Newsletter of the School of Biological Sciences www.bio.usyd.edu.au
Issue Six Autumn 2008
Biology News
Peter Waterhouse is appointed to the University
Photo credit:Peter Waterhouse
By Jesse Silverman
Dr Peter Waterhouse receiving his prize at the Prime Minister’s award for science in 2007 (left); with former PM John Howard at the event (right).
Dr Peter Waterhouse, the recipient
of the Prime Minister’s prize for science
in 2007, has been hired into the Faculty
of Science. He will be located within the
School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences (MMB) with a joint appointment in
the School of Biological Sciences.
A plant molecular biologist, Dr Waterhouse comes from CSIRO where he
made revolutionary discoveries on how
plant cells can silence genes. His work
has lead to a new understanding of how
cells express genes, deal with viruses
and has given researchers a powerful
new tool to find genes and understand
their function, not only in plants but in
all organisms.
The background that Dr Waterhouse
brings is central to the growth of the
School of Biological Sciences and the
Faculty of Science.
According to David Day, the Dean of the
Faculty of Science, “Peter is one of Australia’s leading life science researchers,
as recognised by the award of the PM’s
prize last year. His research on gene
silencing mechanisms and epigenetics is
world-class and, although plant-based,
cuts across all of eukaryotic molecular
genetics.”
In 1995, a group lead by Dr Waterhouse
made the original discovery that plants
have a natural mechanism to recognise
and silence genes based on the presence
of double-stranded RNA, now known as
RNA interference (RNAi). Gene silencing
is when a targeted gene is prevented
from being translated into a protein. In
1997 he found a method for scientists to
trigger this response in laboratories, allowing researchers to selectively silence
genes. Further work published in 1998
showed that the mechanisms that Dr
Waterhouse’s team discovered in plants
also existed in all higher organisms.
Technologies based on his research
have made it possible to understand
the function of genes at a scale and in a
breadth of organisms that would never
have been possible without his work. His
research has lead to innovations such as
the first blue rose, virus-resistant wheat
and barley, and healthy cottonseed oil.
The world-class research in which Dr
Waterhouse is involved represents the
direction that the Faculty is moving.
“The future of the Faculty of Science
will revolve around a continued focus on
research and research-led teaching, and
hiring people like Peter is essential for
this” said David Day. “Research excel-
lence requires internationally recognised
research leaders around which major
new research directions are built.”
Beyond the growth of the school, Dr Waterhouse’s experience will also strengthen existing programs.
“While [his] research is fundamental in
its approach it also has many applications and Peter has strong interactions
with industry, which the Faculty is trying
to encourage. Peter has a very engaging personality and will interact widely,
helping to bring the two biology schools
in the faculty closer together,” said David
Day.
Dr Waterhouse will be coming to the
University later in the year as a Federation Fellow where he will be housed in
new facilities that are currently under
construction in the School of MMB. While
he is at the University of Sydney he will
maintain labs and affiliation with CSIRO.
Turn to the back page
for your invite to a
special Biology event!
1
Headspace
Headspace
Spotlight
2
3
Who’s New
Prizes
4
5
Outreach
Alumni
6
8
Editorial
Welcome to July and welcome to the
new-look issue of Biology News. This
edition has been produced in-house and
is the second issue to be mailed out to
all Biology Alumni. Our deepest gratitude goes to Chris Angwin for his help
in developing this issue, and to Adam
Selinger for creating this quality publication in the first place.
Biology News is created especially
for SoBS, and as ever, we value your
feedback. Tell us what you think, what
you want to read more (or less) of in
this newsletter. Our contact details are
below.
Carla Avolio and Katie Jakes
Biology News Room
Room 518, Carslaw F07
The University of Sydney
NSW 2006 Australia
T: +61 2 9351 4543
F: +61 2 93512175
E: [email protected]
Editor: Carla Avolio
Design: Chris Angwin
2
Welcome to the
Autumn Biology
News for 2008. I
hope you agree
that Carla Avolio,
our Science
Communicator,
and Chris Angwin,
Faculty of Science
designer, have
done a great job
in developing this
new look.
