2009/2010 project update
 At our Board meeting last Friday the Board supported the recommendation
of the Wind-Up Committee to extend funding for a number of projects
through to 30 June 2010. For some of you this will be welcome news as
it will go part the way to address future employment issues for you and
the CRC.
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Board support is conditional upon project variation terms being addressed, but most importantly that the direction and efforts of the projects concentrate on the delivery of key outcomes as requested by the Wind-Up Committee. Over the next month or so there will be discussions between individual Program Managers and Supervisors, along with CRC Management to ensure mutually agreeable research plans are developed and resourced.
Any questions, please contact me at our Head Office, ph: 3365 7502.
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Symposium wrap up
 Our 2008 Research Symposium was very well received, so a big thanks to all of you who helped to make it a success. More
Held this year at the Victoria Park Golf Club, Herston, Brisbane, the event was attended by 100 guests (mostly CRC SIIB staff and students).
Held over two days, the Symposium including a series of stimulating presentations and discussions, our gala Awards Night, and a small collection of poster presentations.
Peter Twine said our Symposium highlighted that the innovative work by our staff was helping to improve the quality of crops in Australia and overseas and tackle issues such as; developing much needed alternative products from sugarcane and offering the Australian sugarcane industry a world-first genotyping service.
A collection of photographs from the event will soon be posted on our web site.
Caption: Some of the Education team pictured at this year's Symposium.
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Our Annual Awards
  The Australian sugar industry's best and brightest were recognised at our Symposium on Wednesday night (3 Dec).
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Held at Victoria Park Golf Course, Herston Brisbane, our 'Symposium
Awards' recognised the leading biotechnology research and development
work conducted by our scientists and students.
Award winners
Opportunity Catcher - Wendy Chen, Hyaluronic acid
Best Project Leader - Dr Anne Rae, Alternative sugars
Best Communicator of CRC Outcomes - Julie Lloyd
Best Performing Team - The PHB team, Bioplastics
Most Collaborative Researcher - Dr Graham Bonnett, Managing the safe release of genetically modified cultivars
Most Collaborative Research Assistant/Technician - Edwina Williams and Lihan Zhao
Chairman's Award for best CRC Patent - Lignin to produce water proof paper
Chairman's Award for best CRC Patent/Publication - Dr Graham Bonnett et
al, Identifying the risks of transgene escape from sugarcane crops to
related species
Student Completion Award (4 students):
Mark Jackson - Vacuole targeting
Hayati Iskandar - Genes associated with sucrose storage
Victor Arias-Espana - Clarification of cane juice for polylactic acid production
Karno Karno - Physiology of bud outgrowth in sugarcane
Best poster - Science education - Kalani Eggington
Best oral presentation - Bioactive natural products - Dionne Payn
Caption: Edwina Williams who won one of two awards for the Most Collaborative Research Assistant/TechnicianCaption: Members of the Lignin Team, who this year won the award for Best CRC Patent.
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DAS - new CRC participant
 After many months of negotiations, Dow Agro Science (DAS) is now formally a supporting participant of our CRC.
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Our sincere welcome to DAS staff both in Australia and
at Indianapolis, where much of our initial contact has been. However,
the interaction between the CRC and DAS is likely to extend to any of
the other groups within the DAS / Dow complex. Both these groups
brings an enormous breadth of interests in both the industrial and
agricultural biotechnology area and we look forward to future
interactions which help bring value to both groups both here and
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2009 conferences and meetings There are several events of note that we think you should pencil into your calendars for 2009! Importantly, we need all Project Leaders to RSVP re the Couran Cove Project Leaders meeting.
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Couran Cove Project Leaders meeting
The Couran Cove Project Leaders meeting has now been booked for
11 and 12 February. Hopefully this will give you all plenty of time to
make room in your diaries for this event. Please email Chermaine at our
Head Office (Chermaine.lung@crcsugar.com) if you will be attending or
not and if you have any dietary requirements. Peter Twine will send out
an agenda and information closer to the event.
ASSCT
The ASSCT Annual Conference will be held at Ballina, NSW from
Tuesday, 5 May to Friday 8 May 2009. For further information, go to
http://www.assct.com.au/. For all presenting authors of CRC research
papers/posters, the CRC will consider contributing $500 towards
conference costs. Please contact Peter Twine (peter.twine@crcsugar.com)
or Ida Fellegara (ida.fellegara@crcsugar.com) for more information.
Tropical Crop Biotechnology
This second Tropical Crop Biotechnology Conference will be held at
Kruger National Park, South Africa, from 22-25 July 2009. This is a
follow-up to the very successful first conference held in Cairns,
Australia, in 2006. The 2009 event will be an update of progress and
prospects in plant biotechnology for the tropics.
For more information on the scientific programme and to register for
next mailing contact Jens Kossmann, Institute for Plant Biotechnology,
University of Stellenbosch (kossmann@sun.ac.za).
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Christmas Wishes!
 As the Festive Season looms upon us Peter Twine and Head Office staff would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
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Christmas gift suggestions:
To your enemy, forgiveness.
To an opponent, tolerance.
To a friend, your heart.
To a customer, service.
To all, charity.
To every child, a good example.
To yourself, respect.
by Oren Arnold
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