for life and death research - la trobe university

May 2006

La Trobe UNIVERSITY

NEW LABNEW LABfor life

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71414 Bulletin May06 ART8.indd 1 26/5/06 10:50:29 AM

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BulletinLa Trobe UNIVERSITY

La Trobe University BULLETIN January February 20062

La Trobe UniversiTy has been awarded a $145,000 grant from the Foundation for rural and regional renewal (Frrr) through the Pratt Water Program, to establish a new industry-supported $600,000 Frrr – La Trobe Civil engineering scholarship scheme.

The pilot project aims to help overcome a critical shortage of civil engineers in the Murrumbidgee basin and to support infrastructure development to meet the region’s environmental and water management needs.

it will fund ten four-year civil engineering scholarships for students to study the bachelor of engineering (Civil) at the bendigo campus. With the Frrr and industry partner contributions and vacation employment, each scholarship is valued at $44,000.

vice-Chancellor, Professor brian stoddart, said the project will help develop practical solutions to meet critical shortages of engineers in regional communities.

‘There is significant potential for new partners to expand on this program and provide a model for other regional areas.’

Professor stoddart said the Frrr grant recognised the quality and regional focus of the La Trobe University civil engineering program.

‘students will come from the Murrumbidgee catchment and be co-sponsored by industry partners. They will be provided with relevant vacation employment to attract them to stay in the area after they graduate.

Frrr Chairman, former leader of the national Party, Mr ian sinclair, said his organisation championed the economic and social strength of australia’s regional, rural and remote communities through partnerships with the private sector, philanthropy and governments.

‘We consider this partnership with La Trobe University and the Pratt Foundation as a key program to help our rural communities achieve their economic aspirations, whilst ensuring the careful management of our environment.’

The Murrumbidgee Catchment covers some 84,000 square kilometres. it includes Canberra, Wagga Wagga, balranald, Griffith, and yass.

irrigated agriculture in the basin contributes 42 per cent of new south Wales’ grapes and half of australia’s rice production. Dryland salinity is estimated to cost the region at least $43m per year. •The FRRR /La Trobe Civil Engineering Scholarship Scheme will begin in 2007 and applications will be advertised through schools and local media later this year.

Engineering scholarships

help Murrumbidgee Basin

IN THIS ISSUE

Scholarships help Murrumbidgee Basin 2New laboratory for life and death research 3Lessons from ‘switched on’ queen bees 4New role to boost regional development aid 5

Research in ActionSimplifying with theory of complex systems 6Electronic ‘nose’ to detect sheep parasites 7How did China’s first states emerge? 8Excavating for answers about our origin 9Analysing rhythms and melody of speech 10Exercise – for disability and depression 11

Gift for campus on the mooove 12La Trobe honours retiring Chancellor 13Books: Study of New Yorker’s finest 14La Trobe artist wins ‘A Place in the World’ 15Open Days 2006 16

The La Trobe University Bulletin is published ten times a year by Marketing & Communications, La Trobe University. Articles may be reproduced with acknowledgement. Enquiries and submissions to the editor, Ernest Raetz, La Trobe University, Victoria. 3086 Australia Tel: (03) 9479 2315, Fax (03) 9479 1387 Email: [email protected]: Noel Carrick, Tim Thwaites, Ernest Raetz Photos: La Trobe University PDI Design: Campus Graphics, 71414 La Trobe University. Printed by Work & Turner.Website: www.latrobe.edu.au/bulletin

Cover: Federation Fellow, Professor David vaux, with PhD student, Maria Miasari. background image: scanning electron micrograph (false colour) of a white blood cell, right, killing a cancer cell – see Life and death research, page 3.

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La Trobe University BULLETIN May 2006 �

La Trobe sets up new laboratory into life and death research

La Trobe University now has a better claim than most australian universities to be studying matters of life and death. That’s the whole focus of a rapidly expanding research group developing around Federation Fellow, Professor David vaux.

already researchers in three laboratories, working with mice, insects and yeast, are beavering away at several aspects of the nature of programmed cell

death and its potential applications to human health.

Programmed cell death – or apoptosis – is now known to be just as important as cell division in the growth, development and defence of multicellular organisms. every second about a million cells are produced by cell division in the human body, and about the same number commit suicide. if this didn’t happen, the cellular build-up would give rise to cancers.

However, if the suicide mechanism malfunctions and cells destroy themselves unnecessarily, it can increase the damage in heart attacks, strokes and nerve degeneration. so, knowledge of

the process of apoptosis is critical to understanding human health, and is leading to the development of therapeutic drugs.

Professor vaux is the man who initiated interest in cell death by finding the first molecular component of the apoptosis mechanism. He published his discovery in 1988 in the influential scientific journal Nature, in a paper that has become the most highly cited primary publication

from australia in the past twenty years. The field he opened up is now the subject of thousands of papers a year. in 2004, he was awarded the victoria Prize for his efforts.

earlier this year, Professor vaux moved to La Trobe from the Walter and eliza Hall institute (WeHi) as a Federation Fellow. The fellowship scheme was originally established to entice successful researchers back to australia. Federation Fellowships are now awarded to researchers within australia, to encourage them to build up new centres of expertise.

