20 February 2015 The University of Adelaide
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Dear Colleague,

IPAS External Newsletter 12

It is our pleasure to bring you the 12th IPAS External Newsletter.

Message from the Director

I wish you all a very happy New Year and hope that you found some time for rest and recovery from a very successful 2014. I have really enjoyed 2014 - as you can imagine, the second half posed a radical change in direction for me with many new challenges, but I have really enjoyed being given the opportunity to help shape the future direction of IPAS. I look forward to 2015 being bigger, better and even more successful.

It has been the tradition of IPAS to celebrate the successes of its members in the new year rather than during the very crowded and busy time at the end of the year. This year we got together on January 30 to recognise the achievements of our members as well as to plan for the year ahead.

The first announcement of the day were the winners of the annual "IPAS Student Research Event". These prizes are designed to encourage our PhD students to make compelling and effective presentations. The two best presentations were given to Jesse Teo and Myles Clark of the School of Physical Sciences. These two should be firmly congratulated for their efforts in a very tough competition. For further details please see the IPAS blog.

However, an equally important benefit flows from the involvement of almost all of our students in organising, participating and presenting at the event. The skill of effective communication is one that helps in every aspect of life and this event gives great training through practice and examples. We recognised the efforts of three other students in this exercise, Carly Whitakker and Daniel Stubing from the School of Physical Sciences and Karan Gulati from The School of Chemical Engineering, for their outstanding efforts by awarding them with an “Honourable Mention”.

We also announced winners of our inaugural "Best Papers" competition for 2014. We were inundated with entries showing the quality and impact of the research being conducted by IPAS members. Winners for the best ECR led Paper were Tim Zhao, Georgios Tsiminis and Witold Bloch. Best PhD Student Led Paper were John Horsley, Melanie Ceko and Ori Henderson-Sapir. The  Best Overall Paper Award went to Wenle Weng, all from the School of Physical Sciences. 

Please see the IPAS blog for a short citation of each of these outstanding papers and the reasons for why we chose these particular papers. We intend to continue this new competition in 2015 as it was so successful in spurring our people to aim high in the impact and quality of their research publications.

We will have a large influx of new personnel over 2015 – a large group of graduate students together with six new staff with newly funded projects including those in the Centre for Nanoscale BioPhotonics (CNBP). The quality of these new members is very high and will provide excellent opportunities for exciting science and translation of those outcomes into new technologies.

I look forward to continuing to support IPAS members to achieve their research dreams and aspirations. As always, I welcome your input, so if you can see a way in which IPAS can help you, or that you can help us, then please get in contact with me.

Regards,

Andre

IPAS Brochure

The latest IPAS brochure is now available for download on the IPAS Website.

Administration Office Updates

Ms Olivia Towers is now supporting IPAS Director Prof Andre Luiten as Executive Assistant and will retain her duties as IPAS Marketing Officer. Olivia can be contacted via:

olivia.towers@adelaide.edu.au
+61 (8) 83130589
+61(0) 416509510

With the official launch of the Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics (CNBP), Ms Sara Leggatt is now supporting the CNBP Director as Executive Assistant and Senior Officer Administrator for the Adelaide node.

Science Network Committee

This year saw the introduction of the new IPAS Science Network Committee (ISNC). The Science Network team was created to strengthen the bonds among the scientific disciplines of the University. An important driving force behind its inception was the desire to bring together members and non-members of IPAS with networking events and professional development activities, and to foster a supportive community for researchers, students, professional staff and academics.

Our first event in 2014 was the 'pre-football grand final' BBQ, on Friday the 26th September in the Braggs Atrium. Food and drinks, including gourmet sausages, live music- an Elder Conservatorium jazz quartet ‘Zatwi Quartet’, and a casual game of 'marks up' on the lawn.

We also successfully ran a friendly Interdisciplinary Soccer Match on the 14th of November at the Bundeys Road ovals. It became a real community event, with over thirty players, spread over six teams and two ovals. The team members got into the spirit, some assigning team names and call-signs for themselves.

Team leader and participant Dusan Losic said: "On behalf our research group I would like to congratulate and thank you on perfectly organized Soccer Tournament and thanks to all players for coming and fair play.” At the close of the games, a winner for each oval's tournament was declared, with trophies awarded, accolades all round, and a post-game evening event was held in the Braggs Atrium.

