Projects
We are using molecular biology tools and confocal microscopy to study secretion machinery of virulent proteins from plant rust pathogen.
Theme
- Host-microbe biology
- Plant-microbe interactions
Student intake
Open for Bachelor, Honours, Master, PhD students
Status
Current
People
- John Rathjen, Supervisor
Fungal pathogens are a major threat to human health, food production in agriculture, and biodiversity. In this project we aim to investigate the phyllosphere microbiome of wheat infected with different fungal pathogens. Your involvement in the project could be many fold from field sampling to bioinformatic analysis.
Theme
- Plant-microbe interactions
- Evolutionary genetics and genomics
- Bioinformatics and bio-mathematical modelling
Student intake
Open for Bachelor, Honours, Master students
Status
Current
People
- Benjamin Schwessinger , Supervisor
MicroRNAs are non-coding RNAs that control key traits in animals and plants. This project aims to develop and utilize molecular tools for understanding their function.
Theme
- Plant genetics and gene regulation
Hybrid wheat varieties yield 10-15% more than conventional lines but a cost-effective system to produce hybrid seeds on a commercial scale is missing.
Theme
- Plant genetics and gene regulation
- Evolutionary genetics and genomics
Student intake
Open for Bachelor, Honours, Master, PhD students
Status
Current
People
- Joanna Melonek, Supervisor
The soil-borne vascular-wilt fungus Fusarium oxysporum is one of the world’s most notorious fungal pathogens of crop plants because it is a species complex that combines the ability to cause severe yield losses with a wide host range overall, affecting diverse crops.
Theme
- Plant-microbe interactions
- Host-microbe biology
This project aims to improve understanding of the capacity for resilience and response to warming and drying conditions and extreme events in vulnerable alpine communities: interacting suites of alpine plants, soil invertebrates, fungi, and microbes.
Theme
- Behavioural, evolutionary and physiological ecology
- Evolutionary genetics and genomics
- Phylogenetics, population genetics and biodiversity
- Plant environmental biology and functional ecology
- Plant-microbe interactions
Student intake
Open for Summer scholar, Honours, Master, PhD students
Status
Current
People
- Adrienne Nicotra, Principal investigator
- Celeste Linde, Researcher
- James King, Scholar
- Kate Farkas, Scholar
- Megan Head, Researcher
- Pieter Arnold, Researcher
- Salma Sarker, Scholar
- Thomas Hanley, Scholar
A wide range of opportunities for field and lab-based eco-physiological research are provided by the current projects within the lab. Student projects will be designed to suit the individual interests and goals of the students.
Theme
- Plant environmental biology and functional ecology
Student intake
Open for Honours, PhD students
Status
Current
People
- Marilyn Ball, Supervisor
- Marilyn Ball, Researcher
We are using molecular biology tools and confocal microscopy to mapy the regions in rust effectors required for delivery into host cells, and identify components of the effector secretion machinery. This project interfaces strongly with our stripe rust work on identifying effector molecules.
Theme
- Host-microbe biology
- Plant-microbe interactions
Student intake
Open for Bachelor, Honours, PhD students
Status
Current
People
- John Rathjen, Principal investigator
In this project, the student will further investigate the relationship between the cytochrome b6f and ATP synthase complexes using a combination of molecular biology and physiological techniques. This project is part of a larger project and highly relevant for our overall goal to improve photosynthesis in crop plants.
Theme
- Photosynthesis and plant energy biology
Student intake
Open for Honours students
Status
Current
People
- Maria Ermakova, Supervisor
- Susanne von Caemmerer, Supervisor
A proteomics approach to understand the role of plasmodesmata in plant-pathogen interaction.
Theme
- Membrane transporters and channels
- Plant-microbe interactions
Student intake
Open for Summer scholar, Honours students
Status
Current
People
- Florence Danila, Supervisor
- William Yao, Support officer
.
Theme
- Plant environmental biology and functional ecology
- Plant genetics and gene regulation
Student intake
Open for Bachelor students
Status
Current
People
- Andrew Bowerman, Supervisor
- Barry Pogson, Supervisor
- Justin Borevitz, Supervisor
- Owen Atkin, Supervisor
- Robert Furbank, Supervisor
Engineering aquaporin function to advance water filtration technology for future water security
We have shown an ancient miRNA acts as a genetic switch controlling a broad-spectrum of plant defense genes that confers resistance to the pathogen Phytophthora. We have multiple projects exploring the conservation, mechanism and spectrum of this disease resistance pathway, and potential biotechnological applications.
Theme
- Host-microbe biology
- Plant genetics and gene regulation
- Plant-microbe interactions
Student intake
Open for Bachelor, Honours, Master, PhD students
Status
Current
People
- Leila Blackman, Supervisor
- Tony Millar, Supervisor
We have identified a carotenoid esterase and are looking to understand its function in plants and to manipulate it in 1-2 cereals species to enhance antioxidant and provitamin A levels.
Theme
- Photosynthesis and plant energy biology
- Plant environmental biology and functional ecology
- Plant genetics and gene regulation
Plant species that perform C3-C4 intermediate photosynthesis represent evolutionary steps between the most extended C3 plants and the highly efficient species that fix CO2 through the C4 pathway.
Theme
- Photosynthesis and plant energy biology
Genetic, biochemical and physiological tools are being used to explore which residues in Rubisco and its chiropractic helper protein, Rubisco activase, that influence their interactions.
Theme
- Photosynthesis and plant energy biology
This project aims to isolate and identify bacteria and fungi from several major agricultural weed species to assess natural reservoirs of crop and livestock pathogens. Isolating these microbes will also screen for pathogens of the weed host with the potential for novel biocontrol methods.
Theme
- Plant-microbe interactions
This project explores how C4 plants, a group of stress-tolerant plants, respond to heat and drought. Knowledge learnt from this project will give insight into overcoming the current limits of photosynthesis and respiration in different plants and designing crops for improved food and energy production.
Theme
- Photosynthesis and plant energy biology
- Plant environmental biology and functional ecology
Student intake
Open for Honours, Master students
Status
Current
People
- Owen Atkin, Principal investigator
- Yuzhen Fan, Researcher
During the last decade the practice of laboratory-directed protein evolution has become firmly established as a versatile tool in biochemical research by enabling molecular evolution towards desirable phenotypes or detection of novel structure-function interactions (see Bershtein & Tawfik, 2008, Curr Opin Chem Biol 12:
Theme
- Photosynthesis and plant energy biology
Examining how plant photosynthesis and growth is influenced by transplanting foriegn or modified Rubisco into higher plant chloroplasts.
Theme
- Plant genetics and gene regulation
- Photosynthesis and plant energy biology