National Parks and Wildlife for the project 15.44 Testing Bioacoustic Recorders to survey Little Penguin populations.

If you live in a remote or regional area, getting to the doctor is often substantially more arduous than a quick drive down the road. Magnify the complication and expand the timeframe should medical tests be required and by the time treatment is considered, prescribed and dispensed the entire undertaking becomes unwieldy, inconvenient and often, sadly, ignored. Researchers at the Flinders International Centre for Point-of-Care Testing are making multiple trips and long wait times for remote and regional health care users a thing of the past with innovative research that leads to local programs that ease the burden of managing chronic conditions such as diabetes and, in so doing, save lives.

For the full story and further Flinders Research Impact stories, see the Research Impact section. For assistance in creating a Flinders Research Impact case study, contact Dr Brodie Beales.

Three Flinders researchers were announced as new appointments to the ARC College of Experts in November 2016. Professor Michael Brunger, (School of Chemical and Physical Sciences), Professor Amanda Ellis, (School of Chemical and Physical Sciences), and Professor Sarah Wendt (School of Social and Policy Studies), join current Flinders College of Experts members, Professor Melanie Oppenheimer (School of History and International Studies) and Professor John Roddick (School of Computer Science, Engineering and Mathematics).

The College of Experts members assess and rank ARC grant applications, provide funding recommendations, and provide strategic advice to the ARC on emerging disciplines and cross-disciplines.

“Platypus”, 1810 / by John W. Lewin

Flinders and University of Adelaide researchers have discovered remarkable evolutionary changes to insulin regulation in two of the nation’s most iconic native animal species – the platypus and the echidna – which could pave the way for new treatments for type 2 diabetes in humans. The findings, now published in the Nature journal Scientific Reports, reveal that the same hormone produced in the gut of the platypus to regulate blood glucose is also surprisingly produced in their venom.

The research is led by Professor Frank Grützner at the University of Adelaide and Associate Professor Briony Forbes at Flinders. The hormone, known as glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), is normally secreted in the gut of both humans and animals, stimulating the release of insulin to lower blood glucose. But GLP-1 typically degrades within minutes. In people with type 2 diabetes, the short stimulus triggered by GLP-1 isn’t sufficient to maintain a proper blood sugar balance. As a result, medication that includes a longer lasting form of the hormone is needed to help provide  an extended release of insulin.

“Our research team has discovered that monotremes – our iconic platypus and echidna – have evolved changes in the hormone GLP-1 that make it resistant to the rapid degradation normally seen in humans,” says co-lead author Professor Frank Grützner, from the University of Adelaide’s School of Biological Sciences and the Robinson Research Institute.

“We’ve found that GLP-1 is degraded in monotremes by a completely different mechanism. Further analysis of the genetics of monotremes reveals that there seems to be a kind of molecular warfare going on between the function of GLP-1, which is produced in the gut but surprisingly also in their venom,” he said.

The platypus produces a powerful venom during breeding season, which is used in competition among males for females. “We’ve discovered conflicting functions of GLP-1 in the platypus: in the gut as a regulator of blood glucose, and in venom to fend off other platypus males during breeding season. This tug of war between the different functions has resulted in dramatic changes in the GLP-1 system,” said co-lead author Associate Professor Briony Forbes, School of Medicine. “The function in venom has most likely triggered the evolution of a stable form of GLP-1 in monotremes. Excitingly, stable GLP-1 molecules are highly desirable as potential type 2 diabetes treatments,” she said.

Professor Grützner said: “This is an amazing example of how millions of years of evolution can shape molecules and optimise their function. These findings have the potential to inform diabetes treatment, one of our greatest health challenges, although exactly how we can convert this finding into a treatment will need to be the subject of future research.”

GLP-1 has also been discovered in the venom of echidnas. But while the platypus has spurs on its hind limbs for delivering a large amount of venom to its opponent, there is no such spur on echidnas. “The lack of a spur on echidnas remains an evolutionary mystery, but the fact that both platypus and echidnas have evolved the same long-lasting form of the hormone GLP-1 is in itself a very exciting finding,” Professor Grützner said.

Article sourced from the Office of Communication and Engagement

The Celebrating Success event, held on 7 December in the Alere Function Centre, provided an opportunity for staff to celebrate the University’s research achievements throughout the year and for the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), Professor Robert Saint, to acknowledge those achievements.   

“Our success over the year has been significant in an increasingly competitive environment and the event provided an opportunity for me to acknowledge the dedication and commitment of our researchers and research support staff who are responsible for the University’s success”, said the DVCR.

Over 80 people attended the event that followed on from the Research Mentoring Scheme end of year celebration for researcher mentors and mentees.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Stirling, centre, and Deputy Vice-Chanceller (Research) Professor Robert Saint with the Early-Career Research Award recipients (from left) Dr Joshua Newman, Dr Lucinda Bell, Dr Cameron Shearer, Dr Christèle Maizonniaux, Dr Harriet Whiley, Dr Michael O’Callaghan, Dr Renee Smith, Dr Lucy Lewis.
Absent: Dr Sonja Vivienne and Dr Nikki McCaffrey.

Ten early-career researchers have been acknowledged by the Vice-Chancellor Professor Colin Stirling. The awards recognise the outstanding contributions of individual staff members to reward and encourage excellence in their research efforts.