La Trobe’s new ‘cell death’ research group, with Professor Vaux, right, and Dr Silke, third from left.

Continued page 4


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La Trobe University BULLETIN May 20064

Lessons from ‘switched on’ queen bees

a La Trobe honours student is working with Federation Fellow, Professor David vaux, to find out how queen bees maintain their youth. sam Dyer’s work represents a new line of investigation for Professor vaux since moving to La Trobe. it

builds on a tradition of honey bee research at the University and relates to Professor vaux’s lifelong interest in cell death.

Queen and worker bees are both females and carry the same complement of genes. but they have very different life histories. Whereas workers are sterile and rarely live beyond six weeks, the lifespan of the larger, fertile queens can be up to six years.

The researchers first looked to see whether the extended life of the queens is due to replacement of their cells with newly divided ones, or because the individual cells of the queens have a longer lifespan than those of the workers. To do so, they injected queens with a Dna analogue that is incorporated into the Dna when cells divide.

They found that the only cells actively replicating in queen bees were in their ovaries, as one would expect in a fertile female. because none of the other cells had divided, it appears that all the other cells were long-lived. and that implies that the queens possess an intracellular maintenance system which is not switched on in the workers.

Professor vaux says the genes encoding the molecular mechanism of such a system could well have relatives in mammals that work to prevent and patch up damage in cells, and generally maintain them. if so, future research to reveal how the system works could have useful medical spinoffs. •

and that’s the reason why Professor vaux was so interested in coming to La Trobe.

‘WeHi is full to bursting,’ he says. ‘at La Trobe, there is more space and loads of potential – and the core of researchers at the school of Molecular sciences is world class.’

although the University is committed to match the Federal Government’s funding of $250,000 a year for five years, Federation Fellows like Professor vaux can help in the quest to recruit talented young researchers, build critical mass, and boost research ranking.

and that’s just what is happening. one of the attractions for Professor vaux of coming to La Trobe was to be able to continue to work with Dr John silke, who moved with him from WeHi. Dr silke now has a tenured position and his own laboratory at the University, as does Dr Christine Hawkins who has come from the Murdoch Children’s research institute. add to that two post-doctoral fellows, Drs bernard Callus and James vince, a senior research assistant from WeHi, Ms Diep Chau, three doctoral students and another three honours students, and you have the beginnings of a powerful research cluster.

Professor vaux and Dr silke head laboratories studying a family of cell death

inhibitors known as inhibitors of apoptosis proteins (iaPs).

‘The first iaPs were found in viruses that affect insect cells,’ Professor vaux says. ‘viruses use cells to replicate, so cells often try to kill themselves in an altruistic attempt to stop viral replication.

but viruses have fought back by carrying cell death inhibitors, that help them create zombie cells so they have more time to replicate.’

The two researchers have concentrated on three mammal iaPs: ciaP1, ciaP2 and XiaP. They have knocked out the genes for XiaP in mice, and are now working on the genes for ciaP1 and 2 as well.

because iaP genes seem to be turned on at high levels in a number of different human cancers, drug companies also are interested in iaPs. stopping them from functioning could be a potent way of killing cancer cells. Professor vaux and Dr silke are working in collaboration with a Us company that has produced potent inhibitors of iaPs.

Meanwhile, Dr Hawkins is using yeast to study both mammal and insect

components of programmed cell death. yeast has no apoptosis

mechanism of its own, and so is useful as a

‘living test-tube’ for attempts to recreate the pathways.

of the post-doctoral researchers, Dr vince is looking at

members of the tumour necrosis factor (TnF) superfamily of

receptors, and Dr Callus is investigating how two of

the key killer proteins initiate apoptosis. and, as if that wasn’t enough, Professor vaux has begun another line of research involving cell death – in this case studying aging in honey bees (see above). •

Continued from page 3

Life and death research


news


La Trobe University is playing a key role in australia’s new push to

boost development aid in south asia. it has been awarded a contract to administer sarF – the south asia research Facility – a $1.5 million project to help provide long-term regional development aid through targeted research and doctoral scholarships.

The contract follows the establishment at the University late last year of the La Trobe institute for india and south asia (Liisa) and coincides with the Federal Government White Paper on overseas aid announced in late april by Foreign affairs Minister, Mr alexander Downer.

Mr Downer says with other donor nations increasingly focusing on africa, the world is looking to australia to play a leadership role on certain development issues in the asia-Pacific region where 700 million people still live in poverty and almost two billion on less than $2 a day.

The Director of sarF is La Trobe’s newly appointed

adjunct Professor and senior Development adviser, Kenneth McPherson. Liisa administrator, Tracy Lee, has been appointed Projects officer.

Professor McPherson says sarF has been set up under the Department of Foreign affairs’ ausaiD scheme and the asia Pacific Futures research network of the australian research Council. it supports research projects at australian universities on bangladesh, bhutan, india, the Maldives, nepal, Pakistan, and sri Lanka, and provides a number of PhD scholarships for citizens of these countries to study at australian universities.

nominated research fields relate to basic services such as education, health care, water and sanitation; good government, which includes institution-building, local government and anti-corruption; the achievement of sustainable growth; Hiv/aiDs; security and conflict issues affecting development; natural

disaster mitigation; social exclusion and disadvantage; and natural resources. one of sarF’s first tasks has been to select candidates from the region for up to six PhD scholarships. The three-year scholarships, are tenable at australian universities with ausaiD covering full living allowance, fares and visa costs and the recipient australian universities covering tuition fees and supervision.

sarF Foundation Committee members include La Trobe vice-Chancellor, Professor brian stoddart, and Dr Linda bennett from the University’s australian research Centre in sex, Health and society. other members are from ausaiD, the australian national University, Monash University, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, and the University of Technology, sydney.

