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UQ continues to climb in Leiden Rankings

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The University of Queensland’s global scientific research impact is evident in the latest Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) Leiden Ranking.

During 2012-2015, UQ contributed 11,258 publications in recognised journals; with 1443 in the top 10 percent of cited publications, which placed UQ 38th globally up 5 places from last year’s ranking.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research Professor Robyn Ward said the latest Leiden Ranking strengthened UQ’s global reputation and were a result of the University’s focus on research excellence.

“Unlike other global rankings, which often rely on subjective data, the Leiden rankings present a measure of an institution’s contemporary research impact and collaboration through analysis of recent research publications,” Professor Ward said.

“UQ’s strong results indicate that our researchers are publishing quality research which attracts high citation rates.”

UQ ranked highly in the area of overall scientific impact, and was Australia’s top-ranked university in the research categories of life and earth sciences, and social sciences and humanities as measured by publications in the top 10% cited globally.

The University’s life and earth sciences ranking jumped to 11th globally, with 2253 publications in recognised journals, including 326 papers in the top 10 percent of most frequently cited.

UQ’s social sciences and humanities leapt eight places – from 38 in 2016 to 30 this year – with 1570 publications in recognised journals, including 182 in the top 10 percent.

“Results such as this are impressive and highlight why Australia needs well-resourced universities so that the broader benefits of world-class quality research flow to society and the economy,” Professor Ward said.

The 2017 CWTS Leiden Rankings are based on Web of Science indexed publications. This Ranking system differs from others in that it separately reports scientific impact and collaboration rather than aggregating many dimensions of university performance into a single rank. The CWTS Leiden Rankings thus provides a more detailed perspective on university research performance.

The rankings offer insights into the scientific performance of 902 universities worldwide. They employ a sophisticated set of bibliometric indicators that provide significant statistics on the scientific impact of universities and on universities’ involvement in scientific collaboration.

Media: UQ Communications, communications@uq.edu.au, +61 7 3364 1120.

Researchers find neurological conditions could begin in the womb

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Researchers say a protein usually associated with the immune system could play a role in the development of neurological conditions such as epilepsy and schizophrenia.

University of Queensland lecturer and medical alumnus Dr Liam Coulthard led the study into how brain development is affected by altering the activity of the complement system – which controls innate or natural immunity – during pregnancy.

“Our research in mouse models has shown neural defects can result when this system is functioning inappropriately in utero,” Dr Coulthard said.

“We blocked a key complement component, called C5a, for three days during pregnancy, and this resulted in behavioural abnormalities in the offspring.

“Our research demonstrates this complement factor is essential for the proper development of the brain and has a broader role in addition to its function in the immune system.”

The research was part of Dr Coulthard’s thesis for his PhD, supervised by Associate Professor Trent Woodruff, who heads the Neuroinflammation Laboratory at the UQ School of Biomedical Sciences.

Dr Woodruff’s lab works on potent inflammatory molecules in the immune system, including C5a.

The study showed the protein occurs in significant amounts in brain regions during development in utero, prior to the immune system being developed.

This complement system was also activated in a human model of brain development using induced pluripotent stem cells, in work done in collaboration with Professor Ernst Wolvetang from UQ’s Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology.

C5a has been linked to inflammation pathways in neurodegenerative conditions such as motor neuron disease, and the lab is working towards the development of new drugs to block disease progression.

“Our findings confirm that drugs inhibiting this system could pose a risk in pregnancy and could prompt recommendations they not be given to women of child-bearing age,” Dr Coulthard said.

“Any development of drugs for this target to treat pregnancy-related inflammatory diseases such as preeclampsia should be approached with caution.”

Dr Coulthard is a Resident Medical Officer at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.

The research is published in the Journal of Neuroscience.

Image left: Red: C5aR, Blue: DAPI

Media: Kim Lyell, k.lyell@uq.edu.au, 0427 530 647.

A step towards understanding Zika

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Brisbane researchers have synthetically re-created Zika virus in the laboratory – a breakthrough that will help to understand the virus and the fetal brain defects it causes.

The collaborative research was led by UQ School of Chemistry and Molecular Bioscience’s Professor Alexander Khromykh and Professor Andreas Suhrbier from QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute.

“This was the first time Zika virus was made directly from a viral sequence detected in infected tissue, without the need to import the infectious virus,” Professor Khromykh said.

“The project showed the synthesised virus was able to induce a medical condition – microcephaly – in pregnant mice, and was able to be transmitted by mosquitoes.

“The virus sequence we used had been identified in human tissue and is unequivocally associated with congenital defects and their devastating impact.”

Zika, a mosquito-borne virus reported in 70 countries and territories, is responsible for millions of cases of fever, rash, joint pain and conjunctivitis.

The major complications of the Zika virus outbreak in the Americas and Asia are caused by the virus’s ability to cross the placenta and infect the brain of the fetus.

This results in ‘congenital Zika syndrome’, with children born with neurological problems including microcephaly, causing abnormal brain development and smaller heads.

Professor Khromykh, Professor Suhrbier and QIMR Berghofer’s Associate Professor Greg Devine have a record of developing diagnostic tests, antiviral drugs and vaccines against other mosquito-borne diseases, including dengue, West Nile and chikungunya viruses.

Professor Suhrbier said the research team’s unique approach allowed rapid generation of new fully-functional Zika virus isolates.

“Why Zika has recently emerged to cause fetal brain infections in humans remains unclear. Having access to such authentic viruses should greatly facilitate research into this mystery,” he said.

“UQ and QIMR Berghofer are contributing to international efforts to deal with this epidemic, which is causing so much misery.

“Zika is of great interest to Queenslanders, not only because a number of people returning from overseas have contracted the virus, but also because a mosquito species prevalent in North Queensland, Aedes aegypti, is one that is largely responsible for the Zika outbreak.”

