A tiny liquid marble (about 1mm in diameter) which has the capacity to grow nerve, stem and tumour cells and expedite drug discovery, is the basis of a new research project led by Griffith University researcher Dr Chin Hong Ooi from the Queensland Micro- and Nanotechnology Centre.
Dr Chin Hong Ooi
Dr Chin will develop a highly versatile platform to conduct three-dimensional (3D) cell culture, known asDielectrophoretic Navigationof Innovative Liquid Marble-Based Cell Culture (DENICE).
“3D cell culture can more closely mimic the real-world environment compared to the conventional petri dish,’’ says Dr Chin, who has been awarded an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award.
“The additional dimension grants researchers an unprecedented view into obscurecellular interactions. The platform isbased on applying electric fields to non-wetting droplets called liquid marbles. As a liquid marble straddles the fine line between being a solid and a liquid, it possesses numerous interesting properties.
“Apart from a host of fascinating physics, the tiny liquid marble has big potential real-world applications. Imagine a miniature bioreactor that fits onto your fingertips and is capable of growing cells with intricate structures as well as a wide range of chemical reactions.”
Such versatility has been exploited to grow nerve cells, stem cells, and tumour cells. The liquid marble is currently being developed to be an invaluable tool in the biomedical researcher’s inventory.
Dr Chin hopes the project will help to improve the success rates of clinical trials in the drug development effort.
“If we can reduce the time and cost required for important drugs to hit the market, we can help save lives,’’ he said.
As an added benefit, DENICE runs on reusable materials which can significantly reduce the pervasive contaminated plastic waste. This would be a huge step towards practical plastic-free technologies.
“We’d love to help save lives, but let’s keep the environment in mind while doing so.”
Griffith researcher Dr Henry Nguyen will lead a study to build the first real-time computer-generated system to fight the rise of online fake news.
Dr Henry Nguyen
“Our modern society is struggling with an unprecedented amount of online fake news, which harms democracy, economics, and national security,’’ says Dr Nguyen, from the Institute for Integrated and Intelligent Systems, who has been awarded an ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award for the study.
“Creators of fake news optimise their chance to manipulate public opinion and maximise their financial and political gains through sophisticated pollution of our information diffusion channels.
“Such attacks are driven by the advances of modern artificial intelligence and pose a new and ever-evolving cyber threat operating at the information level, which is far more advanced than traditional cybersecurity attacks at the hardware and software levels”.
The project will develop cost-effective, scaleable, robust, and streaming models to benefit media organisations and governments in monitoring fake news, reducing risks in intervention decisions, and re-emerging as guarantors ofinformation quality.
Benefits include timely alerts of fake news dissemination for the public, leading to a stable media ecosystem, protecting manufacturers from agenda-based attacks, and preventing fake news fuelled disruptions such as climate change denial, opinion manipulation, and altered election outcomes.
Researchers have found that a combination of mushroom extracts is able to enhance immune cell responses that could ultimately help to boost the immune system, offering protection from attack by pathogenic microbes and from the harmful effects of environmental toxins and carcinogens.
A key characteristic of mushroom polysaccharides (polymers of sugar) that elicit an immune modulating response is that they are rich in beta-glucans and low in alpha-glucans.
Mushrooms contain a variety of constituents that are important for supporting health, but the beta-glucans (polymers of glucose linked in a specific manner) are particularly important for supporting immune function.
Theresearchteam analysed nine commercially available preparations from three mushroom species:Reishi(Ganoderma lucidum), Shiitake (Lentinulaedodes) and Maitake (Grifolafrondosa), for beta-glucan and alpha-glucan content, and based on this, three extracts were selected to combine into a formula.
The team then evaluated the ability of each individual extract and the formula to impact on the expression of certain cytokines (small proteins excreted by immune cells important in cell signalling) in human macrophages (a type of white blood cell).
The majority of mushroom extracts and the formula were found to be highly potent immuno-stimulators.
“Interestingly, the mushroom formula showed increased potency in the expression of certain cytokines, compared to the individual extracts suggesting a potential synergistic effect of the mushroom formula,” said Associate Professor Tiralongo.
This study represents the first report of a synergistic immune modulating response in human macrophages elicited from a mushroom formula rationally derived from beta- and alpha-glucan content.
“A synergistic formula with a specific ratio of Maitake,Reishiand Shiitake mushroom extracts provides an increase in immune stimulation compared to the additive effect of the three individual extracts. This now forms the basis for further studies focussed on elucidating the exact nature of this synergistic effect and potentially identifying additional synergistic formulations based on mushroom beta-glucans,” added Associate Professor Tiralongo.
