A small number of media reports have incorrectly claimed Australian of the Year and Professor Alan Mackay-Sim was directly involved in the surgery that enabled a previously paralysed man to regain use of his legs.
That surgery was conducted by Dr Pawel Tabakow in Poland in 2014.
The work of Dr Pawel Tabakow is to be applauded as a very significant advancement in spinal cord injury repair. His colleague Professor Geoffrey Raisman was the first to use olfactory ensheathing cell transplantation for spinal cord injury repair in animals. Professor Mackay-Sim continues to acknowledge their contributions.
It is without dispute that Professor Alan Mackay-Sim’s research and clinical trials between 2002 and 2008 paved the way for the ongoing work being done today in the study and development of stem cell transplantation.
Human clinical trials are critical milestones in research development for which Professor Mackay-Sim is acknowledged as leading by the worldwide scientific community. Dr Tabakow
Category: Griffith University Feed
Vice Chancellor congratulates Australia Day honours recipients
Griffith University Vice Chancellor and President Professor Ian O’Connor has congratulated Professor Emeritus Alan Mackay-Sim on being named the 2017 Australian of the Year.
The announcement was made by Prime Minister, The Honourable Malcom Turnbull MP, at a gala ceremony at Parliament House in Canberra on 25 January.
“Griffith University is extremely proud to have such a remarkable man and scientist among us,” Professor O’Connor said.
As the former Director of the National Centre for Adult Stem Cell Research, and Professor Emeritus at the Griffith Institute for Drug Discovery, Alan has spent his career looking at the regenerative properties of stem cells and how these can be used to repair damaged spinal cords.
His research has laid the foundation for global efforts in what is truly an extraordinary field.
Professor O’Connor also offered his warm congratulations to other members of the Griffith community awarded Australia Day honours.
Bill Lovegrove
Professor Bill Lovegrove, former Deputy Vice Chancellor at Griffith
Researcher helps disaster planning in Mongolia
While Queensland sweltered in a heat wave, Griffith University disaster expert Dr Hamish McLean tackled minus 30 degree temperatures in remote Mongolia to help the country’s health services.
Dr McLean, a senior lecturer in the School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science, joined Mongolian medics near the frozen Siberian border to see first-hand how the country was dealing with a declared winter disaster.
“The winter is particularly harsh this year which means local communities, and their livestock, can face extremely difficult freezing conditions – the reverse of Australia,” he said.
“While ambulance services in Australia were warning about dehydration, their counterparts in Mongolia were dealing with frostbite and hypothermia.”
Near the Siberian border, Dr McLean joined specialist medical teams transported to the ger (tent) homes of several nomadic families by old Russian ambulances (pictured below).
“Providing in-home specialist medical care helped overcome the lack of resources to get people in rural areas into hospitals,” he
Film school lecturer appointed Fellow of Royal Society of Arts
Griffith Film School lecturer Dr Tim Marsh has been appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, joining luminaries like Charles Dickens, Benjamin Franklin, Stephen Hawking and World Wide Web pioneer Tim Berners-Lee.
The RSA was founded in 1754, and Fellowships are awarded to accomplished individuals who have made a contribution to society in a cultural or arts-related sphere.
Fellows include scientists, philosophers and environmentalists; leaders in the commercial, voluntary and public sectors; designers and architects; social entrepreneurs and innovative practitioners of literature, film, dance, and the visual arts.
Dr Marsh said he was honoured to have been appointed to the prestigious international fellowship.
“It is a real honour and a privilege to be given an RSA Fellowship,” he said.
“The RSA is committed to finding innovative and practical solutions to the challenges facing society today – something I have pursued throughout my career.
“I look forward to working with the RSA community on a
Can Cory Bernardi’s move lead to sustained success for right wing?
Senator Cory Bernardi’s defection from the Liberals to form his own party is the latest sign of a shift in Australian politics towards the right.
However, Australia lacks the kind of leadership in this political domain that has underlined the emergence of right-wing populist parties in Europe, a political scientist at Griffith University says.
In this context Dr Duncan McDonnell points to the re-emergence of One Nation and Pauline Hanson since the 2016 Federal Election.
“The first thing to say is that Australia has been through this before in the 1990s and the same phenomenon is happening now, pushing exactly the same anti-establishment and anti-immigrant buttons that are being pushed in countries like the Netherlands, France and most recently the United States,” he said.