Professor stoddart says the scheme grew from the inaugural south asia node meeting of the asia Pacific Futures research network held in sydney in February

2005. The five-year contract for sarF was signed by the University last november.

sarF will also organise an annual conference to update ausaiD on the latest development issues, including specifically commissioned research on key topics of their nomination.

Professor stoddart says a major feature of the success of the collaboration with ausaiD was due to the network’s ability to draw on research expertise around australia, regardless of institutional affiliation. •

New role for La Trobe to boost regional development aid

Professor McPherson and Ms Lee sort through early scholarship applications. Formerly head of the Department of Foreign Affairs funded Indian Ocean Centre at Curtin University, WA, and a member of the government advisory body, the Australia India Council, Professor McPherson’s new La Trobe post came after three years as Mercator Professor and Fellow at the University of Heidelberg, Germany.

Akin to Rhodes scholars, Mercator appointments are for senior academics. Professor McPherson’s was the first Mercator award in the humanities in the scheme’s fifty year history. He continues as a Visiting Professor and Fellow at Heidelberg. Professor McPherson holds a PhD in South Asian History from the ANU and taught at Curtin for 25 years.


Research in action


What do the intricate activities in the cortex of our brain, and the turbulence that rocks jetliners, have in common?both, say La Trobe University mathematicians, are ‘complex systems’ whose mysteries are being unravelled by the application of the theory of complex systems, a rapidly emerging mathematical science linking pure mathematics with a myriad of applications.

La Trobe, as one of the five university members of the Centre of excellence for Mathematics and statistics of Complex systems (MasCos), is playing a leading role in australia in the application of this theory to everyday situations.

Professor of Mathematics, reinout Quispel, is one of MasCos’ 13 Chief investigators and La Trobe is attracting international postgraduate students and postdoctoral research fellows in this area of study.

one currently working with Professor Quispel is Dr Lennaert van veen whose postdoctoral studies in complex systems is sponsored 75 per cent by MasCos and 25 per cent by La Trobe.

Dr van veen is applying the theory in three fields: turbulence, brain dynamics and population dynamics.

However Professor Quispel and Dr van veen say the area of application is much wider and enables mathematicians to unravel the complexities of such things as the internet, air traffic control, irrigation, robotics, power distribution, communications, manufacturing and finance.

a problem for mathematicians has been to define complex systems in terms that a lay person can understand.

both agree with a definition published in the journal Science which described complex systems as having an evolution very sensitive to initial conditions or to small perturbations, one in which the number of independent interacting components is large, or one in which there are multiple pathways by which the system can evolve.

Dr van veen, who obtained his PhD from the University of Utrecht before spending two years at the University of Kyoto studying fluid dynamics, is using the theory of complex systems for a new approach to turbulence.

‘Using the increased compu-tational power now available,

i am examining what kind of mathematical structures are involved in turbulence, what happens at the mathematical level,’ he said.

He hopes that information gained from the new approach will have practical applications in a number of areas including reducing friction in gas and fluid pipelines and aircraft design.

Dr van veen is also collaborating with colleagues at swinburne University who have developed a mathe-matical model of the human cortex in their study of brain dynamics.

He is working on mathematical aspects of the functioning of the cortex – the ‘walnut’ shaped part of the brain where many vital functions such as speech are processed.

‘From a mathematical perspective, the mathematical model for turbulence and that for the cortex of the brain are very similar,’ Dr van veen said.

He is also working with indonesian masters student Mr ivanky saputry on an area of population dynamics concerning the roles of predators and prey in fish populations which may eventually have practical bearing on the fishing industry.

Professor Quispel said that the

research underway at La Trobe illustrated MasCos’s mission. This is to stimulate research activity in the mathematical and statistical modelling of complex systems and to encourage the cross fertilisation and application of ideas and techniques from different areas of mathematics to the analysis of complex systems.

The Centre has defined seven research themes chosen because of their impact on knowledge creation or applicability to industry.

They are critical phenomena; Monte Carlo methods; dynamical systems; risk modelling; scientific computation; statistical modelling of complex systems; and modelling and control of complex systems.

in addition to its research program, the Centre organises and funds conferences, seminars and courses for students, researchers and industry. it also maintains a vigorous industry outreach program, collaborating with organisations such as medical research institutes, government departments, financial institutions and manufacturing companies.

The arC is funding MasCos to the tune of $11 million dollars between 2003 and 2007, the largest single grant for mathematics research ever provided in australia. •

Making things simpler with the theory of complex systems


Research in action


with the help of seb, the sniffer shepherd, la trobe scientists are developing an

Electronic ‘nose’ to detect sheep parasites

Seb, a female German shepherd, has been trained to detect gastrointestinal nematodes – nasty internal parasites

– in sheep.

