CTRL+P: Printing Australia’s largest solar cells

VICOSC project co-ordinator and University of Melbourne researcher, Dr David Jones, discusses printing of organic photovoltaic cells the size of an A3 sheet of paper in The Voice.

Paul Mulvaney appointed Associate Editor of ACS Nano

Congratulations to Paul Mulvaney who has been appointed Associate editor of the journal ACS Nano. Published monthly, ACS Nano is an international forum for the communication of comprehensive articles on nanoscience and nanotechnology research at the interfaces of chemistry, biology, materials science, physics and engineering. Moreover, the journal helps facilitate communication among scientists from these research communities in developing new research opportunities, advancing the field through new discoveries, and reaching out to scientists at all levels. ACS Nano received the 2008 Association of American Publishers’ Award for Best New Journal in the category of Science, Technology & Medicine.

VLSCI Resource Grant to Chemistry

Congratulations to Daniel Weber, PhD student, and Frances Separovic who were awarded computer time on BlueGene Q for their project, Membrane structure of equinatoxin II.

EMBL travel grant & NH Schuster scholarship award

Congratulations to PhD student, Quinn Besford, who received two prestigious scholarships for his work on glycogen and highly branched polymers. One of these, the 2013 EMBL Australia Travel Grant, will support a trip to the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Hamburg. The other is the 2013 Norma Hilda Schuster (nee Swift) Scholarship for outstanding research into biochemistry.

Getting chemistry right between researchers & regulators

Marine biofouling is a major environmental and economic problem costing the shipping industry alone $60 billion/annum. A highly successful workshop on biofouling management was held at the Melbourne Convention Centre, 6-9 May 2013. It brought together over 120 key stakeholders from Australia, New Zealand and across the Pacific who are involved in identifying, promoting and developing effective and practical biofouling management strategies. The first two days centred on risk, requirements and regulations with the final half of the workshop focusing on the science and technology of biofouling management and in particular the ecology and chemistry of marine antifouling coatings. The unique mix of presentations were delivered by an international line up of speakers and rounded off with panel discussions featuring some amazingly productive discussions and debate. Ensuring shipping and other maritime industries in the region can continue to underpin trade, security and economic development with minimal environmental impact is critical. This meeting has laid the foundations for what will become a major interdisciplinary biennial forum. Major sponsors included the University of Melbourne, Office of Naval Research (Washington DC) and the Institutes of Defence Science (Melbourne) and Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (London).  Further details from the co-organisers: Dr Alex Wu and Prof. Rob Lamb, School of Chemistry. 

Selby Research Award to Chris Ritchie

Congratulations to Dr Chris Ritchie who has been awarded the 2013 Selby Research Award for his project entitled, 'Photoresponsive Polyoxometalate Diarylethen Hybrids'.

MUCS book launch of 'From Chalk & Talk to Powerpoint'

The 1020th MUCS meeting was a huge success, with excellent attendance from both current and previous members of the School of Chemistry. Dr Valda McRae's book, "From Chalk and Talk to Powerpoint", was launched by the Provost, Prof. Margaret Sheil. The books were on sale after the meeting, and Valda spent much of the evening signing! The President of MUCS, the atomically smooth Professor Rob Lamb, spoke about the challenges of turning science into technology, and the development of non-stick and self-cleaning surfaces. The talk generated considerable interest and will be written up in the science press.

Journal of American Chemical Society paper for Boskovic Lab

Congratulations to Kerwyn Alley of the Boskovic Group for publication of some of his PhD research in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. The article entitled, Redox Activity and Two-Step Valence Tautomerism in a Family of Dinuclear Cobalt Complexes with a Spiroconjugated Bis(dioxolene) Ligand, provides important insights into the molecular origins of two-step valence tautomeric transitions, which has implications for the design of switchable molecules for display devices and molecular electronics.

Materials for Energy - printable, flexible solar panels

Last week The Age featured the work of Dr David Jones (Chemistry, Bio21) as part of his collaboration with Dr Scott Watkins at the CSIRO. The collaboration, which includes more than 50 researchers from Melbourne, Monash and CSIRO, has enabled for the first time the large scale printing of flexible solar panels. The article and video are viewable on The Age.

