Smart Connections Edition 2 - October 2005
Welcome to the second edition of the Smart State e-newsletter, Smart Connections, keeping you informed with the latest Smart State news, success stories, upcoming events and initiatives.
The Smart State is about connecting with others. Share this information with family, friends and colleagues and be part of the expanding Smart State community.
Your comments and ideas on Smart Connections and the Smart State website are always welcome, so feel free to email us at: smartstate@premiers.qld.gov.au
Smart initiatives
Building the Smart State's biotechnology industry
The Smart State is set to become Australia's centre for nuclear magnetic resonance research following a Queensland Government grant to the University of Queensland.
The university will receive $5 million towards the establishment of a $17 million Queensland Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Network (QNN), which will be based in the Institute for Molecular Bioscience at the university's St Lucia campus.
The QNN will provide a platform for biotechnology research and development unparalleled in Australia, and will provide Queensland with a competitive edge in a range of biotechnology fields.
The network will enable researchers from universities, institutes and companies to carry out high-resolution structure determination, and establish Queensland as a central hub for nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy in Australia.
A key technology for determining the structures of molecules and visualising the anatomy of living tissue and microscopic structure, nuclear magnetic resonance has revolutionized chemistry, physics, diagnostic medicine and structural biology.
Queensland-wide access to this network of world-class high-field nuclear magnetic resonance equipment will support research in a broad range of fields, particularly biodiscovery, drug design, neuroscience and instrument development.
The funding is being provided under the current round of the Smart State Research Facilities Fund and will be used to purchase three systems: a 900 MHz high-resolution spectrometer for biomolecular studies; a 700 MHz wide-bore microimaging system for creating detailed images of intact biological specimens; and a 600 MHz high-throughput system incorporating hyphenated analytical technology (LC-MS) for use in biodiscovery and bioprospecting.
The Queensland Government leads Australia in encouraging the growth of 21st century industries and has invested more than $2.4 billion in innovation, science and research since 1998 and will spend a further $473 million over the next four years.
By helping to build some of the largest and most significant research facilities in the southern hemisphere, the Queensland Government is supporting the Smart State's biotechnology industry to achieve its projected revenues of $4 billion and 16,000 jobs by 2025.
Queensland's first 'Smart State Academy'
In August this year, the Queensland Government announced that the first of its two new 'Smart State Academies' will be established at Toowong in Brisbane's inner west.
The 'Smart State Academies' will underpin a new era in state education, boosting opportunities for Queensland's brightest students.
Focusing on maths, science and technology for Year 10, 11 and 12 students, the first 'Smart State Academy' will be established at Toowong College from 2007.
The Toowong College site was chosen to capitalise on its close educational and geographic links with the University of Queensland.
This 'Smart State Academy' will accelerate learning opportunities for our best and brightest students and provide a career pathway for their future careers.
These students will become our scientists, mathematicians and technicians of the future.
Entry will be based on academic merit and will enable students to fast track their studies, gain invaluable work experience and combine their schooling with tertiary studies.
Partnerships with universities and industry will generate exciting opportunities for students to extend their education.
From 2007, the Academy will open its doors for Year 10 and 11 students and in 2008, for Year 12 students.
The State Government has committed $46 million over four years to establish two new Smart State Academies, as part of the second phase of the Smart State Strategy.
Smart future for mining research
A new Brisbane-based research complex designed to help make Australia a world leader in innovative mining systems was officially opened in late July.
The new Pinjarra Hills complex for the Cooperative Research Centre Mining (CRCMining) provides a Smart State hub for research into ways to further improve the economic performance and safety of mining operations.
The complex brings all major areas of CRCMining research including Smart Mining Machines, Smart Mining Systems and Technology Implementation together under the one roof.
This will enable the various research teams to work closely together to share ideas, discuss problems and work more collaboratively.
The move will not only benefit mining in Queensland, but right throughout Australia, as the researchers develop new ways to make our mining industry more innovative and world competitive.
Queensland is already a world leader in mine safety technology. The Queensland Government's Safety In Mines Testing And Research Station (SIMTARS) will also continue working collaboratively with CRCMining to test its new equipment on a commercial basis.
CRCMining is funded in partnership by the Commonwealth and State Governments, university partners and the mining industry, which will collectively pour in $127 million in funding over the next seven years.
Queensland's mining sector is currently flourishing and this collaborative initiative will provide a further boost to the mining industry, ensuring its ongoing success for many years to come.
Who's great in the Smart State ?
In this edition of Smart Connections, we profile a brilliant Queensland scientist who has a big view on the little things in life.
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| Professor Matt Trau – Nanotechnologist |
Nanotechnology involves science and engineering at the scale of atoms and molecules. The unit of measure used in nanotechnology is the nanometre which is one-billionth of a metre. To put that into perspective, let's imagine a metre, or average human step, as a nanometre. If you walked a nanometre per step, it would take you a whole day to cross a human hair.
Nanotechnologists have the idea that if you can control and rearrange matter at the nanoscale, you can literally create anything – building blocks for grown ups, so to speak. This is particularly important in the area of biology because all of the machinery of biology, for example DNA, exists and operates at the nanoscale
Professor Matt Trau is a dynamic young professor with research expertise in the area of nanostructured assembly and manipulation of matter in order to produce novel biomaterials and biodevices. Applications of his work include devices for rapid DNA sequencing, medical diagnostics, drug screening, and biomaterials for human implants.