Article written by IPAS Science Network Chairman Dr Jonathan Hall.

IPAS Pilot Projects

Each year, IPAS opens up the ‘IPAS Pilot Project’ scheme and offers funding to seed new research projects and ideas which have the potential to become externally funded research initiatives. This scheme can support new science as the forerunner for a compelling fundamental science grant application, or enable research that creates new industry engagement. For 2015 the following projects were awarded funding:

UV-guiding silica hollow-core fibre for biological sensing
Philip Light, Sabrina Heng, Chris Perrella, Heike Ebendorff-Heidepriem

Characterisation of aquaporin-1 (AQP1) ion channel activity in migrating cancer cells using a novel photoswitchable fluorescent probe
Andrea Yool, Sabrina Heng, Jinxin (Victor) Pei

Micro-Machining Exposed Core Fibre: Taking Sensing to the Next Level
Chris Perrella, Charles Ironside, Phil Light

Rapid phenotyping of human stem cells sub-populations using optical spectroscopy
Georgios Tsiminis, Erik Schartner, Simon Koblar, Mark Hutchinson

Free-Space Optical CO2 Sensing for Heap Leaching
James Anstie, Ori-Henderson Sapir, Jerome Genest, David Ottaway

Microplasma generation in an optical fibre for atomic emission spectroscopy
Matt Henderson, Agnieszka Zuber, Sameer Al-Bataineh

High-Precision All-Optical Physical Sensor Platform
Andre Luiten, Wenle Weng, Mirko Lobino,

First Steps Towards a Cancer Biosensor
Niels Krogsgaard-Larsen, John Bruning, Alaknanda Alaknanda, David Callen, Xiaozhou Zhang

“Single-Grain Sorter and Loader” for Optical Dating
Nigel Spooner, Ben Cazzolato, Don Creighton, Lee Arnold, Martina Demuro, Daniele Questiaux

Successful Funding

Late 2014, IPAS members were successful in securing the following funding:

ARC Discovery Projects

Veitch, A/Prof Peter J; Ottaway, Dr David J; Slagmolen, Dr Bram J; Brooks, Dr Aidan F; Ballmer, Asst Prof Stefan W; Adhikari, Prof Rana X
 “Ultra-sensitive third-generation gravitational wave detectors” - $470,800
 Admin Org - The University of Adelaide



Dawson, Prof Bruce R; Clay, Em/Prof Roger W; Hill, Dr Gary C 
“A major upgrade of the Pierre Auger cosmic ray observatory” - $694,300 
Admin Org - The University of Adelaide



Tibby, Dr John; Moss, Dr Patrick T; Leng, Prof Melanie; Shakun, Dr Jeremy; Spooner, Adj/Prof Nigel A
 “A 140,000 year insight into the imprint of climate and humans on Australia” - $381,140
 Admin Org - The University of Adelaide



McLaughlin, Prof Michael J; Losic, Prof Dusan; Tavakkoli, Dr Ehsan; Kirby, Dr Jason K 
“Engineered graphene-based nanofertilizers to improve crop nutrition” - $431,200
 Admin Org - The University of Adelaide

ARC Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities

Rowell, Dr Gavin P; Burton, Prof Michael G; Green, Prof Anne J; Dawson, Prof Bruce R; Balazs, A/Prof Csaba; Filipovic, A/Prof Miroslav D; Crocker, Dr Roland M; Tothill, Dr Nicholas F; Veitch, A/Prof Peter J; Galloway, Dr Duncan K; White, Dr Martin J; Bicknell, Prof Geoffrey V; Braiding, Dr Catherine R; Ottaway, Dr David J; Hinton, Prof Jim; Berge, Dr David 
“The Cherenkov Telescope Array” - $270,000 
Admin Org - The University of Adelaide

Losic, Prof Dusan; Shapter, Prof Joseph G; Nann, Prof Thomas; Abbott, Prof Derek; Nyden, Prof Magnus; Skinner, Prof William M; Ellis, Prof Amanda V; Ebendorff-Heidepriem, A/Prof Heike; Quinton, A/Prof Jamie S; Santos, Dr Abel; Koeper, Dr Ingo; Xie, Dr Zonghan “Advanced capabilities for surface engineering and nanolithography” - $330,000 
Admin Org - The University of Adelaide