The University is
entering a new phase with the farewell
of Professor Gavin Brown and arrival of
the new VC, Dr Michael Spence. I detect
a real feeling of excitement and forward
momentum about the campus with the
release of the 2020 Campus Masterplan,
building everywhere we look, continual
improvements in university support
systems and bold proposals for fresh
academic alliances. I think we can
expect an interesting couple of years
ahead.
We have just completed another
successful teaching semester along
with the usual myriad of field trips.
Congratulations to the staff who have
shown such professionalism and team
work in rising to the challenges of
simultaneously running two large first
year classes, preparing to run labs for
Introductory Molecular Biology and
Genetics within Biology for the first time
and mounting teaching within the bright
new Badham Labs opened in March.
Last month, I had the pleasure of
witnessing the recognition of the
many successes of our students and
staff at the Faculty of Science Events
Scholarships and Prizes and Celebrating
Success at which the Biology dominated
the highlighted research. Dr Murray
Henwood was awarded a Faculty of
Science Citation for his Excellence in
Teaching. Congratulations to Professor
Tony Underwood for the award of
an Honorary DSc at the University
of Gothenburg, Sweden. Professor
Rick Shine has been awarded a much
deserved V-C Award for Excellence in
Higher Degree Research Supervision.
Finally, Professor Stephen Simpson has
been short-listed for the People’s Choice
Eureka Prize so don’t forget to vote once
it comes on line at the end of July!
I am delighted that Professor Tim
Entwistle, Director of the Royal Botanic
Gardens, has been appointed as an
Adjunct Professor in the School. This
appointment will consolidate our existing
links with the Gardens and I hope will
stimulate closer ties in teaching and
research between us. We will celebrate
his appointment with a special seminar
by Prof Entwistle next semester.
Finally, I invite you to the Inaugural
Biology Alumni Cocktail Reception on
22 August (see invitation on last page)
to help welcome back our Alumni. If
you are a graduate of the School, I am
particularly keen that you come along
and bring any of your fellow students
from the past. I encourage academics
and lab groups to contact previous
honours and PhD students to urge them
to attend. Let’s see if we can kick our
Alumni Group off with a bang!
With best wishes,
Professor Robyn Overall
Head, School Biological Sciences
2008 is set to be an exciting year for botanical research. After years
of collaboration and preparation, Dr Murray Henwood will launch
three separate online plant databases for the public this year. His
recent work in developing these innovative digital plant resources
coupled with unwavering commitment to teaching of plant systematics and evolution, have earned Murray the Faculty of Science
Citation for Excellence in Teaching from the University of Sydney,
presented by the Faculty at their prize evening on 8th May 2008.
Dr Murray Henwood is at the forefront
of one of the most innovative movements in the fields of plant systematics
– the digitisation of botanical systematic
resources. Widely regarded as Australia’s
leading expert in flannel flowers, Murray
is a respected plant systematist and
biogeographer whose research has been
involved in understanding the evolutionary processes that lead to the huge
biological diversity present in Australian
plants.
As well as influencing the field of plant
systematics through his research, Murray
has also made an enduring impact at the
University of Sydney through his dedication as an educator. Throughout his
career he has provided botany students
with a first-class experience, believing
that fresh and diverse plant resources
are keys to stimulating learning.
Murray’s latest venture, which has won
him an award from the Faculty of Science, involves collaborating with multiple
scientists and information technicians,
including the University of Sydney
Library, on projects that will make
enormous amounts of botanical data –
housed in herbariums, field guides, text
books and maps – available to users
over the web.
“Australia is really leading the way in
providing botanical data to a wide group
of users” said Murray. “Digitising resources allows information to be shared
easily amongst researchers, educators,
or people with a general interest in
plants.”
The first of the three projects is to
digitise a sample of the plant specimens
housed in the University of Sydney’s
John Ray Herbarium. This historic herbarium has been running since 1916 and
is one of the larger university herbaria
in Australia, housing around 64,000
specimens – including some collected by
Ludvig Leichhardt, the German scientist
who explored Queensland and Northern
Territory in the late 1840s. Supported
by a TIES grant, the group are presently
working to photograph and database a
sample – some 6,000 specimens – of the
John Ray Herbarium.
Once deployed on the web, other
botanists will be able to search the John
Ray Herbarium with greater speed and
efficiency.
