Weaving The Body - UNSW Newsroom

Uniken / Winter 2015BriefsBETTER DETECTIONOF OVARIAN CANCERA new approach to ovarian cancerdetection developed by UNSW ViceChancellor Ian Jacobs could lead towidespread screening for the diseasethat kills about two in three sufferers inAustralia. The method uses a statisticalcalculation to interpret changing levelsin women’s blood of a protein calledCA125, which is linked to ovarian cancer.A 14-year trial, involving more than46,000 women over the age of 50 whohad ongoing blood tests, found the newmethod detected cancer in 86% of women.This is more than double existing screeningmethods, which look for a fixed thresholdamount of the protein.BUSINESS LEADS WORLDSUBJECT RANKINGSUNSW has claimed the top spot nationallyfor Accounting and Finance in the 2015QS world university rankings, with 18of our subjects in the world’s top 50.Accounting and Finance was placed 12thin the world and leads the University’stop performers. Rounding out UNSW’sfive subjects in the top 20 are Civil andStructural Engineering (14), Law andPsychology (both 15), with the newlyintroduced subject area of Business andManagement Studies ranked 19th.GENE EDITINGTARGETS ANAEMIAProfessor Merlin Crossley and histeam have shown that changing justa single letter of the DNA of human redblood cells in the laboratory increasestheir production of oxygen-carryinghaemoglobin – a world-first advancethat could lead to a cure for sickle cellanaemia and other blood disorders.Their gene-editing technique switcheson a gene, which is active in the womb,but turned off in most people at birth.By keeping that gene switched on for life,the researchers hope they can alleviatesymptoms. “Because the good geneticvariation we introduced already exists innature, this approach should be effectiveand safe,” says Professor Crossley, whois Dean of UNSW Science.GATES CAMBRIDGE SCHOLARINDIGENOUS ARTS AWARDUNSW lecturer and alumna Aditi Vedi hasbeen awarded a prestigious Gates CambridgeScholarship to research the functional biologyof stem cells to improve survival outcomes forchildren with leukaemia.“Despite increasingcure rates for children with leukaemia, relapseddisease still carries a poor prognosis,” said Vedi,who is a conjoint associate lecturer with UNSW’sSchool of Women and Children’s Health. Theprestigious scholarship program was establishedin October 2000 by a donation of 210mfrom the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.Vedi was one of 54 successful candidates from28 countries, and will begin her PhD at theUniversity of Cambridge later this year.Celebrated artist and curator Brenda L Crofthas been awarded an Australia Council NationalIndigenous Arts Award to develop Solid/shifting ground, a multimedia artwork detailingher father’s experiences as one of the StolenGeneration. Croft is an ARC Research Fellowat the National Institute for Experimental Artsat UNSW Art & Design. She will stage herexhibition at the UNSW Galleries next year.Croft says being awarded the Fellowship,worth 90,000 over two years, is one of thehighlights of her career. “I want to write myfather’s story for his grandchildren, so they knowthey are following in the footsteps of those whofought for equal rights for all of us.”Photo: Brent O’CarriganPhoto: Carly Earl/NewspixIn FocusDesert art breaksnew ground1950s-style circle skirts painted in the Albert Namatjirawatercolour tradition feature in a new national exhibitionof contemporary desert art at UNSW Galleries.We are in Wonder LAND explores how contemporaryAboriginal desert art is breaking new aesthetic andpolitical ground through the use of new mediums –and old mediums in new ways.The exhibition brings together works by over 30 artistsfrom 18 remote desert community art, media andeducational organisations, and 11 different languagegroups. Drs Jennifer Biddle and Lisa Stefanoff from theNational Institute for Experimental Art at UNSW havecurated the works in partnership with Philip Watkins,CEO of Desart Inc, a peak body representing 42 centraland western desert art centres.The exhibition runs until 15 August 2015.For more information go to artdesign.unsw.edu.auWest MacDonnell Ranges, NT. Artist: Gloria Pannka. Dress-maker – BerniceBristow. Produced and directed by The Arts Department, Batchelor Instituteof Indigenous Tertiary Education and Ngurratjuta Iltja Ntjarra – Many HandsArts Centre. Modelled by Rita-Mae Ross. Alice Springs 2015. Tracey Allen5

