Curtin Molecular and Life Sciences (MLS)

We would like to congratulate Dr Vicky Barnett for her appointment to Course Lead - Bachelor of Multidisciplinary Science. 🥳 Dr Barnett will bring her wealth of knowledge and experience from throughout the education sector to this important leadership role. She is a teaching academic who is passionate about promoting equitable access to tertiary education for all students, and was the founder and chair of the new Lab Accessibility Working Group at Curtin, which was dedicated to streamlining how to best support students requiring adjustments in the laboratory learning environment. We look forward to working with Dr Barnett in 2025 and seeing all that she brings to the role. #CurtinMLS #equity #education #Hiringandpromotion

We would like to congratulate 🥂 Associate Professor Zoe Richards for being among the 18 people recently awarded Churchill Fellowship Medallions at a Government House ceremony. Her award-winning project involved visiting the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC, to study the original type specimens of Acropora corals collected by James Dana from Fiji in 1846 🐟. This project, supported by the Australian Biological Resources Study, aims to clarify coral identity and benefit threatened species conservation initiatives in Australia and beyond.  Dr Richards would also like to thank Curtin University for travel support via the Academic Carer Support Scheme. For more info on that scheme see here: 🔗 https://lnkd.in/gGaAtvPg Winston Churchill Trust (Australia)  Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry  Western Australian Museum  #WAChurchillFellow #biodiversity #marinescience #coral #taxonomy #coralreefconservation #research #CurtinMLS

We are proud to congratulate Dr Alaa Nayyef and Dr Pramesh Dhungana on their promotions to Lecturer! We appreciate all their hard work and efforts at Curtin and look forward to all your future contributions. May the future of your careers be bright! #CurtinMLS #CurtinUniversity #MLSPromotions

A bat signal doesn't rely on a big spotlight with a bat symbol in the middle but rather on species-specific recordings of actual bats 🦇. Improving WA's bat call library is important in improving our understanding of WA's bats. Recently, Dr. Holly Bradley spent four nights in the SW of WA to support a survey/trapping program with the Conservation Council of WA collecting echolocation reference calls for improved bat monitoring, as well as trialling a new acoustic lure technology - designed by David Hill (who flew all the way from the UK to participate in its WA-first application).  The trial was very successful, with a highlight being the capture of a number of Western False Pipistrelle bats (Falsistrellus mackenziei), which will assist in future research and monitoring. Not many people have the chance to see this rare bat (Priority 4 species), as they fly very high and can be difficult to trap. Several Holt’s Long-eared Bat (Nyctophilus holtorum) were also spotted, a species that had only been described in 2021. Bats are important predators of pest species such as mosquitoes 🦟, making co-existing with and supporting them extremely important. Individuals can help our little pest controllers survive through small things such as keeping or planting trees in their garden or putting up bat boxes. Learn more about bat conservation and how you can help 👉🏼https://lnkd.in/dBEYBuk4 #research #CurtinMLS #bats #CCWA #conservation #batman

The recent visit of Curtin's Prof Raphael VISCARRA ROSSEL and Dr Lewis Walden to 浙江大学 (Zhejiang University) marked an important milestone in the ongoing collaboration between Australia and China under the Australia-China Science and Research Fund's "Joint Research Centre on Next Generation Soil Carbon System". Prof Viscarra Rossel and Dr Walden's work on next-generation soil carbon systems tackle the urgent challenge of understanding soil carbon dynamics—key to fighting climate change, improving agricultural productivity, and securing global food systems. This visit strengthened ties for scientific exchange between Curtin and Zhejiang University and advanced the development of new methods of measuring, modelling, and managing soil organic carbon, which will provide positive sustainability and socio-economic outcomes. The visit was attended by Jessica Brown, Counsellor (Industry, Science, and Resources) Australian Embassy in Beijing (DISR). For more details on Curtin University’s Australia-China Science Research Fund Joint Research Centre (ACSRF-JRC) on Next-generation Soil Carbon Systems and the centre’s activities, see here: 🔗https://lnkd.in/edEei6qB and 🔗https://lnkd.in/eRjHfMYB  👏🏼We would like to thank all our partners who make important initiatives like this possible: 浙江大学/Zhejiang University, Curtin University, Department of Industry, Science and Resources (Australia), Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (Australia), Muresk Institute, CSIRO, Edith Cowan University. #soilscience #soilcarbon #science #research #collaboration #china #australia #acsrfjrc #curtinuniversity #zhejianguniversity #innovation

Congratulations, Johannes Wolfram Debler! 🥂 Even though you didn't win, it was still awesome that you represented Australia so brilliantly at the FameLab International 2024! If you want to check out Johannes's performance: 🔗 https://lnkd.in/e4bgN_SP We look forward to seeing where this experience takes Johannes and will enjoy his future work. 🍄 #famelab2024 #curtinmls #curtinresearch #wamuseum #fungus  @FameLab Grains Research and Development Corporation

