Uniken

Creator
University of New South Wales. Public Affairs Unit
Call Number
Nf 378.944 UNI
Created/Published
Kensington, N.S.W. : University of New South Wales, [1975]-2015
Issue
1983, no. 10 (22 Jul. - 4 Aug., 1983)
Images
6
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Contents

UNIKEN THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES 1
Major research affiliation announced 1
Tax cuts and wages policy for economic health 1
Sole parentinghow do women cope? 2
UNSW delegation off to C’wlth Universities Congress 2
Acting V-C s while Prof Birt overseas 2
Celebration of Australian music-making 2
New Professorial appointment at AGSM 2
Senator Grimes opens child welfare seminar 2
Profs prefer smoke-free Council Chamber 2
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY WEEK 2
John T. Waterhouse Herbarium opened 2
HEART FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIPS 2
Should companies disclose more about their finances? 2
PONTE PYRMONT 2
UNIVERSITY UNION AGM 2
Joblessness – 30s survivors say its worse today 3
Training program for women an urgent need 3
Raphael – Renaissance man 3
Accident compensation under review 3
Energy and earth-shelter 3
Blanche d’Alpuget at Duntroon 3
Diary covering 23 July – 7 Aug Film Drama Music Art 4
Meetings ft Events 4
In brief... NIDA PLAYS BRECHT 4
1984 JAPANESE SCHOLARSHIPS 4
UNIVERSITIES CREDIT UNION EXPANDS 4
NO SMOKING IN LIFTS 4
FREE USE OF TYPEWRITERS 4
RARE EXHIBITION OF FRENCH RELICS 4
COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARDS 4
PERC'S PACKED PROGRAM 4
Advertising 4
Bouquet and brickbats ACNE STUDY 5
BWIU HISTORY 5
CORONARY RISK FACTORS 5
A UNSW, BUT NOT AN AUSTRALIAN, FIRST 5
Stand dear —it’s Foundation Day 5
New members of Council 5
Rare exhibition of everyday things 5
Professor Walsh dies 5
Council gives guidelines on General Studies 5
COMMITTEES OF COUNCIL 5
Mind and muscle 6
UNSW Heart Fun Run 6
CAMPUS GUIDE re-issued 6
New tower meets cooling needs 6
Geomechanics by long distance 6
Top maths students visit UNSW 6
Catholic chaplain leaves 6
Farewell to three stalwarts 6

Text

UNIKEN  

THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES  

No. 171 po, 10 of 1983)  

Published fortnightly by the Public Affairs Unit  

Registered by Australia Post Publication No. NBF 4388  

22 July 1983  

Major research affiliation announced  

The University of NSW and the Garvan Institute of Medical Research are to become  

affiliated, move which will permit collaboration on important new projects and which is  

expected to make valuable contribution to the level of medical research in New South Wales.  

To launch this collaboration, the Institute and UNSW's School of Biotechnology, together  

with the Australian National University, have begun research program to produce syntheti-  

cally the human growth hormone given to children lacking it, so they can grow to their proper  

height.  

The project is of particular importance now,  

with world-wide shortage of the biologically-  

occurring hormone (collected from cadavers) and an  

increasing demand for its use in treatment. It will be  

the first time this technology has been established  

in Australia synthetic production of the hormone  

has just begun overseas, by one American company.  

The Australian process, for which patent appli-  

cation has been lodged, uses very sophisticated  

purification technique.  

Once the production of the biosynthetic hor-  

mone is under way, it is expected supplies will be  

adequate not only for the treatment of the children  

needing it but for research into other conditions for  

which it may be helpful, such as senility, osteo-  

porosis, burns and fractures.  

The affiliation, of which this project will be the  

first fruit, has been welcomed by both the University  

and the Institute. At present, the Institute is  

attached to St Vincent's Hospital, one of UNSW's  

Principal Teaching Hospitals. The introduction of  

Bill in State Parliament to incorporate it as  

separate body is in train.  

Fundir for medical research in NSW has lagged  

behind tha of other states partly because of the way  

research bodies have been constituted. Through its  

affiliation with UNSW, the Garvan Institute will  

become major research arm of the University, to  

the benefit of both institutions and to medical and  

scientific research in NSW.  

Speaking at function held on 15 July to  

announce formally the intention to affiliate, the  

Vice-Chancellor, Professor Michael Birt, enumerated  

the advantages to the University of such linkage.  

