Visual Analytics for Next Generation Sequencing. Next-generation sequencing technologies have brought a revolution in biology and healthcare, while taxing the ability of scientists and clinicians to identify and process relevant data, to make sense of it all and communicate it to others in a concise and meaningful way. This project aims to tackle this problem through fundamentally new approaches to data selection and visualisation at very large scale, actively encoding for insight into underlyin ....Visual Analytics for Next Generation Sequencing. Next-generation sequencing technologies have brought a revolution in biology and healthcare, while taxing the ability of scientists and clinicians to identify and process relevant data, to make sense of it all and communicate it to others in a concise and meaningful way. This project aims to tackle this problem through fundamentally new approaches to data selection and visualisation at very large scale, actively encoding for insight into underlying biological and biomedical processes, bringing sustainable discovery of new relationships and variations within the data. The project aims to support new approaches to medical diagnosis and treatment, and offer crucial lessons to address the broader challenge of understanding large, complex data sets.Read moreRead less
Computational Intelligence for Complex Structured Data. This project aims to use computational intelligence techniques to reliably learn adaptive natural human pointing and gestures to control an interface on a pseudo-3D display. Highly complex data with interconnections between elements is hard to visualise on screens. Most current tools are operated using point/click/drag on 2D screens. The physical technology to capture appropriate human behaviours exists already, but not the adaptive learnin ....Computational Intelligence for Complex Structured Data. This project aims to use computational intelligence techniques to reliably learn adaptive natural human pointing and gestures to control an interface on a pseudo-3D display. Highly complex data with interconnections between elements is hard to visualise on screens. Most current tools are operated using point/click/drag on 2D screens. The physical technology to capture appropriate human behaviours exists already, but not the adaptive learning of the syntax and semantics of individual gestures and actions, nor the multi-gesture information fusion required for understanding, which could significantly enhance efficiency, for example, in sorting through named entities in an investigation. All of this is done naturally by most human beings, using biological neural networks.Read moreRead less
Robotics for the Real World: A Museum Tourguide Robot. This project will develop a tour guide robot for deployment into a real-world situation: providing tours at the Questacon museum in Canberra. Previously developed tour guide robots have all been limited in nature, similar to one-off laboratory experiments. This project aims to develop a world first: a truly robust and autonomous mobile robot that is continuously in service. This is a vital area for the future of robotics and has potential ....Robotics for the Real World: A Museum Tourguide Robot. This project will develop a tour guide robot for deployment into a real-world situation: providing tours at the Questacon museum in Canberra. Previously developed tour guide robots have all been limited in nature, similar to one-off laboratory experiments. This project aims to develop a world first: a truly robust and autonomous mobile robot that is continuously in service. This is a vital area for the future of robotics and has potential for spin-offs. The project will also develop necessary research results in the areas of mapping of dynamic environments, demonstrable safety, human-robot interaction, robot robustness and reliability, and Internet-based teleoperation.Read moreRead less
Tailoring cellulose properties by manipulating cellulose synthase. Cellulose, a highly abundant polymer produced by plants, has many existing uses in Australian fibre and polymer industries and potential uses as, for example, an abundant feedstuff for biomass conversion into ethanol and other high value products. The optimal properties for different applications vary so that, for example, high crystallinity cellulose gives strong fibres whereas low crystallinity cellulose dissolves in gentler so ....Tailoring cellulose properties by manipulating cellulose synthase. Cellulose, a highly abundant polymer produced by plants, has many existing uses in Australian fibre and polymer industries and potential uses as, for example, an abundant feedstuff for biomass conversion into ethanol and other high value products. The optimal properties for different applications vary so that, for example, high crystallinity cellulose gives strong fibres whereas low crystallinity cellulose dissolves in gentler solvents on the way to producing cellulose-based polymers. By exploring ways to adjust the properties of celluloses for use in different applications, we can deliver potential benefits to primary producers, industries and the environment.