This year’s award recipients were:

MEDICINE, NURSING & HEALTH SCIENCES:
Dr Lucinda Bell, School of Health Sciences (research focus – early childhood nutrition); Dr Lucy Lewis, School of Health Sciences (physiotherapy); Dr Michael O’Callaghan, School of Medicine (epidemiology); Dr Nikki McCaffrey, School of Medicine (palliative care).

SCIENCE & ENGINEERING:
Dr Cameron Shearer, School of Chemical and Physical Sciences (nanotechnology): Dr Harriet Whiley, School of the Environment (environmental health); Dr Renee Smith, School of Biological Sciences (microbiology).

EDUCATION, HUMANITIES & LAW:
Dr Christèle Maizonniaux, School of Humanities and Creative Arts (French); Dr Sonja Vivienne, School of Humanities and Creative Arts (digital media).

BEHAVIOURAL & SOCIAL POLICY:
Dr Joshua Newman, School of Social and Policy Studies (political science).

Up to ten awards can be made each year to PhDs to help fund opportunities for them to broaden networks and enhance their standing and recognition.

Article sourced from the Office of Communication and Engagement.

Addressing heart problems in people with mental illnesses, faster identification of heart attacks and easing internal pain without opiate drugs are amongst the successful Flinders University initiatives awarded 2017 National Health and Medical Research Council funding. Flinders secured $3,817,434 for five Project Grants, and a $470,144 Career Development Fellowship.

They are in addition to the recently announced 2017 Development Grant to Professor John Arkwright for research into obstructive sleep apnoea, and an Early Career Fellowship to Dr Shailesh Bihari for his research into fluid resuscitation, better known as an intravenous drip.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Robert Saint says the funding supports Flinders’ leading role in making a difference to people’s lives through research and innovation. “Flinders University has a long and proud tradition of solving real world problems and improving health outcomes for all Australians, and these latest NHMRC funded projects further reinforce our commitment to research excellence that delivers health and wellbeing solutions here and around the world,” Professor Saint said.

The successful projects are:

$960,320 for Professor Malcolm Battersby and team, for the project Improving cardiovascular health and quality of life in people with severe mental illness: a randomised trial of a ‘partners in health’ intervention. People with severe mental illnesses have a higher prevalence of heart disease, which researchers hope to address through a “partners in health” support approach. Other chief investigators from Flinders are Professor Michael Kidd, Professor Julio Licinio (also SAHMRI theme leader), Professor Sharon Lawn, Professor Julie Ratcliffe and Dr Stephen Quinn, as well as Professor Philip Aylward (Flinders Medical Centre) and Professor Amanda Baker (University of Newcastle).

$1,095,319 to Professor Derek Chew and team for the project Improving Rapid Decision-Making in the Face of Uncertainty: A randomised trial of a 1-hour troponin protocol in suspected acute coronary syndromes. Team includes Flinders’ Dr Stephen Quinn,  Associate Professor Thomas Briffa (University of Western Australia), Professor Louise Cullen (Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Queensland Health) and Professor Jonathan Karnon (University of Adelaide)

Professor John Miners

$558,447 to Professor John Miners and Professor Ross McKinnon for the project The molecular basis of cytochrome P450 ligand binding: Towards predicting enzyme substrate selectivity and drug-drug interaction potential. The researchers will use computational and experimental techniques to better understand how the body metabolises, or breaks down, drugs. For patients on multiple medications such as those being treated for cancer, this knowledge could help to avoid harmful effects from interactions between co-administered drugs.


$565,966 to Professor Justine Smith for the project Regulation of ICAM-1 Expression in Human Retinal Endothelial Cells. Justine is an eye specialist who treats uveitis – sight threatening inflammation inside the eye. Designer drugs that target the proteins that cause the inflammation are a revolutionary 21st Century treatment, but since the proteins are also needed for the normal immune system, people who take these drugs are at risk for serious infections. This research will develop a different drug approach that works by only partially blocking the proteins, so the immune response can function normally and there is no risk of infection.

$637,382 to Professor Nicholas Spencer and Professor Simon Brookes for the project A novel technique for prolonged silencing of visceral pain without opiates. This project uses a harmless virus to carry an RNA molecule that silences a particular type of ion channel essential for pain signals to reach the brain. The major novelty of this technique is that it offers selective silencing of pain signals only at the site of injection, for long periods of time. This means that prolonged chronic pain in mammals can be targeted at the source of the pain, by shutting down the activity of only the sensory nerves that carry the pain signals from the source of the injury. The patient therefore would not rely on regular consumption of non-specific and often highly addictive pain killers, like opiates, that affect so many organ systems.

A $470,144 Career Development Fellowship was awarded to Associate Professor Stuart Brierley for the project Identifying the underlying causes of chronic visceral pain and discovering novel therapeutic treatments. By finding the mechanisms that are changed during chronic pain, researchers hope to find treatments for Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Inflammatory Bowel Disease and over-active bladder, which affects millions of people across the globe.

The Flinders researchers involved in other NHMRC projects administered by other universities include Professor Chew, Professor McEvoy, Associate Professor Catcheside, Professor Paul Ward,  Dr Tamara Mackean, Dr Andrew Vakulin and Associate Professor Michael Sorich.

Article sourced from the Office of Communication and Engagement.