Developing better treatments for child burns victims is the aim of UQ researcher Dr James R. McMillan, who was yesterday awarded an International Science Linkages Grant. The grant will cover the costs of visiting Professor Hiroshi Shimizu – a world leader in treatments for skin blistering diseases– at Hokkaido University, Japan.
“If children get a severe, deep dermal partial thickness burn over any joints it can cause a very restrictive lack of joint mobility and, at the moment, the treatment involves multiple, expensive surgeries to remove this scar tissue,” Dr McMillan said.
“We’re looking at ways of reducing the amount of excessive collagen scar tissue that forms in the lower skin layers that causes scarring, so that when we apply a skin graft it can heal normally with an improved cosmetic outcome.”
Having previously worked at Hokkaido University, one of the top state-funded Universities in Japan, Dr McMillan, who is Head of the Burns Research Laboratory at the Children’s Centre for Burns Research, speaks fluent Japanese.
He is one of nine UQ researchers awarded International Sciences Linkages Grants, which support collaboration with international partners on cutting edge science and technology.
Australian scientists will travel to research institutions in China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Europe and North America to commence their projects in 2010.
The grant funding is part of the $3.9 million provided to the Australian Academy of Science by the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research over the five years of the International Science Linkages – Science Academies Program.
UQ researchers will be working on a diverse range of topics including scramjets (a very fast type of jet engine), conservation planning, genome scale modeling and natural resources management.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Max Lu congratulated the grant recipients and stressed the importance of international collaboration.
“There is no better way to advance research than to collaborate with the leaders in the field, particularly overseas,” Professor Lu said.
“This scheme offers a fantastic opportunity for UQ scientists to work closely with their international colleagues and will help a range of exciting projects move closer to achieving beneficial outcomes. Such grants will further enhance UQ’s already extensive international research linkages”
Other recipients included:
Dr Kerrie Wilson, who will collaborate with a colleague at the University of Copenhagen to investigate conservation planning in a dynamic world.
Professor Bernard Degnan, who will travel to Universitat de Barcelona, Spain to study the evolution of animal multicellularity – how animals recognise themselves and others.
Dr Joshua Mylne will work with colleagues from the University of Texas and the University of Tennessee, looking at evolutionary development of cyclic peptides in the sunflower family. Dr Mylne, from the Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB), was this year also presented with a UQ Research Excellence Award to fund his work on using plants to produce pharmaceuticals.
Incorporating appropriate ecological baselines into management of natural resources is the study to be conducted by Professor John Pandolfi, who will collaborate with researchers from the University of California, San Diego and Duke University.
Dr Claudia Vickers will head to Korea to study genome scale modelling in Escherichia coli for rational strain design at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.
Mr Graeme Auchterlonie will travel to the National Institute for Materials Science, Japan, to undertake a project titled Synthesis of novel thin film solid oxide fuel cell electrolytes.
Dr Hideaki Ogawa will work with colleagues at Tohoku University and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency to study the science of optimal, robust scramjet propulsion systems for efficient access to space.
Dr Hongyuan Liu will collaborate with researchers from three Chinese institutions: the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Dalian University of Technology and Northeastern University. His project will investigate three-dimensional hybrid continuous-discrete multi-physical modelling of heterogeneous rock fracture.
Penny Robinson at UQ Communications ph: 07 3365 9723, penny.robinson@uq.edu
