Australian Innovations in the Field of Health Science

 

Professor Graeme Clark has developed a bionic ear that electrically reawakens the silenced hearing nerve of the profoundly deaf. Some Australian innovations are relatively low in technology but high in humanity. The late Dr Fred Hollows developed cheap corneal replacements to cure types of blindness common in developing countries. His work is being carried on through a foundation led by his widow.

 

In Search of a Better Banana

By Paul Osborne                                                                                                                      

October 24, 2006                   

                                                                                                      

AUSTRALIAN researchers are working on developing a banana that could improve the health of Africans. Scientists at the Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation (IHBI), which opened at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane today, are investigating ways of improving the nutrient content of one of Africa's staple foods - the banana.

 

Unlike the bananas sold in Australia, the East African highland banana is low in nutrients, especially iron, iodine and vitamin A.

 

Every Ugandan eats around 1kg of the low-nutrient bananas every day and as a result, nearly half the children under the age of five have iron-deficient anemia and many children suffer from night blindness due to vitamin A deficiency.

 

Mothers also suffer, with about 30 per cent of maternal deaths in childbirth due to iron deficiency.

 

The project's 15 scientists based in Uganda and Brisbane are using a process known as "biofortification" which uses genetic engineering to boost vitamins, minerals and protein levels.

 

Project leader Professor James Dale said it would take around two and a half years from the time a gene was inserted to get fruit in the field.

 

Prof Dale said it was better to work with crops that were already in existence in Africa than try to introduce something new.

 

"Uganda is the world's second largest producer of bananas and it is not realistic to get farmers to change their crops to a different type of banana or staple food," Prof Dale said.

 

"And food aid is also not sustainable. Biofortification is the most practical option."

 

Prof Dale said trials would be done on Australian Cavendish bananas before the techniques were shared with Ugandan scientists.

 

The project, which is backed by a grant from the foundation of Bill and Melinda Gates, is expected to be expanded to other parts of east Africa in future.

 

The IHBI, which has 400 researchers, has been funded by QUT, the state government and US-based Atlantic Philanthropies.

 

This story is from http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au

Picture Source: http://www.cepolina.com/freephoto/f/nature.fruits.food/banana.jpg

 

Gauging Water Levels From Space

 

 

 

University of Melbourne

 

Australian farmers will soon be able to measure soil moisture in paddocks from data collected by a space satellite under a University of Melbourne, NASA and European Space Agency (ESA) experiment.

 

Dr Jeff Walker from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of the University of Melbourne is leading an international experiment, (the National Airborne Field Experiment) to test and enhance satellite technology that will measure soil moisture levels in paddocks for Australian primary producers.

 

“Using the space technology, farmers will be able to obtain predictions about soil moisture and crop yield out to seven days and three months. This will help them to make critical decisions about what to plant and when, their likely crop yield,” Dr Walker said.

 

“Our vision is that via the internet, farmers will be able to download key information about current and future soil moisture in their paddocks, which has been generated from a combination of model predictions and satellite observations.”

 

Using a small aircraft fitted with equipment similar to that of the satellite, the University of Melbourne-led research team aims to find out how to measure soil moisture up to one meter underground. The satellite technology currently measures only five centimeters below the earth’s surface.

 

Researchers on foot will be collecting ground measurements concurrently with the plane as it flies over the area, to help validate the aircraft’s measurements.

 

The result of the experiments will be the development of the first dedicated soil moisture satellite (SMOS - Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) to be launched by the ESA next year.

 

“Water management for irrigation is a critical issue for farmers in Australia and the world,” Dr Walker said.

“The enhanced satellite technology will enable farmers to forecast crop yield, politicians to make drought declarations and monitor global climate change, and organizations like the Bureau of Meteorology to conduct flood forecasting and weather prediction,” he said.

 

The three week experiment is being conducted between 30 October and 22 November in Narrandera, 100 kms west of Wagga, NSW. It is the second in a series of experiments to be conducted in Australia.

Tuesday, 14 November 2006