Viruses

in our Environment
An Open Mini-Symposium
Faculty of Life and Social Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology
Swinburne Visiting Researcher Scheme
Time, Date, Venue:- 10.15am-12.15pm; Monday 21st October; Hawthorn TD121
You will definitely know that viruses cause well-recognised diseases of humans (e.g.
AIDS, influenza), other animals (e.g. rabies) and plants. But recent studies have found
viruses to have more pervasive roles on earth and their niches and profusion are
astonishing.
This mini-symposium will introduce you to the marine environment where viruses
are by far the most abundant lifeforms and the reservoir of most of the genetic
diversity in the sea. Our first speaker, Curtis Suttle, estimated that if the 1030 viruses
in the ocean were stretched end-to-end, they would extend further than the nearest 60
galaxies. Probing the marine virosphere is yielding exciting discoveries. Watch this
short movie to catch up on some of Curtis comments
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi4B98u4hJ4).
Madeleine van Oppen (a Swinburne Visiting Researcher Scheme awardee) studies
iconic marine animals corals, which are host to a vast and diverse assemblage of
viruses. These have been hypothesised to cause disease and potentially coral
bleaching; this as well as their likely beneficial or mutualistic role in the so-called
coral symbiome, is being explored in Madeleines ARC Future Fellowship research
program. She will describe all the elements of the coral symbiome, their roles and
interactions and give information on the latest results about coral associated viruses.
Our third speaker, Glenn Marsh will discuss unfolding Australian discoveries around
bats, their virome and virus transmission. Bats, an ancient group of flying mammals,
are being increasingly recognized as an important reservoir of zoonotic viruses of
different families, including SARS coronavirus, Nipah virus, Hendra virus and Ebola
virus. The premise that bats carry a large number of viruses is commonly accepted,
and viruses of livestock and humans could be derived from bat viruses. Do bats have
unique biological features making them ideal reservoir hosts? There are clear public
health implications of bat derived zoonotic viral disease outbreaks and well-defined
research directions are required to ensure better control of future disease events.

Viruses in our Environment

Program (tea/coffee from 10.15-10.30 foyer adjacent to TD121)
Speaker
Associate Professor Karen
Farquharson, ADR Faculty of
Life & Social Sciences
Professor Curtis Suttle,
University of British Colombia,
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Dr Madeleine van Oppen,
Australian Institute of Marine
Science, Townsville, Queensland
Swinburne Visiting Researcher
2013
Dr Glenn Marsh
CSIRO Animal, Food and Health
Sciences,
Australian Animal Health
Laboratory, Geelong, VIC
Professor Linda Blackall

Title
Introduction

Time
10.30-10.35

Marine viruses major

players in the global
ecosystem
The coral holobiont and
the potential role of
viruses in coral ecology
and evolution

10.35-11.00

Bats and their virome:

an important source of
emerging viruses
capable of infecting
humans
Panel Discussion

11.30-12.00

11.00-11.30

12.00-12.15

Background information on speakers:Curtis Suttle http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi4B98u4hJ4;

http://www.eos.ubc.ca/about/faculty/C.Suttle.html
Madeleine van Oppen
http://data.aims.gov.au/staffcv/jsf/external/view.xhtml?partyId=100000442;
http://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=VTjKnHMAAAAJ&hl=en
See the coral symbiome that Madeleine studies (movie from her collaborator Ruth
Gates) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=al7SIGBVgWo
Glenn Marsh - http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Glenn_Marsh/ and
http://www.csiro.au/places/aahl
Where Glenn works with Linfa Wang http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/2500895.htm