As a celebration of Rotary Queensland's Centenary, Rotary Queensland has committed to raising sufficient funding to establish a perpetual chair and research funding in Neuroscience at the University of Queensland Brain Institute.
Prof Graeme Nimmo RFD is patron of the Break Through Project.
Contribution to Community: a summery by PP Dan Adler
PP Dan Adler pictured receiving his PHF.
$100,000 was donated to the Queensland Brain Institute at UQ, presented by our new Rotary Club of Brisbane President Angela Murphy, who I remember initially laughed at the idea many years ago when I proposed the idea of joining our club, back when I was president in 2019... look at you now President Ange!
President Angela invited me to present Lifetime Achievement Awards to Immediate Past President Phil Saxby, and Past District Governor Tim Keeler - well deserved chaps, and I am proud to have created this award during my year being President. So glad to see this idea live on.
Last year our team of creative professionals at Next Thursday donated our time and services to produce the brand creative assets to launch the quest to raise $5M for an Endowed Chair in Neuroscience at QBI. Tim Keeler invited me to launch the campaign at City Hall to celebrate 100yrs of Rotary in Qld. This was one of the biggest public speaking events I've ever done with 500 Rotarians in the crowd. So, I'm very proud to see the first big cheque donated to QBI, all thanks to the contributions by Rotary Clubs across Qld.
Read more about Rotary Qld's Centenary Breakthrough Project, or better yet... donate at: https://qbi.rotary-qld.org/
This week a collection of members from our Rotary Club of Brisbane were honored to be part of a special tour at UQ's Queensland Brain Institute, joined by Her Excellency, the Honourable Dr. Jeannette Young, and Professor Peter Nimmo RFD, both distinguished Honorary members of the Rotary Club of Brisbane.
During the tour, we had the opportunity to see the remarkable work being done at the Clem Jones Centre for Ageing and Dementia Research (CJCADR), with a special focus on the ultrasound device being developed as a potential treatment for dementia. We take pride in Professor Nimmo, who also serves as the patron for Queensland's Centenary Project, and his significant interest to advancing research in neuroscience and dementia.
Thanks for the giant cheque Phil Gresham, your ongoing contribution to community is inspiring.
Keep up the great work Qld Rotary, $100,000 is a powerful start, $5M is in our sights if we all lend a hand. Imagine if our contribution helps find a cure that could save lives around the world. Also, big thanks to my team at Next Thursday for giving up your time to help make a difference.
Club Meeting: Welcome & Guests
On 15 July Chair Winnie Chen opened the meeting with 16 in attendance including Songwoman Baringa Barambah Meeanjinu who performed a beautiful and well received Welcome to Country. As an immigrant to Australia who now represents a long standing Queensland Club, President Angela Murphy explained that she felt that this ceremony felt appropriate to her alongside the numerous welcomes she had received from within Rotary and beyond.
Visitors: Susan da Silva (President Angela Murphy's mum), returning guest Mike Speter and return visiting Rotarian Melanie Liu (Mid City), and Joelle Compton.
APOLOGIES: Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner, PP Phil Saxby, Peter Saxby, Denise Schellbach, Celia Grenning, Andrea Markey, Michael Stephens, Brian Kenny, Peterson Wei, Dymphna Muir
Songwoman Baringa Barambah Meeanjinu (left), President Angela Murphy (right)
Cross Cultural Unit, the program aims to engage with identified Pacific Island students and their friends of any cultural back ground ( we do not discriminate) whom are disen- gaged and or disenfranchised and may be at risk of having their School enrolment can- celled due to challenging behavioural issues, lack of engagement at their School and or home life. Project RECONEQT is a 8 - 10 week Youth leadership Program which is deliv- ered over a School term and by the end aims to arm our program participants with the R.E.C.O.N.E.Q.T. Mana Toa Warrior—Traits of ;
R – Resilience
E – Excellence
C – Courage
O – Optimistic
N – Navigate
E – Empowering
Q – Queensland
T – Trailblazers
R – Resilience / E – Excellence / C – Courage / O – Optimistic / N – Navigate / E – Empowering / Q – Queensland / T – Trailblazers
Each Weekly lesson is specifically tailored to build a certain inner Warrior trait whilst incorporating Polynesian Culture and thus helping arm our youth participants with the knowledge and attributes to help build their sense of self-worth, confidence and by the end, build the full attributes of their inner TOA Warrior. By the end of each 8-10 Week Program our student cohort are expected to graduate through each Weekly lesson to full Queensland Trailblazer Project RECONEQT—Mana Toa Warrior status - MANA (spiritual life force power that permeates the universe) & TOA (A Valiant Warrior).
