News
Find out the latest news, announcements and stories about Biology at ANU.
- RSB 50th Anniversary
Photosynthesis is an essential biological process that depends on the activity of the enzyme Rubisco which catalyses carbon fixation. Rubisco is slow, inefficient and cannot accurately distinguish between CO2 and O2. ANU researchers have been trying to improve the efficiency of Rubisco in crop plants.
- News
Parasitologists at RSB, JCSMR and the Centre for Advanced Microscopy are celebrating a new dual PhD program that pairs ANU with Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany.
- RSB 50th Anniversary
In a landmark 2008 study, Maleszka and his group showed that by inhibiting DNA methylation and consequently modifying gene expression patterns, nutrition can have profound impact on organismal biology.
- RSB 50th Anniversary
In 1984 Dr Graham Farquhar and Dr Richard Richards showed that variation in the carbon isotope composition of different wheat types was correlated with water use efficiency. This carbon isotope analysis was used to develop highly successful water-efficient wheat varieties for the Australian environment.
- RSB 50th Anniversary
The relative abundance of certain isotopes can be used to study the photosynthetic pathways in plants. For example C3 plants (such as wheat and apples) have enzymes that react faster with carbon-12 so that more ends up in the products: sugars etc.
- RSB 50th Anniversary
The investigations into carbon fixation and gas exchange by RSBS researchers were essential to the understanding of photosynthesis, and the development of new processes to increase the efficiency of the photosynthetic process in agriculture.
- RSB 50th Anniversary
ANU has a long history of pioneering research into alpine trees. The work Professor Ralph Slatyer undertook in the 1970's was used to show that the tree line was defined by temperature, not altitude, which explains why Australia has a lower tree line than most other countries.
- News
Plant scientist Professor Susanne von Caemmerer has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in the UK, the longest standing scientific academy in the world.
- RSB 50th Anniversary
The early years of Biological Sciences at ANU are documented in 'The Making of The Australian National University' by Stephen Foster and Margaret Varghese.
- RSB 50th Anniversary
Legumes are an interesting plant to study due to their symbiotic relationship with nitrogen fixing bacteria called Rhizobia, which are housed within specialised root structures called nodules. The work of ANU researchers has been very important for our understanding of symbiosis, nodule formation and nitrogen fixation.