REGULATION OF RYANODINE RECEPTOR CALCIUM CHANNELS BY THE CALCIUM BINDING PROTEIN CALSEQUESTRIN. The project is to examine the functional interaction between two proteins in skeletal muscle that are essential for Ca2+ regulation and hence contraction, respiration and movement in all vertebrate species. One protein, the ryanodine receptor, releases calcium from stores inside the muscle cell. The other protein, calsequestrin, binds and sequesters calcium ions. We have recently discovered that th ....REGULATION OF RYANODINE RECEPTOR CALCIUM CHANNELS BY THE CALCIUM BINDING PROTEIN CALSEQUESTRIN. The project is to examine the functional interaction between two proteins in skeletal muscle that are essential for Ca2+ regulation and hence contraction, respiration and movement in all vertebrate species. One protein, the ryanodine receptor, releases calcium from stores inside the muscle cell. The other protein, calsequestrin, binds and sequesters calcium ions. We have recently discovered that the proteins also bind to each other and that calsequestrin regulates Ca2+ release from the stores through the ryanodine receptor ion channel. This regulation is likely to be important in conserving store calcium during stress or fatigue.Read moreRead less
Miniaturised Adiabatic Light Processing Devices. The project will develop, model and analyse a range of miniaturised light-processing devices for optical communications applications that rely soley on their geometrical design for their optical functionality. Such devices are less complex than devices that rely on other physical phenomena for their operation, such as interference, resonance or grating phenomena. They have potential application to a wide range of applications including optical tel ....Miniaturised Adiabatic Light Processing Devices. The project will develop, model and analyse a range of miniaturised light-processing devices for optical communications applications that rely soley on their geometrical design for their optical functionality. Such devices are less complex than devices that rely on other physical phenomena for their operation, such as interference, resonance or grating phenomena. They have potential application to a wide range of applications including optical telecommunications, optical sensing and biophotonics. The major outcome will be a range of novel devices that are very compact, have very low optical power loss and process light signals in ways that either cannot be readily achieved by other approaches or are simpler than other approaches.Read moreRead less
Eco-NextNet: An Ecologically-Inspired Adaptive Network Resource Management Framework for a Sustainable Next Generation Mobile Network for Ubiquitous Services. Ubiquitous communications service is the most important element of today's societies. In urban and rural areas of the country as well as at the time of natural disasters such as bushfires, floods, cyclones, it is vital to devise alternative schemes to create and sustain on-demand telecommunications services. In most cases it is not the lac ....Eco-NextNet: An Ecologically-Inspired Adaptive Network Resource Management Framework for a Sustainable Next Generation Mobile Network for Ubiquitous Services. Ubiquitous communications service is the most important element of today's societies. In urban and rural areas of the country as well as at the time of natural disasters such as bushfires, floods, cyclones, it is vital to devise alternative schemes to create and sustain on-demand telecommunications services. In most cases it is not the lack of technology that hinders the implementation of a reliable communications service, but it is the resource allocation. In this project we propose a novel sustainable resource management framework inspired by natural ecological systems to solve the above problem. Upon completion, Australia will be in forefront of technologies related to the management of complex networks.Read moreRead less
Nutritional ecology of free ranging herbivores. Australian grasslands underpin most of our livestock industries and provide important habitats for many native plants and animals. In order to manage these areas sustainably, farmers and other land managers need to know how much food animals consume and how the nutritional quality of that food varies. However there is no simple way of doing this and this prevents timely manipulation of stock numbers and limits our ability to predict fluctuations i ....Nutritional ecology of free ranging herbivores. Australian grasslands underpin most of our livestock industries and provide important habitats for many native plants and animals. In order to manage these areas sustainably, farmers and other land managers need to know how much food animals consume and how the nutritional quality of that food varies. However there is no simple way of doing this and this prevents timely manipulation of stock numbers and limits our ability to predict fluctuations in numbers of native herbivores such as kangaroos. The project will provide a cheap and quick means for ecologists and land managers to incorporate nutritional analyses into their work
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Design and analysis of optimum space-frequency-time codes for multi-rate OFDM Systems. This research work contributes to the ones of the major national
research priorities, the frontier ICT technology. It addresses the issues of a frontier ICT technology. Output of the project will place the Australia in the map of 4-th generation mobile and wireless communications research. These results will also influence the implementation aspects of future mobile communication systems and
attract the att ....Design and analysis of optimum space-frequency-time codes for multi-rate OFDM Systems. This research work contributes to the ones of the major national
research priorities, the frontier ICT technology. It addresses the issues of a frontier ICT technology. Output of the project will place the Australia in the map of 4-th generation mobile and wireless communications research. These results will also influence the implementation aspects of future mobile communication systems and
attract the attention of the international community. Other major
national benefit of the project is the training of PhD students
and the production of potential researchers for 4G research.Read moreRead less