“At the moment, there is a huge amount
of work involved with utilising specimens from any herbarium” said Murray,
current curator of John Ray Herbarium.
“It requires the researcher wanting a
specimen to personally visit the herbarium, followed by a huge amount of
administrative work on the part of the
herbarium to loan out the specimen.
Through digitising the plant data, we are
trying to optimise the use of the John
Ray Herbarium.”
The 6,000 John Ray Herbarium specimens that Murray has chosen for digitisation have been selected carefully. They
are all plants collected from the Sydney
region. The reason for this choice feeds
directly into Murray’s second project,
which is production of the 5th edition of
Flora of the Sydney Region. This tome
– in publication since 1965 with consistent authorship based at the School of
Biological Sciences – is a comprehensive
compendium of all species of vascular plants in Sydney, comprising about
3,500 species.
Murray obtained a grant from the Environmental Trust to publish an updated
hardcopy of the Flora of the Sydney
Photo credit: Malcolm Ricketts
SPOTLIGHT
Dr Murray Henwood Wins Award
For Digital Plant Resources
Region as well as a web-based version
called eFlora. Murray’s group are currently designing the framework by which
the traditional keys are going to be made
available over the web.
“The web-based version will allow a user
to click their way through the key” said
Murray. “The software will display your
pathway through the key and allow you
to backtrack.” eFlora will also feature hyperlinked interactive glossary of botanical terms as well as an image bank.
In collaboration with The Royal Botanic
Gardens and the University of Sydney
Library, Murray’s third project – eBot – is
a web-based image repository for the
botanical sciences.
“eBot will consist of images of plants
such as photos of flowers, herbarium
specimens, scanning electron micrographs, videos of pollination – basically
anything that can be digitized and related to botany” said Murray. “Whilst eBot
is currently populated by images from
my laboratory, eventually other botanists
from around the world will be able to
contribute to it, as long as they can conform to basic quality requirements.” eBot
is based on ISpheres software which is
developed and maintained by the Faculty
of Medicine.
By digitising plant resources, Murray and
his collaborators are changing the way
plant systematic research is conducted.
“What used to take months can now take
days” said Murray. ”The digitisation of
herbarium data is dramatically enhancing research productivity and potential in
Australia.”
eBot will be launched in June 2008, and
eFlora towards the end of 2008.
3
Hatches
Stella Loke
gave birth to
a girl on Good
Friday. Baby
Mina is 2.97kg &
48cm.
Stel, Kain & Mina
are all doing
well.
Elyssa Panayotakos was
christened on
June 22. Elyssa
is daughter to
Jim and Zaneta, and second
grand child to
proud grandfather Basil
Panayotakos.
What’s New?
Lizard Lounge Opens!
Badham Labs Open!
The previously named First Year Biology
Learning Centre on Level 5 Carslaw
was recently upgraded and refurbished
to emerge as the Lizard Lounge. The
room was painted and given new floor
coverings, benchtops and sofas, and is
now always busy with students getting
together to work, chat and do private
study. Small group tutorial sessions are
also held in the Lounge. The Lounge was
officially opened and christened by First
Year staff on Friday 14 March.
Staff from across the university gathered
in the North Badham building on 17
March to honour the official opening
of two new laboratories which will be
shared by SoBS and FAFNR.
Left: Sarah Newell cuts
the ribbon at the official
opening of the Lizard
Lounge.
Below: The newly renovated First Year Biology
Learning Centre - aka
Lizard Lounge - buzzing
with students.
The opening was marked with formal
addresses by Prof Richmond Jeremy
from Campus Infrastructure Services,
Lindsay Campell the dean of FAFNR
and Prof Mike Thompson, who
conveyed the importance of the Badham
Labs in proving that wet lab space can
be shared effectively by multiple users
between Faculties.
Prof Richmond Jeremy
cutting the ribbon to
open the new Badham
Labs.
One of the newly
renovated laboratories.
Photo Credit:
Malcolm Ricketts
Dispatches
In April, Ms Maureen Claxton retired
after eighteen years as Administration
Manager in the School. We thank
Maureen for this dedicated service.
