CIBER news

Here we provide you with recent information that is linked to our work

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October 2009

A grant application written by researchers and beekeepers of CIBER successfully secured a total of 800'000 A$ of funding for honeybee research over the next 4 years. The money received will allow to strenghteh the links between researchers and the bee industry and will investigate causes and consequences of bee male fertility. To download the press release by the University click here.

September 2009

The fascinating biology of honeybees, their importance for human food production and the global decline of honeybees was featured in a two page article in the West Australian by Sally-Ann Jones.
To download and read the story (1.1 MB) that also mentiones CIBER please click here.

September 2009

Veronica Poland successfully applied for a Research Development Award. Veronica plans to use a molecular technique (micro arrays) in order to identify those genes that are up or down regulated when honeybee queens receive seminal fluid. The idea is to get first insights into ejaculate-female interactions in order to shed light on how sexual conflict operates on the molecular level.

August 2009

The global decline of honeybees and its possible causes and consequences as well as the scientifc work currently conducted at CIBER were feartured by two radio interviews, one aired on ABC and a second one by 6RTR

August 2009

Entomology Australia is devoted to raising the profile of entomological education in Australia and CIBER and its activities is the featured research of the month. To visit the Website click here

July 2009

Congratulations to Tiffane Bates and Rodolfo Jaffe. Both won prestigious fellowships to continue their research on honeybees. Tiffane Bates received a Churchill fellowship which offers her the opportunity to investigate possible pathways to prepare Australian bees for the arrival of the Varroa mite. Rodolfo Jaffe won a postdoctoral stipendium from the University of Western Australia and will join the CIBER group later this year. Rodolfo wants to intensify his work on the mating biology of honeybees.

July 2009

An article about Ciber is published this month in the Australasian Beekeeper. The online version of the journal can be accessed here. To read an electronic version of the article click here

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June 2009

The honeybee work done by CIBER researchers is mentioned in the latest edition of Uniview. To download and read the article click here.

CIBER is also featured in the latest edition of the UWA News. To see this article click here.

June 2009

Ciber researchers received funding by the Worldwide Universities Network. The money granted will allow to intensify the collaborative work done between the University of Western Australia and the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom. A main aim of the work supported will be to initiate research that identifies and studies sexually transmitted diseases in honeybees over the next 12 month.

May 2009

Ciber researcher Boris Baer was involved in a collaborative study that now got published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the Royal Society, Biological Sciences. The paper reports a first case of a clonal ant species without any sexual reproduction. Several newspapers picked up the story presented in the paper, for example BBC News, the Telegraph or National Geographic. The work is also mentioned at Wikipedia.

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May 2009

The Swiss Ambassador to Australia, Dr. Daniel Woker, accompanied by the honorary consul of Switzerland Dr. Juerg Weber and his wife Elisabeth Weber, visited CIBER. The visitors were provided with a brief overview of the work performed at CIBER and discussed possibilities to strengthen scientific links and exchange between Switzerland and Australia, for example through activities organised by SAAN, the Swiss Australian Academic Network.

April 2009

Susanne den Boer has succesfully defended her PhD work. Congratulations! Her future plans are to continue working on honeybee reproduction and to join the Ciber team in Perth again early next year.

January 2009

Ciber beekeeper Tiffane Bates talked about her work on the Radio. To listen to what she had to say — right click to download mp3 (3.5MB 15mins) or listen now:

October 2008

The honeybee reseach conducted at the University of Western Australia is mentioned in the UWA news. To see the article Click here