AUSTRALIAN
SOCIETY FOR BIOPHYSICS
AUSTRALIAN
SOCIETY FOR BIOPHYSICS
Newsletter
2002/2
2.
Bob Robertson Award
2002 will see the inauguration of an invited lecture at our Annual Conference in honour of Sir Rutherfod (Bob) Robertson’s contribution to biophysics in Australia, as well as to Australian science generally. Awardees will be presented with a medal and a cheque at the Annual Conference and will present a lecture at that conference.
We have been calling this the Bob Robertson Award for convenience, but it’s probably time to decide on the final name. As the award will come with a medal, my suggestion would be ‘The Robertson Medal’. ‘The Bob Robertson Award’ or simply ‘The Robertson Award’ are also possibilities. Your comments are welcome.
I circulated a copy of the Conditions of this Award in an email last year; if you’d like another copy please email me. Nominations will be called for in May.
3.
ASB Web Site
Adelle Coster has kingly agreed to take over maintenance and development of the Society’s website. The site has not been updated recently and it still contains a few minor glitches. If you have suggestions for improvement, or would like something added, please contact Adelle at A.Coster@unsw.edu.au. We thank Paul Pallaghy for looking after the site for the past few years.
I would also encourage all ASB members to provide information about their lab websites to Adelle so that links can be established from the ASB site. I believe this is the best way we can showcase the work of Australian biophysicists to interested parties and to answer the question ‘what is biophysics?’ for prospective students and others.
4. AAS National Committee for Biophysics
The Australian Academy of Science supports a number of National Committees spanning a range of disciplines. In our case the National Committee for Biophysics is chaired by Cris dos Remedios and holds meetings at opportune times such as our Annual Conference. The Committee has a very limited budget for travel and other activities, but it provides a source of advice to the Academy on our discipline, and this is important because the Academy is the ‘adhering body’ to the International Union for Pure & Applied Biophysics (IUPAB). Thus, formal input to IUPAB is via the Academy with advice from the National Committee for Biophysics rather than ASB.
This arrangement appears to have worked satisfactorily to date. However, the AAS is in the process of reviewing the roles of its numerous National Committees. Advice has been sought from the various Committees and a meeting is being held in Canberra on April 30th to discuss future directions. Normally Cris dos Remedios would attend as chair of the National Committee for Biophysics, but he will be attending the IUPAB Congress in Buenos Aires (see below), so I’ll represent the Committee. Is is possible that AAS is looking to disband some or all National Committees, devolving their current responsibilities (and, presumably, financial commitments) to relevant societies like ASB. If you have any views on this, please contact Cris (crisdos@anatomy.usyd.edu.au) or me (Ray.Norton@wehi.edu.au) in the coming weeks.
I’ll report on the outcome of the April 30th meeting in the next Newsletter.
This conference, covering all aspects of toxinology, will be held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Australasian College of Tropical Medicine and will be preceded by a specialist workshop relevant to the field of tropical medicine on Sunday, July 7.
For further information please email convention@optushome.com.au or check the congress web site: http://www.pharmacology.unimelb.edu.au/pharmwww/avruweb/ozist.htm.
2. ComBio2002
29
September to 3 October 2002, Darling
Harbour, Sydney
The "Provisional Symposia Schedule" is now up on the ComBio2002 website,
which lists all 64 Symposia and days on which they will be presented. Please
visit : www.asbmb.org.au/combio2002
and click on "Scientific Program" and see full Symposia table at the bottom
of the page.
Planning for this meeting is well advanced, and on-line registration
and abstract submission details will be up on the website in early April.
2. IUPAB E-Journal?
If you have any further comments on this idea, please contact Cris dos Remedios in the next few weeks. The proposal will be discussed in Buenos Aires.
3. IUPAB News
I recently received a hard copy of the latest IUPAB News (No. 46, March 2002). Its contents can be viewed at: http://www.iupab.org.
At the Buenos Aires Congress, two of our members (both of them former ASB presidents) are standing for office in IUPAB. Cris dos Remedios, currently an IUPAB Council member, is standing for Vice President, and Frances Separovic is standing for election to Council. We wish both of them the best of luck!
4. Possible Support for Graduate Student Travel to the US
Dear
Presidents/Directors,
Please
let the members of your society know that the US Biophysical Society has
provided its International Relations Committee with a budget for three
programs:
1)
Travel grant to attend the Biophysical Society Meeting usually held in
February of each year
2)
International Courses in countries in need.
3)
Travel grant for non-US graduate students from countries in need to visit
US labs (NEW)
Criteria
for selection:
1)
International Travel grant to attend the Biophysical Society Meeting. For
criteria and forms see Call for Abstracts each year; deadline usually beginning
of October (http://www.biophysics.org)
2)
For International Courses
a)
Country in need; b) Frontier theme of workshop; c) Program; d) Excellence
and productivity of proposed speakers; e) Number of students; f) Balance
between international and local speakers; g) Matching funds; h) Facilities
.
Application
should contain information on all these aspects.Deadline
for submissions are:September 30
andJanuary 30 of each year.Approval
by Council will be November and
February
of each year.
