2010 Annual Report - Institute for Molecular Bioscience - University ...

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21 xxxxx Division of GENOMICS & COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY In 2010 the Division’s research in genomics, computational biology and bioinformatics was led by six Group Leaders (Dr Tim Bailey, Professor Sean Grimmond, Professor John Mattick, Professor Mark Ragan, Associate Professor Rohan Teasdale, Dr Nick Hamilton) one Joint Appointee (Professor Geoff McLachlan) and one Affiliate (Professor Jane Hunter). NICOLE CLOONAN: COLOUR SPACE This image depicts the DNA sequence of human chromosome 21 represented in colour- space, enhanced electronically to resemble an image seen in a kaleidoscope.
imb annual report 2010 22 FELLOWSHIPS AND AWARDS Professor John Mattick was awarded an NHMRC Australia Fellowship. This five-year fellowship, worth $4 million, is designed for leading health and medical researchers both from Australia and overseas. Professor Geoffrey McLachlan was awarded the Pitman Medal by the Statistical Society of Australia. This gold medal recognises great achievement in the field of statistics, and Professor McLachlan is only the 18 th recipient since the prize was established in 1978. Dr Ryan Taft, a postdoctoral researcher in the Mattick group, was a finalist in two Eureka Prizes, the Early Career Research Award and the People’s Choice Award. Dr Taft was selected for his examination of the non-coding portion of the human genome, known informally as ‘junk DNA’. He discovered, in collaboration with Professor Mattick, tiny RNAs (tiRNA), the smallest-yet discovered segments of genetic material that may play a role in gene expression. Dr Taft was awarded a Dean’s Commendation for an Outstanding Research Higher Degree Thesis, as was Tim Mercer, also from the Mattick group. CENTRES AND FACILITIES The Queensland Centre for Medical Genomics (QCMG) was officially opened in June by Queensland Premier Anna Bligh. Professor Sean Grimmond, QCMG Director, and his team continue to make rapid progress in sequencing pancreatic and ovarian tumours as part of the International Cancer Genome Consortium. At the end of 2009, the team had sequenced around 1 terabase of patient samples. One year on, they are close to achieving 10 terabases of genetic material, at a rate of roughly three tumours and three matched normals per month. The senior team expect the sequencing rate to rise in 2011, with the arrival of upgraded equipment from Applied Biosystems. The senior team for the National Computational Infrastructure Specialised Facility in Bioinformatics, and the EMBL Australia EBI Mirror, was appointed in 2010. Dr David Green was seconded as Project Manager from his role as Manager of the highperformance computing group at UQ ITS. Dr Gerald Hartig, Gavin Graham and Peter Scott accepted roles as Senior IT Managers for development of Applications, Systems and Web Services respectively. Dr Hartig is a former IMB PhD student who has since spent time in IT management positions in telecommunications and biotechnology organisations. The ARC Centre of Excellence in Bioinformatics marked its final year in 2010. The Centre links 16 groups of researchers at five Australian and four international institutions to develop an understanding of how genomic information is translated into structures and functions within the mammalian cell. The Centre was originally funded for five years, from 2003 until 2007, after which time the ARC conducted a review and not only extended the funding for the Centre for another three years, but also upgraded it to a Centre of Excellence. Many components of the Centre’s research will continue under external grant and fellowship funding. The Centre’s annual national Winter School in Mathematical and Computational Biology, which in 2010 attracted 261 registrants from 41 institutions across Australia and ten other countries, will be continued under funding from Bioplatforms Australia and EMBL Australia. GRANT FUNDING AND RESEARCH In 2010, group leaders in the Division held over $14 million* in competitive grants. Some of the new grants received in 2010 included a $691,310 grant from NHMRC, on which Dr Nicholas Hamilton was a Chief Investigator with Professor Melissa Little from the Molecular Genetics and Development division. The grant involves gaining a better understanding of kidney disease through studying nephron formation. Dr Hamilton will use his novel approaches to imagebased modelling of cellular processes to contribute to improving our knowledge of kidney development. Professor Mark Ragan and Professor Lars Nielsen (AIBN) received a $340,000 grant from ARC to study the genetic sequences of more than 700 pancreatic tumours. He will compare the tumour genomes to those of undiseased tissue in order to identify the mutations that disrupt the process of normal development and cause cancer. MAJOR PUBLICATIONS The division’s group leaders published in a range of high-ranking international journals throughout the year, including Nature (Grimmond), Cell (Grimmond, Teasdale), Nature Methods (Grimmond, Hamilton, Ragan), Nature Structural and Molecular Biology (Mattick), Bioinformatics (Bailey, Ragan) Developmental Cell (Mattick), Genome Research (Bailey, Mattick, Grimmond), and Stem Cells (Grimmond).
