Thank you and farewell Professor Graham Galloway

The National Imaging Facility (NIF) would like to acknowledge and thank founding NIF Director Professor Graham Galloway for his outstanding contribution to imaging in Australia as he finishes his role as NIF Chief Executive Officer.

Graham has been instrumental in establishing collaborative research infrastructure nationally. His vision led to the formation of NIF and his enormous efforts in the 2016 Research Infrastructure Road Map expanded NIF capabilities nationally.

Graham’s leadership, passion and dedication as founding Director of NIF and Chief Executive Officer for the past 15 years will have significant impact on the Australian research capabilities for future generations.

“It has been an incredible privilege to have been part of a dedicated team and I thank them all for their unending loyalty and support. I am particularly indebted to the staff of NIF Central, without whom none of this would have been possible. The strength of NIF is not in the hardware alone, but the expertise of the Facility Fellows, whose commitment has enabled the great research. Finally, I have been blessed being part of the wider national research infrastructure, and I thank my many NCRIS family colleagues, who I count as valued friends.” Professor Galloway said.

NIF acknowledges Graham’s tireless work in imaging and a research career that has always placed him at the forefront of developments in the field, from his first postdoctoral fellowship at Oxford University, coinciding with the arrival of the first whole body magnetic resonance system capable of performing MR spectroscopy, to leading the team to install the first 7T MRI in Australia. Graham was further recognised by the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) as the 2021 ISMRM Fellow of the Society for his establishment of national and international infrastructure. An acknowledgment for his pioneering work in building national imaging research facilities and programs, and for national and international leadership in MRI technology and education

The NIF Board and the University of Queensland are delighted to announce the appointment of Professor Wojtek James Goscinski as the Chief Executive Officer of the National Imaging Facility to lead the next stage of NIF’s growth and development.

Wojtek has been the founding Coordinator and Platform Director of MASSIVE, a national high-performance data processing and analytics facility at Monash University with national impact and an international profile. He leads the Australian Characterisation Commons at Scale project, which is a partnership between the Australian Research Data Commons, the National Imaging Facility, Microscopy Australia, and nine Australian Universities. 

NIF would like to warmly welcome Wojtek to the NIF community and wish Graham all the best in his new endeavours.

NIF’s Professor Fernando Calamante elected President of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine

National Facility of Imaging’s (NIF) Co-Director of the University of Sydney/ANSTO joint node, Professor Fernando Calamante, has been elected President of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM). ISMRM draws on a multidisciplinary membership of over 9,000 clinicians, physicists, engineers, biochemists, and technologists who contribute to discovery, innovation and clinical translation in magnetic resonance.

Prof Fernando Calamante

Professor Calamante’s research is at the forefront of his field and includes the development of novel methods for Diffusion MRI, Perfusion MRI and brain connectivity, and their applications to neurology and neuroscience. He has gained international recognition for his MRI methods including his contribution to the MRtrix software for Diffusion MRI analysis, which is considered one of the most widely adopted tools in the field.

“I feel greatly honoured to have been elected to this role. The ISMRM has played such an important part of my research career and has been the source of so many collaborations and inspiration to my research; it is a real privilege to be able to play my part in contributing to ensuring the ISMRM continues to deliver its vision. These are challenging times, and it will be interesting to see how Societies such as ours react, adapt and evolve in the face of the challenges COVID has given us.” Professor Calamante said.

Professor Calamante is the first researcher from outside Europe or North America to be elected as ISMRM President.

 “It is a great milestone for the ISMRM, and testimony of its international nature and diversity. Having come originally from Argentina and now living in Australia for the last 16 years, I feel I can fly the international flag as ISMRM President. As the first ‘rest of the world’ President, I will do my best to increase the presence of the ISMRM in under-represented regions,” Professor Calamante said.

Professor Calamante is the Director of Sydney Imaging, Core Research Facility at the University of Sydney and Professor in the School of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering.

NIF Chief Executive Officer, Professor Graham Galloway said he was delighted that Professor Calamante was elected ISMRM president and has been recognised for his expertise in magnetic resonance. ISMRM is recognised by the MR community as the premiere organisation for sharing of discovery and applications and driving the development of MR technology. It brings together basic scientists, engineers, clinicians and industry.  Professor Calamante’s election demonstrates that NIF is at the forefront of leading-edge imaging instrumentation and expertise in imaging technology.

MRI investigations of placental structure and function

Preeclampsia is a medical condition affecting up to 3% of pregnant women in Australia. Characterised by high blood pressure and protein in the urine, it is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in both mothers and infants. Furthermore, preeclampsia has been linked to long-term health consequences for both mother and child.

3-D reconstructions of the placenta from MRI images. (left) Foetal surface view of the placenta. (middle) Maternal surface view of the placenta with an overlay showing maternal vasculature. (right) Side view showing maternal vasculature alone

Hampering early diagnosis, prevention, and treatment efforts is a lack of understanding of preeclampsia pathophysiology.  Currently, the cause of this condition is unknown. Prof Annemarie Hennessy and a team of researchers at Western Sydney University are utilising the WSU NIF Node, in collaboration with NIF Fellow Dr Timothy Stait-Gardner, to learn more about this serious condition.

In this project, high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging is being used to examine placental changes in vivo in mouse models of preeclampsia. In addition to the in vivo studies, high-resolution scans of fixed mouse placentas, normal and abnormal, have been used to create a placental atlas. The creation of a placental atlas and a number of publications have provided important information on mouse models of preeclampsia, including its characterisation and how to differentiate between different models of preeclampsia from T2 maps of the mouse placentas. These works have provided some of the basis for investigations of new treatments of preeclampsia.

Publications:

This story was contributed by the Western Sydney University NIF Node. For further information, please contact Dr Timothy Stait-Gardner.

Privacy Settings
Youtube
Vimeo
Google Maps
Save
We use cookies to enhance your experience while using our website. To learn more about the cookies we use and the data we collect, please check our Privacy Policy .
I Accept