Her skill, developed by agricultural scientists at La Trobe University, is paving the way for an electronic hand held device to detect sheep parasites that could save the australian sheep industry millions of dollars a year.

researchers in La Trobe’s Department of agricultural sciences are confident they will have a prototype of the device within five years.

The Head of the Department and associate Professor, Dr Mark sandeman, says that gastrointestinal nematodes are responsible for serious production losses

for australian sheep farmers. Many research projects had been undertaken to overcome the problem which has become worse as many parasites have become resistant to drug treatment.

‘We decided on a different approach. scents, and the use of sniffer dogs to detect them, are used to determine the presences of a number of substances including bladder cancer in humans,

accelerants at fire scenes, weeds, drugs, explosives, moth eggs and termites.

‘so we set out to ascertain whether the presence of intestinal parasites in sheep could be detected by their scent,’ Dr sandeman said.

in early 2005, Dr sandeman, research student Ms Kate richards and PhD student Mr steve Cotton of the University’s Parasite Control Laboratory, obtained two female German shepherd puppies called elle and seb (scent experiment b).

With the help of a professional dog trainer, Mr Glenn Williams, they set out to determine whether gastrointestinal nematodes had an odour, whether different species had individual odours,

and if so, whether a dog could detect them.

They did this by placing bags of faeces from infected sheep among bags of faeces from healthy sheep. after six months of patient, painstaking training using a response and rewards method, seb was able to detect the infected faeces by its odour. elle failed and was ’voted’ off the project.

With further training, seb’s skill increased to the extent that she can detect the presence of infections with between 80 and 90 per cent accuracy.

‘once seb had helped us ascertain that the parasites had odours and could be detected by smell, the next step was to isolate the odour molecules of the different parasites,’ said Dr sandeman.

a PhD student, Ms Jacqueline burgess, supervised by Dr sandeman and Dr John Traeger, a reader in La Trobe’s Department of Chemistry, began working with a mass spectrometer to detect the specific molecules associated with the odour of parasites.

‘This work is proceeding well. We have already isolated odour molecules associated with Telodorsagia, the small brown stomach worm common in sheep in australia. This worm is very closely related to a worm common in cattle, potentially extending the system to detecting parasites in cattle,’ Dr sandeman said.

‘if we can find the odour compounds peculiar to the major parasite infections, we could then design an electronic “nose” to detect them. initially we are planning to design a small hand-held device by which a farmer could check individual animals.

‘it’s a long way off but the detector might ultimately be refined, using biosensor technology and “pervasive” computing – the science of interconnecting “smart devices”– to have sheep checked automatically for parasites.

‘sheep, which can already be trained to walk over a detector in their paddock once a day to check their weight, could at the same time be scanned

automatically for parasites. The ear tag number of any sheep with parasites would be automatically transmitted to the farmer’s computer,’ Dr sandeman said.

The australian sheep industry Cooperative research Centre is funding the research. •

Dr Sandeman, Seb, and research student, Ms Richards.


Research in action


How did China’s first states emerge?

DiD eFFiCienT PeasanTs producing more food than they could consume contribute to the

emergence of the first states?

Did those who ate their excess food have time to produce other goods – and even play politics?

These are intriguing questions being investigated by La Trobe University archaeobotanist, Dr Gyoung-ah Lee, who is researching the relationship between economic changes and the development of ‘social complexity’ in early China.

a postdoctoral fellow in La Trobe’s archaeology Program, Dr Lee is examining how the development of agriculture in the yiluo region of Henan Province in northern China over a 5000 year period – until about 1500 bC – influenced the progress of political development.

she is involved in a series of ‘digs’ at a number of sites, including ‘loess’ terraces cut into the banks of the yiluo river, a tributary of the yellow river, flowing through rich alluvial plains, densely populated throughout history and the site of some of the first known states.

(Loess is solidified fine wind-borne dust blown in from outer Mongolia over thousands of years.)

Dr Lee said that societies in the region became increasingly hierarchical over time, and the earliest urban centres developed there.

by analysing the botanical content, including food crops and weeds, and pollen from loess samples from different dates over the 5000 year period, Dr Lee will construct a picture of the kinds

of crops grown and the changes in agricultural practices.

These changes will be compared with other archaeological evidence including the development of settlements and their hierarchies, mortuary practices, scales of population centres, and production of goods.

‘My work will articulate how changes in agriculture may have played a part in the overall socio-political changes,’ Dr Lee said.

she believes she is among the first to engage in in-depth research on changes in agricultural practice and distribution of food resources in the region which is known as ‘the heartland of civilizations’.

Dr Lee began her analysis of material from the region when she gained access to 850 archaeobotanical samples gathered since 1998 by archaeologists including Professor Li Liu of La Trobe’s archaeology Program.

Professor Liu is a world authority on the erlitou culture which arose in the area between about 1900 to1500 bC and, although subject to dispute among archaeologists, is believed to have produced the first political groupings or ancient states in China.

Dr Lee began working in 2003 on samples originally collected by Professor Liu and Chinese archaeologists and has returned there, and to other sites, in 2004 and 2005 gathering additional samples.

she said one clue indicating change

Dr Lee and her excavation crew at the Huizui site.


