News Archive

How can a giant woolly mammoth, who lived at least 200,000  years ago, help to save the little Tasmanian Devil from extinction?The answer lies in DNA, the carrier of genetic information.

Stephan Schuster, a Professor of Genetics at Nanyang Technical University, Singapore,  became famous around the world when he completed the genome of the prehistoric mammal thousands of years after it had walked the Earth.

He hopes to apply the knowledge to at least seven species living at the brink of extinction, as the woolly mammoth itself was once.

Professor Schuster, a world leader in DNA sequencing, was able to recreate the woolly mammoth's DNA from a ball of hair that had been buried under ice in Siberia.

He has also sequenced the genomes of the polar bear and the zebrafish, and is helping with work on the face cancer that is driving the Tasmanian Devil to extinction.

And he is coming to UWA to share his experience with comparative genetics in a Raine Lecture next week.

The Raine Visiting Professor is hosted by the Marshall Centre for Infectious Diseases.  He has worked with UWA's Nobel Laureate Professor Barry Marshall, on helicobacter pylori , for many years.

Assistant Professor Tim Perkins, a geneticist in the Marshall Centre, is co-ordinating Professor Schuster's visit.

"We are now in the post-genomic era," Professor Perkins said. "Medical scientists are now starting to use the information from DNA sequencing in research. The human genome is an important part of our research."

He said comparative genetics made it easier for scientists to understand genetic traits and differences.

"For example, the difference between e coli and salmonella: the e coli bacteria can sometimes cause disease but salmonella always causes disease.  A key difference is a set of proteins in salmonella that are not in e coli .  It is engulfed by a cell that produces a toxin that invades the immune system."

Professor Perkins uses genomics in his own research, which has included work on  a vaccine for meningococcal meningitis.

He is greatly appreciative of the Raine Medical Research Foundation and its philanthropic work for medical scientists in WA.

"The Raine Foundation has spent something like $50 million on research grants, travel and visiting experts. We're so lucky to have it in WA," he said.

Professor Schuster's Raine Lecture is in the McCusker Auditorium at the Harry Perkins Institute at noon on Thursday 25 September.  A light lunch will be served after the lecture.