He said there was potential for increasing the  

research output of University departments through  

collaboration with Institute scientists. There was also  

the expectation that UNSW departments, in collab-  

oration with the Institute, would find improved  

prospects for attracting funds for joint research pro-  

jects. There would be greater opportunities for  

access by University staff to the facilities of the  

Institute. On the educational side, opportunities for  

postgraduate training would be enhanced, and it was  

hoped that Institute scientists would make an  

increasing contribution to the University's teaching  

program.  

For the Institute's part, its Chairman, Mr Keith  

Cousins, said access to the University's facilities  

would strengthen the Institute's research base while  

further contact with postgraduate students of the  

University would enrich its intellectual activity. He  

also took the opportunity to announce the Garvan  

Foundation's financing of four new postgraduate  

scholarships, worth $6,680 each.  

Mr Laurie Brereton, the Minister tor Health,  

welcomed the affiliation which he said was in line  

with the State Government's attempts to build up  

NSW medical research institutes so they would be  

large enough to attract continuous Commonwealth  

funding. He said the State Government had shown  

its support for the Garvan earlier this year with  

$50,000 grant for infrastructure, to free other funds  

raised or received by the Institute for pure research.  

The project  

The Garvan Institute has been involved with  

growth hormone treatment for about 20 years and  

its Director, Dr Les Lazarus, is chairman of the com-  

mittee of the Department of Health which admin-  

isters the treatment program. Unlike other countries,  

Australia makes this form of treatment available  

free throughout the nation. But with increasing  

demand (230 children currently receive treatment  

compared with 175 in 1979) and the decrease in  

supplies world-wide, shortfall is predicted in  

Australia in the middle of next  

year.  

Only human growth hor-  

mone will produce growth in  

children. The hormone is  

presently extracted from pitu-  

itary glands collected at  

autopsy. One gland is needed  

week for the treatment of  

each child.  

Dr Lazarus says the in-  

crease in demand is due to  

greater awareness by doctors  

and better diagnostic facilities  

in peripheral centres. 'The  

problem of supply and demand  

is further complicated by  

recent evidence suggesting that  

these hormones will also help  

children whose own growth  

hormones, though present in  

the blood, appear to be inert.  

The drop in the number of  

autopsies, he says, is partly the  

result of the use of modern  

diagnostic techniques such as  

CAT scanners to diagnose fatal  

conditions.  

If imported natural hor-  

mones were used to bridge the  

gap, should they be available,  

this would cost about $7,000  

year per child. It is antici-  

pated the biosynthetic hor-  

mone will be produced for  

considerably less, and at  

level sufficient to fill local  

needsand perhaps be exported.  

The technique  

Production of the biosynthetic growth hor-  

mone will use recombinant DMA technology and  

monoclonal antibody purification. Dr John Shine of  

ANU's Centre for Recombinant DNA Research will  

carry out the first steps construction of the gene  

coding for the human growth hormone and inser-  

tion of the gene into the DNA of coli bacterium.  

Dr Peter Gray of UNSW’s School of Biotech-  

nology will then grow the result in fermentation  

vessels in the School under such conditions that it  

will produce human growth hormone and carry out  

extraction and initial purification. Dr Lazarus will  

then do the final purification using monoclonal  

antibody. (A monoclonal antibody is cell which  

has been genetically engineered to continue produc-  

ing single antibody forever. In collaboration with  

the CSIRO's Molecular and Cellular Biology Unit,  

the Garvan Institute has prepared and characterized  

number of these antibodies.)  

Dr Gray estimates that it production goes  

smoothly, about 400,000 units of the growth  

hormone, equivalent to 60,000 glands, can be made  

each year (compared with present needs of about  

80,000 units year). Once established, the program  

will then be able to produce other hormones and  

growth factors of medical and agricultural  

importance.  

Tax cuts and wages policy for economic health  

Australia needs tax cuts combined with  

an effective prices and incomes policy to cure  

the stagflation besetting the economy, accord-  

ing to Professor John Nevile, Dean of UNSW's  

Faculty of Commerce.  

Professor Nevile favours cuts in indirect  

taxes as means of boosting the economy,  

together with once-and-for-all cut in real  

wages of about 10 per cent, followed by some  

years of full indexation but no catch-up rises.  

In his view, mixes of monetary and fiscal  

policy alone cannot achieve lasting improve-  

ment in the economy without increasing  

inflation.  

In paper entitled Monetary and fiscal policies  

against stagflation, just published by UNSW's Centre  

for Applied Economic Research, Professor Nevile  

also argues that people should not be overly con-  

cerned at the size of the deficit because, he says,  

large budget deficit does not automatically lead to  

higher interest rates and burgeoning inflation. He  

does not believe it is necessary to have rising interest  

rates to sell more government bonds the psycho-  

logical climate and the expectation about changes in  

the interest rate, rather than the rate itself, have  

most significance. Professor Nevile quotes figures  

showing lack of correlation between rise in  

interest rates and an increase in government bonds  

sold. In 1979/80, for instance, the interest rate rose  

substantially with virtually no change in the level of  

bond sales.  

