Can muscles tune foot stiffness to enhance efficiency of human locomotion? This project aims to understand the key role that muscles might play in supporting the arch of the foot and determine if this improves the efficiency of human walking and running. The human foot is known to act like a spring to store and return energy during walking and running. The project hypothesises that this function is enhanced by muscular contributions within the foot that act to tune the stiffness of the foot and ....Can muscles tune foot stiffness to enhance efficiency of human locomotion? This project aims to understand the key role that muscles might play in supporting the arch of the foot and determine if this improves the efficiency of human walking and running. The human foot is known to act like a spring to store and return energy during walking and running. The project hypothesises that this function is enhanced by muscular contributions within the foot that act to tune the stiffness of the foot and maximise efficiency of force production. Exploration of how foot stiffness is controlled during human movement is expected to improve our understanding of the evolution of human walking and running and contribute to improving the design of modern footwear.Read moreRead less
Testing metabolic theories in ecology. There are striking similarities in the way plants and animals take up and use energy (metabolism), despite enormous variation in size and life-style. This project will make the first experimental comparison of the predictions of the two major theories for these broad patterns. The results will significantly progress this controversial and exciting field.
Placental nutrient transport shows how complex traits evolve. This project aims to use amino acid transport in the vertebrate placenta as a model to demonstrate how genes are recruited and modified to produce a major organ. Using an innovative combination of a new technology, selected reaction monitoring, and transcriptomic and molecular approaches, plus carefully selected Australian species pairs, this project will study the evolution of a complex trait (placental amino acid transport). The pr ....Placental nutrient transport shows how complex traits evolve. This project aims to use amino acid transport in the vertebrate placenta as a model to demonstrate how genes are recruited and modified to produce a major organ. Using an innovative combination of a new technology, selected reaction monitoring, and transcriptomic and molecular approaches, plus carefully selected Australian species pairs, this project will study the evolution of a complex trait (placental amino acid transport). The project will provide fundamental advances in our knowledge of the nutrient transport during pregnancy that is required to produce a healthy baby.Read moreRead less
Combining biomechanics and movement ecology of kangaroos and relatives. Kangaroos and their relatives are unique in their body form, hopping gait and by the fact that increased speed does not come at an increased energetic cost. This project aims to build 3D musculoskeletal models to understand how muscles and tendons interact, enabling greater distances to be travelled using less energy. Further, it will use animal tracking devices and machine-learning tools to quantify movements in the wild. T ....Combining biomechanics and movement ecology of kangaroos and relatives. Kangaroos and their relatives are unique in their body form, hopping gait and by the fact that increased speed does not come at an increased energetic cost. This project aims to build 3D musculoskeletal models to understand how muscles and tendons interact, enabling greater distances to be travelled using less energy. Further, it will use animal tracking devices and machine-learning tools to quantify movements in the wild. This framework will provide novel insights into how energetics, morphology, and habitat have shaped the evolution of this unique group. This may open doors to a range of future ecological, physiological, and conservation studies and provide biological inspiration for energetically efficient robotic and assistive devices.Read moreRead less
Using performance to predict the survival of threatened mammals. This project aims to use a new mechanistic approach to quantify how the performance of cats and dingoes interacts with habitat complexity to drive population loss of prey species—namely, how the density of obstacles and refuges contributes to prey escape. Expected outcomes include discovering how rocky and savanna habitat structure affect the survival of threatened mammals hunted by cats and dingoes. It will provide a globally cust ....Using performance to predict the survival of threatened mammals. This project aims to use a new mechanistic approach to quantify how the performance of cats and dingoes interacts with habitat complexity to drive population loss of prey species—namely, how the density of obstacles and refuges contributes to prey escape. Expected outcomes include discovering how rocky and savanna habitat structure affect the survival of threatened mammals hunted by cats and dingoes. It will provide a globally customisable model, and inform management of an important Indigenous Protected Area.Read moreRead less
Understanding evolution in natural systems using robotic models. This project aims to build biologically-inspired robotic and computational systems, and then modify these in ways which are either not possible, or have not yet occurred in natural systems. A comparison of these two systems will then allow a quantitative understanding of how well optimised biological structures are and where the limitations to optimisation lie. Expected outcomes include advancing the understanding of evolutionary p ....Understanding evolution in natural systems using robotic models. This project aims to build biologically-inspired robotic and computational systems, and then modify these in ways which are either not possible, or have not yet occurred in natural systems. A comparison of these two systems will then allow a quantitative understanding of how well optimised biological structures are and where the limitations to optimisation lie. Expected outcomes include advancing the understanding of evolutionary processes, and will provide significant benefits, such as aiding the manufacture of efficient autonomous robots.Read moreRead less