Social Evening Meeting @ Holey Moley
Monday 5 August (replaces lunch meeting. Repeat: NO LUNCH MEETING)
DG Club Visit, Evening - Kinross Cluster @ Royal Queensland Golf Club
Tuesday 13 August (replaces usual Monday Lunchtime Club Meeting on 12 August)
Rotary District 9620 DG Sue Mulraney would love to meet you and hear what your club is up to! We've combined the club meetings to so we can enjoy some fellowship and an informative night out.
Hosted by Hamilton Rotary Qld and joined by Brisbane Airport, Brisbane High-Rise & Rotary Club of Brisbane.
TICKETS SALES CLOSE 10PM ON THURSDAY 1 AUGUST DUE TO VENUE CATERING REQUIREMENTS.
A proud fourth-generation Queenslander, Professor Nimmo was born in Brisbane, completed his schooling at Ashgrove State School and the Anglican Church Grammar School, and studied Medicine at the University of Queensland.
He recently retired after a distinguished medical career spanning more than four decades, including 19 years as State Director of Microbiology for Pathology Queensland. He currently holds a professorial position in medicine at Griffith University.
For 17 years, Professor Nimmo served in the Australian Army Active Reserve, reaching the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, with a further 17 years on the Standby Reserve, and he was awarded the Reserve Force Decoration.
Professor Nimmo and Dr Jeannette Young were married in March 2000.
They have two children, Rebecca and Jane, and one grandchild, Calvin.
Hamilton Club would love our support for their Craft Beer Festival
- tap for info and tickets
QBI Weekly Spot:
Prof Tim Bredy RNA Q&A
RNA, like DNA, is present in all living cells. Historically, it was thought to primarily serve to transform the information encoded in DNA into the body’s proteins. However, large scale genome sequencing projects at the turn of the century changed our perspective of RNA.
Where we once believed that only a small percentage of RNAs contained useful information, we now know that the thousands of RNAs that do not carry genetic information for protein encoding, are still, in fact, extremely useful.
Despite this leap, we still don’t have a complete grasp of the total number of RNAs encoded in the genome. Novel classes of RNA continue to be discovered.
Cutting-edge technologies, such as long-read sequencing, are giving researchers, like Professor Timothy Bredy unprecedented insights into cells to better understand the functional roles of various classes of RNA.
The Bredy lab’s research into the RNA-based mechanisms regulating neuronal capacity during fear-related learning and memory have clearly illustrated that our genes alone don’t dictate destiny.
Professor Bredy, your lab at the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) is focused on cognitive neuroepigenetics. Can you tell us broadly what epigenetics is?
Epigenetics refers to all genetic information that is not encoded in the DNA sequence itself. The environment influences the genome through epigenetic modifications. These modifications translate environmental stimuli and experiences into cellular adaptations, which regulate the expression of genes – the turning on and off of genes. My lab has been particularly interested in how these epigenetic modifications, including their interaction with various non-coding RNAs, contribute to the formation and maintenance of memory.
Why is epigenetics important to the pursuit of understanding the brain? We now understand that learning and memory are not linear processes governed only by protein synthesis. Gene-environment interactions affect cellular function and real-time brain adaptation. We can only attempt to understand learning and memory if we can unravel how these underlying dynamic mechanisms are affecting cell function.
How has the RNA revolution challenged our understanding of brain function? The central dogma of molecular biology has been that there is a unilateral flow of information from DNA to mRNA to protein. We now know that there are in fact many different classes of RNA, many of which are expressed in the brain. Their function extends far beyond their role as a signalling intermediate.
Recent evidence indicates that different non-coding RNAs are directly involved in learning and memory. For example, my lab discovered that microRNAs are critically involved in the capacity to form long-lasting memories for fear extinction.
Why is RNA so crucial to an understanding of epigenetics? The neuroepigenetic view of learning and memory suggests that DNA, protein, and RNA interact and influence each other to control the cell holistically.
