We offer a busy calendar of events, which are variously available to the public, our graduates, future and current students, and staff.

Biorefineries for Sustainable Chemical Synthesis and Fluorescent Sensors as Tools for Investigating Biological Processes

8 September 2022 1:00pm2:00pm
Professor Steven Bull from the Department of Chemistry, University of Bath, will describe efforts to use a biorefinery based approach to catalytically upgrade biorenewable monoterpene feedstocks into a variety of sustainable commodity chemicals, bioplastics and drugs that are currently derived from non-renewable petrochemical feedstocks. In the second half of the presentation, efforts into developing fluorescent chemical sensors as investigational tools for probing complex biological processes in cellular systems, including for the real-time detection of osteocyte bone resorbing activity in deep bone cavities, imaging of amyloid-beta plaques in mice brains and visualisation of drug induced liver damage will be described.

Understanding Infection and Immunity of SARS-CoV-2: from Diagnostics to Therapies for COVID-19

7 September 2022 12:00pm1:00pm
Professor Lisa Ng, the Executive Director of A*STAR’s Infectious Diseases Labs, will provide an overview of the pathophysiology of SARS-CoV-2 infection. She will describe its interaction with the immune system and the subsequent contribution of dysfunctional immune responses to disease progression that provided useful insights in the successful development of vaccines and booster strategies.

Systems Glycobiology in Food and Health

31 August 2022 12:00pm1:00pm
Professor Benjamin Schulz from the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences will present work on the development and use of glyco/proteomic analytical approaches for measuring the complexity of glycosylation and other post-translational modifications at systems levels to understand their dynamics and roles in fundamental biology, virology, and fermented beverages. 

Structural Biology and Biochemistry Research Theme Seminar

25 August 2022 1:00pm2:00pm
A Possible Strategy for the Treatment of Batten’s Disease: Recovery of Lysosome Function presented by Associate Professor Ronald Clarke, the School of Chemistry, University of Sydney

The search for Borrelia and other tick-borne pathogens down under

17 August 2022 12:00pm1:00pm
Dr. Charlotte Oskam, Centre for Biosecurity and One Health, Harry Butler Institute, Murdoch University, will discuss the methodology used to characterise the bacterial communities found within Australian ticks and the search for novel candidate pathogens, as well as bacterial genera of known tick borne pathogens and endosymbionts. Her team's findings show that without the use of molecular advances, such as next-generation sequencing, many bacteria of potential medical and veterinary interest could go undetected.

International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples Reconciliation Seminar

9 August 2022 2:00pm3:00pm
Join us to learn about SCMB's research collaboration with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples - from traditional medicine and novel phage therapeutics to natural hot springs

Proanthocyanidins: from semisynthesis to isolation.

1 August 2022 1:00pm2:00pm
Professor Tuba Esatbeyoglu form the Institute of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz University Hannover, Germany, will present her team's semisynthetic approach to the preparative formation of eight dimeric procyanidins from B-type, their isolation and elucidation of their structure.

Evolution, transmission and prevention of streptococcal pandemics through global population genomics

27 July 2022 12:30pm1:30pm
Dr Mark Davies from the Doherty Institute, The University of Melbourne, will discuss the application of population genomics to advance vaccine design through to tracking the evolution and transmission of pathogenic clones of Streptococcus pyogenes.

Physical Properties of Ionic Liquids in Electrochemical Reactions

11 July 2022 1:00pm2:00pm
Professor Debbie Silvester Dean from the School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University, will discuss her team's recent work elucidating reactions at the ionic liquid–solid electrode interface

Tracing bacterial evolution in deep time using new phylogenomic methods

6 July 2022 12:00pm1:00pm
Assoc Prof Tom Williams from the University of Bristol will present some recently published and new (unpublished) results on the phylogeny of Bacteria, the nature of the last bacterial common ancestor, the timescale of bacterial evolution, and the impact of the Great Oxidation Event (GOE) on bacterial genomes >2Ga.

Phylogenomics and the early evolution of life

5 July 2022 4:30pm5:30pm
Associate Prof Tom Williams from The University of Bristol with present new work on phylogenomic methods and their application to the deepest branches of the tree of life, the nature of the last bacterial common ancestor, and the timescale for the diversification of bacterial and our own eukaryotic cells.

Structural Biology and Biochemistry Theme Seminars - Probing protein assemblies by native mass spectrometry

30 June 2022 3:00pm4:00pm
Dr Keitos Sokratous from OMass Therapeutics, Oxford, UK, will present a general overview of structural mass spectrometry (MS) approaches in studying proteins and protein assemblies, with a particular focus in native MS.

