Understanding specificity and flexibility in coral symbioses. This project aims to understand why some corals can switch algal partners while others remain faithful to a single strain. This is important because corals depend on their symbiotic algal partners for survival and because some algae provide greater resilience to environmental stress than others. This project will greatly enhance our understanding of the molecular and physiological factors governing flexibility and specificity in coral ....Understanding specificity and flexibility in coral symbioses. This project aims to understand why some corals can switch algal partners while others remain faithful to a single strain. This is important because corals depend on their symbiotic algal partners for survival and because some algae provide greater resilience to environmental stress than others. This project will greatly enhance our understanding of the molecular and physiological factors governing flexibility and specificity in coral-algal symbioses. It will provide much-needed knowledge required to identify associations most appropriate for specific conditions, prioritise populations for conservation, and assess the feasibility of new approaches to managing and restoring coral reefs.
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Next generation high throughput lipidomics using adaptive modelling. This project aims to develop a unique high-throughput method to capture the lipidomic profile of human plasma suitable for large human population screening. Lipids are fundamental to every biological system, but our understanding of their regulation in humans have been largely superficial. By incorporating a new lipidomics approach, with genomic data, this project aims to expand our understanding of human biology by identifying ....Next generation high throughput lipidomics using adaptive modelling. This project aims to develop a unique high-throughput method to capture the lipidomic profile of human plasma suitable for large human population screening. Lipids are fundamental to every biological system, but our understanding of their regulation in humans have been largely superficial. By incorporating a new lipidomics approach, with genomic data, this project aims to expand our understanding of human biology by identifying regulators of lipid metabolism. The large diversity in humans necessitate sufficient sample sizes to identify true genetic regulators, but to date techniques capturing phenotypic data (lipids) have been largely limited. It is anticipated that this study will identify new regulators of lipid metabolism in humans.Read moreRead less
Investigating a novel genetic strategy for insect resistance in crops. Plants are in a constant battle with insect pests and there is an increasing reliance on chemical inputs for control. However there are incoming bans on some pesticides, and new approaches are required for pest management. The aim of this project is to develop a new strategy which exploits the dependence of herbivorous insects on phytosterols. Here, we will apply the latest genomics technologies in plants to produce non-utili ....Investigating a novel genetic strategy for insect resistance in crops. Plants are in a constant battle with insect pests and there is an increasing reliance on chemical inputs for control. However there are incoming bans on some pesticides, and new approaches are required for pest management. The aim of this project is to develop a new strategy which exploits the dependence of herbivorous insects on phytosterols. Here, we will apply the latest genomics technologies in plants to produce non-utilizable sterols which will not support insect growth and reproduction, but will still allow the plant to function normally. We will demonstrate this in the important crop canola. Translation of this knowledge will support breeding for crop resilience, leading to durable resistance and more sustainable crop production.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE240100573
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$450,877.00
Summary
Genomics of extinction and isolation on Australian island arks. This project aims to measure the genetic health of key populations of threatened Australian mammals. With the highest rate of extinction in the world and over 30% of surviving species under immediate threat, Australian mammals require urgent focus to secure their future. This project focuses on island populations, which are increasingly used as sources to rewild mainland Australia. Using cutting-edge genomic tools, this project plan ....Genomics of extinction and isolation on Australian island arks. This project aims to measure the genetic health of key populations of threatened Australian mammals. With the highest rate of extinction in the world and over 30% of surviving species under immediate threat, Australian mammals require urgent focus to secure their future. This project focuses on island populations, which are increasingly used as sources to rewild mainland Australia. Using cutting-edge genomic tools, this project plans to determine the extent and nature of genetic variation, including harmful mutations, on islands and in declining mainland populations. The anticipated outcome is to understand how genetic factors contribute to extinction, to improve conservation strategies for threatened species.Read moreRead less
Australian Laureate Fellowships - Grant ID: FL230100030
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$3,320,000.00
Summary
