Development of a colorimetric assay for heparanase activity suitable for kinetic analysis and inhibitor screening

The role that heparanase plays during metastasis and angiogenesis in tumors makes it an attractive target for cancer therapeutics. Despite this enzyme’s significance, most of the assays developed to measure its activity are complex. Moreover, they usually rely on labeling variable preparations of the natural substrate heparan sulfate, making comparisons across studies precarious. To overcome these problems, we have developed a convenient assay based on the cleavage of the synthetic heparin oligosaccharide fondaparinux. The assay measures the appearance of the disaccharide product of heparanase-catalyzed fondaparinux cleavage colorimetrically using the tetrazolium salt WST-1. Because this assay has a homogeneous substrate with a single point of cleavage, the kinetics of the enzyme can be reliably characterized, giving a Km of 46 μM and a kcat of 3.5 s−1 with fondaparinux as substrate. The inhibition of heparanase by the published inhibitor, PI-88, was also studied, and a Ki of 7.9 nM was determined. The simplicity and robustness of this method, should, not only greatly assist routine assay of heparanase activity but also could be adapted for high-throughput screening of compound libraries, with the data generated being directly comparable across studies.

The strategic and operational dimensions of staff training and professional development for information professionals : what neXus2 has revealed

The paper seeks to continue the debate about the need for professionals in the library and information services (LIS) sector to continually engage in career-long learning to sustain and develop their knowledge and skills in a dynamic industry. Aims: The neXus2 workforce study has been funded by the ALIA and the consortium of National and State Libraries Australasia (NSLA). It builds on earlier research work (the neXus census) that looked at the demographic, educational and career perspectives of individual library and information professions, to critically examine institutional policies and practices associated with the LIS workforce. The research aims to develop a clearer understanding of the issues impacting on workforce sustainability, workforce capability and workforce optimisation. Methods: The research methodology involved an extensive online survey conducted in March 2008 which collected data on organisational and general staffing; recruitment and retention; staff development and continuing professional education; and succession planning. Encouragement to participate was provided by key industry groups, including academic, public, health, law and government library and information agencies, with the result that around 150 institutions completed the questionnaire. Results: The paper will specifically discuss the research findings relating to training and professional development, to measure the scope and distribution of training activities across the workforce, to consider the interrelationship between the strategic and operational dimensions of staff development in individual institutions and to analyse the common and distinctive factors evident in the different sectors of the profession. Conclusion: The neXus2 project has successfully engaged LIS institutions in the collection of complex industry data that is relevant to the future education and workforce strategies for all areas of the profession. Cross-sector forums such as Information Online 2009 offer the opportunity for stimulating professional dialogue on the key issues.

The arobase in the libr@ry : new political economies of children’s literatures and literacies

This essay--part of a special issue on the work of Gunther Kress--uses the idea of affordances and constraints to explore the (im)possibilities of new environments for engaging with literature written for children (see Kress, 2003). In particular, it examines a festival of children's literature from an Australian education context that occurs online. The festival is part of a technologically mediated library space designated by the term libr@ry (Kapitzke & Bruce, 2006). The @ symbol (French word "arobase") inserted into the word library indicates that technological mediation has a history, an established set of social practices, and a political economy, which even chatrooms with "real" authors may alter but not fully supplant.

University library virtual reference services : best practices and continuous improvement

The inclusion or not of chat services within Virtual Reference (VR) is an important topic for university libraries. Increasingly, email supported by a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) database is suggested in the scholarly literature as the preferred, cost-effective means for providing university VR services. This paper examines these issues and identifies some best practices for university library VR services relating to chat and email service, collaborative service provision, services staffing, and staff training. Further studies are required to more completely identify best practices for the complete range of VR services.

Transforming Queensland VET : Challenges and Opportunities (volume 2)

This volume is the second in a series that addresses change and development in the delivery of vocational and education programs in Queensland. A similar volume was published in 2007. Considerable change was foreshadowed for TAFE Queensland by the release of The Queensland Skill Plan (QSP) in 2006. This volume addresses implementation issues for the Actions identified in the QSP. The chapters focus on a breadth of issues that relate to the changing landscape for teaching and learning in TAFE Institutes. The incorporation of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) and e-learning approaches into the delivery of training packages remain key foci for change, as was evident in the first volume of this series. The chapters also consider issues for some client groups in VET, as well as approaches to professional development to build the capabilities of staff for new teaching and learning environments. The chapter by Sandra Lawrence examines the professional development issues for staff across TAFE institutes in the implementation of the Learning Management System. Suzanne Walsh discusses the issues of new “learning spaces” and “Mode 2 learning in the re-development at Southbank Institute. The chapter by Angela Simpson focuses on VET in schools and school-to-work transition programs. Josie Drew, in her chapter, takes up the issues of embedding employability skills into the delivery of training packages through flexible delivery. The chapter by Colleen Hodgins focuses on the organisational challenges for Lead Institutes in relation to the professional development for TAFE educators in light of policy changes. Bradley Jones discusses the changing roles of libraries in VET contexts and their importance. He examines the adequacy of the VOCED database and reflects on the current nature, role, and practices of VET libraries. Finally, Piero Dametto discusses the pragmatics for TAFE educators in understanding the use of digital objects and learning objects within the LMS and LCMS systems that were presaged in the QSP. These papers were completed by the authors as a part of their postgraduate studies at QUT. The views reported are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Queensland Department of Education, Training and the Arts. Donna Berthelsen Faculty of Education Queensland University of Technology

