Understanding the dynamics of the dark universe. This project aims to test theories of dark matter and dark energy with the ultimate goal of understanding the properties of the dark components of the universe and how those properties can be explained by new fundamental physics. The project will use two astronomical datasets, the Dark Energy Survey, with measurements of approximately 3000 supernovae, and the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, with measurements of 30 million galaxies. By compar ....Understanding the dynamics of the dark universe. This project aims to test theories of dark matter and dark energy with the ultimate goal of understanding the properties of the dark components of the universe and how those properties can be explained by new fundamental physics. The project will use two astronomical datasets, the Dark Energy Survey, with measurements of approximately 3000 supernovae, and the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, with measurements of 30 million galaxies. By comparing theoretical models to this combination of data the project will help to determine whether dark energy changes with time, measure detailed clustering properties of dark matter, and test advanced theories of gravity.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200100803
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$405,763.00
Summary
Slicing dead stars to reveal the origin of heavy elements in the Universe. This project aims to improve our understanding of how massive stars forge heavy elements like oxygen, that are key to life. It will use state-of-the-art spectrographs on Australian and Chilean telescopes to observe the ashes of dead stars, and test recent theoretical models. Expected outcomes include spectral maps of young supernova remnants, new observational constraints for theoretical models of massive stars and core-c ....Slicing dead stars to reveal the origin of heavy elements in the Universe. This project aims to improve our understanding of how massive stars forge heavy elements like oxygen, that are key to life. It will use state-of-the-art spectrographs on Australian and Chilean telescopes to observe the ashes of dead stars, and test recent theoretical models. Expected outcomes include spectral maps of young supernova remnants, new observational constraints for theoretical models of massive stars and core-collapse supernovae, and innovative visualization solutions for complex 3D datasets. This project is expected to largely refine our grasp of the formation of heavy elements in the Universe, and thus provide significant cultural benefit in enhancing our understanding of mankind's cosmic origin in the heart of massive stars. Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE190100849
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$364,000.00
Summary
Advanced thermal protection systems to enable Mars return missions. This project aims to advance the modelling of spacecraft heat shield performance to enable future returns to Earth from Mars, where vehicles will encounter heating loads an order of magnitude higher than Lunar returns. Survival depends on sacrificial heat shields which intentionally lose mass through ablation to form a protective layer. Currently, this process cannot be predicted accurately leading to compromised safety, excessi ....Advanced thermal protection systems to enable Mars return missions. This project aims to advance the modelling of spacecraft heat shield performance to enable future returns to Earth from Mars, where vehicles will encounter heating loads an order of magnitude higher than Lunar returns. Survival depends on sacrificial heat shields which intentionally lose mass through ablation to form a protective layer. Currently, this process cannot be predicted accurately leading to compromised safety, excessive weight, and increased mission cost. The expected outcome is an ablation model for vehicle design which, for the first time, is based on experiments with a realistic aerodynamic flow. The significance and benefit of this project is its potential to make ambitious missions such as a Mars return feasible.Read moreRead less
A fast comparative method for historical linguistics. Linguists are able to infer ancient histories of languages by a procedure known as the Comparative Method. Its results are used in related studies of human genetic and cultural change. However, the Comparative Method is a manual-only process and thus currently is a bottleneck for the science of unravelling the human past. This project aims to overcome this limitation and significantly accelerate linguistic discovery, by combining recent advan ....A fast comparative method for historical linguistics. Linguists are able to infer ancient histories of languages by a procedure known as the Comparative Method. Its results are used in related studies of human genetic and cultural change. However, the Comparative Method is a manual-only process and thus currently is a bottleneck for the science of unravelling the human past. This project aims to overcome this limitation and significantly accelerate linguistic discovery, by combining recent advances in computational language processing, statistics and cultural-evolutionary modelling. By producing innovative mathematical means for rapidly discovering ancient language relationships, it will enable a breakthrough in our capacity to uncover human linguistic, genetic and cultural heritage worldwide.Read moreRead less
Synthesis of Bioactive Metabolites from Myxobacteria. The crocacins and apicularens are two diverse groups of biologically active molecules isolated from myxobacteria. Crocacins A-D are dipeptides which show antifungal activity and are highly cytostatic in mammalian cell cultures. The novel macrolide apicularen A is highly active against a number of human tumour cell lines and shows promise as a new type of anticancer compound. The aim of this project is develop a methodology to synthesise these ....Synthesis of Bioactive Metabolites from Myxobacteria. The crocacins and apicularens are two diverse groups of biologically active molecules isolated from myxobacteria. Crocacins A-D are dipeptides which show antifungal activity and are highly cytostatic in mammalian cell cultures. The novel macrolide apicularen A is highly active against a number of human tumour cell lines and shows promise as a new type of anticancer compound. The aim of this project is develop a methodology to synthesise these novel compounds.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE230100305
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$399,064.00
Summary
