2012
Successful Grant ApplicationsSingle cell genomics
This grant will fund the installation of new technology in the Ramaciotti Centre and its collaborating universities. The new technology to be acquired will include that for cell sorting, robotics and genome sequencing.
This multidisciplinary collaboration will investigate the molecular basis of synergistic and antagonistic effects of drugs on pathogenic fungi. Fungi will be treated with combinations of drugs, their transcriptomes analysed with RNA-seq, and interpreted in the context of protein-protein interactions and other networks. Results from this study will potentially lead to new treatment strategies for fungal pathogens.
2011
Current Grant FundingSystems biology data management and integration
The combined funding will allow the SBI to continue building foundation datasets and technology in association with the major -omics facilities in NSW.
This project will focus on the development of a bioinformatics analytical environment (encompassing data management, analysis and visualisation) for systems biology.
There are a number of Australian fruit flies which are major pests in the fruit industry. This project will undertake transcriptomic analysis of closely related strains to understand their similarities and differences.
This new supercomputing facility will be housed at the AC3 data centre. The computer will support projects in the biosciences, such as those undertaken by the Systems Biology Initiative, as well as research in other frontier technologies and environmental sustainability. Click here for more information about this grant.
This project will continue our proteome-wide analyses of protein methylation and study the manner in which it modulates protein-protein interactions in the interactome.
This project will study the way which protein methylation changes throughout the cell cycle, and the consequences of perturbing protein methylation.
This project will build infrastructure for the capture of glycomics data from mass spectrometers, and integrate this into an updated version of the Glycosuite database.
SBI Postdoc wins Presentation Prize
Gene Hart-Smith was awarded 1st Prize at the East Coast Protein Meeting (July 15-17 at Coffs Harbour, NSW) for his oral presentation on "Localisation of arginine methylation sites in yeast mRNA binding protein Npl3 via electron transfer dissociation and orbitrap derived LC-MS/MS inclusion lists."
Congratulations Gene! Click here to find out more about Gene's research.
SBI Student wins Keystone Symposia Scholarship
Tim Couttas was awarded a scholarship to attend the 2011 Keystone Symposium on 'Omics Meets Cell Biology' in Alpbach, Austria.
Congratulations Tim! Click here to find out more about Tim's project.
2010
SBI Student wins Lorne Travelling Scholarship
Jason Low was awarded the 2010 GE Healthcare Lorne Travelling Scholarship at the Sydney Protein Group Thompson Prize Night. The award, one of only two offered to current research students, enabled Jason to attend the 2011 Lorne Conference on Protein Structure and Function.
Congratulations Jason! Click here to find out more about Jason's project.
Funding success for the SBI
The NSW Systems Biology Initiative has been successful in raising $2M over 4 years, as part of the Education Investment Fund (EIF) Super Science Scheme. Administered by Bioplatforms Australia, the funding will allow the Systems Biology Initiative to continue to build foundation datasets and technology in association with the major -omics facilities in NSW.
SBI Staff wins PhD Award
Ignatius Pang, a student with the SBI, was awarded the inaugural School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences PhD of the Quarter Award. The award is assessed primarily on examiner's scores, as well as number of published papers. Congratulations Igy!
NSW Chief Scientist launches Genomic Data Analysis Project
The NSW Chief Scientist, Prof Mary O'Kane launched the Genomic Data Analysis (GDA) Project at UNSW on June 10. The GDA project, an initiative of the Intersect eResearch consortium, is focused on addressing the data management needs for the next-generation gene sequencing community. Currently, the user base includes the University of New South Wales (including the Ramaciotti Centre), Southern Cross University and the Australian National University.
For more information about the GDA project, please click here. An introductory video can also be viewed here.
2009
Grants
Genomic Data Storage.
Australian National Data Service (ANDS) (Wilkins, Dawes, Henry & Shannon, $125,000).
This project is a continuation of the Genomic Data Storage project with Intersect. It will provide a research data store for next-generation data storage at the Ramaciotti Centre for Gene Function Analysis at the University of New South Wales.
Proteomic Discovery in the Genesis, Spread and Treatment of Cancer.
China-NSW Collaborative Research Program & NSW Office of Science and Medical Research (Baker, Hancock, Molloy, Clark, Wilkins, He, Jiang, Sun & Xing, $1,056,000).
The SBI will provide data analysis expertise to this project, which will use proteomics to study the progression of and biomarkers associated with liver cancer.
Orbitrap mass spectrometer for cancer proteomics and protein phosphorylation research projects.
Cancer Institute of NSW (Raftery, Guilhaus, Khachigian, Hogg, Wilkins, Kavallaris, Marshall, Cheung, Haber, Daly, Corish, Butt & Christopherson, $952,000).
The SBI is a member of a consortium which has raised funds for a new state-of-the-art Orbitrap mass spectrometer. This highly sensitive instrument is a powerful instrument for the analysis of proteins and protein post-translational modifications.
SBI becomes the Australian EMBnet node
The SBI is now the Australian node for EMBnet, an international consortium that brings together bioinformatics professionals from both academia and industry.
Proteomics Special Issue: A Celebration of Protein-Protein Interactions
The Interactorium is featured inside and on the cover of this special issue of Proteomics, which was edited by Director of the SBI, Prof. Marc Wilkins. For more information about the Interactorium, please click here.
The SBI was interviewed by Tim Dean on the Interactorium visualisation platform. This article was also featured in the January-February 2010 issue of Bio-IT World Magazine.
SBI Students Win Poster Prizes
Congratulations to PhD students Ignatius Pang and Tim Couttas, who were each awarded a Poster Prize at the 14th Australasian Proteomics Conference (Lorne, Victoria) held in February. Their work was selected from over 100 posters at the conference. Both students are studying protein methylation networks in the model organism, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. To date, they have shown that the methylation of proteins is much more widespread than previously thought and that this methylation may be involved in the control of protein-protein interactions.
2008
ARC Grant Success
The NSW Systems Biology Initiative is a member of the Intersect Consortium, which was recently awarded $500,000 from the Australian Research Council for the establishment of a new supercomputer. The computer will be a 10 teraflop cluster, which will boost local access to supercomputing ten-fold. It will have 2.5 terabytes of memory and up to 30 terabytes of attached storage, and will be housed at the AC3 data centre. The computer will support projects in the biosciences, such as those undertaken by the Systems Biology Initiative, as well as research in chemistry, photonics, materials science, nanotechnology, mathematics, physics and engineering.
Bioplatforms Australia Factsheet
Proteomics Editorial
Features paper "Are protein complexes made of cores, modules and attachments?"
Proteomics Podcast
Prof Marc Wilkins' interview for paper "Are protein complexes made of cores, modules and attachments?" (10 MB, 20min 57s)
2007
UNSW Media Release
The SBI receives $500,000 in funding from the New South Wales government.
2006
Proteomics Editorial
Features paper "Guidelines for the next 10 years of proteomics."
Proteomics Podcast
Prof Marc Wilkins' interview for paper "Guidelines for the next 10 years of proteomics." (9.3 MB, 26min 31s)