Protein complementation assay as a display system for screening protein libraries in the intracellular environment

A wide range of screening strategies have been employed to isolate antibodies and other proteins with specific attributes, including binding affinity, specificity, stability and improved expression. However, there remains no high-throughput system to screen for target-binding proteins in a mammalian, intracellular environment. Such a system would allow binding reagents to be isolated against intracellular clinical targets such as cell signalling proteins associated with tumour formation (p53, ras, cyclin E), proteins associated with neurodegenerative disorders (huntingtin, betaamyloid precursor protein), and various proteins crucial to viral replication (e.g. HIV-1 proteins such as Tat, Rev and Vif-1), which are difficult to screen by phage, ribosome or cell-surface display. This study used the β-lactamase protein complementation assay (PCA) as the display and selection component of a system for screening a protein library in the cytoplasm of HEK 293T cells. The colicin E7 (ColE7) and Immunity protein 7 (Imm7) *Escherichia coli* proteins were used as model interaction partners for developing the system. These proteins drove effective β-lactamase complementation, resulting in a signal-to-noise ratio (9:1 – 13:1) comparable to that of other β-lactamase PCAs described in the literature. The model Imm7-ColE7 interaction was then used to validate protocols for library screening. Single positive cells that harboured the Imm7 and ColE7 binding partners were identified and isolated using flow cytometric cell sorting in combination with the fluorescent β-lactamase substrate, CCF2/AM. A single-cell PCR was then used to amplify the Imm7 coding sequence directly from each sorted cell. With the screening system validated, it was then used to screen a protein library based the Imm7 scaffold against a proof-of-principle target. The wild-type Imm7 sequence, as well as mutants with wild-type residues in the ColE7- binding loop were enriched from the library after a single round of selection, which is consistent with other eukaryotic screening systems such as yeast and mammalian cell-surface display. In summary, this thesis describes a new technology for screening protein libraries in a mammalian, intracellular environment. This system has the potential to complement existing screening technologies by allowing access to intracellular proteins and expanding the range of targets available to the pharmaceutical industry.

Libr@ries : changing information space and practice

This volume examines the social, cultural, and political implications of the shift from traditional forms of print-based libraries to the delivery of online information in educational contexts. Despite the central role of libraries in literacy and learning, research of them has, in the main, remained isolated within the disciplinary boundaries of information and library science. By contrast, this book problematizes and thereby mainstreams the field. It brings together scholars from a wide range of academic fields to explore the dislodging of library discourse from its longstanding apolitical, modernist paradigm. Collectively, the authors interrogate the presuppositions of current library practice and examine how library as place and library as space blend together in ways that may be both complementary and contradictory. Seeking a suitable term to designate this rapidly evolving and much contested development, the editors devised the word “libr@ary,” and use the term arobase to signify the conditions of formation of new libraries within contexts of space, knowledge, and capital.

Survey of eResearch practices and skills at QUT, Australia

Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a multidisciplinary university in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, and has 40,000 students and 1,700 researchers. Notable eResearch infrastructure includes the QUT ePrints repository, Microsoft QUT Research Centre, the OAK (Open Access to Knowledge) Law Project, Cambia and leading research institutes. ---------- The Australian Government, via the Australian National Data Service (ANDS), is funding institutions to identify and describe their research datasets, to develop and populate data repositories and collaborative infrastructure, and to seed the Australian Research Data Commons. QUT is currently broadening its range of research support services, including those to support the management of research data, in recognition of the value of these datasets as products of the research process, and in order to maximize the potential for reuse. QUT is integrating Library and High Performance Computing (HPC) services to achieve its research support goals. ---------- The Library and HPC released an online survey using Key Survey to 1,700 researchers in September 2009. A comprehensive range of eResearch practices and skills was presented for response, and grouped into areas of scholarly communication and open access publishing, using collaborative technologies, data management, data collection and management, computation and visualization tools. Researchers were asked to rate their skill level on each practice. 254 responses were received over two weeks. Eight focus groups were also held with 35 higher degree research (HDR) students and staff to provide additional qualitative feedback. A similar survey was released to 100 support staff and 73 responses were received.---------- Preliminary results from the researcher survey and focus groups indicate a gap between current eResearch practices, and the potential for researchers to engage in eResearch practices. Researchers are more likely to seek advice from their peers, than from support staff. HDR students are more positive about eResearch practices and are more willing to learn new ways of conducting research. An account of the survey methodology, the results obtained, and proposed strategies to embed eResearch practices and skills across and within the research disciplines will be provided.

