Powering Discovery, Sharing Success, and Building Community
Dear Name,
Welcome to our July newsletter.
As we mark 25 years of accelerating Australian science, June brought moments that reflected just how far we have come—and where we are heading next.
Pawsey hosted a special gathering of our NCRIS colleagues, organised by RIC, with a spotlight on national collaboration, research infrastructure, and WA innovation. The event welcomed the WA Chief Scientist and representatives from the newly rebranded Department of Energy and Economic Diversification (DEED).
Meanwhile, our CEO Mark Stickells AM took Pawsey to the world stage at ISC25 in Hamburg, driving critical conversations on AI, equity, quantum, national capability, and the future of HPC, reminding us all that AI is built on HPC.
June also closed the financial year, and we are getting ready to bring our story to life. Our 2024–25 Annual Review will once again be a digital interactive experience, showcasing community impact, infrastructure highlights, and the people behind the science. Stay tuned; we cannot wait to share it with you.
Looking ahead, mark your calendars: Pawsey will proudly host the WA Launch of National Science Week on 8 August. More details to register for the online event are coming soon.
Plus, do not miss your last chance to enter our Visualisation Competition, and register now for our upcoming Nextflow for Life Sciences workshop.
Dive into this month’s newsletter to get across all our upcoming events — and discover why dark matter is not only in space, but hidden deep in our own genetic code.
25 years of powering Australian science
From our beginnings as iVEC with just ten research projects, we now support over 200 projects annually across AI, climate, health, and more, powered by Australia’s most advanced and greenest supercomputer. As we mark this milestone, we reflect on the people, partnerships, and projects that shaped our journey and look ahead to the discoveries still to come.
Few Days Left to Share Your Science Through Visualisation
Showcase your science, inspire your peers, and join the 2025 Pawsey Visualisation Conference.
Using visualisation in your research?
Whether for discovery or communication, your visualisation deserves to be seen.
Submit to the Pawsey Visualisation Conference this August and showcase your work to a national audience of researchers and science communicators. Enter our Visualisation Showcase—a friendly competition celebrating storytelling through images, animation, or VR. You can present remotely or in person, and attend online or on-site.
Unsure if your visualisation is suitable, or thinking about submitting but have questions? Reach out via help@pawsey.org.au and have a chat. We would love to help you bring your story to life.
In-person at Pawsey (and other sites across Australia)
Nextflow for Life Sciences Workshop
Join from Pawsey
Pawsey is a satellite venue for the upcoming Nextflow for the Life Sciences workshop, hosted by Australian BioCommons and the National Bioinformatics Training Cooperative.
Designed for life science researchers, this hands-on workshop will guide participants in building reproducible and scalable scientific workflows using Nextflow.
Led by experts from the Sydney Informatics Hub, this is a great chance to upskill in a supportive, collaborative environment.
Celebrate the wonders of quantum science with this year’s theme, Decoding the Universe. Hear from leading WA scientists and special guests, including The Hon Stephen Dawson MLC, Minister for Science. Registration will be available soon in our website.
More chances to connect with the Pawsey team and discover HPC
Hidden Genetic "Dark Matter" Could Predict Parkinson's Disease
What if the key to predicting Parkinson's disease progression has been hiding in our "junk DNA" all along? Australian researcher Professor Sulev Koks, from Murdoch University and the Perron Institute for Neurological and Translational Science, reveals how SINE-VNTR-Alu (SVA) retrotransposons—often dismissed as "junk DNA"—may serve as powerful biomarkers for neurodegenerative disease.
For decades, scientists dismissed large portions of our DNA as useless "junk." But Prof Koks, and the international team he led, found that these overlooked genetic elements—nicknamed "dark matter"—actually act like molecular switches, turning genes on and off throughout our bodies.
Their study, published in Nature Scientific Reports, focused on one specific piece of genetic dark matter called SVA_67. They discovered that people with different versions of this genetic switch show varying patterns of Parkinson's progression, from brain changes visible on scans to how quickly symptoms worsen.
Powered by Pawsey, the researchers analysed data from hundreds of Parkinson's patients using the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative. As Prof Koks explains in the video, "this research would not be possible without Pawsey"—Australia's national supercomputing facility.
Listen to Prof Koks on our YouTube channel or read his Nature paper here.
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