Virtual lecture by Dr Eloise Foo, co-winner of the M.R. Banks Medal

3 pm, 21 June 2020 via Zoom webinar

“Dating in the dark – The underground world of beneficial plant-microbe relationships”

In this talk Dr Foo will take you on a journey into the wonderful world of plant-microbe symbioses.

Register in advance for this webinar using this link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_x0bK9gGNQPe8NWbSdX2JIA 

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The Royal Society of Tasmania
M.R. Banks Lecture 2020

 Dr Eloise Foo, co-winner of the RST M.R. Banks Medal 2019

 21 June 2020 via Zoom webinar

Title: Dating in the dark – The underground world of beneficial plant-microbe relationships

Abstract

Plants need nitrogen, which is abundant in the atmosphere; however, they can’t absorb it that way. This is why most gardeners and commercial growers add nitrogen fertiliser to their soils. I’m working on understanding how bacteria work with some plants to draw nitrogen out of the air and make it available to the plant. Importantly this very specialised plant–bacteria relationship shares similarities with another much more widespread plant–fungi association to access phosphate, another important nutrient for plant growth. By understanding both the differences and similarities, we hope to expand plant-bacterial associations into major crops.

In this talk Dr Foo will take you on a journey into the wonderful world of plant-microbe symbioses and reveal some of the key communication and control mechanisms plants use to make sure these relationships are happy ones!

Bio

Eloise completed her PhD in plant developmental genetics at the University of QLD in 2004 under the supervision of Prof Christine Beveridge (a UTAS alumna). She then moved to UTAS to work with Prof J Reid and A/Prof J Weller examining how light influences plant development. She was subsequently awarded two independent fellowships from the ARC at UTAS and during this time she established a new research area examining the role of plant hormones in plant-microbe symbioses. She has been chief investigator on two large ARC Discovery grants and is a member of the recently funded ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Success, an Australia-wide research group looking to harness the power of plants for improving agricultural and ecological outcomes. Eloise lectures in plant biology and genetics and leads a research group. She is an active member of Equity and Diversity activities at UTAS and takes a keen interest in mentoring. She is a member of the Australian Society of Plant Scientists and in 2018 was awarded the inaugural ASPS Jan Anderson Award for most outstanding mid-career female in plant science in Australia and NZ. Eloise is editor of several leading international plant journals.

For those who missed the lecture entitled “Going With The Wind – Our Changing Southern Ocean” on 17 May 2020, view it on our new YouTube channel.

 

The Council of the Royal Society has taken the decision to cancel this lecture. We will resume our program as soon as possible and hope to re-schedule the lecture at a later date. Thank you for your understanding.

 

Admission is free for Royal Society of Tasmania members (membership forms available)

$6 general admission; $4 for students and Friends of TMAG

 

Admission: free for members of The Royal Society of Tasmania *
      $6 general admission
      $4 for students and Friends of TMAG

* membership forms available at the door

 

 

 

Dr Jean-Philippe Beaulieu holds the inaugural David Warren Endowed Chair of Astrophysics at the University of Tasmania. Previously he was the Directeur de recherche CNRS, Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris in France.

Dr Beaulieu’s illustrious research career includes the 1996 Louis Armand Prize from the French Academy of Science. He is part of numerous major international collaborations and is co-lead investigator on the European Space Agency ARIEL mission, a space telescope planned for launch in 2028.

Dr Beaulieu has long collaborated with  researchers in Tasmania and is a co-author of the 2016 publication, Secret Garden at Recherche Bay – 1792. The book tells the story of Felix Lahaye, a gardener with Admiral Bruni d’Entrecasteaux’s French expedition, and the garden he created at Recherche Bay.

 

LECTURE MEETINGS ARE POSTPONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. DIGITAL LECTURES  ARE PLANNED. CHECK BACK FOR UPDATES.

The Royal Society of Tasmania

Hobart lecture program for 2020:

 

We are pleased to present the Hobart lecture program for 2020. As usual, there is something for everyone and everything of value and interest to inquiring minds of all persuasions.

 

We would also like to announce a change to the session time for the Hobart lectures. It has been decided to hold the lectures on Sunday afternoons at 3 pm (except where otherwise indicated).  We hope that you will all find this convenient and an enlightening way to spend a Sunday afternoon.    

 

Here is the calendar of speakers commencing in May. We look forward to seeing you there. Your feedback is always welcome.

17 May:  Dr. E. Doddridge on the oceanography of the Southern Ocean (This is our first ZOOM online & recorded lecture)

5th July:  MR Banks medallists – Associate Professor Arko Lucieer & Dr Eloise Foo

2nd August: TMAG Culture Curator Kirstie Ross: ‘In pursuit of Tasmania’s West: A curator’s view’

6th Sep: Clive Lord medallist – Prof. Jamie Kirkpatrick

4th October: Doctoral award winners – Dr Indrani Mukherjee and Dr Jessica Ericson

8th Nov: Post graduate afternoon

1st Dec, Christmas Dinner Lecture by Dr John Willaimson – Hobart’s Antarctic Connection – CSIRO Lecture Theatre

 

* Please check back for updates *

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pegasus_Mountains,_Antarctica.jpg

 

The Royal Society of Tasmania

presents

Post Graduate Night 

at the Royal Society Rooms

Customs House, Dunn Place, Hobart

on Tuesday, 5 November 2019

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Our speakers for the evening are: Luisa Fitzpatrick, Habacuc Pérez-Tribouillier and Patrick Yates.

Their subjects range from lizards’ tails and black holes, to uses of radioactivity in studying the oceans.

