Genome-wide determination of Puccinia psidii s.l. rust resistance in eucalypts. Recently, guava rust was detected in Australia, posing significant risks to native flora, plantations, and timber exports. Scientists from The University of Melbourne and Victorian Department of Primary Industries together with tree breeders, forest growers and forest managers aim to use tree genomics rust resistance breeding to enable management and operational responses and inform policy development.
Discovery And Characterisation Of Long Noncoding RNAs In Human Neurological Disorders
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$349,647.00
Summary
Numerous regions in our DNA influence how likely we are to develop various diseases, including brain disorders such as Autism and Schizophrenia. However, in many of these regions no genes have been found and they appear “empty”, making it difficult to uncover what’s triggering the disease. This project will use a powerful new technology to discover new genes hidden within these supposedly “empty” regions that are important in brain disorders and investigate how they contribute to disease.
Methods to infer dense genomic information from sparsely genotyped populations. Prediction of phenotype based on DNA polymorphisms or sequence has important applications such as prediction of disease risk in human medicine and prediction of genetic value in plant or animal breeding. This project will enhance precision and lower the cost of association studies leading to substantial increase in accuracy of such predictions. This will allow more effective genetic improvement, particularly of diff ....Methods to infer dense genomic information from sparsely genotyped populations. Prediction of phenotype based on DNA polymorphisms or sequence has important applications such as prediction of disease risk in human medicine and prediction of genetic value in plant or animal breeding. This project will enhance precision and lower the cost of association studies leading to substantial increase in accuracy of such predictions. This will allow more effective genetic improvement, particularly of difficult but important traits such as disease resistance, reduced green-house gas emissions and product quality. The same methods can be extended to improve genetic improvement in plants and better prediction of human disease risk. Read moreRead less
Fertility crisis: harnessing the genomic tension behind pollen fertility in sorghum. Hybrid sorghum varieties yield more grain than inbred varieties but the production seed for farmers can be difficult. This project will identify the genes responsible for a trait that makes hybrid seed production possible and this knowledge will help raise sorghum yields in Australian and in some of the world’s poorest countries.
Identifying the diversity and evolution of loci associated with adaptation to aridity/heat and salinity in ancient cereal crops. This project will use ancient grains of wheat, barley and rye to find 'lost' genetic diversity at key genes associated with resistance to aridity, salt and disease. This project will make the proteins of key genes, and study their interaction with the environment over time by measuring ions in the grains to reveal the ancient environmental conditions.
The Identification Of New Epilepsy Genes By Whole Genome Sequencing
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,069,803.00
Summary
Epilepsy is a common brain disorder affecting approximately 50 million people worldwide. The most common type of epilepsy is known as focal epilepsy. Our group has recently shown the importance of genetic mutations as causes of focal epilepsy. Using modern genomic technologies we will identify new genes in focal epilepsy. We will make animal models of these genes to better understand the pathobiology of epilepsy so that new treatments can be developed for patients.
Control Of Genome Regulation And Its Role In Human Disease
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$419,180.00
Summary
Changes in DNA can lead to differences in susceptibility to developing many diseases. The most common mechanism by which this occurs is through changing when and in which tissues disease-relevant genes get translated into proteins. My research focuses on understanding how DNA changes result in altered gene expression and how this can affect disease susceptibility. This work requires the use of high performance computing and statistical analysis of large genome-scale datasets.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130100614
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Novel statistical algorithms and methods to quantify and partition pleiotropy between complex traits in populations. A fundamental question in biology is how common genetic effects are shared between traits or groups. For example, is cognition or human behaviour genetically identical across genders or across human population groups? This project will address these questions using multiple independent genome-wide association studies.
Cellular genomic approach to the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis. This project compares the levels of gene usage in two important immune cell types between patients with multiple sclerosis and people who do not have the disease. It aims to identify the molecular basis for the disease, in order to identify new diagnostic, preventative and treatment options.
Harnessing The Power Of Genomics To Understand Disease
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$470,144.00
Summary
The last 10 years have seen a revolution in our ability to sequence DNA and related molecules. This technological advancement has the potential to transform our knowledge of the mechanisms of development and disease. In order to harness the power of this technology, advances in analysis strategies and methods are critical to extract the important insights into these massive data sets. My research will lead the way in several major areas of bioinformatics research.