MACSYS to host Dr Chris Rackauckas
MACSYS is pleased to host Dr Chris Rackauckas for two-day visits to The University of Melbourne, UNSW, and QUT. Dr Rackauckas is the VP of Modelling and Simulation at JuliaHub, the Director of Scientific Research at Pumas-AI, Co-PI of the Julia Lab at MIT, and the lead developer of the SciML Open Source Software Organization. Details about each visit are available by clicking on the university names below.
The University of Melbourne: Tues/Weds - 23-24 September
UNSW: Thurs/Fri - 25-26 September
QUT: Mon/Tues - 29-30 September
During each visit, Dr Rackauckas will present a seminar: “Automating Construction of Biochemical and Physical Models with Scientific Machine Learning (SciML)”
At Melbourne and QUT, Dr Rackauckas will also run a three-hour workshop: High-Performance Scientific Modeling with Julia and SciML
If you are interested in meeting with Dr Rackauckas individually, check with your node leader and/or node administrator.
Centre Launch & Retreat Week Quickly Approaching!
Plans are being finalised for a very special - and busy - final week of October for MACSYS. We have just added a Student & EMCR Workshop to start the week.
Student & EMCR Workshop, Univ of Melbourne - Monday, 27 Oct.
The MACSYS Student and EMCR workshop will be a great opportunity to meet with your MACSYS peers and establish professional connections (and perhaps future project collaborations). The day will conclude with mini-golf at Holey-Moley! Please click on the link below to register (this is a different registration from the Centre Launch & Retreat).
Note: Group accommodation booking will be organised centrally for students and EMCRs travelling from interstate.
Centre Launch - Tuesday, 28 October - Melbourne Connect
The Centre Launch will celebrate MACSYS’ mission and will mark our formal commitment to our collaborative research goals. Members of the Australian Research Council (ARC), Federal Government, partner organisations and institutions will be in attendance for this event.
12:00pm – MACSYS Headquarters Tour: The University of Melbourne, Parkville Campus
2:00pm – Centre Launch: The Science Gallery, Melbourne Connect
Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony in the courtyard
Formal speeches and MACSYS video in downstairs theatre
Celebrations and event wrap up by 4:45pm
MACSYS Retreat - Weds-Fri, 29-31 Oct, RACV Cape Schanck Resort
The Centre Retreat is an event for MACSYS members to come together and celebrate our work and discuss our future agenda.
Note: Group transport to and from the retreat is currently being organised. If you are interested in carpooling or for coach transport (pick up at the University of Melbourne and Monash University, with the additional drop off point at the airport on the return trip), please contact Veronica Lay.
The 2024 MACSYS Annual Report is now online: https://ar24.macsys.org/
The Strategic Research Commitee has put together a short survey to gather information about current research activities within MACSYS, including collaborations across the Centre. They also want to understand any resources you might need to support your MACSYS research that are not currently available.
Please complete the survey by 10th October. Your input is greatly appreciated and will help us better support research across MACSYS. All responses to this survey will be anonymous.
Professional Staff Updates
Shuting Liu - Promoted to MACSYS Centre Administrator. Shuting has served as the MACSYS Node Administrator at the University of Melbourne since November 2024. Shuting has a Bachelor of Arts degree from China University of Political Science and Law and a Master of Research degree from Macquarie University. She is now completing her PhD in Phonetics at the University of Melbourne.
Elise Mills - Hired as the QUT Node Administrator. Elise brings significant experience in administration and research in mathematical biology to her new role with MACSYS. She has a Bachelor of Applied Science (Biotechnology) and Bachelor of Mathematics (Applied and Computational Mathematics) from QUT. Elise also holds a Bachelor of Music (Performance) from the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University.
Welcome to MACSYS to the following new members:
The University of Melbourne
Dr Thomas Soerianto - Research Fellow: Working with Prof Malcolm McConville and Dr Vinzenz Hofferek to set up setmccon up robust multi-omic data collection workflows to be used for synthesis and validation of mathematical cell models
Peng Zhang - PhD Student: Supervised by Professor Jennifer Flegg, Dr Heejung Shim, and Dr Alexander Zarebski, Peng’s research focuses on the integration of machine learning and mathematical biology.
QUT
A/Prof Pascal Buenzli - Associate Investigator: Pascal's research builds new mathematics for data-driven, predictive computational models for applications in biomedical technologies.
Dr David Warne - Associate Investigator: David is motivated by computational challenges in the statistical analysis and uncertainty quantification of complex systems that frequently arise in biology, ecology, and epidemiology.
MACSYS was well represented at this month's Australasian RNA 2025 Conference in Sydney! Chief Investigators Prof Eduardo Eyras and Prof Jiayu (Jean) Wen from ANU, and Prof Traude Beilharz from Monash University were all invited speakers at the at the fourth annual conference of the A-RNA - Australasian RNA Biology and Biotechnology Association. Eduardo and Traude spoke in the session about RNA processing and modifications, while Jean spoke in the session about RNA technologies, AI and bioinformatics. Well done, team!
Have you recently travelled - or going to travel soon? Share your journey in our next newsletter. Just email [email protected]
RNA Society Features MACSYS Postdoc
Every month, the RNA Society features a student/post-doctoral member - and this month, it's "Featured Spotlight" is on our own Dr Alex Sneddon. Alex is a MACSYS Postdoc at The Australian National University working with Chief Investigator Prof Eduardo Eyras. Read more about her work and her career journey in this RNA Society Spotlight story.
Studying organisational closure in biological systems with process-enablement graphs - Dr Sean Vittadello, University of Melbourne
Drosophila hamlet mediates epithelial tissue assembly of the reproductive system - Prof Jiayu (Jean) Wen, ANU
Geometric frustration in twist-bend nematic droplets - Prof Richard Morris, UNSW
Note: If you have a paper that has been accepted or published, please let us know! Contact [email protected]
Picture of Capsid Cake - and picture of Heather holding the cake
It's one thing to be able to translate complex research to a broader audience. It's quite another - to bake it! MACSYS-UNSW PhD student Heather McDonald-Haynes baked a 'capsid-cake'. What's a capsid, you ask? Heather's amazing cake shows HIV capsids (red icing) going into the nucleus (purple icing) via the nuclear pore complex (green icing). This is scientifically interesting because the nuclear pore complex is precisely the structure that is supposed to keep viruses out (whilst letting other stuff in). How HIV tricks its way into the nucleus is a project that our group at UNSW has been working on.
The cake was for one of the team members celebrating a birthday. No doubt, Heather's cake will give them the energy they need to keep going on this project!