Research in action


Excavating in China for an answer to the great question about our origins

A La Trobe University archaeologist is part of an international team

attempting to throw light on the current debate on the origins of the human race.

Did humans spread from africa to other areas where they replaced local hominid groups – the ‘out of africa’ model?

or did they evolve separately in different localities – the ‘regional Continuity’ model?

Dr richard Cosgrove, a senior lecturer in a La Trobe’s archaeology Program, is part of a team excavating in central China hoping to ‘unearth’ evidence that will contribute significantly to the resolution of the debate.

Dr Cosgrove and his colleagues, Dr shejiang Wang, a La Trobe postdoctoral fellow, Dr Chen shen of the royal ontario Museum, and Professor Huaya Lu of the Chinese academy of sciences in Xian, have received an arC $368,000 grant over three years to find evidence to help resolve the question.

For the next three years they will excavate into layers up to 300 metres deep of loess – solidified fine wind-borne dust still being blown in from outer Mongolia – at several sites in the Lounam basin in central China. This is the geographic divide between north and south China that

has been influenced by changing climate many times over millennia.

The team is using stone artefacts plus plant and animal fossils found in the loess to detect evidence of two important factors. one is the climatic changes during the middle and upper Pleistocene age, between 500,000 and 10,000 years ago, and the other is how people adapted to those changes.

For two reasons, the areas covered in loess in Central China have turned out to be a unique hunting ground for archaeologists.

Firstly, loess, because it contains large amounts of calcium carbonate, preserves vitally important animal and vegetable clues for archaeologists, among them bones, pollen, and other material.

secondly, this evidence of human settlement over thousands of years has been gradually buried under the loess, leaving behind what was first believed to be an exact ‘chronological’ ordering of human development.

in theory, because of river downing-cutting, the higher up the mountains, the older the loess deposits, but this is has been complicated because wind and water

is the influence of the cultivation of rice as opposed to different kinds of crops including millet, wheat, and soybean.

‘rice has a higher symbolic value as well as calorific value which means that people eating it have more energy. interestingly, rice and rice paddy weeds were present only in large centres in the period before the emergence of states – called Longshan Period – which preceded the erlitou period.

‘The types of artifacts and other evidence from this period indicate that the complexity of society drastically increased from the late Longshan to the erlitou periods.

‘rice may have been considered a special luxurious food for elite groups and i suspect that intensification of rice farming may have resulted from increased social complexity and the elites’ demands for luxurious items.’

Dr Lee believes that large centres and small villages may have developed tight bonds through the network of food and that this bonding consolidated into political unity.

Dr Lee was surprised to discover that one ancient agricultural practice has not changed over millennia – the burning of crop stubble.

one of the sites where she is digging is called Huizui, which means ‘ash mouth’. There is evidence among the material excavated that 5000 years ago the peasants burned their crop stubble.

‘i have watched farmers in the same area today doing exactly the same thing,’ she said. •

Continued page 10


Research in action


Analysing rhythms and melody of speech

WHy Does artificial speech emanating from a computer sound so dull and flat, so robotic

– so unhuman?

it is, according to La Trobe University phonetician Dr Marija Tabain, because the current generation of computers cannot control how consonants and vowels interact with the rhythm and melody of speech.

but now there is hope that the voice of speaking computers of the future may sound more like ours.

and, more importantly, there is hope that speech therapists working to improve the speech of brain damaged people may be able to devise more effective therapies.

Dr Tabain was recently awarded a $150,000 arC Discovery Grant over three years to research into an area of speech called prosody – the science of the rhythm and pitch of speech.

While emphasising that her project is basic research, she says her results will feed into future outcomes such as improving computer articulation and speech therapy.

To do this Dr Tabain will work with acoustic recordings, and then use sophisticated computer techniques to analyse the sounds.

in addition she will use other

techniques, such as electromagnetic articulography which tracks the movement of the tongue, lips and jaw, and electropalatography, which measures contact between the tongue and the palate.

she will work with voice recordings in three languages: english, French and the australian aboriginal language, arrernte, spoken in and around alice springs.

Dr Tabain said that the structure of different languages influenced the interaction of consonants and vowels with speech melody and rhythm.

For example, French speakers tend to control their tongue and lip movements for ‘i’ and ‘u’ much more carefully than do english speakers. The French vowels are relatively less affected by the rhythm and melody of the language than are the english vowels. This is because French has a special vowel found in words like ‘tu’ (‘you’), which is easily confused for ‘i’ or ‘u’ in some situations.

‘and of course, almost nothing is known about how consonants and vowels interact with the rhythm and melody of speech in australian aboriginal languages,’ said Dr Tabain.

‘The importance of rhythm and melody to the naturalness of speech is seen in some speakers who have suffered traumatic brain injury. They perform well when asked to utter a short word, but

activity have cut through and shifted some loess deposits.

‘nevertheless we have a great opportunity to see how human behaviour changed through time by examining the artefacts and other material at different levels in the loess,’ says Dr Cosgrove.

‘We use the bones to tell us about climate because the kinds of animals which lived there when the climate was warm were different from those which existed when it was cold. The plant and bone remains tell us about human food, hunting and butchering techniques and past vegetation patterns.’