The other way to finance deficit, by increas-  

ing the money supply, is generally assumed to be  

inflationary. But Professor Nevile believes this is  

not always true in the shorter term, particularly in  

circumstances where expansionary fiscal policies  

would help increase the rate of economic growth.  

In his prescription for economic recovery.  

Professor Nevile says that prices and incomes  

policy is essential to break the nexus between  

unemployment and inflation. 'The difficulty is that  

monetary and fiscal moves that reduce unemploy-  

ment and stimulate the economy tend to increase  

inflation.' (And as the Fraser Government found,  

he says, even those who decide to 'fight inflation  

first' often fail in their stated aim.)  

According to Professor Nevile, 10 per cent  

'cut' in real wages (produced by wage freeze that  

lasted while prices rose by 10 per cent) would cause  

fall in the inflation rate. At the same time, an  

expansionary fiscal policy, in the form of cuts in  

indirect taxation, would also reduce the rate of  

growth of the Consumer Price Index. This would  

have moderating effect on wages and inflation. The  

tax cuts would also put more money back into the  

hands of businesses and consumers, stimulating  

demand. Once the 'wage cut' had taken effect, full  

indexation would be introduced but without any  

catch-up or productivity rises.  

'Some sort of prices supervision would be  

necessary as window dressing, to get the unions to  

accept the rest of the package', he says, 'though  

believe measures to increase competition are the best  

way to keep prices from going up.'  

In the paper Professor Nevile also discusses  

the effects of monetary/fiscal policy mixes different  

from the constrictive one tried by the Fraser Govern-  

ment. He believes combination of tighter fiscal  

policy and easier monetary policy could either  

reduce inflation or increase economic activity but  

only at the expense of worsening the other. Some  

combinations may even make both unemployment  

and inflation greater in the short to medium run, he  

says.  

Another alternative, that of cutting taxes but  

keeping tight rein on the money supply, could  

help in reducing inflation and unemployment to  

some extent (especially with an appreciation of the  

exchange rate), he says. But big improvements would  

need very large changes in tax and interest rates  

which would disrupt the share of resources going to  

different parts of the economy.  

On the question of fiscal policy, Professor  

Nevile advocates an easing of taxation rather than an  

increase in government expenditure, because the  

latter stimulates the economy without dampening  

inflation. He favours cuts in indirect taxes rather  

than in direct taxation because there is more  

immediate and more predictable impact on the CPI.  

Parties to the affiliation, from left: Sister Marie  

Haren, R.S.C., Sister Administrator of St Vincent's  

Hospital, Professor Michael Birt, UNSW's Vice-  

Chancellor, Mr Laurie Brereton, Minister for Health,  

Mr Keith Cousins, Chairman of the Garvan Institute,  

and its Director, Dr Les Lazarus.  

Purification of growth hormone  

using monoclonal antibody  

Pictures this page: Public Affairs Unit  

Dr Les Lazarus (Garvan Institute), Dr Peter Gray  

(UNSW) and Dr John Shine (ANU), (front to back),  

with the fast protein liquid chromatograph used in  

the monoclonal antibody purification.  

Professor John Nevile, Dean of the Faculty of  

Commerce and Director of the Centre for Applied  

Economic Research.  

Cite

Citation options:
Work identifier

http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-257321607

APA citation

University of New South Wales. Public Affairs Unit & University of New South Wales, issuing body. (1975). Uniken Retrieved April 18, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-257321607

MLA citation

University of New South Wales. Public Affairs Unit and University of New South Wales, issuing body. Uniken Kensington, N.S.W: University of New South Wales, 1975. Web. 18 April 2025 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-257321607>

Harvard/Australian citation

University of New South Wales. Public Affairs Unit & University of New South Wales, issuing body. 1975, Uniken University of New South Wales, Kensington, N.S.W viewed 18 April 2025 http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-257321607

Wikipedia citation

{{Citation
  | author1=University of New South Wales. Public Affairs Unit.
  | author2=University of New South Wales, issuing body.
  | title=Uniken.
  | year=1975
  | section=volumes : illustrations ; 30-43 cm.
  | issn=0312-7877
  | issue=1983, no. 10 (22 Jul. - 4 Aug., 1983)
  | location=Kensington, N.S.W
  | publisher=University of New South Wales
  | url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-257321607
  | id=nla.obj-257321607
  | access-date=18 April 2025
  | via=Trove
}}

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