Professor Mark vonItzsteinAO, Founder and Director of the Institute forGlycomics, said the results were impressive.
“This is an excellent example of academia and industry working together to generate outcomes that not only inform the scientific community but importantly the general public who consume these products,”he said.
The research team included industry-based researchers fromIntegriaHealthcare, which has launched a complementary medicine underpinned by the research outcomes.
This research was sponsored by Integria Healthcare (Australia).
Partners gather to celebrate the launch of ARC CMIT in Melbourne on November 8, 2019.
As one of four research partners in the Australian Research Council Training Centre for Medical Implant Technologies (ARC CMIT), Griffith is leading two key projects with the potential to deliver significantly better clinical outcomes for orthopaedic deformities, injuries and disabilities.
ARC CMIT brings together world-leading specialist biomedical engineers, scientists and clinicians to develop individually tailored orthopaedic and maxillofacial implants, heralding a new evolution of personalised medicine.
Professor David Lloyd
CMIT Program Leader, Griffith University Professor of Biomechanical Engineering David Lloyd said one project was focused on virtual planning and personalised cutting guides for juvenile femoral osteotomies.
“Griffith researchers, alongside clinical colleagues at the Queensland Children’s Hospital, have developed ground-breaking personalised virtual surgery plans for children with complex hip deformities,” said Professor Lloyd, who also heads the Gold Coast Orthopaedic Research and Education Alliance(GCORE) at Griffith.
“It is a novel approach to complex orthopaedic surgeries utilising digital twin modelling and 3D printing techniques which its hoped can also be translated to other conditions and scenarios.”
Dr Chris Carty
Dr Chris Carty, senior researcher at Griffith and clinical research manager in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Queensland Children’s Hospital, said the technology allowed the surgeon to plan precise surgeries that would not have been possible with current technologies.
“We are conscious of incorporating function into the design,” he said.
“We want to restore the anatomy of the bone but more than just a good x-ray, we are concerned about how the young patient recovers and functions in the future.
“Three successful surgeries have been performed in the past month demonstrating improved precision for surgeons with dramatic reductions in theatre time, helping to minimise time under anaesthesia and blood loss.
“We hope this approach will lead to better clinical outcomes in these young patients.”
ARC CMIT Director Peter Lee from Melbourne School of Engineering said CMIT would bring together PhD and early career researchers with industry and government, to support translation of research into new products, processes and solutions.
“The CMIT ARC training centre will equip a new generation of engineers to work with clinicians, to have a good understanding of regulations and gain experience in entrepreneurship and innovation,” Professor Lee said.
“Compared to other Australian industry, med-tech is young, so the opportunity for research and development is great. CMIT is one of the largest partnerships of industry, hospitals and universities; an ideal environment for training.”
Griffith’s other ARC CMIT project aims to improve outcomes after surgery for a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in the knee, a very common sports injury, by tackling the complications of harvesting hamstring tendon for the ACL repair.
Project lead Dr David Saxby said they would look to regenerate the hamstring harvest sites to prevent pain and weakness and subsequent hamstring and ACL injuries by seeding the tissue with the patient’s own blood plasma.
“Our industry partner, Arthrex, has developed next generation platelet rich plasma (PRP) technology and we’ll be applying it to see how much tendon regeneration we can achieve so that patients have more strength in flexing their knee and better post-operative function as compared to conventional best practice surgery performed by one of Australia’s leading knee surgeons Prof Chris Vertullo.”
Griffith University research partners in ARC CMIT include The University of Melbourne, Flinders University and Epworth Healthcare. There are a further 18 CMIT partners from industry, academia, hospitals and government sectors.
“The ARC CMIT research partnerships are incredibly valuable because each institution or facility involved brings with it their unique expertise and knowledge,” said Professor Lloyd.
“Griffith is highly regarded for its world-class modelling of the neuromusculoskeletal system, creating digital twins, or what we refer to as ‘personalised digital humans’, so we can customise training, personalise surgeries and tailor rehabilitation to the individual.
“The ultimate goal of ARC CMIT is to support research translation that leads to new best practice processes, products, clinical procedures and solutions and we are incredibly excited to be part of this journey.”
A host of Griffith Film School alumni have been nominated for AACTA Awards, which honour Australian screen excellence across feature film, television, documentary, short form and online.
