STEM idea with Economic Impact: Assessment Criteria

This resource contains marking criteria for a video assessment. This guide was created as part of the Adobe Innovation Grants in 2020 as part of the project titled "Empowering science students’ communication skills with economic impact.

STEM idea with Economic Impact: Lecture Material

This resource contains lecture material for a video assessment. This PowerPoint was created as part of the Adobe Innovation Grants in 2020 as part of the project titled "Empowering science students’ communication skills with economic impact.

Endophytes from Australian native plants as novel sources of bioactive compounds for industrial, environmental and medicinal applications

The increasing interest in natural products for their therapeutic potential was the motivation behind this research. The project involved identifying potentially novel antibacterial, anticancer and other bio-active compounds from endophytic fungi isolated from two Australian native plants, Eremophila longifolia and Eremophila maculata

Start Talking: Transforming the Communication Skills of Swinburne Science Students to Develop Future Readiness (TLC2020)

(TLC2020 presentation, delivered 15/09/2020) This presentation reports on initiatives introduced in Communication for Scientists (NPS20005) in partnership with Careers and Employability, the Digital Literacies program (LTU), and FSET Student Engagement Team; including the first STEM Public Speaking Competition at Swinburne – Start Talking and embedding of Emerging Leader

Communicate and pitch a solution by visualising STEM data

This group project challenges students to analyse and visualise STEMM data to solve a problem that is communicated in an infographic and pitched to industry and community organization in a video. This resource includes a lesson plan, student examples, a marking rubric for the class project and the judging criteria for the competition

Podcast and visualize the impact of Covid-19

This group project challenges students to review and analyse the calss data related to the suggested topic "impact of covid on students learning, engament and employability" in order to record a podcast and visualise the challenge/impact/solution. Students were guided to apply Adobe audition, Adobe Express and Adobe Premiere Rush to record podcast, and create infographic and pitching to the educational partner from government, industry and community organization in a format of 4-minute video and act as future leaders

Endophytes from medicinal plants as novel sources of bioactive compounds

Abstract not available

Recent Advances in Using Natural Antibacterial Additives in Bioactive Wound Dressings

Wound care is a global health issue with a financial burden of up to US $96.8 billion annually in the USA alone. Chronic non-healing wounds which show delayed and incomplete healing are especially problematic. Although there are more than 3000 dressing types in the wound management market, new developments in more efficient wound dressings will require innovative approaches such as embedding antibacterial additives into wound-dressing materials. The lack of novel antibacterial agents and the misuse of current antibiotics have caused an increase in antimicrobial resistance (AMR) which is estimated to cause 10 million deaths by 2050 worldwide. These ongoing challenges clearly indicate an urgent need for developing new antibacterial additives in wound dressings targeting microbial pathogens. Natural products and their derivatives have long been a significant source of pharmaceuticals against AMR. Scrutinising the data of newly approved drugs has identified plants as one of the biggest and most important sources in the development of novel antibacterial drugs. Some of the plant-based antibacterial additives, such as essential oils and plant extracts, have been previously used in wound dressings; however, there is another source of plant-derived antibacterial additives, i.e., those produced by symbiotic endophytic fungi, that show great potential in wound dressing applications. Endophytes represent a novel, natural, and sustainable source of bioactive compounds for therapeutic applications, including as efficient antibacterial additives for chronic wound dressings. This review examines and appraises recent developments in bioactive wound dressings that incorporate natural products as antibacterial agents as well as advances in endophyte research that show great potential in treating chronic wounds

Endophytes from an Australian native plant are a promising source of industrially useful enzymes

Endophytes are microorganisms that live within plant tissues that are potential sources of novel bioactive compounds, including enzymes. We have identified endophytes of the Australian native plant Eremophilia longifolia which were screened for the production of industrially useful enzymes. Seventeen fungal endophytes were isolated from the leaves of E. longifolia and enzyme production was investigated within a range of pH (3.5, 5.5, 7 and 9) and temperatures (9, 25, 37 and 50°C). Amylase was the most common enzyme encountered with numerous isolates showing production throughout the temperature and pH ranges. Protease production was also seen over the conditions tested but was more dominant at lower pH and temperature. Activity was not observed for other enzymes including ligninase, xylanase and cellobiohydrolase. Enzymes from isolates of Preussia minima, Alternaria sp. and an unclassified fungus, which showed highest activity in screening assays, were investigated further. Enzyme production was verified by zymography and the amylase activity of P. minima was found to be significantly greater than that of Aspergillus oryzae particularly in alkaline conditions and low temperature which are desirable properties for the detergent industry. This work shows that enzymes with potential use in industry can be readily identified in fungal endophytes

Exploring the Promise of Endophytic Fungi: A Review of Novel Antimicrobial Compounds

Over the last few decades, many of the existing drugs used to treat infectious diseases have become increasingly ineffective due to the global emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). As such, there is a constant demand to find new, effective compounds that could help to alleviate some of this pressure. Endophytic fungi have captured the attention of many researchers in this field, as they have displayed a vast ability to produce novel bioactive compounds, many of which possess wide-ranging antimicrobial activities. However, while highly promising, research in this area is still in its infancy. Endophytes inhabit the healthy tissues of plants asymptomatically, resulting in a mutualistic symbiosis in which the endophytes produce a plethora of bioactive compounds that support the fitness of the host plant. These compounds display great chemical diversity, representing structural groups, such as aliphatic compounds, alkaloids, peptides, phenolics, polyketides and terpenoids. In this review, the significant antimicrobial potential of endophytic fungi is detailed, highlighting their ability to produce novel and diverse antimicrobial compounds active against human, plant and marine pathogens. In doing so, it also highlights the significant contributions that endophytic fungi can make in our battle against AMR, thus providing the motivation to increase efforts in the search for new and effective antimicrobial drugs