ANSTO- related projects
The development of an underground integrated laboratory at Stawell Gold Mine in Victoria to host the Southern Hemisphere's first-ever direct-detection dark matter experiment. This project sees Australian physicists team up with local and international partners in research and industry to join the search for dark matter – seen as the next major challenge for particle and astrophysics.
This Australian experiment aims to help to confirm current results from Northern Hemisphere experiments in the Gran Sasso underground laboratory in Italy. As the Stawell mine nears the end of its working life as a gold mine, this project is expected to benefit the local economy and provide opportunities for education and outreach. Led by Professor Elisabetta Barberio, of the University of Melbourne and the Centre of Excellence for Particle Physics on the Terascale, this five-year $1.19 million project will involve ANSTO’s Drs Richard Garrett and Mark Reinhard as a co-investigators.
2. Understanding groundwater processes
The use of non-conventional lithium and silicon isotopes to understand groundwater processes. The project aims to apply these isotope tracers to trace the water cycle within a well constrained system: an island aquifer with a dense borefield which has been analysed using traditional isotopic techniques. Supporting hydrochemical data will be used to determine the relationship of the isotopes with environmental processes.
The project impact will be the development of new methods to help understand our groundwater resource. The projects' focus on carbonate aquifer systems typical of coastal regions of southern, eastern and western Australia will have relevance to groundwater management in urban areas such as Perth and in rural areas for tourism and viticulture, and for management of natural resources in National Parks. Led by Professor Andrew Baker, from the University of New South Wales, this two-year $138,091 project will involve ANSTO’s Karina Meredith as a co-investigator.
3. Understanding how oxytocin interacts with neural social and reward pathways to guide social behaviour
How Oxytocin is a natural neuropeptide, sometimes dubbed the love hormone, that has a critical role in the regulation of social behaviour across mammalian species. In animals, direct evidence demonstrates how oxytocin interacts with social and reward neural pathways to alter social behaviour, including social recognition, relationship formation, and long-term emotional attachment.
The project intends to use radio-labelling techniques in combination with positron emission tomography to track the still unknown uptake routes and show what regions of the brain oxytocin impacts to then influence social cognition and behaviour in humans. Led by Professor Adam Guastella, from the University of Sydney, this four-year $1.04 million project will involve ANSTO’s Dr Marie-Claude Gregoire and Richard Banati as co-investigators.
4. Water management on resource constrained islands
The project plans to apply three-dimensional participatory mapping, a stakeholder engagement process led and owned by the local communities, on Milingimbi Island in the Northern Territory. The extension of the participatory mapping with a subsurface component will then support the conceptualisation and development of a numerical model of the island's groundwater system.
The predictive model and community engagement processes are expected to provide a more robust methodology for evaluating future water management plans. The project outcomes will contribute to solving water supply problems in remote communities in Australia, and overseas. Led by Dr Vincent Post, from Flinders University, this four-year $420,000 project will involve ANSTO’s Karina Meredith as a co-investigator.