Projects
This project aims to develop an innovative rapid detection assay for pathogen molecules in wheat cells containing specific resistance genes. This assay will enable us to harness the full impact of the genomic revolution on plant pathology.
Theme
- Evolutionary genetics and genomics
- Plant-microbe interactions
Student intake
Open for Bachelor, Honours, Master, PhD students
Status
Current
People
- Benjamin Schwessinger , Supervisor
Projects are availble aimed at discovering fundamental issues relating to the biogenesis and catalytic function of the CO2-fixing enzyme Rubisco.
Theme
- Photosynthesis and plant energy biology
Student intake
Open for Bachelor, Honours, PhD students
Status
Current
People
- Spencer Whitney, Supervisor
A wide range of opportunities are available for research projects within the lab, from short-term undergraduate research projects to Honours, Masters and PhD projects.
Theme
- Plant genetics and gene regulation
- Plant environmental biology and functional ecology
- Photosynthesis and plant energy biology
Student intake
Open for Bachelor, Honours, Master, PhD students
Status
Current
People
- Josette Masle, Supervisor
This project will screen, design and fine-tune synthetic compounds which target evolutionarily conserved stress response pathways in plants. These "drugs" will then be used to enhance stress tolerance in diverse crops, and for spatiotemporal control of these pathways to enable deeper fundamental insights in the lab.
Theme
- Photosynthesis and plant energy biology
- Plant environmental biology and functional ecology
- Plant genetics and gene regulation
- Plant-microbe interactions
Student intake
Open for Bachelor, Honours, Master, PhD students
Status
Current
People
- Kai Chan, Supervisor
- Nay Chi Khin, Researcher
- Su Yin Phua , Support officer
Temperature determines species distributions and affects functions, reproduction, and survival. This project will assess the thermal sensitivity of different life stages and plant tissues to heat stress and will develop models to assess how Australian plant species will respond to a warmer and more extreme climate.
Theme
- Behavioural, evolutionary and physiological ecology
- Photosynthesis and plant energy biology
- Plant environmental biology and functional ecology
Student intake
Open for Summer scholar, Honours, PhD students
Status
Current
People
- Adrienne Nicotra, Principal investigator
- Danielle Way, Principal investigator
- Pieter Arnold, Principal investigator
- Sabrina De Zen, Scholar
This project uses next-generation and third-gen sequencing to characterize the genomes of wheat stripe rust, a severe fungal pathogen on wheat crops worldwide. We use these data to identify rust effector proteins to describe their roles in the pathogenesis and host resistance. New projects in this area include the use of epigenomics to understand the rapid evolution of these devastating fungal pathogens. You should have a strong background in molecular biology, and experience or interest in coding using languages such as Python or R.
Theme
- Bioinformatics and bio-mathematical modelling
- Host-microbe biology
- Plant genetics and gene regulation
- Plant-microbe interactions
Student intake
Open for Bachelor, Honours, PhD students
Status
Current
People
- Benjamin Schwessinger , Researcher
- John Rathjen, Supervisor
This project is looking to install the C4 pathway from maize into rice, to supercharge photosynthesis and increase crop yeilds.
It is part of a C4 rice international consortium of labs, and is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Theme
- Bioinformatics and bio-mathematical modelling
- Evolutionary genetics and genomics
- Photosynthesis and plant energy biology
- Phylogenetics, population genetics and biodiversity
- Plant genetics and gene regulation
Student intake
Open for Honours, PhD students
Status
Current
People
- Florence Danila, Researcher
- Maria Ermakova, Researcher
- Robert Furbank, Supervisor
- Robert Furbank, Principal investigator
- Susanne von Caemmerer, Principal investigator
- Susanne von Caemmerer, Supervisor
This project would be a part of the larger International Wheat Yield Partnership (IWYP) project aiming to optimise energy use efficiency in wheat to maximise potential yield.
Theme
- Plant environmental biology and functional ecology
- Plant genetics and gene regulation
Student intake
Open for Bachelor students
Status
Current
People
- Andrew Bowerman, Researcher
- Barry Pogson, Supervisor
- Owen Atkin, Supervisor
- Robert Furbank, Supervisor
- Timothy Brown, Supervisor
We have a number of projects ranging from developmental genetics to chemistry looking at carotenoid cleavage and how some cleavage products regulate leaf and flower development and how plants and chloroplasts sense and respond to light during germination
Theme
- Photosynthesis and plant energy biology
- Plant environmental biology and functional ecology
- Plant genetics and gene regulation
This project will use and develop chemically caged forms of plant hormones for cell specific activation using multiphoton confocal microscopy. The main application is to test the role of cell type specificity in the control of root development by symbiotic and parasitic microbes.
