Agave; a new Australian crop with a resilient spirit. This project aims to set the foundations to establish Agave as a sustainable, versatile and climate-proof Australian crop, supporting production of a new high value spirit for domestic and global markets. Outcomes will include novel cultivation and sensor technology for agave harvest at the "sweet spot" and advanced spirit assessment technologies allied with consumer sensory testing. Product character and consistency will be optimised by holi ....Agave; a new Australian crop with a resilient spirit. This project aims to set the foundations to establish Agave as a sustainable, versatile and climate-proof Australian crop, supporting production of a new high value spirit for domestic and global markets. Outcomes will include novel cultivation and sensor technology for agave harvest at the "sweet spot" and advanced spirit assessment technologies allied with consumer sensory testing. Product character and consistency will be optimised by holistic integration and control of the production chain, encompassing plant growth, input materials, and fermentation and distillation steps for a complete plant to bottle pipeline. Read moreRead less
Yeast cell-cell communication of overcrowding and nutrient limitation: novel signalling systems and their impact on fermentation. The project will investigate known and novel signalling molecules that allow communication between yeast cells and impact on fermentation dynamics, specifically in a nutrient-depleted environment. The mechanisms by which these molecules exert their effect will be defined using a systems biology approach that integrates many analyses and data sets.