Star alumnicelebratedUNSW has recognised thesuccess and leadership of itsmost “exemplary” graduatesat the 2015 Alumni Awards.Under an illuminated marquee on the lawnsof Alumni Park, UNSW has celebrated theachievements of its most talented graduates.UNSW President and Vice-Chancellor ProfessorIan Jacobs said it gave him “a glow of pride”to read through the list of “exemplary” recipientsfrom arts, science, engineering, innovation,design, medicine, law and sports.Among the winners was Corrin Varady, whowas celebrated for establishing the World YouthEducation Trust – a charity to educate andrehabilitate former child soldiers.When Varady started studying commerce atUNSW he planned on becoming an investmentbanker. That changed after a volunteer teachingassignment in Africa brought him into contactwith former child soldiers from northern Uganda.When he asked them what they wanted more thananything, he says their response was unanimous:Corrin Varady and formerchild soldier Jonathan Okwir withchildren in northern Uganda.an education. “That experience just triggeredsomething profound in me,” he recalls.UNSW Law’s Ngoc Tram Nguyen Scholarshipand the faculty’s alumni network.The trust now operates two schools, with morethan 600 children – including former child soldiers– receiving support each year.Nguyen initiated an annual fundraising dinnerthat has now raised more than 140,000 tohelp expand the scholarship scheme that helpsdisadvantaged students in south-west Sydneyto study law.Varady shared the Young Alumni Award withJames Hoa Phuc Nguyen, a legal counsel atRabobank. Nguyen is heavily involved withFor the full list of Alumni Award recipientsgo to alumni.unsw.edu.au.Fifteen research trailblazersWorking across disciplines ranging from Indigenous law and mentalhealth, to quantum computing and nanomedicine, 15 of the University’stop-performing female academics are featured in the latest edition ofResearch@UNSW.The professors are making major contributions to many of the big challengesfacing our society, and inspiring a new generation of scholars. Among thosefeatured are the two newest female Scientia Professors: chief scientist of theBlack Dog Institute, Helen Christensen, who is developing suicide preventiontechnologies, and Katharina Gaus from Medicine, who is investigatingthe rules that govern single molecules.Three Australian Laureate Fellows and one ARC Future Fellow round outthe list of Scientia Professors. They are chemical engineer Rose Amal, whois developing clean fuels from recycled carbon dioxide; materials scientistVeena Sahajwalla, who is leading an 8.8 million ‘green manufacturing’hub; physicist Michelle Simmons, who is developing a scalable quantumcomputer; and Jane McAdam, who heads the Andrew & Renata KaldorCentre for International Refugee Law.(L-R) Helen Christensen, Katharina Gaus, Veena Sahajwalla, Michelle Simmons,Jane McAdam and Rose Amal. Photo: Tamara Dean6“While each professor has her own story of success, all share a particulartrait,” says Professor Les Field, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research). “Theyapproach their high-stakes research in decidedly creative ways; pushingboundaries, taking risks and tackling problems from a different perspective.”Read the full stories at 15trailblazers.unsw.edu.au