Theme
- Host-microbe biology
- Plant-microbe interactions
A primary biosecurity threat to the Australian wheat industry is Zymoseptoria tritici, a fungal pathogen. Research is currently underway to understand how the pathogen interacts with wheat and causes disease. Opportunities exist for students at all levels to become involved in this project.
Theme
- Plant-microbe interactions
- Phylogenetics, population genetics and biodiversity
- Evolutionary genetics and genomics
- Bioinformatics and bio-mathematical modelling
Student intake
Open for Bachelor, Honours, Master, PhD students
Status
Current
People
- Megan McDonald, Researcher
- Peter Solomon, Supervisor
RNA binding proteins (RBPs) constitute a diverse group of proteins that control the fate and expression of the transcriptome.
Theme
- Plant genetics and gene regulation
We are studying interspecific differences in thermal tolerance of Antarctic mosses in relation to climate warming.
Theme
- Plant environmental biology and functional ecology
This project examines drivers of dieback impact between species, within species, between habitats, within habitats, across the landscape, as well as interactions between these components at Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park.
Theme
- Behavioural, evolutionary and physiological ecology
- Plant environmental biology and functional ecology
Student intake
Open for Honours students
Status
Current
People
- Adrienne Nicotra, Principal investigator
- Jaylen Nicholson, Principal investigator
Projects dealing with CO2 acquisition by cyanobacteria and plants, and impact of climate change, and the engineering plants that use less water and produce greater yield.
Theme
- Evolutionary genetics and genomics
- Membrane transporters and channels
- Photosynthesis and plant energy biology
- Plant environmental biology and functional ecology
- Plant genetics and gene regulation
Status
Current
People
- Ben Long, Researcher
- Britta Foerster, Researcher
- Dean Price, Principal investigator
- Hanjun Sun, Researcher
- Loraine Rourke, Researcher
- Murray Badger, Researcher
- Sacha Pulsford, Researcher
- Sarah Rottet, Researcher
- Susanne von Caemmerer, Researcher
- Suyan Yee, Researcher
Photosynthetic CO2 fixation rate is constrained by CO2 diffusion inside leaves from intercellular airspace to the cytoplasm and chloroplasts in species with either C3 or C4 photosynthetic pathway.
Theme
- Plant environmental biology and functional ecology
- Photosynthesis and plant energy biology
- Membrane transporters and channels
Student intake
Open for Bachelor, Honours, Master, PhD students
Status
Current
People
- John Evans , Researcher
- Susanne von Caemmerer, Supervisor
Sustainable food security is of utmost importance to the future of the planet. Understanding the complex regulatory networks controlling root architecture has the potential to address major issues threatening agricultural and ecological sustainability and human health.
Theme
- Plant genetics and gene regulation
- Plant-microbe interactions
Student intake
Open for Bachelor, Honours, Master, PhD students
Status
Current
People
- Michael Djordjevic, Supervisor
Plant cells respond to environmental perturbations using a wide array of signalling molecules, many of which are established secondary messengers in animal and microbial cells. However, plant cells also use chloroplasts as environment sensors. How are chloroplast signals coordinated with the secondary messengers?
Theme
- Plant-microbe interactions
- Plant genetics and gene regulation
- Photosynthesis and plant energy biology
We are combining field and laboratory studies to determine how hydraulic traits of evergreen leaves affect their tolerance of temperature extremes with change in atmospheric CO2 concentrations.
Theme
- Plant environmental biology and functional ecology
This project will identify cellular communication networks that are necessary for the fine-tuning of chloroplast functions in specialised leaf cell types of plants performing heat-tolerant C4 photosynthesis.
Theme
- Photosynthesis and plant energy biology
- Plant genetics and gene regulation
Student intake
Open for Bachelor, Honours, Master, PhD students
Status
Current
People
- Kai Chan, Supervisor
- Su Yin Phua , Support officer
- Suyan Yee, Researcher