Chemistry Collaboration Published in Cell

Congratulations to Assoc Prof Michelle Gee, whose collaboration with researchers at WEHI has resulted in a recent publication in the journal, Cell, entitled Cell-Cell Communication between Malaria-Infected Red Blood Cells via Exosome-like Vesicles

NH Schuster Award to Vinojini Nair

Congratulations to Vinojini Nair, PhD student with Prof John Wade and Prof Frances Separovic, who was awarded a 2013 Norma Hilda Schuster award.

Chemistry in Top 25 QS World Ranking

The 2013 QS World University Ranking for Chemistry <http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/university-subject-rankings/2013/chemistry> lists the best universities in the world to study chemistry. University of Melbourne comes in highest in Australia and at 23 in the world.

W Evans Visiting Fellowship to Mark Rizzacasa

Professor Mark Rizzacasa has been awarded the William Evans Visiting Fellowship from the University of Otago. Mark will take up the fellowship in Sep - Oct this year.

Learning & Teaching Initiatives: Round 2 grant outcome

Congratulations to Stephen Best, Colette Boskovic and Michelle Gee, who were successful in obtaining funding in the latest Learning & Teaching Initiative grant round  for their project: 'ChemBytes Back – LabDots: Empowering students in the Lab.' This will see the creation and on-demand delivery of skills-based video materials to support self-paced progress through the undergraduate laboratories.

Journal Cover for Caruso Group

Postdoctoral fellows Andreas Ide and Jon Choi from the Caruso group have had their research images featured on the cover of the Journal of Materials Chemistry A. Their article describes the preparation of webs of fibrous titanium zirconium oxide using an electrospinning technique; the fibres were studied for the adsorption of heavy metal ions in water.

Geoff Scollary - Assoc Ed, Aust Journal Grape Wine Research

Geoff Scollary (Honorary Principal Fellow) has been appointed as an Associate Editor with the Australian Journal of Grape & Wine Research, which is the highest impact factor journal in the wine science field. Geoff’s appointment is to provide expertise in grape and wine chemistry, areas which are expanding with increasing submissions to the Journal. Geoff left the School in 1997 to take up the dual roles of foundation professor of oenology and foundation director of the National Wine & Grape Industry Centre at Charles Sturt University. He returned to the School in honorary capacity in 2008 following his retirement from CSU. If you haven’t done so already, check out Geoff’s monthly wine column in Chemistry in Australia.

Industry Transformation Research Hub: two awarded

Prof. M. Ashokkumar is a chief investigator on two ITRH (Industry Transformation Research Hub) grants totaling more than $10M awarded to the University of Melbourne. The ARC introduced this new research grant scheme late last year in order to encourage collaborative R&D projects to address challenging industry issues. Dairy Innovation Hub: transformational research to underpin the future of the Australian dairy manufacturing industry is with industry partner, Dairy Innovation Australia Ltd; and Unlocking the food value chain: Australian food industry transformation for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) markets, is with Kraft Foods.

Kaye Merlin Brutton Bequest grant to Brett Paterson

Congratulations to Brett Paterson who was awarded funding from the Kaye Merlin Brutton Bequest for 'Metal complexes as molecular imaging agents of cancer'.

TW Healy Travel Award to PhD students

The T.W. Healy Travel Award 2013 (round 1) has been jointly awarded to PhD students: Quinn Besford from the Gray-Weale group, and Lu Cao from the Caruso group. Quinn will attend the 11th International Conference on Biology & Synchrotron Radiation in Germany, Sep 2013; and Lu will go to the 7th International Conference on Materials for Advanced Technologies in Singapore, Jul 2013.

School of Chemistry Student Prizes for 2012

The School of Chemistry congratulates the following students who have been awarded prizes based on 2012 results.

Dwights Prize: James Clift

Exhibition Prize: Cheung Tung Shing, Karen Steffi

CA Taylor Prize: Joses Grady Nathanael

Huntsman Australia Prize: Matthew Megans

JS Anderson Prize: Tomer Simovich

Fred Walker Scholarship: Stacey Rudd

James Cuming Memorial Scholarship Major: Sarah Mann

James Cuming Memorial Scholarship Minor: Cameron Ritchie

Agilent Award for Excellence: Stacey Rudd

Kernot Research Scholarship: Michael Leeming

The Stanley Harvey Prize: Michael Leeming

Dixon Research Scholarship: Maoyuan Liu

Ronald Riseborough Prize: Edward Nagul

Monica Elizabeth Reum Memorial Prize: Nicole J. Rijs