3)
Travel grant (no living expenses) for non-US graduate students to visit
US labs
a)
Country in need; b) Short visit (1-3 months) to a US lab to acquire skills
to apply to PhD thesis in the country of residence; c) Matching funds from
recipient laboratory; d) Funds only for receipted costs of travel. Send
letters of acceptance of US laboratory with promise of matching funds and
letter from PhD thesis advisor describing the skills that will be learned
in the US-lab.Deadline for submissions
are:September 30 and January 30
of each year.Approval by Council
will be November and February of each year.
Applications
for International Courses and Travel Grants to visit US labs should be
sent to: Professor Ligia Toro, Ph.D.
Departments
of Anesthesiology and Molecular & Medical Pharmacology
UCLA,
School of Medicine, BH-509A CHS
Box
957115
Los
Angeles, CA 90095-7115
Phone:
(310) 794 7809. FAX: (310)
825 5379
e-mail: ltoro@ucla.edu.http://www.anes.ucla.edu/~ltoro
1.
RESEARCH PRIORITY SETTING
2.
FASTS' OCCASIONAL PAPER 4
3.
"SCIENCE MEETS PARLIAMENT" DAY 2002
4.
WORKING WITH DEPARTMENTS
5.
THE PRIME MINISTER'S SCIENCE, ENGINEERING AND INNOVATION COUNCIL
6.
THE FASTS' POLICY DOCUMENT
7.
MEETINGS WITH MINISTERS AND SHADOW MINISTERS
1.RESEARCH
PRIORITY SETTING
I
have written to the Minister to express our concerns about the recently-announced
research priority areas, and met two weeks ago with Science Minister Peter
McGauran to discuss ways that FASTS and the working science community could
contribute to the development of national priority areas.
While
FASTS has consistently supported the identification of national goals,
as well as some degree of prioritisation of the research effort towards
meeting those goals, we do have reservations about the system as it was
announced.Our concerns fall into
five areas:
a.process
- lack of consultation
b.target
- too much at the basic research end
c.quantum
- too large a slice
d.plurality
- preserving a pluralistic system
e.coordination
- a whole-of-government approach needed to priorities
In
our view, Bill Clinton's science adviser Dr Neal Lane had it right when
he addressed the National Press Club in October 2000.When
asked how Australia should prioritise its research, he responded:
"How
do you know what to invest in?I
don't have a complicated solution to that.I
said earlier that especially in basic research, we have found that we get
the most out if it by investing in the very best people and the very best
ideas...
"And
there will be some very high priority national challenges that a nation
wants to get at in a given period of time - national security or perhaps
for all of us in the area of the environment. Then we think it's important
for the Federal Government to try to bring together the scientific communities
and all the different agencies that are involved
"And
it's a little bit more directed research, and that's fine, so we spend
some of our increases each year on that kind of multi-disciplinary research
that's focussed on larger national needs; but then, within that, you still
can't do better than betting on the very best people with the very best
ideas."
The
essential difference between the Government's initial approach and that
recommended by Dr Lane is the process of consultation.The
Government is now moving towards a more consultative process, and FASTS
will assist in that process of consultation.
2.FASTS'
OCCASIONAL PAPER 4
We
have just launched our fourth paper in the FASTS' "Occasional Paper" series.
It was prepared by the Australian Society of Parasitology and is named
"An Investment in Human and Animal Health: Parasitology in Australia".
I
thought that you might be interested in seeing the paper and hearing how
FASTS and the ASP worked together to launch it into the public arena.It
does provide a model for how your Society could work towards a paper on
similar lines, with the aim of bringing an issue to the attention of policy-makers
and the general public.
The
paper was prepared by members of the ASP. The text was approved by the
Executive of FASTS and formatted to meet the style of our publications.
(We have since prepared guidelines on Occasional Papers, and they are available
from our office.)The FASTS' office
then worked with the Society to organise the launch at Parliament House
in Canberra.This involved room bookings,
catering, security arrangements, drafting and distribution of media releases,
and correspondence with the Minister.FASTS
also arranged for the printing of the paper and putting it on our website
in pdf format.
The
costs were shared by the ASP and FASTS.FASTS
contributed our time and expertise in making arrangements for the launch,
and met some printing costs.
The
launch received significant media coverage: the 7.30 Report, ABC 7 pm News;
articles in the SMH and the Canberra Times; interviews on commercial and
ABC radio.It raised a general issue
as well as the specific concerns of parasitologists: that the national
investment in science and technology is inadequate.
The
Parasitology paper had its genesis nearly three years ago, following a
priority-setting exercise at a national ASP conference led by Toss Gascoigne
of our office.It was a significant
effort by ASP and involved many of its members, but the result is a clear
statement of policy and directions for parasitology which will fuel the
Society and the discipline for some time.
If
your Society is interested in the possibility of publishing a paper in
the FASTS' series, please contact our office.A
copy of the Paper will be sent to you; and in the meantime it is available
as a pdf file on the FASTS' web site:www.fasts.org.