The research, supported by an Australian Infectious Diseases Research Centre grant, is published in the American Society for Microbiology’s journal, mSphere.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1128/mSphereDirect.00190-1

 

Media:  Professor Alexander Khromykh, +61 7 334 67219, +61 0434 367 342, a.khromykh@uq.edu.au; QIMR Berghofer media, media@qimrberghofer.edu.au, +61 7 3845 3919.

Developing therapeutic peptides from scorpion venom

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Canadian health and wellness company PreveCeutical Medical Inc. (PMI) has signed a research and option agreement with UniQuest, The University of Queensland’s main commercialisation company, to develop stabilised natural and synthetic peptides from scorpion venom for immune-boosting applications.

PMI has an interest in the preventative health sector and is developing products derived from Caribbean blue scorpion venom for the nutraceutical and pharmaceutical market.

This includes the CellB9 Immune System Booster product, which contains peptides that are obtained from the Caribbean blue scorpion.

In collaboration with UniQuest, PMI aims to identify the active peptides that provide immune-boosting and tumor-selective painting properties, develop synthetic versions of the active peptides and ultimately identify other therapeutic applications.

UniQuest CEO Dr Dean Moss said the project was based on the research of Dr Harendra (Harry) Parekh, of UQ School of Pharmacy, who will be collaborating with PMI.

“UQ’s School of Pharmacy has unique intellectual property in stabilising therapeutic peptides and is in a position to add value by extending PreveCeutical’s product line,” Dr Moss said.

“This agreement exemplifies the quality of UQ’s intellectual property and the willingness of its researchers to engage globally with industry to develop new products through university-industry collaborations.”

PMI Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Stephen Van Deventer said working with UniQuest and UQ presented unique opportunities to develop products that promoted health and wellness.

“Wellness products developed from scorpion venom-derived natural and synthetic peptides have the potential to be applied across a number of therapeutic applications including boosting the immune system,” Mr Van Deventer said.

The agreement provides PMI with an option to negotiate for a license to use UniQuest’s intellectual property for the commercialisation of blue scorpion venom-derived products.

Media: Danielle Koopman, UniQuest: d.koopman@uniquest.com.au, + 61 (0) 409 767 199; UQ Communications, communications@uq.edu.au; +61 7 3346 0561

About UniQuest

UniQuest is the main commercialisation company of The University of Queensland (UQ), specialising in the commercialisation of intellectual property, research outcomes and expertise. UniQuest delivers commercialisation outcomes which provide impact for business, the environment, global communities and society. UniQuest benchmarks in the top 10 percent globally for university-based technology transfer. UQ innovations licenced by UniQuest are now generating annual sales of more than $US3 billion. For example, UQ superconductor technology, through licensing arrangements, is used in two-thirds of the world’s MRIs and more than 80 million doses of the life-saving Gardasil® cervical cancer vaccine, patented by UniQuest in 1991, have been distributed throughout 121 countries, including 72 developing countries.

Alumnus boosts research to save our little Aussie gliders

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Research aimed at better understanding and ensuring the survival of Australia’s endangered mahogany gliders has been bolstered by a generous donation from the late Phil Tow, a UQ Science alum.

The $10,000 donation will fund studies to improve our understanding of the needs of, and care for, this iconic Australian species thereby improving their survival and captive breeding programs.

The Manager of UQ’s Native Wildlife Teaching and Research Facility, Trish O’Hara, said the donation would positively impact the University’s work towards ensuring the survival of the endangered mahogany glider.

“The University of Queensland is proud to be one of the institutions breeding this species to ensure their continued survival,” Ms O’Hara said.

“The major threats for this species include habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation.”

The mahogany glider is an elusive and silent gliding marsupial, which was first described in 1883, but not observed in the wild until 1989.

UQ School of Agriculture and Food Sciences researcher Dr Julia Hoy and Ms O’Hara are conducting several mahogany glider research projects on microchip-automated husbandry, and nutrition.

“Like most captive wildlife, the mahogany gliders maintained at UQ are already implanted with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) microchips for identification purposes,” Dr Hoy said.

“These microchips can be linked with automated equipment such as commercially available pet feeders and doors to provide an extensive and unpredictable variety of food, enrichment and access to space on an individual animal basis, to more accurately replicate aspects of the natural environment.

“If the study animals successfully use the microchip-automated feeders and doors, this will be the first recorded use of these commercially available devices with mahogany gliders.”

Dr Hoy said the research would provide valuable ‘proof-of-concept’ information that could have broad impact for captive and free-living wildlife.

“Using microchip-automated technology to provide released wildlife with short-term access to supplementary feed and areas of refuge from predators, while also monitoring populations should improve the success of wildlife reintroduction programs,” she said.

In a second study, the researchers hope to improve understanding of mahogany glider nutrition.

Ms O’Hara said the species had a tendency to become obese in captivity, emphasising the importance of the planned research to determine their specific nutritional requirements.

The project will compare the current mahogany glider diet at UQ, other zoo diets, and a commercial sugar glider diet to ensure the species will receive the highest quality, most suitable diet.

This is an example of the type of research which UQ will undertake at the Hidden Vale UQ Wildlife Centre, a multi-million dollar teaching and research facility generously funded by the Turner Family Foundation.

Information collected during this research will be shared with other zoos currently maintaining mahogany gliders to ensure a consistent and appropriate diet across institutions.

Ensuring the survival of native Australian species is a priority for UQ’s Native Wildlife Teaching and Research Facility. To find out more about how you can support the work of the UQ Native Wildlife Teaching and Research Facility please contact UQ Faculty of Science Philanthropy Manager Julia Keith j.keith2@uq.edu.au, +61 7 3346 3143.

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