March 2012

Sunday, March 11th

During this past week, I completed the fluorescence study that I describe in my December post and am currently analyzing the results. I will soon start Western blots on melanoma cells that have been lysed (broken open) and separated into different fractions. Each fraction will be probed with antibodies that recognize the different types of protein; the amount of attached antibodies will then be quantified and should yield data that will help us piece together the mechanism of action of our rainforest plant compound.

Last week, I flew about 1000 km (~620 miles) north to the mining city of Mackay, QLD. Multiple people I know in Brisbane asked me, “why Mackay?" The answer is simple: Rotary. As mentioned in my October post, I happened to meet the president of North Mackay Rotary, Chris, after speaking to Caloundra Rotary. Chris invited me to visit, so I finally had some time to make the trip.

Chris works for CQMS (Central Queensland Mining Services) Razer, a company that specializes in dragline buckets and many of the consumable parts needed for surface mining operations. Before I proceed, I must explain that Mackay is a massive hub for mining (mainly coal) service companies because of its proximity to the largest coal fields in Australia (the Bowen Basin coal reserves), railways, highways, and one of the largest coal ports in the world. Mackay thus serves as the home for many miners that commute out to the mines, work for several days, and then return. Because of the influx of people and businesses, the population has grown to ~120,000 in just a few years, and the average growth rate has been 3.3% (much higher relative to other cities). Mackay is also the sugarcane capital of Australia because of its vast tracts of fertile farmland, multiple sugar mills, and (again) one of the largest sugar ports in the world.

After I arrived on 29 February, Chris explained how CQMS’s various products are made and their individual purposes. He also took me through the production facility, where I saw dragline buckets in different stages of construction. These buckets are massive, as seen by their size relative to the workers, so several automobiles can fit in one bucket.

Gas flame to heat steel for welding Cleaning up the weld joints

That night, I spoke to a receptive audience at West Mackay Rotary and met many more influential and dedicated people from the area. One Rotarian I met is the Mayor of Mackay and another is the head of a sugarcane research center; I will mention them later on. Afterwards, I met the rest of Chris’s family (his wife Liane and two sons) back home.

On 1 March, I met Greg (a Rotarian from Chris’s club) to tour the area around Mackay. We first drove about 60 km west to Eungella (pronounced yun-ga-lah) National Park, which is a large tropical rainforest set among mountains. We started off with a bushwalk in the Finch Hatton Gorge area to see waterfalls that were roaring because of recent rainfall. Another bushwalk led us to the base of the falls surrounded by spectacular swimming holes and rock walls that are great for jumping and diving.

Me in the refreshing swimming hole View from Pioneer Valley servo

From there, we stopped at a servo (service station) in the Pioneer Valley for refreshments and then made our way up more mountains into the town of Eungella to see platypuses after stopping for a view down into the Valley from the Eungella Chalet.

View from the road down into the Valley View from Eungella Chalet; notice hang glide take-off

We didn't expect to see any because they supposedly are most active during dawn and dusk and thus prefer overcast days. We went to the viewing spot around noon time with full sun and, to our pleasant surprise, there were two or three platypuses actively swimming and splashing around the murky water. Greg said he never saw them so active and numerous before; I have only seen a few in zoos, so this was especially captivating for me to see. Along with echidnas, platypuses are the only egg-laying mammals (monotremes) in the world and are essentially evolutionary dead ends. Most people think they are bigger than actuality for some reason and are surprised to see that they are probably no more than 18 inches in total length.

We then went back down the mountain and had an excellent lunch at Pinnacle Pies, a hotel known for its meat pies. I had a steak and peppercorn meat pie topped with mushy peas and a side of chips (French fries). After the filling lunch, we saw the man-made Kinchant Dam and then went to Hay Point, the site of the enormous coal ports for loading the dozens of ships that wait a few miles from the coast. Trains come to the port and deposit their load through trapdoors in the bottom of each rail car. The coal falls onto a conveyor belt that unloads the material into designated piles. When the designated ship moors at the terminal, scoops transfer the piles onto conveyors that eventually transport the coal onto the ship docked 3.8 km from the shore. I was impressed by the sheer scale of the operations that run 24/7/365. Most of Queensland's coal is exported to Japan and China.

