Chair of the Australian Synchrotron Research Program (ASRP) and ANSTO CEO, Professor Helen Garnett, today announced six leading scientists from Australia and overseas will each received fellowship grants of around $70,000 per year to conduct research into improved cancer treatments, forensics, molecular biology, minerals, synthetics and technology.
"The ASRP Fellowships will fund the selected research projects for two years," she said.
"Importantly the Fellowships have enticed two Australian researchers to return home from overseas to conduct their research. It is always encouraging to see Australian scientists either stay in Australia or come back after a period of time.
We are pleased that the Fellowships have been successful in bringing two back this time," said Professor Garnett.
ASRP’s Facility Director, Dr Richard Garrett said the projects illustrate the unique breadth of science that can be performed with synchrotron X-rays.
"The potential for this research to benefit society is broad and the high quality of the candidates is also a testament to the success of the ASRP," he said.
Following are the six successful ASRP Fellows and a brief description of their research:
Dr Hugh Harris – studying the different compartments of human cells and living tissues to probe the molecular biological processes involved in human disease, the effectiveness and side effects of new drugs and the cell changes that occur in response to drugs.
Dr Harris will be located at the University of Sydney and has recently returned from the United States.
Dr Bayden Wood – probing the chemical structure of single cells in plants and animals to look at two areas:
- Identify individual pre-cancerous cells to help develop a new diagnostic tool for cervical cancer.
- To develop a tool and method to monitor the nutrient status of algae cells to help identify different strains and develop a deeper understanding of the environmental events leading to algal blooms. Dr Wood will be based at Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria.
Dr Carl Chen – researching the development of new components for micro- engineered liquid chromatography instrumentation which is a major step towards portable "lab-on-a-chip" systems. This is collaborative research between Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn Victoria – where Dr Chen is based, MiniFAB (Australia) Pty Ltd and Varian Australia.
Dr Stephanie Corde – conducting research into three areas:
- To improve cancer diagnosis and determination of what parts of the body need treatment by developing powerful X-ray imaging techniques.
- To improve the action of cancer drugs by studying how pharmaceuticals are distributed inside tumours
- Develop more efficient cancer treatments by concentrating the radiation dose in the tumour only and sparing surrounding tissue.
Dr Corde, originally from France, currently based at Waikato Hospital, Hamilton, New Zealand will be carrying out her research at CSIRO, Manufacuring and Infrastructure Technology, Clayton, Victoria.
Mr Ivan Kempson – developing more accurate trace evidence analysis techniques in forensics focussing on the most common particles found at crime scenes such as glass fragments, gun shot residues, fibre and hair. Mr Kempson, will be based at Ian Wark Research Institute, University of South Australia, Adelaide.
Dr Nigel Kirby - studying how nature constructs bio minerals such as bones and teeth so these processes can be mimicked to synthesise materials, for example, in industry or medicine.
The research will also have implications for new solutions to medical problems such as kidney stones by understanding exactly how they develop. Dr Kirby will be based at Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Western Australia.
The ASRP will provide the researchers with access to state-of-the-art synchrotron radiation research capabilities at overseas synchrotron light source facilities – the primary tool for all the Fellows’ research.
These facilities are at the Australian National Beamline Facility (ANBF) at the Photon Factory, Tsukuba Science City, Japan, the Advanced Photon Source at the Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago, USA and the National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center, Hsinchu, Taiwan.
The researchers will spend approximately six weeks per year located at either of these facilities and will submit a full research report at the end of the two year term.
The ASRP, which is managed by ANSTO, commenced operation in 1996 and is funded by the Major National Research Facilities program, part of the government’s Backing Australia’s Ability initiative.