Recombination of mitochondrial genomes: what can we learn from chigger mites? This project will bring three benefits to Australia. First, it will enhance Australia's research capacity in the fields of organelle genomics and evolutionary biology. Second, it will yield highly skilled young researchers: a postdoctoral fellow (Shao), a PhD student and two BSc Honours students. Third, it will generate new knowledge about genome recombination in animal mitochondria. Recombination is a fundamental, yet ....Recombination of mitochondrial genomes: what can we learn from chigger mites? This project will bring three benefits to Australia. First, it will enhance Australia's research capacity in the fields of organelle genomics and evolutionary biology. Second, it will yield highly skilled young researchers: a postdoctoral fellow (Shao), a PhD student and two BSc Honours students. Third, it will generate new knowledge about genome recombination in animal mitochondria. Recombination is a fundamental, yet poorly understood issue in mitochondrial genomics and evolutionary biology. Knowledge from this project will also improve our understanding of other important issues that are associated with animal mitochondria; like the mechanisms of mitochondrial disease and ageing, and the evolution of modern humans and other animals.Read moreRead less
A molecular/morphological view of animal evolution based on marsupials. This project aims to provide high-accuracy methods of evolutionary inference extendable to nearly all other organisms. It aims to research the evolution of animal diversity and calibrate evolutionary timescales on a case study of marsupial mammals, and differentiate between internal and external factors that govern animals’ ability to adapt and diversify. The project will collate a large, open-source three-dimensional catalo ....A molecular/morphological view of animal evolution based on marsupials. This project aims to provide high-accuracy methods of evolutionary inference extendable to nearly all other organisms. It aims to research the evolution of animal diversity and calibrate evolutionary timescales on a case study of marsupial mammals, and differentiate between internal and external factors that govern animals’ ability to adapt and diversify. The project will collate a large, open-source three-dimensional catalogue of the evolving marsupial skeleton, which could provide a detailed and publicly accessible narrative of the evolutionary past and future adaptability of Australian marsupials. The proposed development of methods to quantify the effect of past and present biodiversity crises (e.g. environmental change) is expected to inform longer-term conservation planning.Read moreRead less
Organisation, expression and diversity of the sub-telomeric regions of the ancient eukaryote, Giardia duodenalis. We propose to extend our findings on the extreme plasticity of the structure and organisation of the sub-telomeric region of the complete genome of Giardia by more extensive chromosome walking, and comparison of different isolates. These regions are subject to gene conversion, transcriptional silencing, gene mobility, recombination, variable surface protein expression, subtelomeric i ....Organisation, expression and diversity of the sub-telomeric regions of the ancient eukaryote, Giardia duodenalis. We propose to extend our findings on the extreme plasticity of the structure and organisation of the sub-telomeric region of the complete genome of Giardia by more extensive chromosome walking, and comparison of different isolates. These regions are subject to gene conversion, transcriptional silencing, gene mobility, recombination, variable surface protein expression, subtelomeric instability and the insertion of transposable elements, a dynamic balance between structural conservation and rapid evolution. This is a rare opportunity to understand the forces at work in moulding eukaryotic sub-telomeric sequences because Giardia is not constrained by sexual homogenisation and the dynamic variability is retained.Read moreRead less
Statistical methods for detection of non-coding RNAs in eukaryote genomes. Understanding how eukaryotic cells work is a major goal of 21st century biology. A crucial step will be to catalogue the functional components of eukaryotic genomes. Australian researchers must be involved in this process at an early stage, in order to maximise commercial opportunities, attract quality researchers and position ourselves for further advances. This project will make major contributions to international effo ....Statistical methods for detection of non-coding RNAs in eukaryote genomes. Understanding how eukaryotic cells work is a major goal of 21st century biology. A crucial step will be to catalogue the functional components of eukaryotic genomes. Australian researchers must be involved in this process at an early stage, in order to maximise commercial opportunities, attract quality researchers and position ourselves for further advances. This project will make major contributions to international efforts in this area, via the development of statistical methods for segmenting genomes, classification of those segments, and study of the resulting classes. In the long term, enhanced understanding of eukaryotic cells will lead to breakthroughs in biology, and to medical, pharmaceutical, agricultural and scientific advances.Read moreRead less