Involvement of cell coupling in vascular function: Development of a computational model. Gap junctions are intercellular channels which enable the production of coordinated responses in multicellular tissues and organs. Blood vessels are comprised of endothelial cells surrounded by smooth muscle cells and gap junctions exist within and between these layers. The present proposal will determine the fundamental role of gap junctions in regulating blood flow and blood pressure. Our data will enable ....Involvement of cell coupling in vascular function: Development of a computational model. Gap junctions are intercellular channels which enable the production of coordinated responses in multicellular tissues and organs. Blood vessels are comprised of endothelial cells surrounded by smooth muscle cells and gap junctions exist within and between these layers. The present proposal will determine the fundamental role of gap junctions in regulating blood flow and blood pressure. Our data will enable us to develop a computational model of the vascular wall and so predict how changes in electrical properties, as occur during pressure changes, can influence blood flow. Since ageing is accompanied by an increase in blood pressure, our results will contribute to a better understanding of blood flow regulation in our ageing population.Read moreRead less
The impact of environmental toxicants on the fertility of female animals. This study aims to address a problem of national significance; determining the impact of commonly used environmental toxicants (pesticides) on the fertility and health of female animals, both agricultural and native. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the fields of ovarian biology, female fertility and toxicology by using a combination of mouse and marsupial animal models. The expected outcomes include the e ....The impact of environmental toxicants on the fertility of female animals. This study aims to address a problem of national significance; determining the impact of commonly used environmental toxicants (pesticides) on the fertility and health of female animals, both agricultural and native. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the fields of ovarian biology, female fertility and toxicology by using a combination of mouse and marsupial animal models. The expected outcomes include the establishment of interdisciplinary collaborations and provision of world-class training for staff and students in the field of reproductive biology. This project should provide significant benefits, such as improved chemical management in livestock production and the development of marsupial conservation action plans.Read moreRead less
Space for Australia on the periodic table: creating new superheavy elements. This project aims to apply innovative methods developed in Australia to determine the optimal nuclear fusion reactions to synthesise new superheavy elements. As part of a major international collaboration aiming to discover elements 119 and 120, the project leverages our new conceptual approach, unique detector instrumentation and Australia's Heavy Ion Accelerator Facility. Anticipated outcomes include the first direct ....Space for Australia on the periodic table: creating new superheavy elements. This project aims to apply innovative methods developed in Australia to determine the optimal nuclear fusion reactions to synthesise new superheavy elements. As part of a major international collaboration aiming to discover elements 119 and 120, the project leverages our new conceptual approach, unique detector instrumentation and Australia's Heavy Ion Accelerator Facility. Anticipated outcomes include the first direct Australian contribution to the discovery of new elements, improved understanding of nuclear fusion and fission at the limits of nuclear existence, tests of our new theoretical approach to energy dissipation in many-body quantum systems, strengthened international links, and top-level nuclear science and accelerator training.Read moreRead less
Ultra-Fast and Secure Terahertz Communications for 6G Wireless Systems. This project aims to develop new theories and signal processing solutions for the cutting-edge technology of terahertz communications to enable the revolutionary sixth-generation wireless systems, by exploring and optimising the inherent benefits of the terahertz band. Anticipated outcomes are new analytical tools and practical guidelines for designing ultra-fast and secure wireless transmission at an unprecedented speed up ....Ultra-Fast and Secure Terahertz Communications for 6G Wireless Systems. This project aims to develop new theories and signal processing solutions for the cutting-edge technology of terahertz communications to enable the revolutionary sixth-generation wireless systems, by exploring and optimising the inherent benefits of the terahertz band. Anticipated outcomes are new analytical tools and practical guidelines for designing ultra-fast and secure wireless transmission at an unprecedented speed up to terabits per second (Tbps). This enables various emerging applications, such as holographic telepresence, Tbps WiFi and Tbps wireless data centres, to drive transformation in the telecommunications sector, boost industry productivity and support our intelligent information society in the 2030s.Read moreRead less
How triadin and junctin communicate with ryanodine receptors deep within a calcium store to determine skeletal muscle contraction. The project results will provide a platform for muscle relaxants and other drugs that will specifically target either the heart or skeletal muscle and will have applications in the livestock, veterinary and pharmaceutical Industries. The project falls within the National Research Priorities of Promoting and Maintaining Good Health and Frontier Technologies for Buil ....How triadin and junctin communicate with ryanodine receptors deep within a calcium store to determine skeletal muscle contraction. The project results will provide a platform for muscle relaxants and other drugs that will specifically target either the heart or skeletal muscle and will have applications in the livestock, veterinary and pharmaceutical Industries. The project falls within the National Research Priorities of Promoting and Maintaining Good Health and Frontier Technologies for Building and Transforming Australian Industries, as well as the national priority goal of Ageing well, Ageing Productively. The project will be of national benefit in training undergraduate students, PhD students and a postdoctoral fellow in state-of-the-art techniques in an internationally competitive research field.Read moreRead less