That night, I gave my 27th presentation to Chris’s North Mackay Rotary Club. The Rotarians really enjoyed my presentation and asked many questions. One of the Rotarians told me about his book that he recently wrote and gave me a copy; see the story about it here. Another Rotarian is a woodworker, so we chatted about that for a while and arranged to meet the next day. I also met a Rotarian, Rolie, interested in alternative plant-based therapies who had me over to his house for a chat the next morning. He then took me to the woodworker’s house, where I got two pieces of timber (Red Cedar and Mackay Cedar) to take back for woodturning!

Rolie and I then went to the Bureau of Sugar Experiment Stations to meet the Rotarian from West Mackay Rotary. There, I learned about the sugarcane grass itself and the process of selecting new varieties of sugarcane with desirable characteristics, such as pest resistance and high sugar yield. The selection process is a lengthy and intensive process that takes several years because multiple generations of cross-pollinated plants have to be screened, and then candidates must be tested in an agricultural field (rather than a controlled greenhouse) to simulate realistic growth conditions. At first, I thought genetic modification via introduction of extrachromosomal DNA could be used to create the desired characteristics but soon learned that this is very difficult due to the complex nature of the sugarcane genome; sugarcane has many chromosomes and many copies of each chromosome. Another complicating factor is that sugarcane varieties “last” about a decade before they lose their desirable characteristics and revert to a previous set of observable traits.

Around noon, Rolie dropped me off at the Mackay Regional Council Building to meet Col the Mayor and Kevin, one of the ten elected council officials. I had a nice lunch with Col and Kevin beside the Pioneer River on the pier area and then Kevin showed me around the rest of Mackay, including Queen’s Park, a new recreational trail, the Botanical Gardens, various buildings in the city area, water and waste treatment facilities, and a lookout point. As you can see in the picture below, Mackay is also known for its drastic tide changes.

That night, we had a barbecue at Chris’s house with his family and their friends. One friend, Craig, is a pilot for the coal port: he flies on a helicopter out to the ship and then navigates the ship to the terminal so it can safely dock. Craig’s dad is a tugboat operator for the Port of Brisbane, so I might have an opportunity to ride along on some future date.

Despite having a late night, we (Chris, his friend Peter, and Chris’s two sons) left the house around 5:30 am on Saturday to drive up to Airlie Beach on the Whitsunday Coast for a boat trip. The five of us were joined by four friendly tourists and two crew members on board the catamaran, so we all got to know each other and received individual treatment from the crew. We sailed and motored for about 1.5 hrs from Airlie Beach out to Blue Pearl Bay off of Hayman Island, which is known for pristine reef life and a luxury hotel. Before jumping in the water, we all had to don stinger suits because jellyfish (aka stingers) can roam through Northern Queensland coastal areas. These suits are simply lycra and provide a barrier that prevents the jellyfish nematocysts from deeply penetrating human skin.

Airlie Beach area Hayman Island snorkeling and diving area

The weather was perfect for snorkeling, as we had sunshine, warm water, and little wind and waves. There were heaps of tropical fish (even a Napoleon Maori Wrasse) in all different colors and sizes and the most impressive array of corals I have ever seen. Giant clams were spread about along with anemones, sea cucumbers, and Christmas tree worms. After some snorkeling, I got a quick lesson in SCUBA diving and strapped on my lead belt, vest, and air tank. Before I knew it, I equalized the pressure in my airways and was breathing underwater (about 20 ft deep). It took me a few minutes to get used to the breathing because every inhalation increases buoyancy, while exhalation releases a lot of bubbles around your face and decreases buoyancy. I also had to control myself to take regular, deep breaths rather than sporadic, shallow breaths and sometimes remind myself not to hold my breath. The whole experience was absolutely thrilling because I never dived before and the views were stunning. The time underwater went by quickly, so I would have liked to dive longer. The diving instructor had an underwater camera, so here are some pictures.