Queensland hotbed
“Queensland is a hotbed not unlike some of the provincial and regional parts of Europe where people who feel that the distant capital does not care about them turn
Griffith filmmakers produce ad campaign for RSPCA
They say never work with children or animals – advice Griffith Film School students disregarded when they shot a cinema advertising campaign for the RSPCA.
The assignment was part of a second year subject called Industry Engagement, which pairs young filmmakers with local charities.
A group of six students was chosen to work on a cinema advertising campaign to promote the RSPCA’s ‘Adopt for life’ message.
The 30-second spot traces the life of a boy and his dog, starting in the present day and moving back through the years to the day the puppy was adopted.
Adrian Teveluwe produced the shoot.
For the animal-lover, it was a dream gig – but not without its challenges.
The crew of student filmmakers had to brainstorm the concept, build the set from scratch and wrangle child actors and dogs.
“We kept the concept simple so we could focus on the child actor and the animals,” he said.
“The kid was very
Griffith graduate painting the town red
Queensland College of Art graduate Anna Vu is lighting up the city with her latest work – a series of vibrant drawings projected onto Brisbane’s William Jolly Bridge.
The works are part of the Brisbane City Council’s BrisAsia festival, which celebrates traditional and contemporary Asian art and culture.
Anna, also known as AMA, is an internationally renowned street artist, who spends most of the year on the road.
After the BrisAsia team spotted her work on Instagram, she was invited to project her vivid sketches onto local landmarks as part of BrisAsia and the Brisbane Street Art Festival.
“I’d never worked with projections before – most of these sketches were originally tiny pieces that could fit on the back of an envelope,” she said.
“It’s certainly the most public exhibition of my work so far!”
Anna has strong ties to the region – her family hails from Vietnam and China, although she was born in Australia.
“I think a
Great Barrier Reef building coral under threat from poisonous seaweed
World-first research on the Great Barrier Reef has shown how ‘weed-like’ algae will kill vital coral because of increased carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere.
The Griffith University study, conducted in collaboration with national and international experts in reef and chemical ecology, showed that if the world continues with ‘business as usual’ CO2 emissions, important reef building corals will suffer significantly by 2050 and die off by 2100.
Associate Professor Guillermo Diaz-Pulido from Griffith’s School of Environment says it is because algae will compete for space with corals in the reef, much like a weed, and eventually take over.
Researchers knew increased CO2 had an effect on seaweed behaviour but have now been able to demonstrate how this happens. They discovered this is due to an increase in the potency of chemical compounds that poison corals.
“This is a major step forward in understanding how seaweeds can harm corals and has important implications for comprehending
Women’s AFL under research spotlight
Griffith University researcher Dr Adele Pavlidis has been awarded a $20,000 grant to research the Women’s AFL competition which began its inaugural season last weekend.
She says it’s important not to make assumptions about women’s strength and skills at this early stage and they should be judged on their merits and not compared to the men’s game.
“Some of the rules changes, for example, how the chest area has been made sacrosanct, needs to be further justified. This wholesale rule change will alter the way the game is played with no medical reason.”
She will interview administrators and players over coming months, as well as analysing media coverage of the sport.
“My research aims to support the long-term sustainability of women’s sport both at the grassroots and professional levels.
“Long-term sustainability means there are opportunities for women to influence and shape the future of sport, and that equality and inclusion are top of the agenda.”
Dr
Griffith filmmakers selected for Berlinale
A trio of Griffith filmmakers are off to the prestigious Berlin International Film Festival with their graduate documentary, Wolfe.
Wolfe is a short documentary from producer/director Claire Randall, who studied Film and Screen Media at Griffith Film School.
The film was motivated by her own encounter with mental illness as a teenager. It uses interviews and animation to explore a young man’s journey through adolescence with undiagnosed schizophrenia, and his relationship with an imaginary friend, Mister Wolfe.
For Claire, the film was a labour of love.
“I was looking for someone who had a powerful story, and Nick and I were introduced by mutual friends and actually shared a flat together for a few months,” she said.
“I knew it was a big responsibility taking on his story, but I think we handled it respectfully.
“I believe these kinds of films can help other people who are struggling and encourage them to seek help.”
Lachlan Morton, Director of Photography