The team will spend June to august, the spring season, on site for the next three years excavating four cave sites and four river terraces which have been occupied for thousands of years.

‘it is slow painstaking work, using trowels and sieves to collect tiny pieces of material which can be tested by a number of dating techniques,’ Dr Cosgrove said.

‘We would like to be able to gather enough evidence to learn approximately when modern humans became “modern” and whether they evolved in this place.

‘if we can find a sequence of hominid skeletal remains which show gradual evolutionary change, that would tend to support the “regional Continuity” model of the origin of humans.

‘on the other hand, if we discover evidence of early hominid forms, and then find a large break in time before we find evidence of modern hominids, that would support the ‘out of africa’ model.’ •

struggle when asked to produce a longer string of sounds. it’s as if producing the consonants and vowels is hard enough, but adding rhythm and melody is just too much.

‘a better understanding of the interaction between speech sounds and prosodic structure will lead to improvements in the treatment of speech disorders, and in the quality of human-machine communication.’ •

Continued from page 9

Excavating in China


news

La Trobe University BULLETIN May 2006 11

A La Trobe UniversiTy TraininG DvD to help young people with cerebral palsy has been voted the year’s best

audiovisual product by the american academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine.

The DvD – which was also a finalist in the victorian Department of sport and recreation’s ‘Go for your Life’ awards – assists young people with cerebral palsy, their families, health professionals and fitness specialists to use strength training with weights to overcome muscle weakness.

The new exercise program follows four years of research by a team which included the Head of La Trobe’s school of Physiotherapy, Professor Karen Dodd, and senior lecturer, Dr nicholas Taylor.

The La Trobe researchers worked with Professor Kerr Graham, Director of the Hugh Williamson Gait Laboratory at the royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, to demonstrate for the first time the beneficial effects of strength training. Previously, physiotherapists had believed such treatment had no benefits.

The team published 15 research papers on various aspects of the research in peer-reviewed journals around the world. Professor Dodd says the new treatment has significantly changed thinking about the management of cerebral palsy.

a world authority on exercise treatment of people with injuries or sickness resulting from brain damage, Professor Dodd says the DvD provides ‘instructions about simple, effective workouts and valuable information which shows how strength training fits with current management of cerebral palsy.’

it was produced by La Trobe and made by the University’s multimedia production unit, CoMeT, with support from the australian barbell Company and the Clinical Centre for research excellence in Gait rehabilitation.

Professor Dodd said the american academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine is the world’s leading research organisation dealing with cerebral palsy and chronic disabilities. she said the award will be presented at the academy’s annual meeting to be held in boston, Usa, in september. •The DVD can be obtained from [email protected]

Lifting the weight of depression La Trobe UniversiTy physiotherapists are embar-king on research to ascertain whether exercise can reduce depression in people who have experienced a stroke.

With colleagues from the University of Melbourne, they have received an $85,000 grant from beyondblue to look at the effects of exercise on 64 people after stroke.

La Trobe’s team, comprising Professor Karen Dodd, Head

of the school of Physiotherapy, and senior lecturer Dr nicholas Taylor, is currently recruiting participants through GPs, hospitals and rehabilitation programs.

beyondblue – the national depression initiative – is a non-government australian organisation providing information about depression to people with depression and their families, carers and health professionals.

Professor Dodd and Dr Taylor are well known internationally for research on the effect of strength training on cerebral palsy and other brain-damaged patients that has altered thinking among health professionals on the most effective rehabilitation.

The researchers will assess factors that influence people’s recovery from a stroke and, further, will explore whether exercise can improve well-being and reduce depression.

The research involves following over the course of a year volunteers who have had a stroke and asking about their recovery process and their health at four different times.

some volunteers will undergo strength training by exercising with weights to ascertain its contribution to well-being and reduced depression. The exercise program will be conducted at the Hawthorn aquatic and Leisure Centre. •

Training DVD for young people with a disability wins award


news


‘Millisia brevis’ bacteria that bears her name Gift for

campus on themooove

SHe May LooK a bit minimalist next to Moomaid or Goldie Horn, below, but this gift from the Greater

shepparton City Council has given La Trobe University a firm hoof-hold in the artistic life of the region.

since it was introduced five years ago, shepparton’s life-sized parade of fibreglass sculpted cows has become a great promotional device for the central victorian town. Collections have been displayed around the world, at the royal

Melbourne agricultural show – and any tourist

to shepparton today is hard-pressed to avoid them.

sponsored by local industry, some feature art works which range from reproductions of Dali and da vinci to originals by Ken Done.

Head of the shepparton Campus, elizabeth Lavender, said the Council presented the cow as a symbol of its support for the University. La Trobe earlier this year announced plans for its new campus building, part of the shepparton education Precinct. a local artist, ‘Tank’, designed and painted the cow.

Ms Lavender said the sculpture will eventually be located in front of the new University building. •

as ParT of PhD research into bacteria causing foaming in wastewater treatment plants, Dr Jacques soddell at the bendigo campus – working with a group at the University of newcastle, england – identified a new genus in a family of bacteria.

Professor of Microbiology and Head of the University’s Waste Water research Laboratory on the bendigo campus, robert seviour, who supervised the research, said only eight genera are currently recognised in this family of bacteria.

