A world-first real-time bushfire hazard detection and warning system using artificial intelligence (AI) is under development thanks to a new partnership between The University of Queensland and Google.org, Google’s philanthropic arm.

Led by UQ’s Professor Hamish McGowan, from the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, the project plans to use AI to trace the movement of embers and deliver real-time nowcasts of extreme bushfire hazards.

“The goal of our work is ultimately to save lives, property and the environment by providing increased accuracy in forecasting bushfire movements and alerting community members and emergency responders before they spread,” Professor McGowan said.

The $1.374 million grant from Google.org will enable UQ researchers to work on a new and robust capability to identify and forewarn locations up to 30 kilometres downwind from the fire front that may come under attack from embers – sometimes in areas previously perceived as safe.

In addition to philanthropic funding from Google.org, Google employees will have the opportunity to volunteer their time to help with this project.

Google Australia Engineering Site Lead Daniel Nadasi said UQ was charting new territory in bushfire detection.

“Google.org is thrilled to provide support to the UQ team to help tackle this important issue,” he said.

“The project will benefit Australia by identifying new AI solutions to detect bushfire activity – early on and in real-time – with a goal to safeguard at-risk communities, flora and fauna.

“Initiatives like this will help build a strong and more resilient digital future for Australia.”

It has been just over two years since Australia’s Black Summer bushfires burnt an estimated 186,000 square kilometres of land.

The impacts were devastating, with at least 33 people losing their lives, and fires destroying more than 6000 buildings, as well as killing or displacing an estimated three billion animals.

“We know that the effects of climate change are causing more extreme weather events including bushfires across the world and we are committed to helping find solutions that can lessen the impact,” Professor McGowan said.

The fallout of the 2019-20 bushfire season also saw smoke-related health costs climb to $1.95 billion.

There were 429 smoke-related premature deaths in addition to 3230 hospital admissions for cardiovascular and respiratory disorders and 1523 emergency attendances for asthma.

Image above left: Professor Hamish McGowan. Credit: David Kelly.

Media: Genevieve Worrell; g.worrell@uq.edu.au; +61 408 432 213; UQ Media and Communications, communications@uq.edu.au, +61 (0)429 056 139.

A semi-trailer will be converted into the world’s first mobile lung cancer screening facility to help boost early detection and increase survival rates in rural and remote Queensland where access to specialists is limited.

The truck will be fitted with the latest technology, integrating imaging, breath and blood biomarker screening, as part of a $2 million Australian Cancer Research Foundation (ACRF) grant.

University of Queensland researcher and Prince Charles Hospital thoracic physician, Professor Kwun Fong, said lung cancer had high potential for cure, at 67 per cent, if detected early.

“Unfortunately, two thirds of patients present with advanced disease, when five-year survival is less than four per cent,” Professor Fong said.

“Lung cancer also has a greater proportional impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, people in regional and rural areas, and those in lower socioeconomic environments.”

The ACRF Lung Cancer Screening Centre of Excellence (LUSCE) mobile facility, as it’s known, will target Australians living in rural, remote and Indigenous communities with limited access to lung cancer screening facilities.

Professor Fong said the ACRF LUSCE mobile facility will help increase early lung cancer detection at a stage when a cure is possible.

“Early-stage lung cancer can normally be cured with surgery and radiation therapy, but most lung cancers are typically diagnosed late when curative treatments are not able to be offered.

“With lung cancer screening technology accessible to all, we can save lives,” Professor Fong said.

The Australian Cancer Research Foundation has funded innovative cancer research across Australia over the past 37 years.

ACRF Chief Executive Officer, Kerry Strydom, said this world-first mobile lung screening research program aimed to reduce disparity in lung cancer outcomes experienced by Australians living in remote and regional communities.

“We believe this is an important element of ACRF’s grant portfolio and we are proud to enable this pilot study to provide more equitable access to effective screening technology for all Australians,” Ms Strydom said.

“This may well form the basis of a national lung cancer screening program in due course.“

The ACRF LUSCE mobile facility is expected to begin its maiden journey across Queensland in mid-late 2022.

Media: Professor Kwun Fong, k.fong@uq.edu.au; UQ Communication, med.media@uq.edu.au, +61 7 3365 5118, +61 438 760 838.

The unique brainpower of octopuses – known for their intelligence and Houdini-like escapes – has been revealed by University of Queensland researchers.

Dr Wen-Sung Chung from UQ’s Queensland Brain Institute is part of a team that studied four octopus species using MRI techniques to produce detailed 3D images for comparing their unique brain structures.

He said octopus brains varied, depending on where a species lived, when it was active and if it interacted with other animals.

“The octopus is a master of camouflage, capable of solving complex tasks and their cognitive ability is said to approach that of some small mammals,” Dr Chung said.

“We investigated four species, including one deep-sea octopus, one solitary nocturnal species and two different reef dwellers active during daylight.”

The reef octopuses had a significantly larger brain with some properties similar to primates, adapted for complex visual tasks and social interaction in a busy, well-lit environment.

“These octopuses have some remarkably complex behaviours not known in other octopuses,” Dr Chung said.

“For example, collaborative hunting with reef fish has been recorded, where the octopus usually leads and coral trout join by either actively seeking prey or opportunistically snatching small organisms flushed out by the octopus.

“The ability to receive and respond to gestures between different species as part of collaborative hunting demonstrates that octopus species have complex cognitive abilities.”

