To boldly go: the next generation of the Digital Mineral Library at Curtin University

After its success with the Australian National Data Service (ANDS)-funded Major Open Data Collection (MODC) project, Curtin University is working on the next phase of the Digital Mineral Library to integrate data from the SHRIMP ion microprobe, encourage greater data sharing among geoscientists and expand the coverage of the collection

Unintended spread of a biosafety level 2 recombinant retrovirus

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Contamination of vertebrate cell lines with animal retroviruses has been documented repeatedly before. Although such viral contaminants can be easily identified with high sensitivity by PCR, it is impossible to screen for all potential contaminants. Therefore, we explored two novel methods to identify viral contaminations in cell lines without prior knowledge of the kind of contaminant.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The first hint for the presence of contaminating retroviruses in one of our cell lines was obtained by electron microscopy of exosome-like vesicles released from the supernatants of transfected 293T cells. Random amplification of particle associated RNAs (PAN-PCR) from supernatant of contaminated 293T cells and sequencing of the amplicons revealed several nucleotide sequences showing highest similarity to either murine leukemia virus (MuLV) or squirrel monkey retrovirus (SMRV). Subsequent mass spectrometry analysis confirmed our findings, since we could identify several peptide sequences originating from monkey and murine retroviral proteins. Quantitative PCRs were established for both viruses to test currently cultured cell lines as well as liquid nitrogen frozen cell stocks. Gene fragments for both viruses could be detected in a broad range of permissive cell lines from multiple species. Furthermore, experimental infections of cells negative for these viruses showed that both viruses replicate rapidly to high loads. We decided to further analyze the genomic sequence of the MuLV-like contaminant virus. Surprisingly it was neither identical to MuLV nor to the novel xenotropic MuLV related retrovirus (XMRV) but showed 99% identity to a synthetic retrovirus which was engineered in the 1980s.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The high degree of nucleotide identity suggests unintended spread of a biosafety level 2 recombinant virus, which could also affect the risk assessment of gene-modified organisms released from contaminated cell cultures. The study further indicates that both mass spectrometry and PAN-PCR are powerful methods to identify viral contaminations in cell lines without prior knowledge of the kind of contaminant. Both methods might be useful tools for testing cell lines before using them for critical purposes.</p

Not just for spies: managing multiple identities for fun and profit

Social networking and media sites such as Facebook and Twitter are the primary communication tools used by many of our clients and colleagues. They provide an excellent opportunity for frank two-way communication. Like spies portrayed in popular movies and TV shows, many of us who use these sites daily do not want our personal and professional lives to collide. Some information professionals even choose to completely avoid social networking sites out of privacy concerns. Fortunately, maintaining the separation is not as difficult as it may seem. This paper highlights a variety of strategies and tools that can be used to manage distinct personal and professional online presences, without becoming subject to confusion, being terminated or having to tie up loose ends. Examples will be drawn from the author’s own online presence as well as some other real-life cases where mistakes were made but successfully navigated

Driving emerging technology evaluation with the STREET process

Murdoch University’s self-hosted Wordpress blogging platform was implemented in 2008 as an experiment in educational blogging. Since then, it has grown in popularity and is now used by academics as a teaching and evaluation tool. Unfortunately, there were no processes for its governance and support. Murdoch University has a full-time Emerging Technologies Specialist employed to evaluate and propose technology pilots. The Emerging Technologies Specialist chose to trial the STREET process to guide an evaluation of the University’s blogging needs and identify the best possible candidate to meet them. STREET is a flexible process to guide to make informed decisions about whether or not to implement a technology to address a need in an organisation. Its name is the acronym for its six steps: Scope, Track, Rank, Evaluate, Evangelise and Transfer. This candidate would need to be compatible with the existing IT ecosystem, flexible, easy to use and appropriately priced. It is expected that the outcome of this process will be a decision of which candidate to implement, strong evidence to support that decision, evangelisation to inspire support from Murdoch staff members and the knowledge transfer required for the Office of Information Technology Services to effectively and sustainably support the candidate

The cloud

Since the shift to client-server computing from mainframes, it has been the dominant paradigm in how enterprise software and data are stored and managed. With the advent of cheap broadband, cloud computing is proving itself a cheap, efficient and – most importantly – safe and secure replacement for venerable client-server computing. In this presentation, Matthias Liffers will be exploring different aspects of cloud computing and how they will impact the way we create documents, manage our files and make sure they survive disaster. Matthias will indulge in some personal speculation about the future of computing and the life of data

Fünf Fragen an ... Alban Gautier (Boulogne-sur-Mer)

Alban Gautier im Interview (Foto: Torsten Hiltmann) Kommen wir nun zu den Fragen, die wir gemeinsam für Sie vorbereitet haben. Warum sind Sie Historiker geworden? Welche Personen oder Dinge haben Sie bei dieser Berufswahl besonders beeinflusst? Die Geschichte hat mich schon als junger Mensch sehr interessiert. Es hat mir immer Spaß gemacht, mehr über die Geschichte zu erfahren. Als Kind habe ich gern illustrierte Geschichtsbücher und auch Comics wie „Asterix und Obelix“ gelesen. Wie vermutlic..

Professionalism in social networking

Many professions are embracing social networking as a new way to connect with colleagues around the world. How can you teach your students to build their professional networks while balancing their need for privacy

Feed your students with delicious tweets

You find an interesting link and want to share it with your students. This is not always straightforward as URLs can be very long and difficult to share in class. Email has its own problems as students don’t always pay attention. Harness social technologies and feed timely and relevant information to your students using a variety of platforms including RSS, delicious and Twitter

Going with the flow: Publishing geochemical data from the lab workbench

<p>The award-winning Curtin University Digital Mineral Library pathfinder project published 150 geochemical datasets created by a TESCAN Integrated Mineral Analyser from samples provided by the Geological Survey of Western Australia. The focus of the project was creating the workflows and integrating the systems that would make such publication possible from the lab workbench with minimal manual intervention.</p> <p>Existing open source software and open standards were used wherever possible to build an agnostic ecosystem in which individual components could be replaced as necessary by discipline- or institute-specific solutions.</p> <p>In his presentation, Matthias will cover some of the challenges faced by the project team, including some of the lessons learned. He will also speak to the next phase of the project and some of the new research activity that has been stimulated by the publication of these open datasets.</p