Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE110100143
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$500,000.00
Summary
Flexible architecture high-performance computing facility for the intersect consortium of New South Wales. This new supercomputing facility is an important addition to the nation's research infrastructure and will enable world-leading, New South Wales researchers to continue their ground breaking work in increasingly competitive environments. Much of the research to be undertaken at the facility lies in areas of national priority, including frontier technologies and environmental sustainability.
Understanding the differentiation of the endocardium. The project aims to understand the genetic regulation of endocardial development. The heart is essential for survival, its beat the indicator of life. The endocardium, the heart’s inner lining, is required for signalling during heart development and is a major component of the valves, septa and trabeculae. Despite its indispensable role, little is known about how it forms or develops. This project integrates two complementary approaches that ....Understanding the differentiation of the endocardium. The project aims to understand the genetic regulation of endocardial development. The heart is essential for survival, its beat the indicator of life. The endocardium, the heart’s inner lining, is required for signalling during heart development and is a major component of the valves, septa and trabeculae. Despite its indispensable role, little is known about how it forms or develops. This project integrates two complementary approaches that have identified the earliest marker of endocardial differentiation and devised the method to make endocardium from stem cells. Knowledge from this work will inform future research into growing and regenerating damaged tissue.Read moreRead less
Kruppel-like factors and the methylome. This project aims to test the hypothesis that the KLF/SP family of transcription factors work in part via dynamic interactions with methylated cytosine nucleotides in DNA. This is fundamental to their function as pioneer factors in reprograming and their ability to co-ordinate differentiation and organogenesis. Conversely, dynamic changes in methylation status engage or disengage new regulatory elements in the genome via recruitment of KLF/SP family protei ....Kruppel-like factors and the methylome. This project aims to test the hypothesis that the KLF/SP family of transcription factors work in part via dynamic interactions with methylated cytosine nucleotides in DNA. This is fundamental to their function as pioneer factors in reprograming and their ability to co-ordinate differentiation and organogenesis. Conversely, dynamic changes in methylation status engage or disengage new regulatory elements in the genome via recruitment of KLF/SP family proteins as specific effectors. This project will address a new paradigm in genetics that is likely to underpin development.Read moreRead less
A genomic approach to the mechanism of meiotic recombination in Neurospora. Recombination shuffles DNA sequences between homologous chromosomes during the reduction division in the life cycle of higher organisms. Along with mutation, it is a key process in evolution. Understanding of the molecular processes involved in recombination is largely based on yeast, which is intolerant of significant levels of sequence mismatch, limiting the resolution of analyses of normal recombination events. We hav ....A genomic approach to the mechanism of meiotic recombination in Neurospora. Recombination shuffles DNA sequences between homologous chromosomes during the reduction division in the life cycle of higher organisms. Along with mutation, it is a key process in evolution. Understanding of the molecular processes involved in recombination is largely based on yeast, which is intolerant of significant levels of sequence mismatch, limiting the resolution of analyses of normal recombination events. We have shown that Neurospora, like other less tractable multicellular eukaryotes, is tolerant of sequence mismatch, allowing high resolution analysis of individual recombination events. This project will build on fundamental advances we have already made in understanding how recombination occurs.Read moreRead less
Perceptual suppression mechanisms in the Drosophila brain. This project will investigate common processes underlying three means to losing conscious perception: selective attention, sleep and general anaesthesia. By studying these suppression mechanisms in a genetic model, the fly Drosophila melanogaster, fundamental processes will be highlighted that are required in the brain for maintaining perception in general.
