Evolutionary genetics of bovid genomes over 60,000 years. This project will provide data critical for understanding the genetic background of modern cattle and bison, and how humans have shaped factors such as milk yield, growth rates and muscle mass. It will also reveal genes and genomic regions that were favoured in the domestication process, including those potentially linked to genes of commercial interest for future research. This pioneering ancient DNA approach will also be applicable to a ....Evolutionary genetics of bovid genomes over 60,000 years. This project will provide data critical for understanding the genetic background of modern cattle and bison, and how humans have shaped factors such as milk yield, growth rates and muscle mass. It will also reveal genes and genomic regions that were favoured in the domestication process, including those potentially linked to genes of commercial interest for future research. This pioneering ancient DNA approach will also be applicable to a variety of other domestic crops and animals. The unique temporal analysis of microevolution will provide crucial data for genetic research, and groundproof our attempts to analyse the timing and nature of human evolutionary history, major domestication events and inform conservation management.Read moreRead less
Liver fluke: improving disease control through understanding of parasite diversity, drug resistance and better diagnosis. The benefits from this research include: (i) development of knowledge that will allow a better use of existing drug formulations to protect livestock from fasciolosis, potentially generating economic benefits to Australian producers of up to $50-80m/year; (ii) improved application of new commercial therapies for fasciolosis in ruminants, improving producer prosperity; (iii) ....Liver fluke: improving disease control through understanding of parasite diversity, drug resistance and better diagnosis. The benefits from this research include: (i) development of knowledge that will allow a better use of existing drug formulations to protect livestock from fasciolosis, potentially generating economic benefits to Australian producers of up to $50-80m/year; (ii) improved application of new commercial therapies for fasciolosis in ruminants, improving producer prosperity; (iii) enhanced training opportunities for graduate students that will build human capacity in technologies such as molecular diagnostics which have a wide application across the animal sectors; (iv) enhancement of our capacity to respond to unexpected future threats in production animals.Read moreRead less