Uniken / Winter 2015The right stuffThe man leading Australia’s biggest engineering faculty has grandambitions for research, students and industry participation, writesWilson da Silva.Four months into the job, Mark Hoffman –the new Dean of Engineering at UNSW – isenergised. He’s just returned from the AsianEngineering Deans Summit in Singapore wherehe was talking up his goal of making UNSW oneof the region’s pre-eminent engineering centres.“It was quite remarkable just how well UNSWEngineering was known and respected,”Professor Hoffman says. He was enthusiasticallybuttonholed by peers keen to explore newopportunities. “There’s a tendency [in the region]to defer to US institutions, but the way theyapproached and engaged, gave me the distinctimpression that UNSW is seen as a leadingengineering faculty in Asia.”Hoffman plans to build on these strengths: bothas an academic institution and as a collaboratorwith industry. “I want to make the faculty thego-to place within the region for solving industrialand community technical problems. We’ve gotthe expertise, and Asia has a fast-rising trajectoryof industrial development.”Asia faces acute challenges in energy, water,infrastructure and transport – all areas whereUNSW has strong applied research expertise.“Our leading fundamental research will be betterif we’re working with applied problems. Youreally need to design solutions against reality,and we have that ability.”Hoffman came to the role after two years asPro-Vice-Chancellor (Research), almost four yearsas Associate Dean (Research) in the Facultyof Science, and six years as Head of the Schoolfor Materials Science and Engineering. He’sheld research positions in the USA, Japan, Indiaand Germany, the latter as a Humboldt Fellow.Considered a leader in structural integrity ofmaterials, more recently his work has centredon piezoelectric ceramics.As Dean, he leads the largest engineering facultyin Australia, with more than 10,700 students andthe widest range of programs. Notable graduatesinclude Chris Roberts, CEO of global bionic eargiant Cochlear and Zhengrong Shi, billionairefounder of China’s Wuxi Suntech.Hoffman is aiming high: while UNSWEngineering rates in the world’s top 50, he wantsit to be in the top 30 – and maybe the top 25.“It’s an ambitious goal. But we’re on a strongerfinancial base, compared with US and Europeaninstitutions, and on a stronger expertise basecompared to the rising institutions of Asia.”The rise of MOOCs (massive open online courses)is also presenting UNSW with opportunities.New, more student-focused ways of learningall play to the faculty’s strengths, Hoffman says.A core challenge he has set himself as Dean isto “get our fraction of female staff and studentsto 30%”, from around 21% (students) and 18%(teaching staff) – numbers that haven’t changedmuch for a decade. “We can get to 30% if wemake a significant investment,” Hoffman says.“Just about every other profession has addressedthis – engineering needs to crack it too.”Safe waterfor everyoneA new water research initiative is to beestablished at UNSW thanks to fundingfrom the Tata Trust of India. In partnershipwith the trust and their teams, theprogram aims to provide clean drinkingwater to regional India through low-costwater purification solutions.One project will develop a low-energyfilter to remove salt, fluoride, arsenic andnitrates from water sources, and whichis simple and robust enough to be usedat the village level; the second is a largerreverse osmosis water filtration plant thatcan be mounted on small utility vehicles.The initiatives will be jointly run by thefaculties of Engineering, Science, andArts & Social Sciences, with the latterfocused on helping engender socialacceptance of the technologies.The impact of the Tata–UNSW WaterInitiative is likely to be profound, saysEngineering Dean Mark Hoffman.Villages in India where the water qualityis poor will be targeted first, beforethe intervention is scaled up acrossvarious states.Mark Hoffman. Photo: Peter Morris7

Cover StoryTHE FUTUREW E AV E RBiomedical engineer Melissa Knothe Tate is harnessing the ancient art of theloom to push the boundaries of regenerative medicine and to foment a materialsscience revolution. By Amy Coopes and Steve Offner.Photos: Paul Henderson Kelly8

