On April 14, 2013, the world celebrated the 10th anniversary of the United States led Human Genome Project researching the estimated 20-25,000 human genes that make up human DNA. Australia is also active in genomics research, and the NeCTAR funded Genomics Virtual Laboratory is connecting Australian Genome researchers with datasets, analysis tools and computational infrastructure. The laboratory recently saw a spike in use.
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If I could turn back time
I have always enjoyed puzzles and problem solving. Trying to piece together the geological evolution of the Earth is the ultimate puzzle, trying to fit together spatially and temporally distal bits of information to understand what happened.
Name: Joanne Whittaker
Where do you work? Research Fellow, EarthByte Group, School of Geoscience, University of Sydney
Discipline? Geoscience; plate tectonics and geodynamics
What is your research field and how did you become interested? I am currently working on in understanding mid-ocean ridge processes and the resulting regional and global responses of the plate tectonic system, and the way the mantle and plate tectonics interact to control the morphology of the seafloor.
What were your inspirations and influences?
I have always enjoyed puzzles and problem solving. Trying to piece together the geological evolution of the Earth is the ultimate puzzle, trying to fit together spatially and temporally distal bits of information to understand what happened.
What has been a highlight for you and your research? A highlight has been studying the role of plate tectonic (spreading rate and spreading obliquity) and geodynamic (mantle temperature) factors in influencing the morphology of the seafloor. We found that smooth ocean floor is associated with hot mantle, as well as ‘fast’ spreading rates, while rougher ocean floor is associated with cool and/or depleted mantle, highly oblique spreading (> 45°) directions, and slow spreading rates (Whittaker et al. 2008).
To download GPlates go to www.gplates.org <http://www.gplates.org> , for more information on the EarthByte research group please visit www.earthbyte.org <http://www.earthbyte.org>
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Researchers
Joanne Whittaker is a Research Fellow at the School of Geosciences in the University of Sydney. She conducts research investigating Earth-ocean system phenomena including understanding interactions between upper mantle convection patterns and the manner with which they interact with the newly forming lithosphere of ocean basins.
Nicky Wright is fascinated by the earth’s geologic history. She is currently researching paleogeography throughout the Phanerozoic and combines GPlates, an open source plate tectonic software, with the online global Paleobiology Database to reconstruct past environments. "I am learning how to unravel the secrets of past worlds..."
Sabin Zahirovic is a PhD candidate at the School of Geosciences in the University of Sydney conducting research on the plate tectonic history and evolving geography of our planet through geological time. Sabin has studied the history of the collision between the Indian and Eurasian continent that was responsible for the uplift of the Himalayas and Tibet.
Maria Seton is an Australian Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Geosciences, University of Sydney. She works in the field of plate tectonics and geodynamics, reconstructing the configurations of the continents and ocean basins over hundreds of millions of years using GPlates, a Virtual Geological Observatory prototype.
Dr Shelley Wickham is a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School in the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Working in Associate Professor William Shih’s lab, the entire lab uses an open-source electronic lab book. Shelley shares her research story.
Associate Professor Martin Sevior performs experiments with the world's highest intensity and energy particle accelerators in Japan and at CERN in Switzerland. He shares his research story.
Izabela Ratajczak-Juszko is a Research Fellow at the Climate Change Adaptation Programme of the Global Cities Institute at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. She shares her research story.
As a final year veterinary student, Chairman of the NeCTAR project Board, Dr Graham Mitchell AO wrote an essay on the thymus gland - and has been hooked on immunology ever since. Today he is one of Australia's top biological scientists and holds an Order of Australia.
NeCTAR Partners
Senior software developer from Cybera in Alberta, Canada, Everett Toews, recently visited Melbourne to offer his support to Australia's Research Cloud. He shares his experience building clouds. Everett is a keen scuba diver, since 2004. He is seen in these photos playing hockey underwater in Hawaii.
A NeCTAR partner is a friend, an individual or a group doing something of interest to the NeCTAR project. They are not necessarily someone with an economic or stakeholder interest in NeCTAR. As NeCTAR is partnering with a broad range of disciplines; eResearch communities and their computing partners, there are lots of interesting stories to tell. Please email: communications@nectar.org.au
Canada has embarked on building a Research Cloud. Read more about their journey via an interview with technical architect John Shillington.
