AUSTRALIA-INDIA: Partners in scientific discovery

The Australian and Indian governments are equally funding the Australia-India Strategic Research Fund scheme with a total of US$130 million to promote innovation in critical areas such as oncology, marine science, agriculture, water management and nanotechnology.

Australia's Innovation Minister Senator Kim Carr said the outcomes of the research partnership would make a real difference to people's lives in both nations.

"Collaboration is a powerful way of achieving results. It gives our world-class researchers the tools and networks they need to excel," Carr said. "By working in partnership with India, we bring new perspectives and more resources to tackling our shared challenges.

He said both nations could maximise the value of their research investments by pooling funding and sharing skills, equipment and facilities. India was acknowledged as an emerging global power in science and technology and the two nations shared many common areas of research interest so they had a lot to offer each other.

"By working together we can help ensure that our researchers can realise their incredible potential, for the benefit of communities across the globe," he said.

Existing projects supported by the Australia-India Strategic Research Fund include:

* Detecting cancer through non-invasive methods:

Australian and Indian scientists are developing novel tools for detecting cancer non-invasively and with a high level of precision and specificity.

Australian team leader Associate Professor Wei Duan of Deakin University in Victoria said the project was investigating nanotherapeutics and molecular diagnostics for human cancers, which could ultimately lead to improved identification and treatment of these diseases.

Duan said the research would help overcome the dose-limiting side effects of drugs which prevent higher doses being provided with current chemotherapy drugs and could provide the basis of an imaging tool for detecting very small tumours.

* Does climate change drive evolution?

Another team of Australian and Indian scientists are collaborating to investigate this issue. Australian team leader Professor David Lambert of Griffith University in Queensland said he and Indian team leader Dr Siva Swaminathan recognised their work on Adélie penguins was ideally suited to a study on the biology of climate change.

Lambert said the study was looking to the Adélie penguin to help clarify the mystery of the biological basis of thermoregulation.

"When global temperatures change (up or down) many animals do not biologically adapt to that change but simply move to where things are warmer or cooler. With global warming Adélie penguins are not able to move to a cooler place because they already live in the coldest place on earth. So they have no option but to adapt.

He said ancient remains of these penguins dating from a period when the temperature in Antarctica was about100C lower than it was now could be used to compare genomes of modern and ancient individuals.

This would help determine how the penguins might be responding to a changing climate.

* Remote sensing of aquatic marine ecosystems

Another group of scientists are investigating how to monitor the health of an ocean. The two teams recently held a workshop on remote sensing of aquatic marine ecosystems.

Australian team leader Dr Arnold Dekker of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation said the researchers used satellite-based earth observation of coasts and oceans to monitor ocean colour which arose from changes in algae, suspended and dissolved organic material.

"The effects of climate change and the pressures of human population growth are having significant impacts on oceans," Dekker said. "Ocean colour helps us understand the interactions between aquatic ecosystems, climatic factors and human impacts."

He said understanding these interactions could better inform policies for protecting coastal reefs and ecosystems from potentially harmful disturbances caused by human activity and environmental stresses.

Those attending the workshop were involved in identifying future strategies for monitoring ocean health. Dekker said these indicators might allow scientists to assess the amount of phytoplankton photosynthesising in a particular area of the ocean, or to describe conditions associated with algal blooms.

Using high spatial resolution satellites, estimates can be made of the depth of the water column, presence and in some cases the health of seagrasses and coral reefs. This could assist in detecting coral bleaching.

Coral bleaching is a response to stress induced by environmental triggers such as changes to temperature, he said. Identifying areas at risk of or experiencing coral bleaching could allow measures to be implemented to protect coastal zones such as the Great Barrier Reef from coral destruction.

geoff.maslen@uw-news.com