Research highlights
A bionic eye reality on the way
Friday, 24 April 2009
The first clinical test of an Australian bionic eye is likely to take place within two years and be commercialised within five according to University of Melbourne researchers, thanks to a $50 million funding boost from the Federal Government.
Director of Bionic Vision Australia and Professor of Engineering at the University of Melbourne, Dr Anthony Burkitt, welcomed the announcement and says the funding boost will place Australia at the forefront of development in the bionic eye.
Across the lab divide: from lab to marketplace
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
University of Melbourne researchers have leapt the lab to marketplace divide, by selling the world’s first Single Photon Source to Germany. Single Photon Sources are the key to advances in Quantum Communications which will provide unprecedented Ultra-high Security for information transfer.
Feel free to Facebook, YouTube and Twitter at work - you'll be more productive
Tuesday, 7 April 2009
Dr Brent Coker, from the Department of Management and Marketing has found that short breaks for online browsing let the mind rest and when people get back to work, they concentrate better.
“People who do surf the Internet for fun at work - within a reasonable limit of less than 20% of their total time in the office - are more productive by about 9% than those who don’t,” he said.
Start your hydrogen-fuelled engines
Friday, 27 March 2009
The University of Melbourne, Ford Australia and Haskel Australia have received a $1.2 million State Government grant to build a highly efficient low cost hydrogen fuelled engine and fuel tank.
“With this support from the State Government, we aim to help make hydrogen a real alternative to fuels that emit carbon dioxide,” said Dr Michael Brear, of the Department of Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering at the University of Melbourne.
Research advanced by Fulbright Scholars
Friday, 20 March 2009
Restoring human vision, reducing carbon emissions, fitter gamers and fire regeneration for grapevines will be addressed by four University of Melbourne researchers named as winners of this year’s Australian Fulbright Scholarship.
Post-tsunami architecture under the microscope thanks to new research grant
Post-tsunami architecture in Indonesia has largely abandoned the construction traditions of locals in favour of rapid scale production, according to a new research proposal being completed by two University of Melbourne academics.
Dr David O’Brien and Dr Iftekhar Ahmed from the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning have received a research grant from internationally recognised architecture firm Rafael Vinoly Architects (RVA) to study the success of large scale housing construction in the Aceh region in the aftermath of the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami.
The Peter Doherty Institute for Immunity and Infection
The Federal Government has announced funding of $90 million to the University under the Education Investment Fund for the Peter Doherty Institute.
The Institute will co-locate the University's world-renowned Department of Microbiology and Immunology and the new Life Sciences Computation Centre, with a number of Victorian Government and World Health Organisation laboratories.
The facilities will include the VLSCI and bioinformatics capability; a high-throughput DNA sequencing facility; containment laboratories; and teaching and networking spaces.
$100 million for Victorian Life Sciences Computation Centre
Medical research, a strength of the University, will be accelerated by the creation of a $100 million Victorian Life Sciences Computation Initiative, underpinned by $50 million in State funding for peak computing infrastructure.
The centre will be located in the Peter Doherty Institute and will provide computational biology expertise and peak computing infrastructure to institutions throughout Victoria.
The centre is expected to have particular benefit for drug design and molecular modelling, imaging, and systems approaches to biological investigation.
Metabolomics
The Bio21 Molecular Science and Biotechnology Institute (Bio21 Institute) and School of Botany are now home to the headquarters of a $5.3 million National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) Centre, Metabolomics Australia (MA).
Metabolomics is used to analyse the pool of metabolites produced under specific conditions, giving a 'snapshot' of the metabolic state of individual cells, tissues, fluids, organs or whole organisms.
The new centre will provide a state-of-the-art service to Australian researchers in academia and industry.
Bionic Vision Australia
A major partnership has been developed to provide new opportunities for sight restoration.
A major point of discussion at the 2020 Summit, the potential creation of a Bionic Eye, will be the goal of Bionic Vision Australia, a consortium led by the University of Melbourne together with the University of New South Wales, the Bionic Ear Institute, Centre for Eye Research Australia and the Victoria Research Laboratory of National ICT Australia (NICTA).
Bionic Vision Australia has submitted a detailed plan and funding request to the Federal Government to enable it to undertake the required research and early clinical testing.
Visions Episode 28: PTSD and T-Shirt Campaigns
This edition of the University's fortnightly video podcast, Visions also headlines a t-shirt campaign to help keep you fit.
Research Achievements
The University of Melbourne's outstanding track record in research and development is exemplified by success stories such as:
- The Bionic Ear, which has brought hearing to more than 20,000 profoundly deaf children and adults. The Bionic Ear was developed by a team led by University otolaryngologist, Professor Graeme Clarke.
- Recaldent™ — a milk-based bioactive food ingredient which can re-mineralise teeth and bones. Recaldent™ was developed by Professor Eric Reynolds' team in Dental Science and is now added to chewing gum and toothpaste.
- HIV Vaccine research by Dr Stephen Kent, which attracted $4 million in funding from the US National Institutes of Health to fine tune potential vaccines for clinical trials.