System-level characterisation of the siphonophore, Indo-Pacific man o' war. The Indo-Pacific man o' war (bluebottle), is a cnidarian from the siphonophore order. These animals frequent Australian beaches in swarms and cause thousands of stings every year. The project proposes to profile the genome, transcriptome, epigenome, and proteome of the bluebottle to gain insight into its life cycle, its behaviour, and toxins. Expected outcomes include the generation of novel information related to bluebo ....System-level characterisation of the siphonophore, Indo-Pacific man o' war. The Indo-Pacific man o' war (bluebottle), is a cnidarian from the siphonophore order. These animals frequent Australian beaches in swarms and cause thousands of stings every year. The project proposes to profile the genome, transcriptome, epigenome, and proteome of the bluebottle to gain insight into its life cycle, its behaviour, and toxins. Expected outcomes include the generation of novel information related to bluebottle gene regulation and its toxin repertoire, which will be highly beneficial for the design of future sting treatment strategies. Given that the bluebottle is a colony made of functionally specialised polyps, this study will also provide significant novel insight into the origins and evolution of animal multicellularity.Read 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
Early Career Industry Fellowships - Grant ID: IE230100263
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$477,037.00
Summary
Improve genomic testing tools for fertility traits in beef cattle. Fertility is a key driver of productivity and profitability for beef industry; however, a substantial industry challenge is poor fertility and the difficulty and expense of measuring fertility in remote Australia. By integrating multiple omics datasets and fifty thousand fertility phenotypes recorded on beef cattle, the project will identify sequence variation, including structural variants, that underpin genetic variation in cat ....Improve genomic testing tools for fertility traits in beef cattle. Fertility is a key driver of productivity and profitability for beef industry; however, a substantial industry challenge is poor fertility and the difficulty and expense of measuring fertility in remote Australia. By integrating multiple omics datasets and fifty thousand fertility phenotypes recorded on beef cattle, the project will identify sequence variation, including structural variants, that underpin genetic variation in cattle fertility. Our industry partner, which genotypes hundreds of thousands of cattle a year, will produce new genotype arrays and novel low-cost sequencing approaches including these variants, enabling selection that could potentially increase herd reproductive rate by 4%, returning $40M per annum to the farmers.Read moreRead less
Characterising inheritance patterns of whole genome DNA methylation. This project aims to characterise epigenetic diversity and inheritance patterns in whole genome sequencing data from a unique human population. The project will employ the well-characterised Norfolk Island genetic isolate, cost-effective whole genome bisulphite sequencing technologies and advanced bioinformatics pipelines and statistical models. It will involve cross-discipline collaboration between human geneticists, epigeneti ....Characterising inheritance patterns of whole genome DNA methylation. This project aims to characterise epigenetic diversity and inheritance patterns in whole genome sequencing data from a unique human population. The project will employ the well-characterised Norfolk Island genetic isolate, cost-effective whole genome bisulphite sequencing technologies and advanced bioinformatics pipelines and statistical models. It will involve cross-discipline collaboration between human geneticists, epigeneticists, statistical geneticists and bioinformaticians. This project will advance our understanding of the interaction of genetics and epigenetics and their relationship to diversity and inheritance in humans.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE230100036
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$465,803.00
Summary
Tracing the epigenetic life-history of cells. Each cell of the human body contains identical genetic information that is activated in different ways to form varied cell types. This research aims to develop novel single-cell genomic technologies to explain the origins of different cell types. This project expects to discover the molecular mechanisms through which specialised cell types are formed, which has been difficult to decipher using existing methods. My novel approach will elucidate how a ....Tracing the epigenetic life-history of cells. Each cell of the human body contains identical genetic information that is activated in different ways to form varied cell types. This research aims to develop novel single-cell genomic technologies to explain the origins of different cell types. This project expects to discover the molecular mechanisms through which specialised cell types are formed, which has been difficult to decipher using existing methods. My novel approach will elucidate how a small population of seemingly homogenous cells can give rise to a myriad of types of cells. Tracing the life histories of cells across time should lead to broad applications including in developmental biology, neuroscience and immunology.Read moreRead less