Recognition for remarkable alumni
Joe Brumm
Meg O’Connell
Top End Wedding, co-produced by Griffith Film School (GFS) alumnus Liam Heyen, received three nominations.
Griffith Film School alumni Joe Brumm and Daley Pearson were nominated for Best Children’s Program for their hit series Bluey, alongside fellow GFS graduate Angie Fielder who received a nod for ABC / Netflix series The Unlisted.
Angie Fielder
Griffith graduate Meg O’Connell received two nominations in the Best Online Drama or Comedy category for her cutting-edge online series Content and acclaimed SBS On Demand series Robbie Hood. Master of Screen Production graduate Jackson Lapsley Scott and Daley Pearson were also nominated for their work on Content –a trailblazing comedy series that takes place in real time on the lead character’s smartphone.
Fellow film alumnus David Barbour received a nomination for Best Reality Program for his long-running series The Block. David is the co-creator and executive producer of the long-running renovation series – a global juggernaut which has been rolled out internationally from the US to the UK, Israel and South Africa.
Griffith nurtures screen talent
Professor Herman Van Eyken
Head of Griffith Film School Professor Herman Van Eyken said the strong showing reflected the calibre of talent nurtured at GFS, with graduates making their mark in the local, national and international screen industry.
“We are very proud of what our students, graduates and faculty members are producing, and are delighted to see their work recognised at this level,” he said.
“The AFI | AACTA Awards are the longest running film and media awards in Australia.
“A nomination allows our filmmakers to make industry connections and build a wider audience for their work.”
The 2019 AACTA Awards will be held in Sydney on Wednesday 4 December and broadcast on Channel Seven.
The barred frogs of Australia’s subtropical rainforests are the focus of a new Griffith University study investigating tolerance as a key animal defence strategy against infectious diseases.
“Globally, infectious diseases are major and increasing threats to biodiversity, human health and domestic animals,’’ says Dr Laura Grogan from the Environmental Futures Research Institute, who has been awarded an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award to conduct the study.
Dr Laura Grogan
“My project focuses on diseases in natural systems, using the devastating amphibian fungal skin disease, chytridiomycosis, as a model,’’ she said.
“By characterising the role and mechanisms of infection tolerance in natural animal systems, it aims todevelop improved strategies for mitigating the impact of infectious diseases in wildlife.
By generating insight intothe pathogenesis of the amphibian fungal skin disease chytridiomycosis it will contribute to theconservation of Australia’s unique endemic amphibian fauna, including the focus of the study, the barred frogs of subtropical rainforests.
“It will improve understanding of the relative importance of tolerance and resistance, and as well as a key insight into the key immune and physiologic mechanisms underlying variations in tolerance.
“Anticipated benefits include improved strategies for mitigating infectious wildlife diseases via identifying targets for therapeutic interventions, ecological management and assisted-evolutionstrategies. This project should also benefit amphibian conservation globally.”
Empowering women aged 50 and over with the skills and knowledge to start micro-businesses is the aim of a Griffith University project.
Sisters Support Business Together, created and led by Dr Dhara Shah, from the Department of Business Strategy and Innovation, recently welcomed its second group of Sisters following a successful first class in early 2019.
The first Sisters cohort comprised women who are currently in social housing or receiving rental assistance, and the second is made up of women who are at risk of landing in that situation.
The women are trained in business, finance, marketing and self-development under the guidance of a mentor and are eligible for a small grant to launch a business.
Working in groups of three, they are encouraged to either form a business partnership or to support each other to form individual businesses.
The interdisciplinary collaboration aims to address the declining workplace participation rate for women over 50 in Australia, an issue compounded by the casualisation of the workforce, age discrimination, gender-based wage gaps, and shortfalls in superannuation.
Dr Dhara Shah.
“Like most of the world, Australia is being confronted with the social and economic realities of an ageing population, and these issues weigh particularly heavily upon older women,” Dr Shah explained.
“With 53% of Newstart recipients being women — and 32% being aged 50 or over — it is clear that tangible action must be taken to help empower individuals in this demographic to reassert control over their financial and residential status.”
Dr Shah has received $682,000 support from the Try, Test and Learn Fund — an initiative of the Australian Government Department of Social Services — to deliver the program. It is the first Griffith project to have received a grant from the fund.
Dr Nancy Spencer, the Griffith Policy Innovation Hub’s Executive-in-Residence, played a key role in identifying the opportunity and gathering support from the Queensland Department of Housing and Public Works for the development and submission of the project.
