Zhejiang, China visit

Official Launch of Centre of Excellence for Plant Metabolomics with The Hon Francis Logan MLA,Minister for Energy, Resources, Industry and Enterprise, 15 October 2007.

UWA dignitaries, Department of Energy and Resources officials, researchers from Murdoch, UWA and Kings Park and Botanic Gardens Authority joined to celebrate the official opening of the Centre of Excellence for Plant Metabolomics.  Minister Logan, Chief Scientist of Western Australia Lynn Beazley, VC Alan Robson and Dean George Stewart were escorted by the Centre’s Director, Steve Smith to meet Plant Metabolomic researchers who demonstrated the research they were undertaking into starch metabolism, karrikins, increasing biomass and oilseed production, and more.

Visit from Her Excellency the Hon Helen Liddell, British High Commissioner,

Plant Metabolomics and Plant Energy Biology hosted the British High Commissioner, UK (Canberra) on her visit to Western Australia in September. The Hon Helen Liddell took a tour of the labs to observe research being done by researchers from Canada, Thailand, China, USA, Australia and ex-pat British researchers Dr Sarah Purdy and Steve Smith.

Sakkie Pretorius and the art and science of winemaking

Sakkie Pretorius, Managing Director of The Australian Wine Research Institute and Affiliate Professor at the University of Adelaide visited the Centre on 7th September 2007. Sakkie’s research focus has been on the improvement of wine yeast. He and Steve Smith have a common interest in metabolomics and are members of the Executive of ‘Metabolomics Australia’. Sakkie gave a lecture to the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department on "Tailoring wine yeast - novel approaches to the ancient art of winemaking"

Steve Smith@Parliament

Steve Smith attended the inaugural Science@Parliament event at Parliament House in Perth (14th August 2007). He briefed members of Parliament about issues surrounding Genetically Modified (GM) crops. Western Australia has a moratorium on commercial growth of GM crops and is currently reviewing this policy. Steve sits on the Ministerial GMO Specialist Advisory Panel which advises the Minister for Agriculture and Food, The Hon Kim Chance MLC.

Berkeley undergrad spends semester in the Centre

Eugene Verkhovsky, a biology major from UC Berkeley spent Semester 2, 2007 at UWA to experience Australian culture and learn about sterol synthesis in Arabidopsis. As part of his studies Eugene worked with Dr Ping Che in identifying mutants and followed this by carrying out research under the supervision of Dr Wenxu Zhou in extracting sterols and running tests to identify and quantify the types and amounts of sterols produced.

Professor Russell Jones visits Centre, August 2007

Professor Russell Jones from the University of California, Berkeley, visited the Centre on 16th August 2007. Russell has a long and distinguished career in seed physiology. See http://epmb.berkeley.edu/facPage/dispFP.php?I=16

He is co-editor of the much-acclaimed Biochemistry & Molecular Biology of Plants (Buchanan, Gruissem and Jones, eds) and is former editor of Annual Reviews of Plant Biology. Russell gave a seminar on the control of seed germination and discussed karrikin research with members of the Centre.

Visit to the John Innes Centre, Norwich.

Steve Smith joined with Prof Sam Zeeman from ETH Zurich for a visit to Professor Alison Smith at the John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK. The three researchers have collaborated extensively over recent years and published numerous research papers on starch metabolism. They spent a day discussing future research directions aimed at unlocking the secrets of how plants control their starch content.

Photosynthesis 2007

Steve Smith attended the 14th International Congress on Photosynthesis in Glasgow in July. His research was presented in two posters, one in collaboration with Asaph Cousins and Murray Badger at the Australian National University, the other with Gerhard Ritte and Martin Steup from Potsdam University.

Director presents lectures at Max-Plank-Institute and Potsdam University

Steve Smith visited the Max-Planck-Institute for Molecular Plant Physiology in Golm on 18th July and Potsdam University on 19th July 2007. He gave lectures on Peroxisomes and starch metabolism. Steve collaborates with researchers in both institutions and has recently published with Gerhard Ritte and Martin Steup at Potsdam.

International Plant Growth Substances Meeting, Puerto Vallarta Mexico,

Dr Dave Nelson attended the 19th International Plant Growth Substance in Puerto Vallarta Mexico. July 2007. He presented a poster on the research of the Centre’s team involved in discovering how Karrikins promote germination of dormant seeds. This research is a collaborative effort with scientists at King’s Park and Botanic Garden.

Functional Genomics Workshop, ANU Canberra,

Director Steve Smith participated in a Functional Genomics Workshop at the Australian National University, Canberra, July 3-5th 2007. He presented a seminar on ‘Functional Genomics Approaches to Plant Energy Metabolism’.

18th International Conference on Arabidopsis Research, Beijing,

Centre Research Associate Dr John Bussell attended the 18th International Conference on Arabidopsis Research in Beijing, June 20-23, 2007. John presented a poster on “Investigating putative functions of peroxisomal proteins through microarray analysis” on behalf of John Bussell, Itsara Pracharoenwattana, Andy Wiszniewski, Wenxu Zhou and Steve Smith.

Visit to Centre by delegation from the Embassy of the Democratic People’s Republic of China,

Ms Wu Xi, Counsellor, Embassy of the People’s Republic of China (Canberra) accompanied by Mr Ruan Ping, Deputy Consul-General, Consulate-General of the People’s Republic of China (Perth), visited the Centre on 15th June 2007. They were accompanied by representatives of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet, and Department of Industry and Resources of the Government of Western Australia. The delegates were shown research facilities by Centre staff Drs Wenxu Zhou and John Bussell. 

Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics, Adelaide,

Professor Steve Smith visited the Australian Centre for Functional Plant Genomics in Adelaide, 7th 2007. He gave a seminar on plant energy metabolism and discussed research with members of the ACPFG with a view to establishing future collaborations.

Ministerial GMO Advisory Group,

Professor Steve Smith serves on the GMO Advisory Group to the Minister of Agriculture Hon Kim Chance MP. Western Australia has a moratorium on the commercial growth of GM plants and is reviewing this policy. The group released its first discussion document on the potential for GM cotton in the north of Western Australia in July 2007.

Visit by Minister for Energy, Science and Innovation,

The Hon Francis Logan MLA, WA Minster for Energy, Science and Innovation, visited the Centre in Perth on 5th July 2006. The research carried out in the Centre was outlined to Minister Logan, who then toured facilities and met research staff.