WELCOME to the 3rd ASB electronic NEWSLETTER. (1) FASTS COUNCIL MEETING at University House, ANU on November 23. A report. (2) CONGRATULATIONS to Keith Junius who has been awarded a C.J. Martin Fellowship. ___________________________________________ ITEM 1: FASTS Council Meeting November 23, 1995 The Federation of Australian Science and Technological Societies (FASTS) Council met at University House, ANU to discuss the "fine tuning" of its policy statement "A Science Policy for Australia in the 21st Century". I represented the ASB. The meeting was addressed by Senator Peter Cook, Minister for Industry Science and Technology and by Senator Robert Hill, Shadow Minister for Education Science and Technology and leader of the opposition in the Senate. Over the last two years under the presidency of Graham Johnston, FASTS has turned its act around. It is now a vigorous and very effective promoter of science in this country and with continued good work, science can be firmly established on the political agenda. FASTS now has effective relations with politicians (for example it has had a major impact on the forthcoming Innovation Statement to be presented by the Prime Minister in early December). It has also achieved greatly improved relations with the press. Probably its most impressive achievement is that it has drawn together the multiple interests of Australian scientific societies into a single policy document. If you would like to read this document, it is available on the www site at: http://bimbo.pharmacol.su.oz.au/fasts/fasthome.html. The next crucial step will be for the FASTS Council, under its new President, Joe Baker (ACT Commissioner for the Environment), to refine this document down to the key elements to be implemented by the either Labor or the Coalition in 1996. The text of the Government's December innovation statement is also available on this web site. If you have a viewpoint on the priorities for science to be implemented by the next government, please contact the Executive Director, Toss Gascoigne (telephone 05 2822026; Fax 06 2822953; or email fasts@anu.edu.au. I believe that FASTS has an unusual opportunity to influence political thinking on science, and you as members of ASB have a real chance to see that FASTS listens to and reflects your opinion. Cris dos Remedios President, ASB. _________________________________________ ITEM #2 Young Biophysicist is Awarded an NH&MRC C. J. Martin Fellowship Keith Junius recently completed his Ph.D. under the direction of Glenn King in the Department of Biochemistry at The University of Sydney. He was recently awarded one of the few, very prestigious NH&MRC C.J. Martin Fellowships. On behalf of the ASB, I congratulated Keith and wished him well for his research in The Netherlands. When I asked him for some details of how he will use the Fellowship, he replied: "I will be working with Dr Ruud Scheek (Department of Biophysical Chemistry) and Prof. George Robillard (Department of Biochemistry) at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. I will be studying the 82 residue N-terminal domain of the brain serotonin transporter (N-SERT). SERT is the final target for the activity of a range of drugs including the tricylic antidepressants, cocaine and amphetamines such as MDMA (ecstacy). N-SERT is believed to be a regulatory domain and contains several possible phosphorylation sites. The aim of my project is to obtain an NMR structure of both the rat and human brain N-SERT. The effects of phosphorylation on these structures will also be determined. At this stage I aim to start in February. The fellowship runs for two years overseas and then for another two years in Australia." Well done Keith and good luck with your research in the Netherlands. We look forward to seeing you return to Australia in about two years time. _________________________________________ IF MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY HAVE NEWS ITEMS FOR BROADCAST, PLEASE SEND THEM TO ME (crisdos@anatomy.su.oz.au) URL:http://www.anatomy.su.oz.au/~mru