Professor Trau has a distinguished undergraduate career receiving a Bachelor of Science with First Class Honours and the University Medal in the Department of Physical Chemistry at the University of Sydney in 1987, and a PhD from the University of Melbourne in 1992. His post-doctoral career includes a Fulbright Research Fellowship to the US where he performed research at Princeton University for three and a half years.
In 2004, Professor Trau was awarded a Federation Fellowship by the Australian Research Council. This highly prestigious research award provides Professor Trau with $1.25 million over five years (matched by an equivalent sum from his host institution, the University of Queensland) to pursue his research in nano-bioscience and nano-biotechnology.
After returning to Australia in 1997, Professor Trau founded the Nanotechnology and Biomaterials Research Group. His group has become a Faculty Research Centre at the University of Queensland (UQ) and currently comprises 25 researchers. Major research programs being undertaken at the Centre include artificial human tissue engineering for bone, liver and pancreas tissue, and the development of novel devices for rapid DNA sequencing, genetic screening and drug discovery. Professor Trau and his team of scientists are also working on more targeted ways of detecting and treating disease.
"The futuristic way of thinking about this is a little bit like the old film, Fantastic Voyage, where they shrink down a little submarine that floats around through the bloodstream. It blasts bad guys and leaves good guys alone," said Professor Trau.
"Nowadays scientists can make nanoparticles which have various biological things attached to them, for example antibodies, that will target the particles towards cancer cells or other cells that are causing a problem and induce healing by modifying or removing those cells," he said.
As well as numerous publications in high-ranking journals, Professor Trau is an inventor on eight patents and the founder of Nanomics Biosystems Pty Ltd, a Queensland nanotechnology company undertaking the commercialisation of research from UQ's Centre for Nanotechnology and Biomaterials.
Thank you Professor Trau and team for your outstanding contributions to Queensland and the world of science. These are the kind of people who truly make Queensland the Smart State.
www.scmb.uq.edu.au/nbc/index.shtml
Smart State inventions and innovations
In this edition of Smart Connections, we take a look at an award winning system for treating wastewater that is becoming very popular for both households and commercial developments. It also has the potential to improve the lives of the 2.5 billion people worldwide who have inadequate water supplies, sanitation and nutrition.
Smart waste treatment with the Biolytix Filter
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| Dean Cameron with the Biolytix filter compact waste treatment system he launched on ABC TV's The New Inventors program in 2004. | Dean Cameron (centre) was the proud recipient of The Rising Star Award at the Premier of Queensland's annual Smart Awards dinner. He is pictured with Premier Peter Beattie and Robert Baker of PricewaterhouseCoopers, the sponsors of the award. |
The Biolytix Filter is a compact on-site waste treatment system which converts raw sewage, wastewater and food waste into high-quality irrigation water.
Queensland inventor and ecologist, Dean Cameron, turned to nature to develop a world-first waste treatment system that turns household waste into irrigation water without the use of chemicals.
Eleven years ago, Dean was in the market for a waste treatment system but soon became disillusioned with the products available. They had problems like foul smells, flies, the need for regular chemical treatment and problems with pumps that were noisy and broke down.
Influenced by necessity, Dean set out on a quest to develop a better waste treatment system.
Convinced that nature held the answer, Dean observed the natural decomposition of everything from cow pats to forest litter to dead cows.
"What I began to notice was that the most efficient decomposition occurred not in the water, but on the waterline," Dean said.
"On the water's edge, organic matter is kept moist but is surrounded by air, not water.
"By observing the complex food web that thrived on the water's edge, I was able to conclude that the way in which we treat human waste and wastewater was based on the wrong principles," he said.
Dean said that waste shouldn't be left to pickle in a dry heap as in many existing composting toilets, or left in the water to rot very slowly as occurs in septic systems.
"The solid wastes should immediately be removed from the water in raw sewage and stocked with microorganisms, worms, beetles and other soil invertebrates.
"The solid wastes should be allowed to break down rapidly and aerobically in a moist soil-like environment similar to that which we would find on a river's edge," he said.
Dean's observation became the core of his research and development from which the Biolytix Waste Treatment System was born.
The system immediately removes the solid waste from the water and selected organisms convert it into structured humus, which acts as a filter to turn the waste into garden irrigation.
With worms, beetles and all manner of microscopic organisms doing the hard work, Dean's system is extremely energy efficient, low maintenance, silent, chemical free and produces no odours.
"The technology behind the system makes it affordable, scaleable and culturally adaptable and has the potential to work just about anywhere in the world," Dean said.
"There is an ever-increasing need to conserve our natural resources and to seek more environmentally-sustainable systems for wastewater disposal, given the world's ever-growing populations."
Dean says that the inevitable way of the future will be through systems that recover and reuse resources to close the food-waste-nutrient and water cycles just like natural ecosystems do.
"With 2.5 billion people worldwide having inadequate water supplies, sanitation and nutrition, we have the opportunity to improve the standard of living for these people.
"We are in the process of adapting the Biolytix Waste Treatment System for developing countries," he said.
The Biolytix Waste Treatment System recently won the Queensland Premier's Smart Award in the Rising Star category as well as a Global Environmental Technology Award at the World Expo in Japan.
Thank you Dean. We wish you all the best with this truly smart waste treatment system.
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and highlight innovative developments in Queensland. While every care has
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© The State of Queensland Department of the Premier
and Cabinet 2005.
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