A walk on the wild side: understanding disease resistance across plants. Plants are in constant battle with pests and pathogens. Wild species host genetic diversity, providing sources of disease resistance, while the narrow genetic base of crop varieties leads to an increasing reliance on the unsustainable application of chemical fungicides. Here I will apply the latest genomics approaches to characterise disease resistance gene diversity across the plant kingdom. Comparison of gene diversity wi ....A walk on the wild side: understanding disease resistance across plants. Plants are in constant battle with pests and pathogens. Wild species host genetic diversity, providing sources of disease resistance, while the narrow genetic base of crop varieties leads to an increasing reliance on the unsustainable application of chemical fungicides. Here I will apply the latest genomics approaches to characterise disease resistance gene diversity across the plant kingdom. Comparison of gene diversity within and between plant families will improve our understanding of resistance gene evolution in wild species and the impact of domestication and breeding on resistance gene diversity. Translation of this knowledge will support breeding for crop resilience, leading to durable resistance and more sustainable crop productionRead moreRead less
Decoding Bacterial Epigenetic Regulation. This project aims to characterise bacterial epigenetic regulation by determining the mechanism of action and impact of bacterial DNA methylation. This project expects to generate new knowledge about fundamental aspects of bacterial gene regulation, using a novel combination of cutting edge DNA and RNA sequencing, proteomic and bioinformatic approaches. The expected outcomes of this project will provide new tools to facilitate the integration of epigenomi ....Decoding Bacterial Epigenetic Regulation. This project aims to characterise bacterial epigenetic regulation by determining the mechanism of action and impact of bacterial DNA methylation. This project expects to generate new knowledge about fundamental aspects of bacterial gene regulation, using a novel combination of cutting edge DNA and RNA sequencing, proteomic and bioinformatic approaches. The expected outcomes of this project will provide new tools to facilitate the integration of epigenomic analysis into genomic studies, exponentially increasing the volume and value of data gathered. This would provide significant future benefits to all academic, biotechnology, agricultural, veterinary and pharmaceutical applications that involve bacterial genomic analysis.Read moreRead less
Advancing plant synthetic gene circuit capability, robustness, and use. This project aims to advance our ability to control gene expression in plants using synthetic gene circuits. By expanding the toolkit and optimizing circuit components, we aim to achieve more complex capabilities and robust implementation. Furthermore, we will apply gene circuit technologies to enhance plant frost tolerance. The expected project outcomes include a significant advance in gene circuit capabilities, a better un ....Advancing plant synthetic gene circuit capability, robustness, and use. This project aims to advance our ability to control gene expression in plants using synthetic gene circuits. By expanding the toolkit and optimizing circuit components, we aim to achieve more complex capabilities and robust implementation. Furthermore, we will apply gene circuit technologies to enhance plant frost tolerance. The expected project outcomes include a significant advance in gene circuit capabilities, a better understanding of their behavior in plant cells, and the ability to use them to confer advantageous traits. The benefits of this research include new plant biotechnology tools that will underpin future crop yield improvements, and advances in plant-based pharmaceuticals and materials.Read moreRead less
Hyperactive endogenous retroviruses and their impact on the koala genome. Koala populations are in steep decline with the ubiquitous koala retrovirus (KoRV) strongly linked with disease. KoRV and other less studied endogenous retrovirus (ERVs) are extremely active within the genome of koalas to a level never observed in any other vertebrate genome. This study will map ERV integration sites within koalas from across their geographic range country and use long-read genomics approaches to understan ....Hyperactive endogenous retroviruses and their impact on the koala genome. Koala populations are in steep decline with the ubiquitous koala retrovirus (KoRV) strongly linked with disease. KoRV and other less studied endogenous retrovirus (ERVs) are extremely active within the genome of koalas to a level never observed in any other vertebrate genome. This study will map ERV integration sites within koalas from across their geographic range country and use long-read genomics approaches to understand the link between KoRV and other ERVs, the impact on koala caused by dramatic genomic rewiring, and the mechanisms of genomic immunity which supress ERV activity and mitigate disease. Findings will provide insights into the ongoing arms race between virus and host and inform conservation of an iconic species.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE230100377
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$423,659.00
Summary
Facilitating control of Queensland fruit fly and other insect pests. This project aims to address the need for a Queensland fruit fly male-only sterile release strain for the national Sterile Insect Technique program to control this devastating Australian horticulture pest. By combining two molecular technologies in a new strain that responds to temperature cues to trigger development of only male flies, this project expects to produce twice as many sterile males for release to mate with wild fe ....Facilitating control of Queensland fruit fly and other insect pests. This project aims to address the need for a Queensland fruit fly male-only sterile release strain for the national Sterile Insect Technique program to control this devastating Australian horticulture pest. By combining two molecular technologies in a new strain that responds to temperature cues to trigger development of only male flies, this project expects to produce twice as many sterile males for release to mate with wild females in fruit fly outbreak areas, preventing production of the next generation. Expected outcomes include significant reduction in production costs and increased efficiency of the national sterile release program, facilitating control of this damaging pest to protect Australia's billion dollar horticultural industry.Read moreRead less