MEL, 2018

Camera: Leica SL
Exposure: 1/30
Aperture: f/1.4
Focal Length: 35mm
ISO: 1,600

My chairman Randall Olson and I had 3.5 days of *intense* meetings in Melbourne with the crew at Centre for Eye Research Australia.  It started the night we arrived (after I ran over to the Grand Prix for a couple of hours) with this walk down an alleyway to get something absolutely delicious to eat.  The food scene in Melbourne is amazing and inspiring, and makes me want to come back to sample more of the cuisine.

 

This time of year is early autumn in Australia, and after the rains the night before, the weather was gorgeous, making it hard to spend all day inside in meetings.

 

However, the meetings with the Centre for Eye Research Australia could not have gone better and I think we have set the stage for a productive collaboration with the Moran Eye Center to explore disorders of the optic nerve and future therapies for diseases like glaucoma and multiple sclerosis, as well as providing a framework for potential new therapies for other blinding conditions. Dr. Jonathan Crowston is going to head the project from the Melbourne side, and I’ll head up the project from the Salt Lake City side.

 

Melbourne is just gorgeous in the autumn.  I did not have much time to explore, but walking back and forth to the meetings and lunch/dinner gave me a little taste of the city and now I want to go back.  The 22hr journey from Salt Lake City, Utah is hard, but totally worth it once you get there.

 

 

The last day I was in Melbourne, we wrapped up in the late afternoon which gave me an hour until The National Gallery of Victoria which closed at 5.  There is an exhibit there by Ron Mueck that I absolutely wanted to see.  The exhibit was of massive, hand-cast skulls stacked in a room.  So, when we got out, I literally ran through the streets just like I did a few days before for the Formula One Grand Prix and got to the Vic at 4:30, giving me just enough time to see the skulls, but unfortunately, not to linger long.  The exhibit was amazing, and the detail truly satisfied this neuroscientist who spent an inordinate about of time studying skulls.

 

It seemed every skull was different, and I’d dearly love to figure out how to get one of the skulls for exhibit here at the University of Utah as part of a science and art exhibit.  If anyone knows a contact, let me know.

 

Thank you Melbourne!  I suspect I’ll be back before too long to visit you again. :-)

 

6 Replies to “MEL, 2018”

  1. I do appreciate the way you show the cities visited. Love the photos and even I’m not planning to see Melbourne anytime soon, I’ll keep that saved for future use.
    Skulls exhibition – wonderful. If you would have a possibility to visit Europe, there are two famous (real) skull chapels – one in Czech Republic in Kutna Hora, second in Poland in Kudowa Zdroj. Some photos from Kutna Hora:

    http://zuzanka.blogitko.pl/entry/kutna-hora

  2. I love your Melbourne photos and I am hoping you can find the resources to entice the Skull exhibit to Utah. Perhaps someone at The Leonardo or the UMFA may be helpful in this regard.

  3. Bryan, love the photos and am looking forward to working with you, Randall and other colleagues at the Moran. This program will empower us to do something significant for people who have lost their vision from optic nerve disease!

    1. Hey Jonathan! Was good to see you in Hawaii. I’ll get those photos posted, hopefully before too long. Trying to finish up some of the funding from our angle here which is occupying much of my time. Looking forward to seeing where we can take this initiative.

Leave a Reply to Jonathan C Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *