The Australian Plant Phenomics Network (APPN, formerly known as APPF) is comprised of nine institutions offering controlled-environment phenotyping facilities, mobile phenotyping units, and field sites strategically spread across Australia’s diverse climate zones. APPN’s mission is to accelerate plant research by providing researchers and industry with open access to leading plant phenotyping infrastructure and a diverse range of expertise. 

The ANU node specialises in Controlled Environment Phenotyping. Hosted within the Research School of Biology, APPN’s Plant Growth facility offers access to a range of PC2 reach-in climate chambers which is complemented with a set of walk-in outdoor growth chambers and a PC2 glasshouse. To monitor plants grown within controlled environments, a range of cutting-edge plant phenotyping equipment and services is available to clients.

Further the APPN-ANU team conducts image analysis using Machine Learning and Deep Learning approaches to develop non-invasive techniques to identify morphological parameters, protein accumulation and disease susceptibility. Based on this research the team already developed two user-friendly open-access tools, Leaf analyser and SEGMate, to meet a growing demand in image analysis.

In this talk, the APPN team will provide an overview of its development over the past years, showcase which cutting-edge infrastructure and services are available at ANU, and give an outlook on what’s to come in the near future.

Note: This seminar talk is followed by a facility tour. This is a great opportunity to learn about APPN’s infrastructure and services available to users. If you are interested in joining, please enter your contact details in this list or email appn@anu.edu.au.