News and events

Latest news

10/07/2008 - 46th Outstanding Student Competition 2008: Awards for academic achievement by Victorian students of Polish background

The Polish Technical and Professional Association is now calling for nominations for these awards. The closing date for applications is 31 July 2008. Find out more here.

01/07/2008 - Monash-CSIRO New Synchrotron Users Symposium takes place on Friday 12 September 2008

This event aims to create awareness of synchrotron techniques across both institutions, and encourage Monash-CSIRO collaborations using synchrotron science.

Registration includes morning coffee and afternoon tea, lunch, and wine and cheese to close the event. It is free to attend but places are limited. Find out more here and register online.

24/06/2008 - 2008 Young Tall Poppy Science Awards call for nominations

The Young Tall Poppy Program identifies and acknowledges outstanding young Australian researchers through the prestigious Young Tall Poppy Science Awards, which are held each year in different states. Award winners are engaged in an education program to foster a stronger interest in science in schools and the broader community.

Awards have been presented to over 150 Young Tall Poppies in such fields as medical research, health care, basic sciences, engineering, information technology, veterinary science and environmental studies.

The closing date for nominations is Friday 18 July 2008.

The nomination form and more information can be found here.

10/06/2008 - Transition of the ASRP programs to the Australian Synchrotron

The Australian Synchrotron Research Programs (ASRP) will be transferred to the Australian Synchrotron (AS) from July 1, 2008.  Therefore, all international synchrotron access and travel funding for experiments at the overseas facilities in the September - December cycle this year, and in subsequent years, will be handled by the AS.

The main reasons for this change are to unify Australia’s synchrotron programs and that the ASRP is nearing the end of its operation: the next call for proposals for cycle three of 2008 is the last proposal round for which the ASRP has guaranteed beamtime allocations at its overseas facilities. From the first cycle of 2009 onwards the ASRP programs in their current form will cease and Australian users whose experiments cannot be accommodated at the Australian Synchrotron will need to apply directly to international facilities. The start of the 2009 financial year is therefore the best time to transfer the ASRP operation to the AS.

To clarify:

• Funding & acquittals for experiments up to and including the current cycle, May – August 2008, will be handled out of the ASRP office at ANSTO.
• Beamtime proposals, allocations and funding for experiments from September 2008 onwards will be administered by the AS User Office.
• Starting from Cycle 1 next year, users needing to access international facilities will need to apply directly to the facility in question, eg to the General User Proposal system at the APS.
• Funding will be available to support international synchrotron access from 2009 onwards.  The details are still being finalised, but the central principle will be that experiments which can be accommodated at the AS should be performed there.

The AS will call for proposals for the third cycle of 2008 in coming days.  There is one significant change from previous rounds: powder diffraction proposals will not be accepted for the ANBF.  All proposals for “normal” powder diffraction, ie capillary samples, hot, cold or room temp measurements should be directed to the AS Powder Beamline (Beamline 10BM).

This information was received from and posted with the permission of Dr Richard Garrett, Director, ASRP, 8 June 2008.  Any queries regarding the transition should be directed to the Australian Synchrotron.

28/05/2008 - MCSS welcomes Kylie Reid as Science Communications Officer

Kylie Reid recently joined MCSS in the role of Science Communications Officer. Kylie has laboratory based research experience in the field of biological sciences and possesses exceptional communication skills.

She also plays in the Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) for the Bulleen Melbourne Boomers. Playing basketball at the highest league in Australia has helped her develop strong communication skills and she has gained valuable experience dealing with the media and league sponsors.

Kylie is enthusiastic and keen to use her scientific knowledge, together with her interpersonal skills, to communicate synchrotron science to Monash researchers and students, as well as the media and the community.

More news

07/05/2008 - Chemical engineering students get a close up view of the Australian Synchrotron

MCSS recently arranged for a group of fifty second-year chemical engineering students to get a first-hand look at the Australian Synchrotron.