The differences in brain structures between species relates to the size of the brain’s surface area, with a larger surface area indicating a more complex nervous system and increased cognitive ability.

Professor Justin Marshall heads the team that was first to discover the differences in brain structure, opening the door to a better understanding of the complexity and evolution of these apparently “smart” animals.

He said the team’s ongoing research aimed to provide insights into how octopus brain structure is linked to behaviour, vision and advanced cognition.

The research has been published in Current Biology (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.10.070).

Images and video available here.

Media: Dr Wen-Sung Chung, w.chung1@uq.edu.au, +61 409 551 126 or Erik de Wit, QBI Communications, e.dewit@uq.edu.au, +61 447 305 979.

The placenta from mothers of healthy newborns could one day be used to reduce brain injury in growth-restricted babies, according to University of Queensland research.

Dr Julie Wixey from UQ’s Centre for Clinical Research said the study found stem cells sourced from a healthy placenta may reduce damaging inflammation in these babies after only three days.

“There is currently no treatment to protect the brains of a growth-restricted baby,” Dr Wixey said.

“Up to 50 per cent of them have long term issues ranging from mild learning and behavioural disorders all the way through to cerebral palsy.

“We know there’s inflammation in the brain and it doesn’t cease once these babies are born.

“Our study has shown we could reduce inflammation and ongoing brain injury by treating these newborns on the day they’re born using a combination of two types of stem cells – endothelial colony forming cells and mesenchymal stromal cells – isolated from a healthy human placenta.”

About 32 million growth-restricted babies are born around the world each year, with around 10 per cent of newborns in Australia affected.

These babies fail to grow normally in the womb, often because they haven’t received enough nutrients and oxygen from the placenta.

“Our research has found after just three days, the combination stem cell therapy not only reduced inflammation but also, importantly, appeared to repair damaged blood vessels in the brain in animal models,” Dr Wixey said.

“We’re really excited by the outcomes of this study and we hope it’ll improve these babies’ lives long term.”

The patent technique for harvesting stem cells from the placenta was co-invented by UQ’s Professor Kiarash Khosrotehrani and Dr Jatin Patel – now at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT).

“This has been a fantastic collaborative study and demonstrates the exciting potential of stem cell therapy in the near future in treating unwell babies,” Dr Patel said.

“We are now working towards scaling up our patented stem cell technology, that will result in greater quantities of cells to drive and expand the preclinical animal studies with the aim of progressing towards a human trial.”

The researchers will now investigate the longer-term outcomes of the combination stem cell treatment.

The research is published in Nature Regenerative Medicine (DOI: 10.1038/s41536-021-00185-5).

Media: Dr Julie Wixey, j.wixey@uq.edu.au, +61 (0)412 825 298; Faculty of Medicine Communications, med.media@uq.edu.au, +61 (0)7 3365 5118. 

Bacteria found in children’s upper respiratory systems could help fight chronic middle ear infections, the leading cause of preventable hearing loss and deafness in Indigenous communities.

The University of Queensland’s Dr Seweryn Bialasiewicz said this discovery helped explain a long-held mystery, while providing hope for potential treatments.

“We’ve been puzzled for years now, trying to work out why some children never develop chronic ear disease, despite being in a high-risk category for contracting it,” Dr Bialasiewicz said.

“By focusing on the microbiomes in the upper respiratory tracts of disease-resistant kids, we could investigate the ecological networks of bacterial interactions that seemed to be working together to protect against the condition.

“It was clear that these two groups of bacteria needed to not only be present, but to be interacting with each other, to provide protection from middle ear infections.”

Dr Bialasiewicz said they were hoping to use this information to figure out what the exact mechanism of protection is, and then mimic it in the very young children, as a therapy or a preventative measure.

“This could take the form of a molecule that can be used as a drug for treatment, or as a protective probiotic so that these ‘good’ bacteria can be seeded in the nose early enough to offer protection against the incoming ‘bad’ bacteria,” he said.

Dr Andrea Coleman, who completed her PhD work on the project this year, said the research provided a new perspective on how middle ear infections develop and could pave the way for new treatments.

“Chronic middle ear infections can affect between one third to one half of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, which is far above the four per cent threshold that the World Health Organisation considers as a disease needing urgent public health action,” Dr Coleman said.

“This disease can cause hearing loss and can have life-long impacts on speech and language development, education, and future employment prospects, and in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations contributes to the wide gap in educational and employment outcomes.”

The study investigated the microbiomes of 103 children aged two to seven  from two north Queensland communities.

Dr Bialasiewicz said chronic middle ear infections resulting in hearing loss was a major problem with Indigenous and other disadvantaged populations globally.

“Our discovery could be applied across the world, helping improve health and reducing the disadvantage gap for a wide range of people,” he said.

The team has acknowledged the support of the Deadly Ears team, the Queensland Health’s statewide Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ear Health Program doing on-the-ground treatment and education, as well as the generous assistance of parents and children within the participating communities.

The research has been published in Microbiology Spectrum (DOI: 10.1128/Spectrum.00367-21).

Media: Dr Seweryn Bialasiewicz, seweryn@uq.edu.au, +61 404 808 914; Dr Andrea Coleman, a.coleman@uq.edu.au, +61 7 3069 7423; Dominic Jarvis, dominic.jarvis@uq.edu.au, +61 413 334 924.