Macquarie University’s Mark Baker to head global research project

Macquarie University cancer researcher Mark Baker will chair the Human Proteome Project, a major global effort to identify all of the proteins coded by the human genome.

Mark Baker, professor of proteomics at Macquarie University, will be the new chair of the Human Proteome Project.

In today’s Higher Ed Daily Brief: Global role, partnership for jobs

Protoemic project

Macquarie University cancer researcher Mark Baker has been selected to chair the Human Proteome Project, a major global scientific effort to identify all of the proteins which are coded by the human genome. The project is looking to “map” the architecture of the huge range of proteins which are created and the impact they have in the human body, thus gaining a much better understanding of genetic diseases.

If the Human Proteome Project makes progress “it will noticeably enhance our understanding of human biology at the molecular level, lay solid foundations for monitoring health and the development of new preventive, diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic interventions in disease, and increase our biological understanding of what it means to be human,” according to its media release.

Next year the Human Proteome Organization, which runs the project, will hold its world congress in Adelaide in September.

Indigenous internships

Swinburne University has partnered with marketing and communications agency BWM Dentsu to offer internships to indigenous students looking to find jobs in the creative and media industries. Both the university and the agency hope the internships, due to begin in Melbourne in January and later next year in Sydney, will help lift the numbers of indigenous workers in the creative industries.

Belinda Murray, managing director of BWM Dentsu Melbourne, said she hoped the agency would benefit by being exposed to “the diversity of thinking that this talented group of young people will bring to the agency”.