‘Convention has been to name these after eminent microbiologists who have made important contributions to their study or the environments from which they were isolated. Dr soddell thought he should follow this tradition, and decided to name this new genus Millisia after Professor Millis, in recognition of her contributions to water microbiology, and his strain Millisia brevis, reflecting its morphological features.’

Professor seviour said after a lengthy process of review, the research paper naming the new genus was accepted by the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. it was published in april – the month of Professor Millis’ retirement as Chancellor. so the genus name Millisia will from now sit in the textbooks alongside other bacteria known and Nocardia, Gordonia, Dietzia and Williamsia.

Professor Millis, who continues to chair the national board of the Cooperative research Centre for Water Quality and Treatment, a role she has held since 1995, said she was delighted to have the bacteria named after her – notwithstanding its less than glamorous function in the waste water cycle.

Nancy Millis Lectureanother enduring legacy is La Trobe University’s annual signature science event – the nancy Millis Lecture. now in its seventh year, it will be presented in october by australian of the year, Professor ian Frazer, Director of the Centre for immunology and Cancer research at the University of Queensland.

The lecture, dealing with infection and cancer, will be held on Tuesday, 10 october, 6 pm West Lecture Theatre 1, on the University’s main Melbourne campus at bundoora. Previous lecturers have included Professors Peter Doherty, sir Gustav nossal and adrienne Clarke. •

Professor Millis with Professor Seviour and the journal carrying news of the newly discovered bacteria.


news

La Trobe University BULLETIN May 2006 1�

A standing ovation, an honorary doctorate – and newly identified bacteria that carry her name …

These were three of many acknowledgements for La Trobe University’s longest-serving Chancellor, eminent biological scientist emeritus Professor nancy Millis.

officially, the University honoured the Chancellor, who retired from her role in late april, with the award of the degree Doctor of science (honoris causa).

The degree was conferred upon Professor Millis by the new Chancellor, Mrs sylvia Walton (see March issue). The award recognised Professor Millis’ outstanding contributions to australian science and her great service to La Trobe University.

Professor Millis also received a standing ovation after presiding over her final graduation ceremony on the

albury-Wodonga campus. Conferring ceremonies – where she has presented degrees and diplomas to an estimated 30,000 graduates during the last 14 years – are the most public role of a University Chancellor.

Coinciding with her retirement, the april issue of the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology reported a newly discovered bacterium named Millisa brevis in recognition of Professor Millis’s contribution to water microbiology (see page 12).

a ‘legend’ in the world of science – she was one of only five australian scientists recognised on the ‘australian Legends’ series of stamps in 2002 – Professor Millis has to her credit a string of more conventional scientific and civic accolades, including an Mbe and a Companion of the order of australia.

vice-Chancellor, Professor brian stoddart, said Professor

Millis has been widely acknowledged for strengthening the links between universities, industry, science, and the public.

‘This is not so much a farewell to nancy Millis, but to mark the end of her formal involvement with us, because no doubt we will still see a lot of her, as she is a very warm supporter of the University. Her long period of service to us has been greatly valued and her impact upon the University will be felt for a very long time.

‘nancy Millis has presided over a period of major growth and development for La Trobe during what have been extremely difficult times for the sector nationally, and that makes her work on our behalf even more meritorious.’

Professor Millis has been an active supporter of the expansion of research into new areas and welcomed the large growth in international student enrolments both on and off

shore. she has taken particular pleasure in the provision and expansion of quality education to regional victoria, giving communities access to new education opportunities.

a pioneer in biotechnology, Professor Millis’ research in microbial physiology, fermentation technology and waste management has established her international reputation as one of australia’s leading scientists.

she played a key national role as Chairman of the Monitoring Committee for recombinant Dna during the 1980s and Chairman of the Genetic Manipulation advisory Committee from 1988 to 2001.

an outstanding teacher, her book, Biochemical Engineering, is still a standard text. in 1992 the victorian Government established the nancy Millis research award to support doctoral researchers working in the agricultural disciplines. •

La Trobe honours retiring Chancellor

A special moment: standing ovation for Professor Millis after her final award conferring ceremony.


books


The New Yorker magazine has dotted its pages for decades with cartoons that have amused and sometimes puzzled its readers.

Four cartoonists stand out for their charm, wit, sophistication and often disarming humour, Peter arno, William steig, Charles addams and saul steinberg.

Dr iain Topliss, a senior lecturer in La Trobe’s english Program, has published a book in which he describes the work and techniques of the four cartoonists published in the magazine between 1925 and 1975.

entitled Comic Worlds, the book is published by the Johns Hopkins University Press.

Dr Topliss examines the quartet’s different kinds of humour, traces the development of their art and recalls the cultural and social context in which it was created.

He delves into the nature of humour and the elements that make cartoons funny, paying special attention to matters of style and technique.

Dr Topliss draws particular attention to the ways the four artists mocked the status quo without alienating the magazine’s readers. He even argues that the New Yorker cartoons helped define ameri-can consciousness in the mid 20th century.

Dr Topliss was recently awarded a Jackson brothers Fellowship at the beinecke rare book and Manuscript Library at yale University to research a biography of saul steinberg, the greatest of all New Yorker cartoonists.

