- The influence of biocontrol agents on host-plant pathogen interactions
- Fungal plant pathogen diversity studies
- Assessing potential antimicrobial activities in macrofungi
- Molecular genetic analysis of plant growth responses
- Genomic analysis of thermal responses in plants
- Mapping and cloning of genes regulating flowering time in Arabidopsis
- Discovery of novel genes involved in strigolactone plant hormone biosynthesis. (with Dr Phil Brewer)
- Analysis of promoter activation sites in novel strigolactone pathway genes in Arabidopsis (with Dr Phil Brewer)
- Create a set of GFP reporter lines for cytokinin, auxin, strigolactone and examine the expression of these genes in the stem and buds of plants at set time points after decapitation (with Dr Mike Mason)
- Applications of novel plant hormone discovery to prevent unwanted plant growth in order to improve farming yields (with Dr Liz Dun)
- Discovery of the rapid decapitation signal that communicates shoot tip loss to buds and the feedback signal involved in the homeostatic control of strigolactone levels (with Dr Phil Brewer)
- Identification of the RMS2 gene in pea. Using a variety of molecular tools, identify the sequence of the gene responsible for the feedback signal in pea plants (with Dr Mike Mason)
- Search online databases to find genes involved in branching and characterise them and attempt to place them on the current model of branching (with Dr Mike Mason)
- Exploration of the importance of electrical signals in initiation of branching (with Dr Mike Mason)
- Plant and microbial molecular biotechnology
- Development of plants and microbes as biofactories for production of value-added renewable biomaterials
- Tailoring genes and engineering plants for production of high value sugars
- Biosynthesis, molecular target, and practical applications of albicidin antibiotics
- Improved plant transformation systems
- Control of gene expression in non-climacteric fruits
- Biotechnological control of nematodes in plants
- Discovering the cellular roles of heterotrimeric G-proteins in plants
- Plant defense mechanisms, signaling and disease resistance
- Plants, insects and pollinators, combining technologies to crack the odour code
- Molecular and genetic characterisation of plant signal transduction
- Plant biotechnology and genetic engineering (several projects to discuss with Jimmy)
- Understanding cytokinin's role in the regulation of micro-nutrients in plants (with Dr Mike Mason)
th legumes
- Molecular genetics analysis of downstream NARK signaling in soybean
- Molecular mapping of ABA insensitivity in the model legume Lotus japonicus
- Functional genomics of the legume biofuel tree Pongamia pinnata
- Functional genomics analysis of ethylene and cytokinin signaling interplay during nodulation of legumes
- Isolation of the putative cytokinin receptor gene of soybean
- Regulation in soybean of a new Autoregulation of Nodulation related receptor kinase (GmKLV)
- TILLING technology in soybean to investigate plant development
- Evaluation of nano-molecular biology approaches
- Functional studies of plant disease resistance
- Biotic and abiotic cell signalling pathways in Arabidopsis
- Molecular responses of plants to beneficial and parasitic microbes
- Use of cDNA microarrays for highly diverse bacterial communities
- Functional genomics of biofuel production in algae
- Microbial soil communities in Australian rainforests
- Plant defence signalling for disease resistance
- Hydrogen and biodiesel production from algae as a renewable and clean bio-fuel
- Functional genomics on mixed microbial communities
- New pathways of nutrients into plant roots
- Microbial activity in soil and how this is linked to vegetation and nutrient cycling
Understanding nutrient use efficiency of sugarcane: environment, physiology, genetics.
Ecophysiology of weeds to determine reasons for invasiveness
* Research projects for PhD/MPhil students only