Clown fish in anemones Patriotic Christmas tree worms All is OK

After diving, we did some more snorkeling at the same site and then snorkeled a third time at another nearby site. We then had a nice lunch aboard the boat and then made our way back to the Airlie beach Marina. After getting back to land, we walked around Airlie Beach for a bit. There is a large lagoon for swimming and many shops along the main road through town. However, the beach itself is ironically deserted because of drifting stingers and (rarely) passing crocodiles. Google images of Airlie Beach are very misleading because they show people relaxing in the ocean or swimming amongst the coral reef, all of which people would only do off of the islands that are accessible by boat or plane.

Airlie Beach swimming lagoon Deserted Airlie Beach

On my last day in Mackay (4 March), Chris and Liane took me to their local surf life saving club (SLSC) at Eimeo Beach. SLSCs are located in nearly every beach area around Australia and are centers for volunteer lifesavers (i.e. lifeguards; most lifesavers in Australia are volunteers, and all beaches in Australia are public and free) and beach sports for young children and lifesavers-in-training, who are called nippers. Anyway, the Eimeo SLSC was holding a special event for unveiling a new rescue boat, and Chris and Liane are active members of the Eimeo SLSC. Unfortunately, Eimeo Beach was closed that morning because a morning drag found a box jellyfish. Every morning, the lifesavers hop in a boat, pull a fine-mesh net across the top section of the ocean water, put on full-body protective suits (to protect their skin from potential jellyfish), and then inspect the contents of the net. Even if only one box jellyfish is found, the lifesavers close the beach for 24 hours and alert other nearby beaches of the danger. In their first aid stations, SLSCs in this area must have jellyfish identification charts, bottles of vinegar to prevent further “firing” of nematocysts, and AED units (automated external defibrillator) because the jellyfish venom is cardiotoxic and, if enough tentacles contact skin (especially skin across the chest), the victim will go into cardiac arrest. Although the lifesavers perform daily drags that are good for spotting larger jellyfish, stingers such as the small Irukandji jellyfish can pass through the mesh and still cause painful reactions, hence the need to wear stinger suits during the warmer months when stingers are more prevalent in Northern Queensland waters.

The SLSC tower and a nipper in his stinger suit The new rescue boat Notice the sign

After returning from the SLSC event, Rolie picked me up and we met a sugarcane farmer on his property to see his collection of exotic and medicinal plants. The farmer is very knowledgeable about herbalism (i.e. bush medicine in Australia), in which the majority of problems in health are treated with plants and plant extracts as a form of alternative medicine. This area is of course fascinating to me because of my work at the QIMR with the blushwood extract for treating various solid tumor cancers. In fact, the sap from his Indian Tree Spurge is effective for treating basal and squamous cell carcinomas, and a related plant called radium weed was studied by my lab several years ago for development into a successful non-melanoma skin cancer treatment called PEP005. We also tried a variety of exotic fruits and herbs while walking around, like clove basil.

Indian Tree Spurge

After our visit to the farm, Rolie and I stopped in the iconic General Gordon Hotel for a drink and a wander around the site. I certainly felt out of place there because I am neither a miner nor a cane farmer, and I do not have a long, scraggly beard. The local publicans immediately noticed us as outsiders but nonetheless accepted our business.

The hotel is set amongst sugarcane fields

To cap off my enjoyable visit to Mackay, I went with Chris’s family to the Eimeo Hotel for a nice lunch with great company and views. Not only was I grateful for my generous hosts during this trip, but I was also very lucky to have nearly rain-free weather even though the area is still in its summer wet season.

Today, I attended a Rotary Foundation Seminar at the International House on the University of Queensland Campus that brought together incoming, current, and outgoing Ambassadorial Scholars and Peace Fellows. I enjoyed meeting several new people and catching up with other acquaintances as well as providing advice from my eight months of experience during my scholarship period. One Rotarian at the Seminar is the sister of a Rotarian I met while speaking to Heirisson Rotary in Perth! This week, I am continuing to analyze the results from my fluorescence study and preparing for the next phase of my project. On Friday, I leave for New Zealand, so my next post will not be until early April!