She was always professional, efficient,
discreet and often cunning about the
ways of the University. In her time with
us she wrote around 1,000 pages of
committee meeting minutes. All of this
was peppered with her special sense of
humour that that was frequently tickled
by the predictable antics of members of
the School. We wish Maureen and long
and happy retirement.
Michael Joseph with Maureen at her
farewell party held in early June.
4
Dr Kathie Raphael retires at the end
of June after 15 years in the School.
The School is grateful for the major
contributions she has made to teaching
and management of Molecular Biology
and Genetics units of study over the
years. Kathie, working with colleagues
in the Fruit Fly Research Centre, has
discovered that circadian clock genes
underpin mating isolation between two
sibling fruit fly pests. Kathie has been
appointed as an honorary research
associate of the School to continue
working on her ARC Linkage Grant
developing techniques for genetically
transforming Queensland fruit fly. We
wish Kathie all the best for the future
and every success in her research.
Members of the Fruit Fly Lab gathered together from around Australia - and even from New
York - to celebrate Kathie’s move from lecturer
to honorary associate.
Helen Kranidiotis left work at the
end of July to begin an exciting year
of maternity leave. Helen was sent off
in glorious style with a big bash held
in the A12 tearoom on June 26. The
party was held jointly with 3 other
expectant ladies, Katherine Timbrell
from Macleay Museum, Michelle
Barthet from Plant Energy Biology and
a mysterious new member of staff. Party
organisers Margaret Gilchrist and
Basil Panayotakos did a fantastic job
of catering for the masses and choosing
lovely gifts for the soon-to-be mums.
We wish Helen and the ladies all the
best during this exciting time, and look
forward to meeting the babies soon.
Clockwise
from left:
Expectant mothers Michelle Barthet, Helen
Kranidiotis, Katherine Timbrell and new member of staff enjoy a lavish maternity farewelll
and celebration.
Winter Graduation
Faculty of Arts: May 30
Doctor of Philosophy
Masters
Dr Moira Williams is currently working
in the Pest Management Unit at the
Department of Environment and Climate
Change on a state-wide project to
develop weed management priorities for
biodiversity conservation.
Dr Kate Hardy is doing research
in breast cancer at University of
Queensland in Brisbane where she is
lucky enough to cycle to work along the
river.
Dr Anthony Brzoska is at the
University of Newcastle.
Dr Amy Palmer is now working as a
Research Fellow at the EICC on campus.
Dr Carolina Zagal is now Senior
Technical Officer with the Marine
Research Laboratories in the University
of Tasmania.
Dr Richard Williams
Photo: Moira Williams
Faculty of Science: June 6 Ceremony
Prior to life at SoBS, Susan Thomas
spent 3 years completing a Masters
degree by research with the Department
of Art History and Film Studies at the
University of Sydney. Her degree was
conferred on Friday 30 May, 2008. Susan
was awarded a High Distinction in the
degree: Master of Philosophy, in Art
History and Film Studies.
From left to right: Yvonne Davila, Anke
Franke, Anja Divjlan, Glenda Wardle, Moira
Williams, James Bevan, Cecilia Phu.
Bachelor of Science with
Honours
Michael Liu (University Medal)
Endymion Cooper
Bridget Murphy
Peter Rugg
Benjamin Croak
Nicole Hills
Lachlan Robinson
Susan Thomas having her photo taken in the
Cottage on the day of her graduation.
Biology does the Biggest Morning Tea
It’s a tradition in the School of Biological Sciences to hold a Biggest Morning
Tea each year to raise money for The Cancer Council, with an impressive
cooking competition. This year’s very successful event was held on 22 May
in the Macleay Museum, with over $730 raised and some creative cooking
genius revealed.
With a Chinese Olympics theme for the morning tea, imaginative chefs
baked up sporting scenes, the Great Wall of China, Chinese calligraphy
characters, and Chinese dumplings. Others cooked up a delectable range of
sweet delights.
Dr Deb Shearman won the Most Creative category for her synchronised
swimming cake, with two doll legs artfully sticking out of the blue cake.
Xiumei Liang won the Best Savoury category with her delicious dumplings.
Renee Simms won the Tastiest Sweet category with her cookies and cream
cheesecake slice.
