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Found 6 matching student topics

Displaying 1–6 of 6 results

Macromolecular barcoding for tracing plastic materials for the circular economy: a game changer for recycling

The reduction and management of plastic waste is perhaps the most critical challenge facing modern economies and plastic pollution cannot be resolved by generic approaches to research or to problem-solving. The Soft Matter Materials Team aims to resolve the anonymity and ubiquity of plastics by pioneering a simple optical readout system that can identify the uniquely coded information in macromolecules that have been embedded in plastics.In this project, optically readable macromolecular barcodes based on a system of excimer fluorescence switch-on …

Study level
PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
Faculty
Faculty of Science
School
School of Chemistry and Physics
Research centre(s)
Centre for Materials Science

X-ray backscatter diffraction and X-ray fluorescence for the rapid structural and chemical characterisation of rock samples

The advisory team devised a synchrotron-based microscopy method for coeval measurements of elemental concentrations and crystal-orientation data combining X-ray fluorescence microscopy (XFM) with X-ray backscatter diffraction mapping (XBDM).We seek students with a background in physics, crystallography, or mineralogy and coding skills to help with the improvement of the methods.XBDM/XFM has the potential to become a game changer in the microphysical and -chemical characterisation of crystalline solids, with future applications in the critical-minerals industry and material science.

Study level
PhD, Master of Philosophy
Faculty
Faculty of Science
School
School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences

Understanding the role of the hSSB1 protein in the response to UV induced DNA damage

Melanoma is the 4th most common cancer in Australia. The link between skin cancer and UV exposure is now well established. If a DNA damage induced by UV exposure is left unrepaired, the mutation generated in the genome can lead to cell death or cancer. It is thus highly important to understand of how a cell can repair DNA damage. The main pathway to repair UV DNA damaged is the nucleotide excision repair pathway (NER) (Kamileri I. et al, Trends …

Study level
Honours
Faculty
Faculty of Health
School
School of Biomedical Sciences

Application of fluorescence-activated cell sorting and confocal microscopy for the study of the microbial communities responsible for nutrient removal from domestic wastewater

The removal of nutrients like carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater is critical to the prevention of eutrophication in receiving water systems and is carried out by complex microbial communities.Eutrophication can have devastating consequences on aquatic life and natural ecosystems, with toxic algal blooms also posing a risk to human health.Understanding the microbiology of phosphorus (P) removal from wastewater is considered essential to knowledge-based optimisation of enhanced biological P removal (EBPR) systems.Most of the species in these systems are novel …

Study level
Honours
Faculty
Faculty of Health
School
School of Biomedical Sciences
Research centre(s)

Centre for Microbiome Research

Illuminating the microbial world using genome-based fluorescence microscopy

Our understanding of microbial diversity on earth has been fundamentally changed by metagenomic characterisation of natural ecosystems. Traditional approaches for visualising microbial communities are time-consuming and provide limited information about the identity of specific microorganisms.The proposed research aims to combine single cell genomics and super resolution microscopy for novel, high-throughput, genome-based techniques to visualise microorganisms, plasmids and viruses, with strain level specificity.The application of these highly scalable approaches will provide comprehensive and unprecedented insight into the fine-scale dynamics and evolution …

Study level
PhD
Faculty
Faculty of Health
School
School of Biomedical Sciences
Research centre(s)

Centre for Microbiome Research

BIOM05 - Application of fluorescence microscopy for the visualization of methane-oxidizing microorganisms in the environment

The archaeal lineage Methanoperedenaceae are anaerobic methanotrophs with a key role in mitigating the atmospheric release of the potent greenhouse gas methane. The metabolic diversity of these microorganisms directly links methane with several key biochemical cycles and suggests a remarkable ability of these microorganisms to adapt to diverse environmental conditions.These microorganisms have never been grown in a laboratory and have only been studied in enrichment cultures with several other partner microorganisms. How these microorganisms grow and interact with these bacterial …

Study level
Honours
Faculty
Faculty of Health
School
School of Biomedical Sciences
Research centre(s)

Centre for Microbiome Research

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