Revealing the origin and early evolution of spiralian animal body plans. This project aims to reconstruct the early evolutionary history of the Spiralia, a megadiverse animal group that extends back 540 million years. Their oldest fossils represent some of the earliest known animals and can reveal much about the speed and magnitude of evolution during the Cambrian Explosion, when most animal groups rapidly appeared. This project expects to generate new knowledge on the origin and radiation of so ....Revealing the origin and early evolution of spiralian animal body plans. This project aims to reconstruct the early evolutionary history of the Spiralia, a megadiverse animal group that extends back 540 million years. Their oldest fossils represent some of the earliest known animals and can reveal much about the speed and magnitude of evolution during the Cambrian Explosion, when most animal groups rapidly appeared. This project expects to generate new knowledge on the origin and radiation of some of the first animal body plans to better understand the early history of complex life. Anticipated outcomes and benefits include a new macroevolutionary framework for spiralians, novel approaches to studying invertebrate fossils, and highlighting the scientific importance of Australia’s natural heritage.Read moreRead less
Characterisation and Development of Dynamic Supramolecular Combinatorial Libraries. The discovery of biologically active molecules, in particular drug discovery, requires the design and synthesis of host molecules that bind selectively to the biological target. Combinatorial chemistry has greatly assisted this discovery process as it allows the rapid screening of large collections of molecules. In this proposal, metal ion interactions will be used in the combinatorial library as this will grea ....Characterisation and Development of Dynamic Supramolecular Combinatorial Libraries. The discovery of biologically active molecules, in particular drug discovery, requires the design and synthesis of host molecules that bind selectively to the biological target. Combinatorial chemistry has greatly assisted this discovery process as it allows the rapid screening of large collections of molecules. In this proposal, metal ion interactions will be used in the combinatorial library as this will greatly increases the diversity of the pool of compounds to be screened for activity. Understanding how to generate and analyze these libraries has potential applications in drug screening, the discovery of new substrates, enzymes and inhibitors. Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE230100998
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$444,576.00
Summary
Should I stay or should I go? How brain stem cells leave quiescence. Most adult stem cells in our brains are sleeping (quiescent). Quiescence helps ensure animals have a lifelong population of brain stem cells, which is crucial for the maintenance of brain circuitry. This project aims to investigate how this process is regulated at a molecular level. This project expects to define the molecular playbook controlling quiescence and explain why brain stem cells progress into deeper states of quiesc ....Should I stay or should I go? How brain stem cells leave quiescence. Most adult stem cells in our brains are sleeping (quiescent). Quiescence helps ensure animals have a lifelong population of brain stem cells, which is crucial for the maintenance of brain circuitry. This project aims to investigate how this process is regulated at a molecular level. This project expects to define the molecular playbook controlling quiescence and explain why brain stem cells progress into deeper states of quiescence during aging by combining novel tissue culture and genetic models, where brain stem cells have disrupted quiescence, with innovative methods of reading gene expression. The benefits of these outcomes include the development of methods to control the quiescence of brain stem cells for bioengineering purposes.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE160100293
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$372,000.00
Summary
Cracking the phosphoinositide code. This project seeks to determine how protein interactions with membrane lipids regulate recruitment to cellular organelles, providing new insight into the complex pathways of cellular homeostasis. Controlling the distribution of proteins within cells is critical for cell signalling and membrane trafficking. This is orchestrated by the interaction of specific protein modules with lipids on the surface of different organelles. The phox homology (PX) domain is a l ....Cracking the phosphoinositide code. This project seeks to determine how protein interactions with membrane lipids regulate recruitment to cellular organelles, providing new insight into the complex pathways of cellular homeostasis. Controlling the distribution of proteins within cells is critical for cell signalling and membrane trafficking. This is orchestrated by the interaction of specific protein modules with lipids on the surface of different organelles. The phox homology (PX) domain is a lipid-binding module found in numerous proteins essential for normal cell trafficking and homeostasis, and perturbed in many conditions including immune dysfunction and cancer. This project plans to investigate molecular determinants of PX-lipid association, generating knowledge about protein-membrane interactions required for cellular function. These insights may underpin future drug design.Read moreRead less
Storage of Volatiles in the Mantle Lithosphere: Time-scales, sources and processes. Fragments of the Earth's mantle (xenoliths), transported to surface by deep-seated volcanics, record the injection of fluids through formation of volatile-bearing minerals (mantle metasomatism). This project will 1) test the hypothesis that timescales of mantle volatile storage can be determined using noble gas (laser probe) dating techniques, and 2) determine the sources and processes involved in volatile stor ....Storage of Volatiles in the Mantle Lithosphere: Time-scales, sources and processes. Fragments of the Earth's mantle (xenoliths), transported to surface by deep-seated volcanics, record the injection of fluids through formation of volatile-bearing minerals (mantle metasomatism). This project will 1) test the hypothesis that timescales of mantle volatile storage can be determined using noble gas (laser probe) dating techniques, and 2) determine the sources and processes involved in volatile storage, using halogen and noble gas geochemistry. A successful outcome will establish unique methods for dating mantle metasomatic events and determine the relationship between mantle and crust melting episodes, thus providing critical constraints on mantle evolution and Earth degassing models. Read moreRead less