A raffle was held to raise more money for The Cancer Council, with themed
prizes of an intricately carved Chinese chess set, a small wooden box, and a
boxed set of wooden chopsticks.
Renee Simms, from the Plant Energy Biology lab, organised the morning
tea, putting a lot of effort into sourcing the gorgeous themed raffle prizes,
selling raffle tickets, promoting the event, and organising the baking contest
display and voting. Renee was grateful for help from Malcolm Ricketts,
Margaret Gilchrist and Basil Panayotakos on the day, plus the Macleay
Museum for allowing the event to be held there.
Clockwise from left: Deb Shearman’s Synchronised Swimming cake, which won Most Creative Category; Sarah Newell’s extremely clever baked depiction of the Great Wall of
China; Jo Walker came in while still on maternity leave to
bring her Rhythmic Gymnastic cake; Jo’s daughter helping
out on the day by making sure none of the sweets go to
waste.
5
Media Watch
Achievements
Work by Dr Audrey Dussotour on the
behaviour of ants was featured in the
Sun Herald on 30 March and New Scientist on July 2.
Dr Kerryn Parry-Jones appeared in
the Central Coast Express-Advocate 4
April urging that powerlines be put underground to kerb the rate of flying fox
mortality as a result of electrocution.
The Sydney Morning Herald ran
an article on June 5 featuring the
conservation work of Ben Croak, which
involves moving artificial rocks into the
bush in order to increase shelter sites for
the endangered broad-headed snake.
Phoebe Hill was interviewed by ABC
and 3RRR radio stations, for her research
on the Shovel-nosed Ray.
Prof Chris Dickman and Prof Rick
Shine have both appeared on ABC
radio warning against the Federal
Government’s decision to import
Savannah Cats – hybrid supercats that
are twice the size of domestic breeds –
into Australia.
Peter Oxley’s work on the hygenic
behaviour of bees was filmed for the TV
show Totally Wild.
Prof Steve Simpson is short listed
for the Eureka Prizes People’s Choice
Awards!
On May 30 Prof Ben Oldroyd and A/
Prof Madeleine Beekman’s research
on the evolution of eusociality in
hymenopterans appeared on the ABC
news website.
This award is decided by popular vote.
Voting is open 24 July - 17 Aug
Dr Ashley Ward’s discovery of a
quorum response governing collective
behaviour of fishes was also featured on
the ABC news website on May 15.
Dr Mike Letnic’s research, which
demonstrates for the first time the
devastating impact of cane toads on
freshwater crocodiles, has been featured
in New Scientist, newspapers and radio
stations, including Triple J.
MAKE STEVE THE WINNER!
Prof Rick Shine was awarded the Vice
Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in
Higher Degree Research Supervision.
This award represents an important
recognition for Rick’s commitment to the
university’s goal of sustained excellence
in research and research training.
Prof Tony Underwood was awarded an
Honorary DSc (Doctor Honoris Causa)
from the University of Gothenburg
(Sweden) in recognition of the
immense influence of his research in
the university’s Department of Marine
Ecology.
A/Prof Murray Henwood has been
awarded the 2008 Faculty of Science
Citation for Excellence in Teaching. The
Citation recognises innovation as well
as excellence in teaching, and acknowledges Murray’s major contribution to his
discipline in developing digital botanical
systematic resources.
Dan Warner’s thesis entitled “The ecology and evolution of temperature-dependent sex determination in a short-lived
lizard” won the the Jabez King Heydon
Memorial Prize for the most meritous
thesis completed in 2008.
Vote at:
www.austmus.gov.au/eureka
Science at the Shine Dome
Emeritus Prof Ian Hume and Prof Rick Shine presented ground breaking research at The Australian Academy of Science’s
peak annual event, Science at the Shine Dome - an conference which highlights the research and achievements of some of Australia’s leading scientists.
Prof Rick Shine was awarded the prestigious 2008 Macfarlane Burnet Medal
Prof Shine opened the event on Wednesday 7 May with the Macfarlane Burnet Lecture –presented as part of winning the prestiand Lecture by the Australian Academy
gious Medal – where he proposed new biological methods to minimise the environmental impact of cane toads in Australia.
of Science in December 2007 in recognition of scientific research of the highest
Prof Shine proposed releasing small sterile male toads into areas in advance of the spreading cane toad front, to act as ‘teacher
standing in the biological sciences.
toads’ for native animals. The native animals who prey on toads will survive their first encounter with the smaller, less toxic
‘teacher toads’ and consequently learn to keep away from this toxic food source.