Uniken / Winter 2015Tucked away in a small room in UNSW’s GraduateSchool of Biomedical Engineering sits a 19th century–era weaver’s wooden loom. Operated by punch cardsand hooks, the machine was the first rudimentarycomputer when it was unveiled in 1801.While on the surface it looks like a standard Jacquard loom,it has been enhanced with motherboards integrated into eachof the loom’s five hook modules and connected to a computer.This state-of-the-art technology means complex algorithmscontrol each of the 5,000 feed-in fibres with incredible precision.That capacity means the loom can weave with an extraordinaryvariety of substances, from glass and titanium to rayon andsilk, a development that has attracted industry attentionaround the world.The interest lies in the natural advantage woven materials haveover other manufactured substances. Instead of manipulatingmaterial to create new shades or hues as in traditional weaving,the fabrics’ mechanical properties can be modulated, to be stiffat one end, for example, and more flexible at the other.“Instead of a pattern of colours we get a pattern of mechanicalproperties,” says Melissa Knothe Tate, UNSW’s Paul TrainorChair of Biomedical Engineering.“Think of a rope; it’s uniquely goodin tension and in bending. Weavingis naturally strong in that way.”While the loom’s materials havecountless potential manufacturingapplications – one tyremaker believesa titanium weave could spawn anew generation of thinner, strongerand safer steel-belt radials – ProfessorKnothe Tate is more interested inthe machine’s human potential.Knothe Tate believes biomedical engineering is on the cusp ofenormous advances. “I always talk about being in the sweet spot.It’s like there’s a wave and biomed is at the forefront,” she says.The interface of mechanics and physiology is the focus ofKnothe Tate’s work. In March, she travelled to the UnitedStates to present another aspect of her work at a meeting of theinternational Orthopedic Research Society in Las Vegas. Thatproject – which has been dubbed “Google Maps for the body”– explores the interaction between cells and their environmentin osteoporosis and other degenerative musculoskeletalconditions such as osteoarthritis.Using previously top-secret semiconductor technology developedby optics giant Zeiss, and the same approach used by GoogleMaps to locate users with pinpoint accuracy, Knothe Tateand her team have created “zoomable” anatomical maps fromthe scale of a human joint down to a single cell.She has also spearheaded a groundbreaking partnershipthat includes the Cleveland Clinic, and Brown and Stanforduniversities to help crunch terabytes of data gathered fromhuman hip studies – all processed with the Google technology.Analysis that once took 25 years can now be done in a matterof weeks, bringing researchers evercloser to a set of laws that governbiological behaviour.Weaving is an ancientart but if you bring thenewest technology to it, Ithink some pretty excitingthings can happen.– Melissa Knothe TateShe believes it is possible, forexample, to weave biological tissues – essentially humanbody parts – in the lab to replace and repair our failing joints.What’s more, she is convinced that one day those same partswill be woven inside the body.“It’s always been a dream of mine to teach cells to weavetheir own repair,” Knothe Tate says. It would be a “livingloom” and the ultimate disruptive technology, “but we’renot there yet, so we want to learn from the cells and beginthe process in the lab”.Her vision was a key reason forUNSW and the Paul TrainorFoundation bringing Knothe Tateto Australia to take up the inauguralPaul Trainor Chair in BiomedicalEngineering, named after the fatherof Australia’s medical devices, whodied in 2006.“Paul Trainor was the veritablefounder of the biomedical industryin Australia. He was responsible for developing and championingthe cochlear implant and cardiac pacemakers, among othertechnologies, and a big part of my position here at UNSWis to reinvigorate the industry he helped create, and to buildon it even more,” Knothe Tate says.“Weaving is an ancient art but if you bring the newesttechnology to it, I think some pretty exciting things can happen.”Head of School, Professor John Whitelock, says the futureof biomedical engineering relies on innovative academics likeKnothe Tate crossing boundaries and commercialising theirdiscoveries. “Just two years into her role, Melissa is pushingboundaries and has already patented several new technologies.She’s more than proved she is the right person to continuePaul Trainor’s legacy,” he says.Biomedical “sweet spot”Not your average engineerEven in a discipline where the name is derived from the Latiningenium, meaning “cleverness” and ingeniare, meaning “tocontrive or devise”, UNSW’s biomedical engineers are pushingboundaries. Down the hall from Knothe Tate’s office atop theGordon Samuels Building, a team led by Scientia Professor NigelLovell and Professor Gregg Suaning is designing a bionic eye.The daughter of an electrical engineer who led the US Navy’snuclear program in EMP, the electromagnetic pulse aftermathof nuclear blasts, Knothe Tate had an itinerant childhood,following her father as he moved between postings.Nearby Dr Lauren Kark is engineering a new generationof prosthetic limbs, while other researchers are developingbiomimetic-inspired materials to regenerate tissue.And in UNSW’s Wainwright Analytical Centre and theBiomedical Imaging Facility are some of the world’s mostadvanced microscopes, capable of capturing the innerworkings of a single living cell.Like her dad, she was fascinated with science and technologyfrom an early age. Curious about temperature’s effects on growth,the 12-year-old Knothe Tate asked for an incubator and clearedspace in the family fridge to experiment with chicken embryos.She spent her spare high school hours shadowing doctorsand penned curious adolescent letters to surgeons about theethical dilemmas of breast augmentation and cosmetic surgery.“I thought I was going to be a reconstructive surgeon forchildren with congenital malformations, but I just don’t likehospitals,” she admits.9

Cover Storyand electron microscopes, the multicolouredarchitecture is scattered on black backgroundslike constellations.While hospitals proved a no-go zone, Knothe Tatestill held a love for medicine’s impact on humanlife. Moulding her own biomedical engineeringdegree long before the discipline existed, KnotheTate enrolled at Stanford in separate degreesin biology and mechanical engineering, workingthree jobs for financial support.On her computer screen, a research paper displaysa cross-section of a sheep’s femur, together withsecond harmonic and multiphoton images thatcapture the distribution of the section’s structuralproteins. “What you see is the weave of the cellsthat inhabit our bodies,” Knothe Tate says, pointingto the fluorescent green, yellow and orange interplayof fibres between bone and muscle.Though majoring in science, Knothe Tatewas also passionate about philosophy andart, with a particular interest in Germanlanguage and culture. Drawn to Europe, shepacked up and headed to the Swiss Federal

Stephen Hawking appeared as a hologram, offered solace to One Direction fans everywhere, and spoke about his family, science, and our place in the universe. It was a special event at the Sydney Opera House that also saw Hawking and his daughter Lucy, I wanted to get involved,” says Dougan. a successful author, awarded the 2015 UNSW