3."SCIENCE
MEETS PARLIAMENT" DAY 2002
I
have written to Minister Nelson recommending that the event be held on
Tuesday-Wednesday November 12-13 this year, and expect these dates to be
confirmed shortly.
This
unique event offers a special opportunity for working scientists from across
Australia to make the case for science and technology directly to their
representatives in Parliament.While
the funding initiatives announced in "Backing Australia's Ability" in January
last year were a welcome step, Australia is still out of step with other
comparable countries in terms of our national investment in S&T.
We
are dealing this year with a new Ministerial team, new Members of Parliament,
and new Shadow Ministers, and it is important to continue to build links
with Parliamentarians.
SmP
Day also offers a valuable opportunity to convene other meetings, and some
Societies may be able to schedule regular Council of Executive meetings
to coincide with the event in Canberra.
4.
WORKING WITH DEPARTMENTS
I
led a team of FASTS' Executive members in meeting with officers from the
newly-formed Department of Education, Science and Training earlier this
month. It was a productive discussion on our respective priorities over
the next year, and an exploration of matters where we can contribute to
each other's efforts.
We
discussed matters such as the Prime Minister's Science Council; the Forum
we propose holding at the National Press Club in mid-year; the division
of responsibilities between the two Ministers with responsibility for science;
triennium funding for the government-funded science agencies; the possibility
of having another funding round for Major National Research Facilities;
and the selection round for new CRCs in May.
5.THE
PRIME MINISTER'S SCIENCE, ENGINEERING AND INNOVATION COUNCIL
The
Standing Committee (the scientist members of PMSEIC) meets on March 8.
These
meetings set the agenda for the full Council meetings which the Prime Minister
and most of his Cabinet colleagues attend.The
agenda has yet to be approved by the Prime Minister, but the draft focuses
on natural resource issues.
The
full Committee chaired by the Prime Minister meets on May 17.This
is becoming an increasingly important committee in terms of setting national
agendas, and I will report on the non-confidential discussions in due course.
6.THE
FASTS' POLICY DOCUMENT
We
will be releasing a revised policy document later this year.The
Policy Committee chaired by Ken Baldwin will be handling the drafting process,
and all Member Societies will be invited to comment on draft documents.The
new document will have more graphs and diagrams , and reflect changes in
the science policy scene with the announcement of "Backing Australia's
Ability" and the injection of the ALP's Knowledge Nation proposals.
7.MEETINGS
WITH MINISTERS AND SHADOW MINISTERS
I
have had three meetings with Science Minister Peter McGauran; and will
meet Education, Science and Training Minister Brendan Nelson this week
to complement our phone discussions and correspondence.
We
have met with Shadow Science and Research Minister Senator Kim Carr; and
have an appointment with Senator Natasha Stott Despoja as Science spokesperson
for the Democrats early in March.
These
formal meetings are complemented by more frequent informal contacts between
our offices, and by phone conversations.Both
Ministers and Shadow Ministers are in no doubt about the FASTS' positions
on science and technology issues!
Chris
Fell.President
25
February 2002
A decision on whether promising lines of investigation into stem cell therapies for diseases such as Parkinson's Disease, spinal damage, liver disease, renal failure and diabetes is expected imminently, with the well-being of thousands of Australians in the balance.
Professor Chris Fell, President of the Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies (FASTS), has written to leading Cabinet Ministers urging them to resist threats to impose blanket restrictions on this work in Australia.
"Australian scientists are world-leaders in this research," he said."We have as a nation invested heavily in finding solutions to a range of diseases, and it would be a human tragedy to many Australians if promising lines of investigation were to be curtailed."
Dr Peter French, secretary of FASTS, said work was being carried out in universities, research centres and laboratories across the country.
"The total number of scientists directly involved in embryonic stem cell research in Australia is difficult to estimate, but would be between one and two hundred," Dr French said."Two to three times that number are likely to be involved in collaborative work.
"It is difficult to put a precise number on the total workforce because of the rapid growth taking place in this field."
Dr French said that this is an area where Australia has a proven capability.
"We are in fact a world leader. As a result, Australia is drawing investment dollars and venture capital money from US and Singapore, with a lot of other countries showing interest.
"This is driving the development of a biotechnology industry with support for both basic research and commercialisation.
"It's the sort of development that is squarely in line with the Government's recent initiatives in science and technology, in the Innovation Statement of last year and the recently-announced research priority areas."
"To place restrictions on the work now would be a step backwards, and likely to force leading researchers and Australian companies working in this area to move their operations to countries where the environment for this sort of research and commercialisation is more favourable."
FASTS
contact details:
Mr
Toss Gascoigne
Executive
Director
Federation
of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies
PO
Box 218
DEAKIN
WEST ACT 2600
AUSTRALIA
Phone:+61
2 - 6257 2891 (work); +61 2 - 6249 7400 (home)
Fax:+61
2 - 6257 2897
Mobile:0408
704 442
Email:fasts@anu.edu.au
(Toss Gascoigne)
Web
address:http://www.FASTS.org
FASTS’
ABN:ABN 71 626 822 845
Ray Norton
President, Australian Society for Biophysics.
April
2, 2002