Prof Tony Underwood was named as
the winner of the prestigious 2007 Gold
He also unveiled a novel weapon in the fight against the toad – a parasitic South American lung worm that specifically attacks
Medal of the Ecological Society of Austoads, and is safe for native Australian frogs. These proposals come following five years of detailed ecological study into cane
tralia in December 2007 in recognition of
toad behaviour, biology and interaction with native fauna.
an ecologist who has made a substantial
contribution to the study of ecology in
Following Prof Shine’s opening lecture, Prof Hume presented findings that human-induced changes in the atmosphere are threatAustralia over the course of their career.
ening koalas. His research group has shown that increases in CO2 affect the level of nutrients and ‘anti-nutrients’ in eucalypt
leaves, meaning that some food sources can no longer be used by koalas.
Both Prof Hume and Prof Shine’s research gained immense media coverage following their presentations, appearing in numerous
newspapers such as The Sydney Morning Herald and the Australian, as well as many TV and radio interviews.
6
OUTREACH
Biology Blooms in Tocal
By Jesse Silverman
Giant cockroaches, stick insects, germinating wheat and strawberry DNA?
It would seem that these things don’t
have much in common, but visitors to
the Tocal Field Days had the opportunity
to experience all of these thanks to the
University of Sydney.
On the first weekend in May, representatives from the School of Biological Sciences, Plant Energy Biology and the Faculty of Agriculture,
Food and Natural
Resources came
together to share
fun science with
the public through
an activity booth,
public lectures and
workshops with local students.
On the Friday, two
great workshops
were put on for
local students
through the Science in the Bush
program. In
Plant Powerstation students had
the chance to get
their hands dirty
extracting DNA
from strawberries,
running a gel electrophoresis, seeing
photosynthesis in
action and looking at plant cells
through a microscope.
Australian Museum and the University
of Sydney. The Science in the Bush program has been running since 2002 and
provides students with the opportunity
to attend talks, shows, workshops and
activities in their local region.
The biology fun continued into the
weekend with the Tocal Field Days – a
sustainable agricultural fair that attracts 30,000 visitors each year for the
“We provided some amazing live animals
that the public could hold at our exhibition stand, such as Australia’s longest
insect – the Titan stick insect – and the
heaviest species of cockroach in the
world – the Australian giant burrowing
cockroach,” said Carla Avolio, Science
Communicator for the School of Biological Sciences. “The most popular animals
though were the velvet worms, an amazing and ancient group that has changed
little in the last
400 million
years!”
The Biology team at Tocal Field Day (clockwise from above left) Katynna Gill and Renee Simms from
Plant Energy Biology enchant the public by extracting DNA from strawberries; Carina Moller shows off
germinating wheat seeds with her video microscope from Faculty of Agriculture; Carla Avolio displays
the world’s heaviest cockroach much to the delight of younger members of the public; people peering
down the dissection microscope with wonder at the highly unusual and secretive velvet worm.
The Monsters
Beneath Our Feet
workshop allowed
students to come
face-to-face with
mini monsters
– common terrestrial invertebrates such as centipedes,
insects and spiders – by finding them in
soil samples and looking at them under
microscopes. Students had the opportunity to see in amazing and sometimes
shocking detail the little creatures that
scurry beneath us.
These workshops are part of the Science
in the Bush at Tocal event run by the
three-day event. Both Faculties from the
University came together to run a joint
exhibition stand where visitors could
come to experience biology first hand.
“Enthusing students and the general
public about science has never been
more important,” said Katynna Gill, Science Communicator for the ARC Centre
of Excellence for Plant Energy Biology.
While Suzi, the
charismatic
giant roach
brought in a
lot of visitors,
Katynna ran
the ever-popular strawberry
DNA extraction
experiment
and Dr Carina
Moeller, from
Agriculture,
showed off germinating wheat
seeds through
her video microscope along
with a large
collection of
locusts.