She said Sisters Support Business Together was an example of Griffith bringing together an interdisciplinary response to the needs of vulnerable sections of the community. In this case, Sisters from Logan and Gold Coast are being supported.
“When we put in our bid for the grant, it was about showing how Griffith University is an anchor institution for place; if you have university with all of these services available, they are an integral component of the community and can connect these women and their families with the university,” she said.
The grant will allow the program to continue facilitating employment opportunities for women in the area, who must meet a range of eligibility criteria, including being unemployed or underemployed and receiving government benefits such as the Newstart Allowance.
A Sisters success story
A success story from the first Sisters group is Lorraine. She is planning to start her own online home décor store on Shopify, which will sell predominantly horse-themed products.
Lorraine has experience in the retail sector, and she was able to rediscover those skills and combine them with her life-long passion for horses with the support of the Sisters team and the other services offered by Griffith.
“The program has had a huge impact on me, and I feel blessed to be a part of it,” Lorraine said.
“The biggest impact I have felt is a new confidence that I have interacting with other people, and I have become more resourceful as I have sought out knowledge to build my skills.”
At a low point in her life, Lorraine was given a flyer for the program by a counsellor in Beenleigh and decided to go to an information session in Robina. Following an interview, she was accepted into the program.
“It’s amazing,” she said. “I haven’t come across this kind of support many times in my life, and I want to honour Dhara and her team for creating this environment for the Sisters, which will be vital to our success.
“Each day I am so excited by the thought of what I will be able to achieve and what new things that I can learn. It definitely gives me something to strive for.”
Living the Griffith values
Associate Professor Ingrid Burkett, Co-Director of the Yunus Social Business Centre, said the Sisters project is a perfect illustration of interdisciplinary, collaborative research for public purpose generating community engaged outcomes.
“It really demonstrates the strength of our promise to be a civic university and how we’re leading and driving this at Logan and more broadly,” she said.
“Griffith University is putting its core values of Excellence, Engagement and Ethics at the core of its operations and the Sisters project rolls those virtues into a single project that is positively impacting the lives of vulnerable people.”
Having the support from the Sisters project, particularly to develop skills in digital commerce, is vital for the women’s success, says Dr Shah, as technological innovation is a commonly cited barrier for mature-aged people wishing to return to work.
“A self-help approach will be encouraged among the small groups, which will enhance the women’s confidence and help build a sense of community.
“This, in turn, will help with combating poverty, feelings of social isolation and will divide the risks associated with running a small business.”
In addition to Dr Shah and Dr Spencer, the Sisters team includes Research Assistants Simon Fraser and Ainslie Meiklejohn, and Administration Officer Maria Georgas.
They are working to make an impact that’s broader than the women immediately involved in the project. A key goal is to deliver an intergeneration outcome for the community.
“Children model the behaviour of their parents, and when they see their mother going to work and making a difference in the word, it influences them in a positive way,” Dr Shah said.
Griffith University rock art researchers are part of an expert team who will spend the next five years investigating one of the richest bodies of rock art in Australia and the world as part of a $1.34 million Australian Research Council Linkage Project.
Known as ‘Quinkan Country’, the southern rim of Queensland’s rugged Laura Sandstone Basin in Cape York Peninsula houses rock art of outstandingheritagevalue, recently inscribed on the National Heritage List.
“This project will help cement Australia as a world leader in rock art analysis and management, and is further testament to Griffith’s leadership in this nationally significant field”said Griffith University Vice Chancellor and President, Professor Carolyn Evans.
An extensive network of partners, including six Aboriginal Corporations, the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service and six Australian universities (Notre Dame, Flinders, Griffith, Southern Queensland, Adelaide, Tasmania, and ANU) will work together to systematically map, document and analyse the cultural heritage and rock art of the Laura Sandstone Basin.
This project’s approach recognises the primacy of Aboriginal people as custodians of their cultural heritage. They have been integral in its design and will be critical team members during the extensive fieldwork that lies ahead.
The project will also address questions of international importance regarding the dispersal and cultural practices of Australia’s first peoples in far north Queensland.
A global leader in rock art dating, Professor Maxime Aubert explains –“We know that people were making hand stencils and detailed depictions of animals in Indonesia 40–50 thousand years ago so it is highly likely that rock paintings were made by the first peoples to reach Cape York”.