We want to take this opportunity to congratulate all the winners of the MLS student awards, as well as give a big shout-out to all the award sponsors! 🥂 We truly appreciate their support for our well-deserving students. 🧪In the Chemistry discipline for "Most outstanding full-time student":🥁 1st Year: Jake Carpenter is the winner of the "SGS Australia Chemistry Prize", sponsored by SGS Australia PTY. Ltd. 2nd Year: Erika Mitting is the winner of the "Tronox Pigment Prize", sponsored by Tronox Pigments Western Australia Pty Ltd. 3rd Year: Nathan Dempsey is the winner of "The Royal Australian Chemical Institute Prize", sponsored by The Royal Australian Chemical Institute. Honours: Emma Jones is the winner of the "Chemistry Honours Prize 2023". HDR: Michael Adamos is the winner of "The Rowe Scientific HDR Chemistry Scholarship" for "Top Curtin Chemistry Honours student, returning to the School to commence a PhD (Chemistry) in 2024", sponsored by the Rowe Scientific Foundation. ☘In the Agriculture discipline for "Most outstanding full-time student":🥁 1st Year: Finn Anderson is the winner of the "Commonwealth Bank Prize", sponsored by the Commonwealth Bank. 2nd Year: Cleo Noonan is the winner of the "Milne AgriGroup Prize", sponsored by the Milne AgriGroup. 3rd Year: Christopher Watts is the winner of "The Planfarm Prize", sponsored by Planfarm. Honours: Miles Ellery is the winner of the "CSBP Limited Prize", sponsored by CSBP. 🦙In the Ecology discipline for "Most outstanding full-time student":🥁 2nd Year: Zoe Holdsworth is the winner of the "O'Kane Ecology Prize", sponsored by Okane Consultants Pty Ltd. 3rd Year: Francesca Martino is the winner of the "Ecology Prize 2023". Zac Celenza is the winner of the "2024 Serventy Memorial Prize in Natural History" for "the student who shows the most interest and enthusiasm in natural history", sponsored by the WA Naturalist's Club. 🥪In the Food Science discipline for "Most outstanding full-time student":🥁 Master: Swetha Sridhar is the winner of the "My PlantCo Excellence Award", sponsored by My PlantCo. And last but not least 🥁 Emma Jones is the winner of the "Kliti Grice Laureate Prize, Premier Achievement in an Advanced Science Honours dissertation unit", sponsored by kLITI Grice. Joshua Armstrong is the winner of the "Kliti Grice Laureate Prize, Commendation in an Advanced Science Honours dissertation unit", sponsored by kLITI Grice. Alexis Wing Huen Chung is the winner of the "Graeme Robertson Award 2023 HDR student" for "undertaking research in Agriculture, Food or Ecology, who has published an outstanding paper in a peer-reviewed journal in 2023". TieXin Li is the winner of the "Kagi-Alexander HDR Publication Prize 2023" for an "HDR student, enrolled in a chemistry PhD, who has published an outstanding paper in a peer-reviewed journal in 2023". Once again, congratulations to all the winners and thanks to all our sponsors! #CurtinResearch #curtin #research #CurtinMLS

We would like to congratulate simone ciampi on his promotion to Professor 🥂 and Alexandra Yeung, Alison Blyth, Dr. Catherine Boisvert and Natalie Morgan for their promotions to Associate Professor🥳! Curtin MLS appreciates your hard work and dedication and we are proud to share this achievement with you! We look forward to continuing to watch your careers grow and to all the successes you will achieve in the future.  #curtinmls #curtin #success #curtinuniversity

"We are literally able to detect the footprints of a bee." An intriguing study by Dr Joshua Kestel and Associate Professor Paul Nevill describes a new method of capturing DNA that could provide farmers with a valuable tool for boosting crop production — while also benefiting the environment. Read more 🔗https://lnkd.in/eBQ4veHd #curtinmls #edna #curtinresearch #research #innovation

We hope you've saved the date because we sure have! Tomorrow, Curtin's very own Johannes Wolfram Debler will be representing Australia at the FameLab International Finals in the UK. "FameLab is the only international science communication competition designed to find, train and mentor scientists and engineers to share their enthusiasm for research with the public. Participants from around the world engage and entertain you armed only with their wits and a few props – the result is an unpredictable, enlightening and exciting way to encourage your curiosity and find out about current research (FameLab, LinkedIn)." Johannes Debler is a molecular biologist from the Centre for Crop and Disease Management and was selected to go to the Worlds by winning FameLab Australia in Sept, 2024 with his talk “Lentil soup: now with extra immune system” about his work investigating the interactions between fungal 🍄 diseases of lentils and their host. Check out his award-winning talk here: 🔗 https://lnkd.in/ee7V9RUR Johannes will be taking his new talk, covering the same topic but with a new James Bond-inspired twist in homage to FameLab being hosted in the UK - “Detected, not ignored – On her Lentil’s secret service”.  While the winner is decided by a jury of peers, the audience (us!) can vote for a 'fan favourite'. So please make sure to vote for Johannes's talk if you enjoyed it. We know we will!  We'd also like to give a big thank you to Johannes's PhD supervisors, Bernadette Henares, Lars Kamphuis and Robert Lee for their support.  Please join us in supporting Johannes and be dazzled by his talk ⏰18:00 📅 Friday November 29th 📍 [FameLab YouTube] youtube.com/@famelab 📍 [Event Livestream] https://lnkd.in/e8XqGQ9W Follow Johannes on Twitter, Bluesky, Linkedin and Instagram ✖ @JWDebler 🔵 @jwdebler.bsky.social 🤝 linkedin.com/in/jwdebler/ 📷 johannesdebler Follow Bernadette on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter 👽 bernie henares 🤝 https://lnkd.in/estA_Zir ✖ @bhenares1 Credit: 7 to 1 Photography (🔗https://lnkd.in/eJshHi2x) #curtinmls #ccdm #awards #FameLab #FameLab2024 Curtin University Media #CurtinResearch