Life in the 'real world': a profile of Queensland University of Technology Library and Information Science graduates.

A graduate destination survey can provide a snap shot in time of a graduate’s career progression and outcome. This paper will present the results of a Queensland University of Technology study exploring the employment outcomes of students who had completed a library and information science course from the Faculty of Information Technology between 2000 and 2008. Seventy-four graduates completed an online questionnaire administered in July 2009. The study found that 90% of the graduates surveyed were working and living in Queensland, with over three quarters living and working in Brisbane. Nearly 70% were working full-time, while only 1.4% indicating that they were unemployed and looking for work. Over 80% of the graduates identified themselves as working in “librarianship”. This study is the first step in understanding the progression and destination of QUT’s library and information science graduates. It is recommended that this survey becomes an ongoing initiative so that the results can be analysed and compared over time.

The development of science concepts emergent from science museum and post-visit activity experiences : students' construction of knowledge

This research investigated students' construction of knowledge about the topics of magnetism and electricity emergent from a visit to an interactive science centre and subsequent classroom-based activities linked to the science centre exhibits. The significance of this study is that it analyses critically an aspect of school visits to informal learning centres that has been neglected by researchers in the past, namely the influence of post-visit activities in the classroom on subsequent learning and knowledge construction. Employing an interpretive methodology, the study focused on three areas of endeavour. Firstly, the establishment of a set of principles for the development of post-visit activities, from a constructivist framework, to facilitate students' learning of science. Secondly, to describe and interpret students' scientific understandings : prior t o a visit t o a science museum; following a visit t o a science museum; and following post-visit activities that were related to their museum experiences. Finally, to describe and interpret the ways in which students constructed their understandings: prior to a visit to a science museum; following a visit to a science museum; and following post-visit activities directly related to their museum experiences. The study was designed and implemented in three stages: 1) identification and establishment of the principles for design and evaluation of post-visit activities; 2) a pilot study of specific post-visit activities and data gathering strategies related to student construction of knowledge; and 3) interpretation of students' construction of knowledge from a visit to a science museum and subsequent completion of post-visit activities, which constituted the main study. Twelve students were selected from a year 7 class to participate in the study. This study provides evidence that the series of post-visit activities, related to the museum experiences, resulted in students constructing and reconstructing their personal knowledge of science concepts and principles represented in the science museum exhibits, sometimes towards the accepted scientific understanding and sometimes in different and surprising ways. Findings demonstrate the interrelationships between learning that occurs at school, at home and in informal learning settings. The study also underscores for teachers and staff of science museums and similar centres the importance of planning pre- and post-visit activities, not only to support the development of scientific conceptions, but also to detect and respond to alternative conceptions that may be produced or strengthened during a visit to an informal learning centre. Consistent with contemporary views of constructivism, the study strongly supports the views that : 1) knowledge is uniquely structured by the individual; 2) the processes of knowledge construction are gradual, incremental, and assimilative in nature; 3) changes in conceptual understanding are can be interpreted in the light of prior knowledge and understanding; and 4) knowledge and understanding develop idiosyncratically, progressing and sometimes appearing to regress when compared with contemporary science. This study has implications for teachers, students, museum educators, and the science education community given the lack of research into the processes of knowledge construction in informal contexts and the roles that post-visit activities play in the overall process of learning.

Introduction: Resistance, Recovery and Revitalisation

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives on contemporary cultural issues are presented in this collection of critical essays by indigenous Australians. From museums and anthropology to land rights and feminism, a range of topics are covered that touch on both indigenous and mainstream Australian history. Discussions of identity politics, the concept of Aboriginality, and aesthetic representations of indigenous people are rich with insight about the evolution of indigenous culture, with its shift from marginalization to cultural prominence in modern scholarship.

Collaborative research to develop a specialist, post-graduate competency-based education curriculum and continuing professional development structure for health librarians in Australia

Through a grant received from the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA), members of Health Libraries Australia (HLA) are collaborating with a researcher/educator to conduct a twelve month research project with the goal of developing an educational framework for the Australian health librarianship workforce of the future. The collaboration comprises the principal researcher and a representative group of practitioners from different sectors of the health industry who are affiliated with ALIA in various committees, advisory groups and roles. The research has two main aims: to determine the future skills requirements for the health librarian workforce in Australia; and to develop a structured, modular education framework for specialist post-graduate qualifications together with a structure for ongoing continuing professional development. The paper highlights some of the major trends in the health sector and some of the main environmental influences that may act as drivers for change for health librarianship as a profession, and particularly for educating the future workforce. The research methodology is outlined and the main results are described; the findings are discussed with regard to their implications for the development of a structured, competency-based education framework.