THAT INFURIATING NON-EXISTENT THIRD PERSON PRONOUNit sounds like a line from Professor Higgins discussing the peculiarities of the english

tongue – a peculiarity that still bugs journalists, writers, teachers of english and others.

it’s the non-existent genderless third person pronoun which should have a place alongside he, she, it and they.

Take this sentence for example: When a lawyer establishes a new practice he / she / it must build up a client base.

none of the three, he, she or it, is appropriate because the lawyer could be either a man or a woman and is certainly not an it. but there is simply no such genderless single third person pronoun, a weakness that english shares with a number of other languages.

The lack of the genderless third person pronoun is one of the strange aspects of our language which Professor robert Dixon tackles in his new book A Semantic Approach to English Grammar.

The Director of La Trobe University’s research Centre for Linguistic Typology and world renowned linguistic researcher, Professor Dixon has produced the second edition of this work for oxford University Press.

He explains in his chapter about pronouns that the problem of the genderless third person pronoun only raised it’s head recently because for hundreds of years the third person singular masculine he was used in most circumstances. our language took little cognisance of gender. The male dominated most grammar.

There arose a campaign

against this and a new genderless pronoun per – short for person – was mooted. However this simply did not catch on.

The result is that there has been an internal shift within the pronoun system. in earlier times you was used just for second person plural but later

replaced thou to cover second person singular.

NEW BOOK ON AUSTRALIA’S SEXUAL HEALTHTwo La Trobe University senior academic staff members have co-edited a major work on the sexual health of australians.

Sexual Health: An Australian Perspective, published by iP Communications, is co-edited by Dr Meredith Temple-smith, a senior research fellow at the University’s australian research Centre in sex, Health and society (arCsHs) and Professor sandy Gifford, Director of La Trobe’s refugee Health research Centre.

both Dr Temple-smith and Professor Gifford have contributed chapters as have other La Trobe academic staff members, Professor Marian Pitts, Professor anthony smith, Ms anne Mitchell, Dr Colette browning and Ms elizabeth brown.

Dr Temple-smith said the book looked at sexual health in australia from a modern

perspective.

‘For much of the last century, sexual health was construed as freedom from sexual disease. sexual health is now seen as multi-dimensional, the product of complex interplay between biological, psychological, and socio-cultural factors,’ she said.

PUBLIC POLICYDr ewen Michael has written a new book called Public Policy: The Competitive Framework. The publication marked the first anniversary of La Trobe University’s Public sector Governance and accountability research Centre (PsGarC).

Dr Michael is a senior lecturer in economics and policy in La Trobe’s school of sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management within the Faculty of Law and Management.

He was the school’s deputy-head from its inception in 1996 until January 2004, and has since taken up the role of PsGarC deputy director. The publication marks the first of many works that the Centre plans to deliver within the next few years.

Published by oxford University Press, Public Policy: The Competitive Framework, provides a new interpretation for the analysis of public decision-making. •

A STUDY OF NEW YORKER’s FINEST


arts

La Trobe University BULLETIN May 2006 1�

La Trobe artist wins ‘A Place in the World’

La Trobe UniversiTy photographic artist, Donna

bailey, has won a major award in the recent ‘a Place in the World’ visual arts Prize in adelaide.

The inaugural award, by the association of Commonwealth Universities and University of adelaide, showcases visual arts excellence of students from universities in australia and new Zealand.

The win was the latest in a series of awards for Ms bailey – a doctoral research student in visual arts on the University’s bendigo campus – who has become a national identity with an emerging international reputation in the field of photography.

Ms bailey took out one of two awards: the University of adelaide visual art prize valued at $3,000 for her work The Ideal which is now in the

University of adelaide’s art collection.

Her work depicts local children flying kites on the granite plains of bendigo. Ms bailey says it reflects life in cental victoria and the ‘hope, energy and resilience’ of the community in the face of drought.

Head of visual arts and Design, David stuchbery, said the award was a significant achievement for Ms bailey and the University.

With three other artists from the bendigo campus – photography student Garry brannon, painter and PhD candidate Karen annett, and painter and Master of visual arts candidate Margaret Parker – also selected as finalists, Mr stuchbery said the award highlights the importance of research in the visual arts.

‘The focus, energy and effort required to be an active researcher can provide

a tremendous boost for exhibiting and practising artists.’

Ms bailey was presented the award by nobel Prize winning author, Professor John Coetzee, in front of 300 vice-chancellors from Commonwealth countries.

Her latest exhibition, ‘The Footballers’ was on show at the La Trobe University visual arts Centre in view street, bendigo during april. •

anoTHer La Trobe University artist, Maria vanhees, has been selected for the most prestigious ceramics award in australia – the sidney Myer Fund international Ceramics award. she was one of 39 artists from 11 countries chosen for this year’s award.

Ms vanhees said it was an amazing experience and a huge honour to have her work exhibited alongside some of the best ceramic artists

from australia, america, europe and asia.

she has also been awarded two lucrative scholarships to undertake Masters by research at La Trobe this year.

Ms vanhees completed her Honours degree at La Trobe last year. Her present body of work, ‘alter egos’ grew from a fascination with insect architecture such as wasp nests, spider egg sacs and galls. •

‘alter egos’ in ceramics


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