Katynna and
Carla also
wowed the
crowds with
their public
talks. Katynna
introduced the
team behind
Plant Energy
Biology and
Carla relayed
the exciting
discoveries
to come out of the School of Biological
Sciences in her talk titled ‘Does anything
eat cane toads?’
The whole weekend was a success.
Students left enthused about getting
stuck into science in the class room, and
the public experienced first-hand what
biology at the University of Sydney is all
about.
7
Where are they now?
alumni profile: Allen Keast
Emeritus Professor Allen Keast,
benefactor of the Keast Lectureship, has
had a rich and varied career path from
birdwatcher to professional ecologist.
Born in Sydney NSW, Allen’s love of
nature and ornithology was founded at a
very young age – a family myth suggests
that as soon as he opened his eyes, his
grandfather pushed his head up to a
bird’s nest so he could see into it.
Following high school, Allen explored the
natural history and avifauna of Papua
New Guinea whilst serving out his first
job as an employee of the Australian
Army. After the Army he enrolled in the
University of Sydney where he graduated
from the Department of Zoology with
BSc (1950) and MSc (1952). Allen fondly
remembers weekend trips to Warrah, the
School’s field station.
2008 Keast Lecturer A/Prof Scott Keogh
BSc (zoology) 1950
and MSc 1952
his PhD in 1955, Allen became Curator
of Birds, Reptiles and Amphibians at the
Australian Museum in Sydney, a position
he held from 1955 - 1960. He then held
a Visiting Researcher position at the Edward Grey Institute at Oxford University.
Allen joined the faculty of Queen’s University in Kingston Ontario, Canada in
1962, where he was appointed as Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology. He currently is Professor Emeritus
at Queen’s University where he continues
research in biogeography.
Prof Allen Keast,
interviewing potential
post-graduate
student, South
Georgia Antarctica 1958
In 1953 Allen travelled to Harvard for
his PhD where he was the first graduate
student supervised by one of the leading evolutionary biologists of our time,
Professor Ernst Mayr. Upon completion of
Photo credit: Allen Keast
The Head of Biological Sciences cordially invites you to the
INAUGURAL BIOLOGY ALUMNI COCKTAIL RECEPTION
6:30pm to 8:30pm
Friday 22 August 2008 at the
Macleay Museum
Camperdown Campus, The University of Sydney
Please RSVP by Friday 15 August
Email: [email protected]
Phone:(02) 9351 2961 Fax: (02) 9351 2175
OR Post enclosed registration form to:
Room 518, Carslaw Bldg F07
The University of Sydney, 2006
In 2004 Allen Keast donated $10 000 to
the School of Biological Sciences towards
the establishment of a visiting lecturer in
Conservation Biology.
The Keast Lecturer for 2008 was A/Prof
Scott Keogh, herpetologist and biogeographer from the Department of Botany
and Zoology at The Australian National
University.
Scott arrived in Sydney on May 2 to give
a public lecture titled The Diversification
of Elapid Snakes. Following his seminar,
Scott spent the weekend at Warrah with
post-graduate students where he shared
the 10 things he wished he knew as a
post-grad, and other valuable advise to
budding academics. The School is most
indebted to Scott for his time and expertise, and to Allen Keast for creating such
a valuable and unforgettable experience
for our Biology post-graduate students.
2008 Keast
Lectureship
with Scott
Keogh, Warrah
May 3.
Photo credit: Shervin
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Obituary
Rajkumar Shivappa Radder (1973 - 2008)
He was honored with the prestigious
‘Young Scientist Award’ by the Indian
Science Congress (2002) and the ‘Young
Scientist Medal’ by the Indian National
Science Academy (2003). These are the
two most prestigious awards in India,
and winning both was a remarkable
achievement.
In 2001 Raju approached Rick Shine
at the University of Sydney about
postdoctoral studies; and in 2003 he
obtained a postdoctoral position to work
on the adaptive significance of sexdetermining systems in lizards. Raju
arrived in Sydney early in 2004, and was
employed by that institution until his
untimely death in 2008.
