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Ground-breaking USC research wins grants
Two research projects at the University of the Sunshine Coast that could help unlock the secret to extending life and develop new fuel cell materials have won prestigious national competitive grants.
USC is this week celebrating the Australian Research Council’s (ARC) recognition for two of its researchers in particular, plus USC’s involvement in three collaborative projects that also earned ARC grants on Tuesday 1 November.
Lecturer in Molecular and Cellular Biology Dr Scott Cummins gained a $145,000 ARC Discovery Project grant for his project titled: “Sleeping snails: investigating hypometabolism to reveal critical factors that aid life extension”.
Dr Cummins said the research would involve defining the genes and peptides integral to snail hypometabolism – a process in which the snails’ metabolism almost stops.
He said this research could help control snail pests using chemical interventions, as well as provide new insights into life extension in biology in general.
USC’s Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research Professor Roland De Marco is a joint chief investigator in a project called “New mesoporous materials for use in high temperature proton exchange fuel cell membranes”.
This Curtin University-led study gained a three-year ARC Discovery Project grant of $420,000, with $40,000 each year going to support a PhD student at USC.
Professor De Marco, who previously worked at Curtin University, said his component of the research would involve using cutting-edge synchrotron radiation techniques to develop innovative fuel cell materials that can solve the grand technological challenge of providing high energy and high stability alcohol fuel cells operating under ideal conditions.
In addition, USC is a partner in three successful ARC Linkage Infrastructure Equipment and Facilities grants involving Dr Cummins (via the University of Queensland), Professor De Marco (via Curtin University) and Senior Lecturer in Environmental Microbiology Dr Ipek Kurtboke (via the University of Queensland).
USC’s Vice-Chancellor Professor Greg Hill was delighted by the research grants and congratulated all three academics involved.
“These ARC grants are very difficult to win and are a testimony to the excellence of the research and the researchers here at USC,” he said.
“It's a wonderful result. These successes will see high-end research tools coming to USC as well as providing access for our researchers to the sophisticated laboratories at our partner institutions.
“They also highlight the impact that Professor De Marco has made at USC since joining us at the start of the year as the University’s first Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research.
“He is leading from the front and his energy, networking skills and capacity to read the right path to tread, are positioning us for the major tasks ahead.”
— Terry Walsh