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Reinventing arthritis research
Matthew Brown’ s genetics discovery has created new possibilities for treating a rare and crippling disease
A Queensland medical researcher is paving the way for new treatments of ankylosing spondylitis( AS), a severe type of arthritis that affects more than 80,000 Australians.
The breakthrough came when professor Matthew Brown, a leading international researcher in musculoskeletal disease genetics, alongside his team at the University of Queensland Diamantina Institute, found the two major gene determinants of AS.“ The genes that we identified are involved in the causation of the disease and hadn’ t been considered in AS at all,” Brown explained.
His groundbreaking research has led to treatment trials, in which pharmaceutical professionals are working with researchers to find therapeutic treatments for the disease, which ultimately cripples its sufferers.
AS causes inflammation and pain in the spine and other joints. It occurs
when the immune system attacks the joints in the spine and then new bone grows around the affected areas, fusing the spine together and stiffening it permanently.
It can also affect other organs, such as the eyes and less commonly the heart, lungs and kidneys.
Brown, who is also principal investigator in international consortia studying AS, says the disease is as common as type 1 diabetes. It usually first appears between the ages of 15 and 45 and is about three times more common in men than women.
As of now, there are no treatments available to prevent the long-term physical effects of the disease, Brown said.
He has been awarded the $ 1.25 million Premier’ s Science Fellowship to develop his work on the diagnosis and treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and tuberculosis.
He said research into these two diseases was related, as they share susceptibility factors.
Name: Matthew Brown
University: University of Queensland
Position: Director of the University of Queensland Diamantina Institute and professor of immunogenetics at UQ
“ The techniques we are developing have real commercial possibilities and healthcare benefits,” he said.
He recalls that he became interested in a career in genetics research in the late 1980s, when the causative gene for cystic fibrosis had just been detected. He said that discovery created a huge amount of interest and excitement amongst patients and the research community.
“ I’ d always been interested in genetics and although I enjoyed clinical medicine a lot, I realised I could make a better contribution by doing research,” Brown said.
“ Genetics research in rheumatic diseases was just taking off, and so that’ s how I got involved.”
Reinventing solar power
David Jones is producing extra-large cells that have the potential to make solar power much cheaper
Dr David Jones has led a team of researchers from the University of Melbourne, CSIRO and Monash University in producing the largest flexible solar cells ever to be printed in Australia.
Jones is the project coordinator of the Victorian Organic Solar Cell Consortium( VICOSC) – a partnership of research and industry associates.
After six years of working on the development of printed organic solar cells, Jones and his team discovered a way to print organic photovoltaic cells the size of an A3 sheet of paper.
Thanks to a new solar cell printer, worth $ 200,000, the cell is 10 times the size of ones they had previously made.
“ We have shown that it is possible to use commercial printers to print solar cells,” Jones said.
Using semiconducting inks, the solar cell modules are printed straight
onto a paper-thin flexible plastic film. The researchers then encapsulate it in a protective sheet, just like laminating a piece of paper. With the ability to print at speeds of up to 10 metres a minute, they can produce one cell every two seconds.
“ This is truly a great opportunity to change the way we perceive renewable energy,” Jones said.
He said sun-powered cells are generally still expensive when compared with other sources of renewable energy or traditional power. So in order to allow a large-scale roll out of solar energy, new technologies need to make it cheaper. Jones said the new process is a fundamentally different approach that could do the job.
Studies have indicated that organic solar cells can generate power cheaply.“ Lowcost, printed, organic solar cells could be printed on and embedded into many building materials, so that when you build a house you would automatically install solar arrays.
Name: David Jones
University: University of Melbourne
Position: Associate professor and project coordinator for Victorian Organic Solar Cell Consortium( VICOSC)
Faculty: Science
“ I would like to see every house, factory, school or warehouse covered with solar cells,” Jones said.
The benefits could potentially be much broader, however.“ When affordable renewable energy becomes available, we will be able to drive power storage systems, use the energy to drive chemical transformations or simply deliver purified water to millions of people worldwide who do not have daily access to clean drinking water,” Jones said.
“ As the technology develops and our ability to print and integrate printed solar cells into more products progresses, so will the range of applications and products that become available.”
www. campusreview. com. au Issue 8 2013 | 11