Diverse forms of RNA have already emerged as key regulators of gene expression, and their importance in cell regulation continues to be explored.
For example, a recent discovery has been the epigenetic regulation of RNA through chemical modification. To date, there are at least 170 ‘epitranscriptomic’ modifications that are known to occur in RNA.
Your research has identified such chemically-tagged RNA’s involved in learning and memory. What exactly is it that you found?
We identified a population of learning-related RNAs that accumulate near the synapse. These RNA harbour a specific chemical tag called N6-methyladenosine (m6A), which effectively modifies the RNA, so that they can communicate with specific proteins and alter the synapse.
Traditionally, the science of RNA in the brain has focused on what’s happening within the nucleus, but we found a significant number of these m6A-modified RNAs near the synapse. This localisation indicates its role in regulating synaptic plasticity, which we know is a fundamental aspect of learning and memory.
Dr Umanda Madugalle and Dr Wei-Siang Liau, you were the lead authors on this paper. You discovered these m6A-modified RNAs near the synapse. How has this finding contributed to your understanding of how fear-related memories are formed? We found these m6A-modified RNAs near the synapse and we discovered several new synapse-specific m6A binding proteins (or “readers”) that interact with these modified RNAs.
This discovery allowed us to determine the functional role of m6A-modified RNA molecules in the formation of new memories.
By examining one such RNA, Malat1, we discovered the key proteins that interact with this RNA and support the processes related to forming long-lasting memories in the context of fear extinction.
What are the implications of this discovery? The impairment of fear extinction memory is associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
When Malat1 is chemically decorated with m6A, this allows it to interact with different proteins in the synaptic compartment, which can then alter the mechanisms involved in the formation of fear extinction memory.
By understanding where, when, and how an RNA molecule is activated and by having a precise marker, we can identify the target for potential PTSD therapies.
Your most recent research demonstrated RNA’s role in fine-tuning the cellular functions of the brain. In what way? We demonstrated that a non-coding RNA known as Gas5 coordinates the trafficking and clustering of RNA molecules inside the long processes of neurons, and orchestrates neuronal excitability in real time that contributes to learning and memory.
Dr Wei-Siang Liau and Dr. Qiongyi Zhao, you were the lead authors on this paper. How has this finding influenced your understanding of RNA molecules? This finding highlights that there’s a lot more happening with these kinds of RNA molecules than we first thought; and that they influence cellular function on a millisecond timeframe, which mirrors the real-time changes in synaptic function that happen in the brain during learning, is extraordinary.
Non-coding RNA may be the missing link to understanding how the brain processes critically important inputs that lead to the formation of memory.
RNA-based treatments offer significant promise for new precision therapies and the field is rapidly progressing toward the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic tools for brain disorders.
The Centre for RNA in Neuroscience at QBI was established to spearhead the development and application of this new and exciting technology.
Containers for Change
Containers for Change provides an easy and fun way for us to raise much-needed funds.
1 Collect eligible containers
Most aluminium, glass, plastic, steel and liquid paperboard drink containers between 150ml and 3L are eligible.
2 Take them to a container refund point (scan the QR code) OR get them collected from your address
There are different types of container refund points across Queensland, so find the right one for you.
3 Earn a refund or donate
We receive 10 cents for every eligible container you return!
Help Enterprises (a social enterprise supporting the disability sector)
HELP is a social enterprise helping people with disability lead fulfilling and independent lives.
Over the past 50+ years, we’ve created an integrated network of services to provide people with disability the essentials, routine and stretch they seek in life. Whether it’s employment, learning, living arrangements, community involvement, health services or anything in between – we work alongside people to help them achieve the things they set out to.
We like to think of it as an ecosystem of opportunity.
Our Club spent many years from 1966 onwards establishing this enterprise.
In the spirit of reconciliation, the Rotary Club of Brisbane acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea, and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today
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Club Information
Service Above Self
Mondays at 12:15 PM
Friday's Riverside
Riverside Centre
123 Eagle St.
Brisbane, QLD 4000 Australia
We meet on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th & 5th Monday of the month at "Friday's Riverside" at 12:15pm for 12:45 sit down lunch. Meetings end just before 2pm.
The first Monday of each month is a social evening meeting, check the bulletin and our website.