Jin, A/Prof Dayong; Monro, Prof Tanya M; Braet, A/Prof Filip C; Gibson, Dr Brant C; Paulsen, Prof Ian T; Traini, A/Prof Daniela; Hutchinson, A/Prof Mark R; Greentree, A/Prof Andrew D; Chung, Prof Roger; Young, A/Prof Paul M; Willows, A/Prof Robert D; Lu, Dr Yiqing
 “National Live Cell Scanning Platform for Nanoparticle Tracking” - $440,000 
Admin Org - Macquarie University

Michael, Dr Michael Z; Booker, A/Prof Grant W; Venter, Dr Henrietta; Pitson, Prof Stuart M; McKinnon, Prof Ross A; Abell, Prof Andrew D; Soole, A/Prof Kathleen L; Sykes, Prof Pamela J; Bruning, Dr John B
 “South Australian High Throughput Screening Facility” - $860,000
 Admin Org - The Flinders University of South Australia

Choudhury, Prof Namita R; Dutta, Prof Naba K; Losic, Prof Dusan; Lenehan, A/Prof Claire E; Raston, Prof Colin L; Andersson, Prof Mats R; Santos, Dr Abel; Ellis, Prof Amanda V; Follink, Prof Bart; Prestidge, Prof Clive A
“SA Facility for imaging and characterization of advanced materials” - $290,000 
Admin Org - University of South Australia

Recently Published Research

Unravelling the interplay of backbone rigidity and electron rich side-chains on electron transfer in peptides: the realization of tunable molecular wires

Electrochemical studies were reported on a series of peptides constrained into either a 310-helix or β-strand conformation, with variable numbers of electron rich alkene containing side chains. The ability of the alkene(s) to facilitate electron transfer through the peptides by acting as a “stepping stone” was demonstrated. Furthermore, experimental data gleaned from the saturated and unsaturated tethered peptides revealed an interplay between backbone rigidity and effects arising from the alkene side-chains on electron transfer, which was also supported by theoretical studies. These findings provide a new approach for fine tuning the electronic properties of peptides by controlling backbone rigidity, and through the inclusion of electron rich side-chains. This allows for manipulation of energy barriers and hence conductance in peptides, a crucial step in the design and fabrication of molecular-based electronic devices.

Authors: Horsley, JR, Yu, J, Moore, KE, Shapter, JG, Abell, AD

Journal of the American Chemical Society DOI: 10.1021/ja507175b (2014)

Work in collaboration with Flinders University

Nanodiamond in tellurite glass Part I: origin of loss in nanodiamond-doped glass

For the first time, a method to incorporate a controlled amount of nanoparticles into glass without decreasing the transmission of the host glass was developed. This was achieved by revealing the chemical interactions between the diamond nanoparticles and tellurite glass and how these interactions are affected by fabrication conditions.

Optical Materials Express 4 (12), 2608-2620 (2014)

Authors: Ebendorff-Heidepriem, H, Ruan, YL, Ji, H, Greentree, AD, Gibson, BC, Monro, TM

Work in collaboration with RMIT University.

Visiting Speakers

We continue to build collaborations with researchers from around the world. Recently we have hosted the following visiting speakers:

IPAS Defence Sector Workshop / Photonics Catalyst Program

To showcase photonics technologies being developed at The University of Adelaide, Flinders University and UniSA, we held a Defence Sector Workshop in conjunction with Defence SA on Monday 1 December 2014. Twelve rapid fire talks were delivered by South Australian Photonics researchers.

We updated attendees on The Photonics Catalyst Program (PCP), a joint initiative between Department of State Development and IPAS which connects South Australian Industry with emerging laser and sensor technologies. After the talks were tours of The Braggs and networking. The event has already resulted in three industry led projects.

Minister Susan Close announces the State Government’s ‘Growth Through Innovation’ Economic Priority at IPAS

On 16 December 2014 we had the pleasure of Minister Susan Close visiting IPAS to give a press release from the Fibre Drawing Tower Laboratory where she launched the South Australian Government growth through innovation targets.

View full article on the IPAS Blog.