“The earliest evidence of human occupation in Australia includes ground ochres and we already know that such records in Quinkan Country extend back more than 30,000 years, which is very exciting” says Dr Jillian Huntley, a specialist in the scientific analysis of ochres, including rock art pigments.
“This project will enhance our understanding of the nature of Aboriginal settlement in north-eastern Australia and the role of art in this process” said the project’s lead investigator Dr Lynley Wallis.
Queensland Airports has been named Griffith Business School’s Outstanding Industry Partner at the school’s Annual Gala Dinner.
The Australian-ownedairport operator owns and operates Gold Coast, Townsville, Mount Isa and Longreach airports and has partnered with Griffith Business School for several years to provide Work-Integrated Learning opportunities and internships for students, which help to create responsible modern business leaders ready for the future world of work.
Queensland Airports has also employed a large number of Griffith Business School graduates in a variety of roles.
Queensland Airports CEO Chris Mills accepts the Outstanding Industry Partnership Award.
CEO Chris Mills thanked Griffith for the award and the partnership opportunity.
“We have so many relationships at so many levels with Griffith,” he said.
“We have had something like nine interns in the past 12 months, and many more interns going on to permanent positions. It’s great to have them as a part of our team across our diverse business.”
Leesa Watego, GBS Outstanding Entrepreneurial Alumnus of the year.
Leesa Watego, Managing Director of Iscariot Media, was named Outstanding Entrepreneurial Alumnus of the year.
With a focus on creative indigenous solutions for small businesses, Leesa and Iscariot have worked tirelessly to empower Indigenous communities by developing opportunities across the business sector. The Bachelor of Commerce graduate also continues to be a driving force behind Indigenous Business Month.
“My business is really important to me and it’s growing and has been incredible since the Commonwealth Games, but my passion really is Indigenous Business Month and Black Coffee and the Indigenous Chamber of Commerce,” said Leesa.
“That’s where I think we can really make a difference.”
Five Griffith University researchers have been awarded more than $2.1 million in Australian Research Council funding, further asserting the University as one of Australia’s leading research-intensive institutions.
The Federal Member for Moncrieff Ms Angie Bell announced the outcomes of the ARC’s Discovery Early Career Researcher Award program applications on Tuesday, November 5 with five Griffith-led projects earning a total of $2.1 million in funding.
Vice Chancellor and President Professor Carolyn Evans said the funding acknowledges Griffith’s reputation for undertaking world-class research across a range of academic fields and with clear societal impact.
“The diversity of projects approved for 2020 further highlights the University’s commitment and capacity to produce high-impact, future-focused research for the betterment of society in Australia and across the world,’’ Professor Evans said.
Using routinely collected data from Tourism and Events Queensland, Queensland Ambulance Service, Queensland Emergency Departments, and the Bureau of Meteorology, Jamie’s research aims to determine the impact on ambulance and emergency department services in the vicinity of 750 planned MGEs over a five-year period (2015 – 2019). The development of predictive models will inform ambulance service and emergency department planning for MGEs leading to the more efficient deployment of emergency healthcare resources.
Dr Ooi will undertake a project to provide scientific and technical insights required for developing a liquid marble-based three-dimensional cell culture platform. The outcome of the project is expected to have direct impact in the niche area of advanced biomanufacturing, providing Australians with economic and health benefits. In particular, the developed platform technology allows for fast screening of new anti-cancer drugs and growing healthy cells for implantation therapy towards curing spinal cord injuries.
Dr Phan’s research will provide new insights into the physical properties of silicon carbide nanosensors and their use in harsh environments in which they are subject to high temperature, corrosion and shock. The project will provide Australia with the expertise necessary for developing the next-generation electronics for harsh environments, potentially solving numerous industrial problems such as energy efficiency of combustion engines, and safety issues of oil and gas transportation.
Dr Laura Grogan, will undertake research that aims to develop improved strategies for mitigating the impact of infectious diseases in wildlife. The project will contribute to the conservation of Australia’s unique amphibian fauna, with a focus on the barred frogs of subtropical rainforests. This project will also benefit amphibian conservation globally.
Combating fake news to restore the public trust in governments, the media and other key institutions is undoubtedly a high priority globally. Working in the Institute for Integrated and Intelligent Systems under the supervision of Professor Abdul Sattar, the research of Dr Henry Nguyen will develop cost-effective, scalable and real-time tool to benefit media organisations and governments in monitoring fake news and re-emerging as guarantors of information quality.
Griffith’s other ARC CMIT project aims to improve outcomes after surgery for a ruptured 