BHAGYASHRI A. SHANBHAG and
SRINIVAS K. SAIDAPUR
Department of Zoology, Karnatak
University
RICHARD SHINE Biological Sciences,
University of Sydney
Dr. Rajkumar S. Radder, popularly known
as ‘Raju’ passed away on 31st May, 2008
due to cardiac arrest at his home at
Mulawad (India) at the age of 34. Raju
was born in a small village in Bijapur
district of Karnataka State, India. He
was the second of four children of Mr.
Shivappa R. Radder, a retired high school
Head-Master, and mother Anusuya.
Raju was schooled at his village and
obtained first place in the final secondary
school public examination in the district.
During his school days, Raju was active
in a variety of extra curricular aspects
that included participation in Scouts and
Guides, receiving an award as the Best
Scout at state level. He was also an
accomplished and enthusiastic cricketer.
Raju obtained his bachelor’s degree in
science at Bijapur and joined Karnatak
University, Dharwad, India in 1994
for his Master’s degree in Zoology.
His professors recall Raju as a very
impressive student, always eager to
learn diverse aspects of biology. Raju
completed his degree, with top ranking,
in the year 1996.
He remained in the same department for
his doctoral work, under the supervision
of Prof. B. A. Shanbhag and Prof. S.
K. Saidapur. Raju conducted original
research on the garden lizard Calotes
versicolor, discovering embryonic
diapause and long-term oviductal
retention of eggs in the species.
During his time at the University of
Sydney, Raju initiated a wide range
of collaborative projects with many
people on a diverse array of topics. Rick
recalls a meeting of his research group,
not too long after Raju first arrived,
where Rick asked his people to briefly
summarize their current projects. Just
about everyone - students, postdocs
and research assistants - finished their
summaries with “And also, Raju and I
are doing a small study on ….”.
The combination of Raju’s infectious
enthusiasm, his creative thinking,
his willingness to discuss any aspect
of science, his superb technical skills
and his mastery of a diverse array of
analytical techniques, made him an
extraordinary collaborator.
Raju’s central project at the University of
Sydney was to explore the complex sexdetermination mechanism of a montane
scincid lizard species. He showed that
the conventional division into “genetic
sex determination” and “environmental
sex determination” simply didn’t work.
The lizards have heteromorphic sex
chromosomes (males are XY, females
XX) but remarkably, incubation
temperatures also influence offspring
sex. Using genetic markers developed
in collaboration with researchers at the
University of Canberra, Raju’s work
demonstrated unambiguously that
low incubation temperatures could
turn genetically female offspring into
phenotypic males.
He also pioneered methods for
transferring yolk from one egg to
another, and found strong evidence
that such yolk transfer could determine
the sex of the offspring: a novel sex-
determination system. It is truly tragic
that, having come so far on the path to
understanding that system, Raju never
had the chance to put the final pieces of
the puzzle into place.
Through his time in both India and
Australia, Raju was a wonderful
colleague. A truly gentle human being,
always respectful and polite, Raju
nonetheless had a delightful sense
of humor. At one conference of the
Australian Society of Herpetologists, a
particular delegate insisted on tapping
away noisily at his laptop computer
during student talks. Raju was deeply
offended by this rudeness, so he
arranged for several friends to bring their
laptops to that delegate’s own talk - and
to sit in the front row, all tapping away
noisily, throughout the presentation.
Raju had a superb skill at getting his
point across without confrontation.
One of Raju’s most impressive qualities
was his ability to transcend cultural
barriers in the course of his career in
international science. For a man who
grew up in a small village in India, Raju’s
ease in mixing on the international stage
was truly impressive.
During his time at the University of
Sydney, Raju enthusiastically enmeshed
himself in an Australian culture that at
times must have seemed truly bizarre.
During summers he spent many Sunday
afternoons at a hotel near the University,
watching cricket on TV and talking for
hours with the local old-timers about
their lives and experiences.
In his short life, Raju touched many
of us very deeply. We have no doubt
that he would soon have risen to
be an international leader in his
field, and his death is a great loss to
evolutionary biology in general, as well
as to herpetology in particular. We are
enormously saddened at his death,
but feel privileged to have had the
opportunity to learn and laugh by his
side.
This obituary will be published in
extended form in Herpetological
Review.
A tribute to Raju, which includes
photographs and a segment from the
ABC “Catalyst” TV show on Raju’s work,
is also available on YouTube at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhZWBjbg 24
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