Genomic Control of Human Complex Trait Variation. This project aims to address knowledge gaps in our understanding of the genetic and environmental control of complex human trait variation. This project will use innovative approaches that combine molecular genomic information with data from large biobank sized cohorts to generate new knowledge of the mechanisms underlying ancestral and sex differences in humans. Expected outcomes include the development of novel methods for the integrative analy ....Genomic Control of Human Complex Trait Variation. This project aims to address knowledge gaps in our understanding of the genetic and environmental control of complex human trait variation. This project will use innovative approaches that combine molecular genomic information with data from large biobank sized cohorts to generate new knowledge of the mechanisms underlying ancestral and sex differences in humans. Expected outcomes include the development of novel methods for the integrative analysis of genomic data and building Australia’s capacity in a highly demanded field, ensuring the capability to realise the translation of this knowledge to positively impact society and human well-being.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200101748
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$410,716.00
Summary
Discovering hidden control elements for crop improvement. Sustainable, productive agricultural processes are essential for tackling the challenges of tomorrow’s world. The ability to optimise beneficial agricultural traits depends on the precise control of genes in a crop plant’s enormous genome. Yet, identifying valuable gene control regions is like looking for needles in a haystack. The location of these regions is often not obvious and current detection technologies are impractically expensiv ....Discovering hidden control elements for crop improvement. Sustainable, productive agricultural processes are essential for tackling the challenges of tomorrow’s world. The ability to optimise beneficial agricultural traits depends on the precise control of genes in a crop plant’s enormous genome. Yet, identifying valuable gene control regions is like looking for needles in a haystack. The location of these regions is often not obvious and current detection technologies are impractically expensive and intensive. This project aims to develop a new technology that is expected to facilitate rapid and cost-effective discovery of all the control regions in a genome, enhancing our understanding of crop genomes and unlocking new avenues for agricultural improvement, food security and economic stability.Read moreRead less
Defining novel neuroepigenetic pathways that influence learning and memory. This project aims to better understand the functional relationship between epigenetic mechanisms and regulatory RNAs in the brain and how they influence learning and the formation of memory. Activity-induced gene expression is central to neural plasticity, learning, and memory. However, efforts to elucidate the underlying mechanisms in the brain have not been fully resolved. By elucidating the full repertoire of epigenet ....Defining novel neuroepigenetic pathways that influence learning and memory. This project aims to better understand the functional relationship between epigenetic mechanisms and regulatory RNAs in the brain and how they influence learning and the formation of memory. Activity-induced gene expression is central to neural plasticity, learning, and memory. However, efforts to elucidate the underlying mechanisms in the brain have not been fully resolved. By elucidating the full repertoire of epigenetic mechanisms in the brain during learning and memory formation, the findings of the project will be broadly applicable and create new opportunities for understanding the true nature of brain adaptation.Read moreRead less
Molecular definition of cellular states in the vascular endothelium. The endothelium is the main cell type forming blood vessels and spans across multiple cell states from stem/progenitor to a variety of terminally differentiated cells. How each of these cell states are defined at the molecular level is not known preventing the optimal formation and integration of blood vessels in bioengineered tissues. Using innovative single cell gene expression and chromatin accessibility studies combined wit ....Molecular definition of cellular states in the vascular endothelium. The endothelium is the main cell type forming blood vessels and spans across multiple cell states from stem/progenitor to a variety of terminally differentiated cells. How each of these cell states are defined at the molecular level is not known preventing the optimal formation and integration of blood vessels in bioengineered tissues. Using innovative single cell gene expression and chromatin accessibility studies combined with innovative analysis, we propose to define and validate each cell state at the molecular level.
This new knowledge would greatly enhance our ability to control the transition between cell states leading to a more widespread use of endothelial cells in bioengineering of tissues globally for many applications.
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