Bowl-Shaped Catalysts for Site-Selective C-H Functionalization

24 June 2022 11:15am12:15pm
Prof. Huw M. L. Davies from the Department of Chemistry, Emory University, USA will describe a series of new bowl-shaped catalysts, which are capable of distinguishing between very similar C-H bonds in a highly selective manner. Please contact Prof Craig Williams (c.williams@uq.edu.au) if you wish to meet the speaker afterwards.

Curious Chemical Conundrums

24 June 2022 9:30am10:30am
Prof. Varinder K. Aggarwal from the School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, UK reactivity will discuss selectivity in various ylide reactions, reactivity of highly strained molecules and C-H borylation reactions. Please contact Prof Craig Williams (c.williams@uq.edu.au) if you wish to meet Prof Aggarwal afterwards.

Synthetic streamlining via C-H bond functionalization.

20 June 2022 1:00pm2:00pm
Prof. Nidhi Jain from the UQ Centre for Natural Gas and Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, will discuss his groups recently developed strategies to construct C-C, C-N, C-O and C-S bonds assisted by palladium and copper catalysts, hypervalent iodine reagents and photocatalysts in visible light. Please contact Dr Paul Shaw (p.shaw3@uq.edu.au) if you wish to meet the speaker afterwards.

You can take the boy out of science but you cannot take the scientist out of the boy - the mutually beneficial relationship between research and other sectors

20 June 2022 12:00pm1:00pm
This seminar will not feature any Western blots, ELISAs, immuno-fluorescent microscopy or immuno-assays. Instead, Dr Jason Leung from Pricewaterhouse Coopers will talk about: I) The skills and experiences gained through research and academia and their value when transferred to other sectors; and ii) The lessons learned from other sectors and how these are relevant to research and academia

Greenhouse gases: geological CO2 storage, and methane in aquifers overlying gas reservoirs.

13 June 2022 1:00pm2:00pm
Dr Julie Pearce from the UQ Centre for Natural Gas, will discuss experiments performed at reservoir pressure and temperature conditions to react pure and impure CO2 with formation water and the rock cores, and modelling to understand potential impacts of CO2 storage. 

Targeting the gut microbiota– a new therapy for T1D?

1 June 2022 12:00pm1:00pm
Associate Professor Emma Hamilton-Williams from UQDI will present the findings from her team's recent clinical trial using a prebiotic fibre supplement to target the gut microbiota in adults with type 1 diabetes to remodel the microbiota functional response as well as systemic immunity.

Structural Biology & Biochemistry Theme Seminars

26 May 2022 1:00pm2:00pm
Molecular basis of auto-inhibition, activation and substrate recognition of SARM1, the executioner of axon degeneration presented by Dr Weixu Gu and Co-encapsulation of Ancestral P450 and its redox partner Cytochrome P450 reductase in VLP (P22) presented by Loic Bourdon

Polymeric Nanosensors and Nanozymes for Drug Delivery

23 May 2022 1:00pm2:00pm
Scientia Associate Professor Rona Chandrawati from the School of Chemical Engineering and Australian Centre for Nanomedicine, UNSW, will discuss the design, synthesis, and applications of nanoparticles for sensing and drug delivery.

RNA recombination between self-amplifying RNA vaccines and wild-type viruses

18 May 2022 12:00pm1:00pm
Tess Hick from Wageningen University and Research, The Netherlands will present work that addresses the hypothetical risk of RNA recombination between self-replicating alphavirus replicon and circulating wild-type viruses.

In-operando transmission electron microscopy characterisation and solid-state Na-ion batteries.

16 May 2022 1:00pm2:00pm
Dr Ruth Knibbe from the School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering, UQ, will discuss two main areas her group has been working on – in-operando liquid electrochemical transmission electron microscopy and the development of solid-state batteries.

Oxidised Cholesterols in the Lung: Novel Immune Regulators during Bacterial and Viral Respiratory Infections

11 May 2022 12:00pm1:00pm
A/Prof Katharina Ronacher from the Mater Research Institute will present data demonstrating that oxidised cholesterols, or so called oxysterols, that are produced produced in the lung in response to both bacterial (M. tuberculosis) and viral respiratory infections (influenza, SARS-CoV-2), facilitate the chemotactic recruitment of immune cells expressing the oxysterol-sensing receptor GPR183 to lung.

Magnets come in all shapes and sizes; new examples based on coordination complexes, stable organic radicals and nanoparticles.

9 May 2022 1:00pm2:00pm
Dr Rebecca O. Fuller from Chemistry – School of Natural Sciences, University of Tasmania, will present a talk highlighting three very different magnetic materials that her team is developing.

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