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Addressing Indigenous complex health, housing and social inclusion issues through critical systems approaches to build workforce capacity. The multidisciplinary research comprises the researchers, Department of Human Services and Neporendi Aboriginal Forum Inc who address complex Indigenous social problems in partnership. The participatory design provides effective solutions, both in treatment and community settings through the development of a computer-modeling technique that articulates and in ....Addressing Indigenous complex health, housing and social inclusion issues through critical systems approaches to build workforce capacity. The multidisciplinary research comprises the researchers, Department of Human Services and Neporendi Aboriginal Forum Inc who address complex Indigenous social problems in partnership. The participatory design provides effective solutions, both in treatment and community settings through the development of a computer-modeling technique that articulates and informs partnership arrangements. The research offers a practical approach to address the communication and policy issues relating to Indigenous family violence, social inclusion, homelessness and drug misuse. It develops and pilots an integrated systems management tool that builds the capacity of the human services workforce to manage referrals across services to maximize user outcomes.Read moreRead less
Discovery of new genes for plant cellulose biosynthesis and improved fibre production. Cellulose, the world's most abundant biopolymer, is important to the cotton and forest industries and for human and animal nutrition. Before biotechnology can manipulate cellulose, we must identify the enzymes of the synthesis pathway and understand how their properties determine the properties of the cellulose they produce. Not all enzymes are known and any relationships to cellulose properties remain unexplo ....Discovery of new genes for plant cellulose biosynthesis and improved fibre production. Cellulose, the world's most abundant biopolymer, is important to the cotton and forest industries and for human and animal nutrition. Before biotechnology can manipulate cellulose, we must identify the enzymes of the synthesis pathway and understand how their properties determine the properties of the cellulose they produce. Not all enzymes are known and any relationships to cellulose properties remain unexplored. This study extends our successful mutational analysis of cellulose synthesis in Arabidopsis and initiates the molecular analysis of organisms making cellulose with distinctive properties. It will significantly advance knowledge of cellulose biosynthesis and identify novel genes for fibre improvement.Read moreRead less
Isolation and characterization of genes regulating female reproductive organ development in plants. Genes that regulate female reproductive organ development are of immense value for Australia as tools for seed improvement. Those from our preliminary screen have convinced our industry partners that they can be agents for engineering of apomixis or creation of fertile seed without fertilisation. This will allow the capture of hybrid vigour in wheat and rice, for which commercial hybrid seed prod ....Isolation and characterization of genes regulating female reproductive organ development in plants. Genes that regulate female reproductive organ development are of immense value for Australia as tools for seed improvement. Those from our preliminary screen have convinced our industry partners that they can be agents for engineering of apomixis or creation of fertile seed without fertilisation. This will allow the capture of hybrid vigour in wheat and rice, for which commercial hybrid seed production is not currently available. In wheat alone, apomixis presents for Australia an economic value of more than Aus$ ½ billion per annum. Furthermore, controlled apomixis will accelerate breeding programs that will bring drought resistance and minimal fertiliser requiring varieties to the farmer.Read moreRead less
Control of meiosis and embryogenesis as a means to induce higher plants to reproduce asexually through seed. New plant meiosis-control genes will be isolated and characterised. These will be used, together with cell proliferation control genes characterised in the applicant's laboratory, to control gamete formation and embryo development in higher plants, and hence plant reproduction. This research will provide a platform for genetic fixation of hybrid vigour and repeat propagation of F1 hybrid ....Control of meiosis and embryogenesis as a means to induce higher plants to reproduce asexually through seed. New plant meiosis-control genes will be isolated and characterised. These will be used, together with cell proliferation control genes characterised in the applicant's laboratory, to control gamete formation and embryo development in higher plants, and hence plant reproduction. This research will provide a platform for genetic fixation of hybrid vigour and repeat propagation of F1 hybrid seed without attenuation of vigour. The technology will increase yield and profitability for Australian agriculture, and ensure access to technology that the industry partner will otherwise develop overseas. The technology benefits most major crops that are bred and grown to meet increasing demand for food and speciality products for pharmaceutical or industrial purposes.Read moreRead less
The role of the Ttyh1 protein in cell activation. We have cloned TTYH1, a human homologue of the Drosophila melanogaster tweety gene. The mouse gene has also been identified. The predicted structure of the protein is a membrane protein with 5 transmembrane domains. We have also expressed a GFP-tagged fusion protein in mouse fibroblasts. Confocal microscopy indicates that this protein is likely to be a novel adhesion molecule, with a cellular distribution characteristic of molecules such as integ ....The role of the Ttyh1 protein in cell activation. We have cloned TTYH1, a human homologue of the Drosophila melanogaster tweety gene. The mouse gene has also been identified. The predicted structure of the protein is a membrane protein with 5 transmembrane domains. We have also expressed a GFP-tagged fusion protein in mouse fibroblasts. Confocal microscopy indicates that this protein is likely to be a novel adhesion molecule, with a cellular distribution characteristic of molecules such as integrins. We aim to determine the function of Ttyh1, its interacting intra- and extra-cellular proteins and to assess its candidature as a molecule of importance in cell migration and adhesion.Read moreRead less
Advancing Medical Image Analysis through High Performance Heterogeneous Computing, Numerical Simulation, and Novel Human Computer Interfaces. This project will link Australian researchers with a major multi-national IT company. The engagement of world-class personnel from Microsoft will provide unprecedented opportunities for graduate students to experience research in both an academic and an industrial setting. The participation of Microsoft product division offers the potential to transform th ....Advancing Medical Image Analysis through High Performance Heterogeneous Computing, Numerical Simulation, and Novel Human Computer Interfaces. This project will link Australian researchers with a major multi-national IT company. The engagement of world-class personnel from Microsoft will provide unprecedented opportunities for graduate students to experience research in both an academic and an industrial setting. The participation of Microsoft product division offers the potential to transform the outcomes of this project into widely-used software solutions. The project will pave the way for more widespread and reliable evidenced-based computer-aided diagnosis and image-guided treatment. It will produce well-trained and sought-after graduates and research associates with extensive inter-disciplinary knowledge of medical image analysis and high-performance computing.Read moreRead less