Page 1 and 2: ANNUAL REPORT 2010
Page 3 and 4: IMB Annual Report 2010 CONTENTS 1 I
Page 5 and 6: imb annual report 2010 2 CHAIR’S
Page 7 and 8: imb annual report 2010 4 DARREN BRO
Page 9 and 10: imb annual report 2010 6 countries.
Page 11 and 12: imb annual report 2010 8 2010 featu
Page 13 and 14: imb annual report 2010 10 IMB HIGHL
Page 15 and 16: imb annual report 2010 12 Professor
Page 17 and 18: imb annual report 2010 14 IMB FELLO
Page 19 and 20: imb annual report 2010 16 IMB ADVIS
Page 21 and 22: imb annual report 2010 18 PROFESSOR
Page 23: imb annual report 2010 20 IMB RESEA
Page 27 and 28: imb annual report 2010 24 SEAN GRIM
Page 29 and 30: imb annual report 2010 26 JOHN MATT
Page 31 and 32: imb annual report 2010 28 ROHAN TEA
Page 33 and 34: imb annual report 2010 30 The Molec
Page 35 and 36: imb annual report 2010 32 PETER KOO
Page 37 and 38: imb annual report 2010 34 GEORGE MU
Page 39 and 40: imb annual report 2010 36 RICK STUR
Page 41 and 42: imb annual report 2010 38 BRANDON W
Page 43 and 44: imb annual report 2010 40 DAGMAR WI
Page 45 and 46: imb annual report 2010 42 THE RESEA
Page 47 and 48: imb annual report 2010 44 BRETT COL
Page 49 and 50: imb annual report 2010 46 ROB PARTO
Page 51 and 52: imb annual report 2010 48 MIKE WATE
Page 53 and 54: imb annual report 2010 50 Division
Page 55 and 56: imb annual report 2010 52 PAUL ALEW
Page 57 and 58: imb annual report 2010 54 MATT COOP
Page 59 and 60: imb annual report 2010 56 DAVID FAI
Page 61 and 62: imb annual report 2010 58 GLENN KIN
Page 63 and 64: imb annual report 2010 60 JENNY MAR
Page 65 and 66: imb annual report 2010 62 JOINT APP
Page 67 and 68: imb annual report 2010 64 GEOFFREY
Page 69 and 70: imb annual report 2010 66 IMB OCCUP
Page 71 and 72: imb annual report 2010 68 Dr Peter
Page 73 and 74: imb annual report 2010 70 AS IN PAS
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imb annual report 2010 72 In additi
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imb annual report 2010 74 VISITING
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imb annual report 2010 76 Professor
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imb annual report 2010 78 COLLABORA
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imb annual report 2010 80 considera
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imb annual report 2010 82 Darren Br
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imb annual report 2010 96 FINANCIAL
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imb annual report 2010 98 Explanato
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imb annual report 2010 100 Golgi An
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imb annual report 2010 102 2010 PUB
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imb annual report 2010 104 Qureshi,
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imb annual report 2010 106 Leong, G
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imb annual report 2010 108 Jeffery,
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imb annual report 2010 110 Colgrave
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imb annual report 2010 112 Mobli, M
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imb annual report 2010 114 NOTES
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The University of Queensland St Luc
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