University of Western Australia
Projects at The University of Western Australia to map the relationship between DNA nanoparticles and cells, measure the life cycle of nitrogen and expand our climate change mitigation capacity have received Federal Government funding.
The Australian Research Council announced funding for the three research projects as part of the Discovery Early Career Researcher Award scheme.
Forrest Fellow Dr Jessica Kretzmann, from UWA’s School of Molecular Sciences, will lead the project Mapping the structure-function relationship of DNA origami in cells.
“DNA origami enables the precise design and creation of nanoparticles of any size and shape with unprecedented control,” Dr Kretzmann said.
“However, there is limited knowledge regarding the interactions between DNA origami nanotechnology and the intracellular environment.
“We aim to address this gap to understand how we can use the nanoparticle structure to affect its activity and behaviour in cells, and advance bio-nanotechnology and cell biology to engineer functional nanomaterials.”
Dr Matthew Dodd, from UWA’s School of Earth Sciences, received funding for the project Uncovering the evolution of the nitrogen cycle with carbonate chemistry.
“Nitrogen is essential for all life on Earth, but we are unable to quantify aspects of the evolving nitrogen cycle, which impedes our understanding of its effects on ecosystems and environmental change,” Dr Dodd said.
“This new nitrogen measurement method will pave the way for enhanced carbon emission reductions and improved environmental management.”
Dr Albert Pessarrodona, from UWA’s School of Biological Sciences and Oceans Institute, has been funded for the project Emerging blue carbon pathways as natural climate solutions.
“We will examine whether two overlooked pathways of the coastal carbon cycle can provide climate change mitigation benefits,” Dr Pessarrodona said.
“Using innovative experiments and oceanographic modelling, we will quantify the impact of coastal carbon on deep sea and carbon storage in unvegetated shelf sediments, to help solve the role of coastal vegetated ecosystems in the ocean carbon budget.
“The project aims to expand Australia’s capacity to mitigate climate change.”