Controlling the rate of transcription and translation of Rubisco transgenes effectively in higher-plant plastids. Genetic transformation of the circular genome of the plastids provides a containable means for modifying plant growth by manipulating photosynthesis. Although the transformation mechanism is precise, predicting the level of foreign gene expression is difficult because the amounts of messenger RNA and protein produced by foreign genes in plastids varies widely, even when the protein a ....Controlling the rate of transcription and translation of Rubisco transgenes effectively in higher-plant plastids. Genetic transformation of the circular genome of the plastids provides a containable means for modifying plant growth by manipulating photosynthesis. Although the transformation mechanism is precise, predicting the level of foreign gene expression is difficult because the amounts of messenger RNA and protein produced by foreign genes in plastids varies widely, even when the protein assembles without difficulty. This project will devise strategies for controlling this variability that will facilitate attempts to exploit plastid transformation for transplanting better versions of the photosynthetic CO2-fixing enzyme, Rubisco, into plants to improve their growth efficiency in terms of water, fertiliser and light use.Read moreRead less
Defining New Building Blocks for the Construction of Artificial Genetic Circuits. By characterising the components of a natural genetic switch, we will make available a set of well defined genetic building blocks for construction of rationally designed biological circuits. The ability to build such circuits would have significant economic benefit in areas such as metabolic engineering, to improve the efficiency of production of natural compounds from micro-organisms, and in biomedicine, for the ....Defining New Building Blocks for the Construction of Artificial Genetic Circuits. By characterising the components of a natural genetic switch, we will make available a set of well defined genetic building blocks for construction of rationally designed biological circuits. The ability to build such circuits would have significant economic benefit in areas such as metabolic engineering, to improve the efficiency of production of natural compounds from micro-organisms, and in biomedicine, for the controlled release of therapeutic compounds. The involvement of Honours and Ph.D students in this project will expose the next generation of Australian scientists to this emerging discipline. International collaboration leading to publications in high impact scientific journals will enhance Australia's scientific reputation.Read moreRead less
Quantitative genetics of Eucalyptus globulus. Eucalypt plantations in Australia have expanded rapidly over the last decade. With increasing market competition from overseas plantations for both pulp and solid wood products, Australia must maintain a competitive edge through efficiencies in production and product quality. Breeding and deployment of genetically superior planting stock is part of the solution. With global climate chance and requirements for re-afforestation in drier zones, there ....Quantitative genetics of Eucalyptus globulus. Eucalypt plantations in Australia have expanded rapidly over the last decade. With increasing market competition from overseas plantations for both pulp and solid wood products, Australia must maintain a competitive edge through efficiencies in production and product quality. Breeding and deployment of genetically superior planting stock is part of the solution. With global climate chance and requirements for re-afforestation in drier zones, there is an increasing requirement to genetically improve drought tolerance. This project will provide genetic information and strategies to back Eucalyptus globulus breeding and deployment programs for traditional as well as drier environments. Read moreRead less
Evolutionary analyses of short-read sequences from pooled samples. This project aims to provide biologists with a means of making sound, statistical inferences about evolution by using next-generation data from mixed samples. When biologists make statements about history, they use evolutionary trees, frequently reconstructed from the genetic data of many individuals. Next-generation sequencing provides large amounts of genetic data at low cost, but biologists have difficulty using these data for ....Evolutionary analyses of short-read sequences from pooled samples. This project aims to provide biologists with a means of making sound, statistical inferences about evolution by using next-generation data from mixed samples. When biologists make statements about history, they use evolutionary trees, frequently reconstructed from the genetic data of many individuals. Next-generation sequencing provides large amounts of genetic data at low cost, but biologists have difficulty using these data for evolutionary research, particularly when they sample mixtures of DNA from many individuals. The anticipated value of this project is that it allows evolutionary biologists to capitalise on the benefits of next-generation sequencing, without sacrificing their ability to make reliable inferences about history.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140101962
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$395,220.00
Summary
Functional epigenomics interrogation of DNA methylation dynamics during vertebrate development and evolution. DNA methylation (mC) is an epigenetic signal essential for the maintenance of correct gene expression patterns. To investigate the causal relationships between mC and transcription during vertebrate embryonic development and evolution, this project will perform high-resolution mC profiling at different stages of teleost, amphibian and mammalian development. Highly conserved and syntenic, ....Functional epigenomics interrogation of DNA methylation dynamics during vertebrate development and evolution. DNA methylation (mC) is an epigenetic signal essential for the maintenance of correct gene expression patterns. To investigate the causal relationships between mC and transcription during vertebrate embryonic development and evolution, this project will perform high-resolution mC profiling at different stages of teleost, amphibian and mammalian development. Highly conserved and syntenic, methylated sequences will then be used as baits in proteomics screens to identify novel 5mC 'readers'. The generation of genomic profiles of mC 'readers' and their integration with developmental mC maps will reveal transient epigenome dynamics during vertebrate embryogenesis and provide new insights into the conservation of these crucial developmental mechanisms.Read moreRead less