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USC research features in Time Magazine
A scientific project involving University of the Sunshine Coast researchers has claimed second place in Time Magazine’s annual report on the “50 best inventions of the year”.
The article, published in the latest edition of the highly-regarded American magazine, ranked “tank-bred tuna” second on a list of significant inventions for 2009, behind only NASA’s new Ares rockets.
The world-first spawning of southern bluefin tuna in captivity on March 12 was listed ahead of some remarkable innovations such as LED light bulbs, the AIDS vaccine, handheld ultrasounds and the electronic eye.
The tuna project at a Clean Seas Tuna facility at Arno Bay, South Australia, involved USC’s Professor in Aquaculture Biotechnology Abigail Elizur and Associate Professor in Aquaculture Genetics Wayne Knibb.
It was coordinated by Clean Seas Tuna founder Hagen Stehr who was the keynote speaker at USC’s recent 2009 Research Conference.
At this event, Mr Stehr described the spawning of tuna in landlocked tanks as being as significant as man first walking on the moon.
“We have lifted the holy grail of tuna propagation and the University of the Sunshine Coast has played a major part in that,” he said.
“Tuna propagation will, in the future, be the only way to have an ecologically sustainable industry. We are going down the right path, not only for the benefit of Australia, but for the whole world.”
Professor Elizur said she was “thrilled beyond words” about the Time Magazine report.
“I think it’s absolutely wonderful for our team to gain such recognition,” she said. “This project is a triumph of planning and persistence with great Australian entrepreneurs who believed in the role science can have in achieving such a breakthrough.
“We would not have been able to achieve it, though, without Professor Yoni Zohar of the University of Maryland who developed and provided us with the technology to conduct hormonal implants in fish.”
Professor Elizur’s ground-breaking work on the project helped her earn USC’s Vice-Chancellor’s Medal for Outstanding University Researcher for 2009 earlier this year.
— Terry Walsh