 

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Luisa Fitzpatrick

Tail Loss and Telomeres in Lizards

Luisa studied an undergraduate degree in Marine Biology and Zoology at the University of Western Australia, where she then undertook her honours degree looking at sperm competition inbreeding in guppies with Professor Jon Evans and Dr Clelia Gasparini. She worked for an environmental consulting company for a few years and at the Western Australian Museum, then moved to Tasmania to begin a PhD in the evolutionary ecology of lizards with Associate Professor Erik Wapstra and Dr Geoff While. Her thesis work focusses on senescence in ectotherms and the links between telomeres, temperature, reproduction and life history using the Tasmanian lizard Niveoscincus ocellatus as a model system. During her PhD, Luisa spent 6 months working with Professor Mats Olsson and Dr Angela Pauliny at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, attended several international conferences, was involved in organising and hosting several national conferences in Tasmania and helped with field work on wall lizards in Italy. 

Abstract:  One aspect of lizard ageing Luisa is particularly interested in is their ability to regenerate large portions of their body. Telomeres are protective caps on DNA that shorten with cell division and oxidative stress. Tissue regeneration such as regrowth of a body part may influence an organism’s telomere length as growth can increase both cell division and oxidative stress. Examining the effect of tail regrowth on telomeres in a lizard, Luisa and colleagues found that telomeres lengthened in lizards with intact tails while oxidative stress decreased in those re-growing tails. This suggests that tail regeneration involves a response to oxidative stress which comes at a cost to telomere repair. This change in telomere maintenance demonstrates a potential long-term cost of tail regeneration.

 

 

Habacuc Pérez-Tribouillier

It’s not only bad news: how radioactivity is used to study the ocean

Habacuc has been interested in the ocean since an early age, spending long days in the tropical beaches of southern Mexico and then studying a bachelor degree in oceanography and a M.Sc. in marine geochemistry. During his masters, Habacuc worked alternatively as a guide taking tourist to snorkel with the whale shark in La Paz, Mexico.  In 2015 he moved to Hobart to start a PhD in the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies with Dr Zanna Chase, Taryn Noble, Ashley Townsend and Andrew Bowie. As part of his PhD, he got involved in the analytical side of oceanography, developing a technique to measure radioactive elements in seawater at extremely low concentrations. Recently he submitted his thesis and now he is working as a research assistant for Dr Taryn Noble at IMAS. When he is not in the lab, or in front of the computer, you might very likely find him SCUBA diving or spearfishing somewhere on the Tasmanian coast.

Abstract: Since radioactivity was discovered towards the end of the 19th Century, it had a big impact on society. Many of us think of radioactivity as something negative (fair enough). However, it represents an incredibly useful tool to study how our Planet works! In this talk, I would like to introduce you to the basic concepts of radioactivity and how they are applied to study the ocean. Then I will tell you how I applied it to study the Southern Ocean. The Southern Ocean is the largest high nutrient, low chlorophyll region in the global ocean. In these regions, phytoplankton growth is minimum despite the abundance of nutrients (let’s remember that phytoplankton is like the plants of the ocean). The cause of this is because most of the Southern Ocean is iron deficient. When iron reaches these “anaemic” regions, big “blooms” of phytoplankton extending for thousands of square kilometres appear. These blooms have the potential of absorbing atmospheric CO₂and if the conditions are right, to transport in into the deep ocean, thus having a potential impact on climate regulation. In my thesis, I used thorium and neodymium isotopes to investigate how iron reaches and fertilizes the remote region of the Kerguelen Plateau. This region hosts the largest bloom in the Southern Ocean and also Australia’s only active volcano.

 

 

Patrick Yates

Black holes & galaxy evolution in under 20 minutes

Patrick completed his Bachelor of Science at the University of Tasmania (UTAS), majoring in Physics and Applied Maths, before continuing his studies with an honours degree supervised by Dr. Stanislav Shabala and Dr. habil. Martin Krause. His honours topic was studying how black holes in the centre of massive galaxies modulate their impact on their host environment.  Patrick was unable to escape the pull of black holes, and returned to UTAS to study a PhD, again supervised by Dr. Stanislav Shabala and Dr. habil. Martin Krause. His main area of research is modelling the effect black holes have on their host galaxy as a function of different environments. As part of his PhD studies, Patrick spent 3 months working with Prof. Martin Hardcastle and Dr. habil. Martin Krause at the University of Hertfordshire in England, attended the XXXth International Astronomy Union General Assembly in Vienna, and attended several national and international conferences and workshops.

Abstract: At the center of nearly every massive galaxy cluster lies a supermassive black hole, so dense that not even light can escape it’s gravitational pull. Surrounding this supermassive black hole is an accretion disk, formed as matter spirals inwards onto the black hole. The supermassive black hole, accretion disk, and region immediately surrounding the two are called the Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) of a galaxy, and are thought to play a key role in how galaxies evolved into what we can observe today.

In this talk I will focus on radio jets, which are superheated and relativistic jets of plasma launched from the accretion disk that punch through the environment and can produce structures 10 times larger than the diameter of our own galaxy, the Milky Way. In particular I will look at how these radio jets are formed, how they grow to such large sizes, and how their violent passage through the environment is responsible for maintaining the delicate balancing act that prevents the catastrophic collapse of galaxy clusters. In my research I have developed state-of-the-art numerical simulations of these jets launched into realistic galaxy cluster environments, offering the perfect laboratory setting in which to quantify and model their effects on the host environment, and apply these findings to observations. One of the key findings from my research is the need to understand and accurately model the galaxy cluster environment in order to interpret the increasing number of radio jet observations.