TRANSCRIPT

NICOLE KUEPPER:

Ever since I was eight years old when I got my very first solar energy kit I have loved science and I have loved the application of science to various problems in the world.

Narration: Nicole completed a degree in photovoltaic and solar energy engineering and is now a university lecturer and PhD student. Nicole has made a major breakthrough: the creation of an affordable, simple and highly innovative type of solar cell. The iJet cell relies on inkjet printing technology, low temperatures for metalisation, and is low cost. Nicole’s iJet cell could revolutionise the market, and bring affordable, reliable electricity to some of the poorest people on earth.

Nicole: It's definitely a Eureka moment after many months of hard work.


DR LESLIE YEO:

I have an innate curiosity for why things are the way they are

Narration: Dr Leslie Yeo loves a good cuppa and never misses an opportunity to apply physics principles.

According to Albert Einstein, the greatest mind of all time, stirring a cup of tea establishes two forces – First the tea leaves are pushed outwards by centrifugal force. Then friction at the base of the cup creates an opposing force, which pushes the tea leaves towards the centre. Dr Leslie Yeo has used Einstein’s tea-leaf paradox to develop technology for a new type of blood sampling kit.

Dr Yeo: Imagine a credit card size device that could draw tiny amounts of blood/ be able to separate out the red blood cells from the plasma in a little tiny micro centrifuge and then to detect different ailments /in minutes rather than days or weeks

Narration: The micro device separates the red blood cells within seconds as they spiral to the bottom. It creates a tornedo effect just like Einstein’s teacup.


MICHELLE STOCKWELL:

I've always been really passionate about animal welfare. /so studying conservation biology was a fairly natural progression for me.

Narration: Michelle is investigating the role of amphibian chytrid (KIT-RID) fungus in the decline of the green and golden bell frog. The chytrid fungus has been implicated in the decline and extinction of up to 200 frog species world wide - the largest loss of biodiversity in recent history.

There is currently no way of controlling the affects of the chytrid fungus in the wild. But Michelle may well have cracked it …. In this industrial, coastal wasteland, Michelle found healthy populations of Bell frogs.

Michelle Stockwell: The frog communities infection levels were lower when they inhabited ponds with higher total dissolved solutes or salts.

Narration: Suggesting that these highly disturbed habitats were protecting frogs from the chytrid fungus. Michelle set out to test this theory in the lab and the field. She hopes to save this frog species from extinction.

Michelle Stockwell: We might actually have a management strategy that replicates the natural environment and causes minimal impact and stress to the animals.


PROFESSOR MARK WALKER:

I've always been interested in looking at things down microscopes and, and trying to figure out how bacteria work and where they live.

Narration: Professor Mark Walker and his team are researching streptococcal sore throat.

Professor Walker: Why does that bacteria that is normally harmless and benign in, in a very small number of cases go on and cause flesh eating disease?

Narration: The World Health Organisation has listed it as one of the top 10 disease killers. but thanks to the work of Mark’s team the secrets of Strep A’s Jekyll and Hyde nature have been revealed…

Professor Walker: We found that there was a, a virus involved that had infected those bacteria and changed them into the invasive form. The bug is then better able to spread through tissue barriers, get into the blood and then cause a blood infection and /invasive disease like necrotising fasciitis, flesh eating disease.

Narration: Now that they have cracked how the infection occurs, a vaccine could be just around the corner.


DR CAROLA VINUESA:

I’m working on trying to understand how autoimmune diseases develop/like type one diabetes, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.

Narration: Autoimmune diseases affect about 7% of the population, and their incidence appears to be increasing. The treatments haven’t altered for 50 years.

But this could all be about to change...

Dr Vinuesa: I adapted a test that is routinely done in the clinic to diagnose patients with a particular autoimmune disease called lupus. And I simply applied that to screen large libraries of mice containing genome variants. And we found this single 'T' to 'G' substitution in one gene that was then unknown. This single change in the one gene of the genome is responsible for the multitude of symptoms that constitute autoimmune diseases.

Narration: Carola is now turning her attention to humans...

Dr Vinuesa: We are very excited with our results, for their huge potential. We think that they will lead to a better treatment for autoimmune diseases.


STEPHEN SIMPSON:

My work on locusts began with two main aims: first to understand how and why they swarm, and the second was to use them as a model system for how animals feed and regulate their nutrition.

Narration: Professor Simpson’s research has lead to some intriguing theories as to why so many humans may be overweight – our appetite maybe partly driven by the proportion of protein in our diet.

Steve has tested this theory in locusts by giving them meals with different proportions of protein and carbohydrate.

Locusts instinctively favoured the high protein meals and were fuller faster. They only stopped eating when they reached their “protein target”.

Could this be true for human’s?

Human trials are now underway throughout the world.

Stephen: Our research is helping to solve one of the major plagues of humanity namely locusts but at the same time to help explain one of the other plagues facing us today namely human obesity.

Related Info

Carola Vinuesa’s Research Projects

Leslie Yeo's Research Outline

Nicole Kuepper's Research

Professor Mark Walker’s Research

School of Biological Sciences

Story Contacts

Nicole Kuepper
Solar Energy Scientist
UNSW ARC Photovoltaics Centre of Excellence
University of NSW

Leslie Yeo
Leslie.yeo@eng.monash.edu.au
Micro/Nanophysics Research Laboratory
Mechanical Engineering
Monash University

Michelle Stockwell
Michelle.stockwell@newcastle.edu.au
Environmental Biology
University of Newcastle

Professor Mark Walker
mwalker@uow.edu.au
School of Biological Sciences
University of Wollongong

Dr Carola Vinuesa
carola.vinuesa@anu.edu.au
Immunologist
The John Curtin School of Medical Research
Australian National University

Professor Stephen Simpson
stephen.simpson@bio.usyd.edu.au
School of Biological Sciences
University of Sydney

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