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Find out about the latest news, announcements and stories about chemistry at ANU.
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The popular science textbook Chemistry in the Marketplace, authored by Ben Selinger and Russell Barrow saw the 6th Edition launched on Thursday, June 29th at the ANU’s science teaching building lecture theatre. Attended by around 170 guests the event drew in alumni, new and old, in addition to many teachers from the Canberra region for whom the previous editions were a trusted friend. The event was emceed by Prof.
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An international team of scientists say disrupting the ability of insects to smell the scent of food and potential mates may offer a way to protect humans from deadly diseases such as malaria and agricultural crops from pests.
Lead researcher Faisal Younus from ANU and CSIRO said insects' sense of smell played a critical role in the transmission of disease to hundreds of millions of people and the damage to food crops worth billions of dollars each year.
He said the research improved understanding of how insects process odours to find food and suitable mates.
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Congratulations to Assoc. Prof. Colin Jackson and Prof. Martin Banwell who, with Beta Therapeutics Pty Ltd, have been awarded $420,000 under the ARC Linkage Projects Scheme for a project entitled 'Understanding the molecular basis of heparanase function'. This project aims to advance our limited understanding of the molecular and thermodynamic basis of heparanase function through investigating its conformational dynamics and the energetics of ligand binding, as well as by synthesising inhibitors to probe its activity.
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The RSC has been awarded two Australian Laureate Fellowships from the Australian Research Council (ARC), including one prestigious named fellowship for world-class female researchers.
Congratulations to Professor Michelle Coote who was awarded the Georgina Sweet Australian Laureate Fellowship for science and technology for a project to establish a new approach to chemical catalysis, and to Professor Gottfried Otting who was awarded a $2.6 million Australian Laureate Fellowship for a project to improve the design of lead compounds in drug development.
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Fresh and clean water is becoming a scarce resource due to the multiple impacts of worldwide urbanization, industrialization, or growing global population. Ensuring universal access to fresh water is therefore an emergent issue of growing urgency.
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Climate change and energy security may be big global problems, but the solutions can often occur at a molecular level. How we deal with a range of gases, whether it is capturing and storing carbon dioxide, or turning hydrogen into a clean energy source to replace fossil fuels, will be essential to solving these problems.
A New Zealand local, who completed his doctorate at Oxford University and post doc in Vancouver before landing at the ANU in 2015, Dr Nick White is working at this molecular level to make his contribution to these solutions.
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The development of antibiotics has been essential to the massive advancements we’ve seen in medicine and health over the last century. However, antibiotic-resistance is leading many to fear we are entering a ‘post-antibiotic’ world, potentially returning us to a time where the most basic illnesses could kill once again. Through her work on synthetic peptides, future RSC researcher Lara Malins is hoping to combat this problem.
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Alumni Profile - Dr Brendon Hammer
It’s fair to assume that the most likely outcome of a degree in chemistry is a life in the laboratory. While the lab can lead to a lifetime of discovery, chemistry can also open up doors to all sorts of careers. Even international diplomacy.
Don’t believe it? Just ask Dr Brendon Hammer, an RSC alumnus and Australia’s current Ambassador to Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Hungary, Kosovo, Slovakia and Slovenia.
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Chemists have found a way to use sunlight to purify wastewater rapidly and cheaply, and to make self-cleaning materials for buildings.
The technology uses modified titanium dioxide as a photocatalyst that works with sunlight, unlike other leading water purification products on the market that need ultraviolet light.
Research group leader Professor Yun Liu from ANU said the team's invention was 15 times more efficient than leading commercialised products.