The tour of the $200 million facility, which was organised in conjunction with staff at the Australian Synchrotron, included a lecture from MCSS Beamline Research Fellow Dr Rosalie Hocking, which provided the students with an overview of how the machine works and how it can contribute to research.

You can read more about the visit here.

08/02/2008 - MCSS welcomes fourth and final Beamline Research Fellow for 2008

Dr Marian Cholewa joined MCSS in February, as the last of our 4 Beamline Research Fellows. The Fellows will be pivotal in assisting Monash researchers to exploit these capabilities and will also be involved in the development of the beamlines themselves.

Marian has a wealth of synchrotron experience, having come from the ANKA synchrotron in Karlsruhe, Germany, as well as having worked at the Singapore Synchrotron Light Source, and Brookhaven National Laboratory, USA. His particular expertise is in the X-ray Imaging, especially in the use of microprobe techniques for ultra high resolution imaging.

01/02/2008 - Applications are now open for the 2008 Premier's Award for Health and Medical Research.

This annual Award recognises the outstanding contributions made by early career health and medical researchers, and is a joint initiative between Vic Gov and the Australian Society for Medical Research.

Further information is avaliable at www.business.vic.gov.au/premiersaward. Alternatively, you can download a flier here. Applications close 11 March 2008.

23/01/2008 - MCSS welcomes new Beamline Research Fellows

January has seen the arrival of new MCSS Fellows Dr Nathan Cowieson and Dr Dana Maksel.

Nathan joins us as the second of the Beamline Fellows, each of which have specialised knowledge in one or more of the techniques available at the Australian Synchrotron. The Fellows will be pivotal in assisting Monash researchers to exploit these capabilities and will also be involved in the development of the beamlines themselves. Nathan was previously at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience at the University of Queensland, where he held an Australian Synchrotron Research Program Fellowship, and his expertise is in structural characterisation of proteins, using crystallography, SAXS and CD.

Dana will be responsible for the development and implementation of robotics capabilities for high throughput protein crystallography whilst being based in the Protein Crystallography Unit (Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology). Dana joins us from the Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory in the Monash Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

23/01/2008 - Australian Synchrotron beamtime application deadlines for 2008

The User Office of the Australian Synchrotron has advised MCSS of the proposed beamtime application deadlines for 2008, which are available here.

At present, it is proposed that the calls for Merit based and Preferred access beamtime will be opened concurrently. Notification of any changes and reminders of call openings and closings will be sent to Monash users registered on the MCSS email list.

22/11/2007 - Awards at EPSM-ABEC Conference

The high quality of research work of two postgraduate students associated with MCSS was recognised at the recent combined Engineering and Physical Sciences in Medicine and The Australian Medical Engineering (EPSM-ABEC) Conference, held in Fremantle.

Ivan Williams was awarded the Radcal/Health Technology Consultancy Prize for the best oral presentation in the field of diagnostic physics for his paper entitled "Towards the clinical application of PCI".

While Jeff Crosbie was highly commended for the Varian Prize for the best oral presentation related to radiotherapy for his paper entitled "High dose synchrotron microbeam radiation therapy of normal mouse skin: an immunohistochemical study of DNA repair, proliferation and apoptosis".

Congratulations to both Ivan and Jeff.

08/11/2007 - MCSS welcomes first Beamline Fellow

Dr Rosalie Hocking has joined MCSS as the first of our Beamline Fellows. The Beamline Fellows each have specialised knowledge in one or more of the techniques available at the Australian Synchrotron. The Fellows will be pivotal in assisting Monash researchers to exploit these capabailities and will also be involved in the development of the beamlines themselves.

Rosalie joins us from the CSIRO Land and Water Division (Urrbrae, South Australia) and was formerly a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University and the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory.

Rosalie's synchrotron expertise is in the use of Hard and Soft X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy for mining and environmental applications.