Chelsea Janke

Engineering microbial communities for inhibition of N2O emissions in agricultural soils (Honours Project)

Production in the agriculture sector must be improved to meet the demand for food and fibre of a global population expected to reach 10 billion by 2050. While automation, intensive farming, crop breeding, and the application of nitrogen fertilisers historically boosted cropped agricultural productivity, these options are no longer viable or sustainable. In particular, these practices are associated with the emission of greenhouse gases which are a dominant driver of climate change. There is therefore increasing pressure to reduce emissions in the cropped agricultural sector. This is especially the case for emissions which are associated with nitrogen fertilisation (e.g., nitrous oxide [N2O]), which has a carbon equivalent of 298 x (i.e., 1 kg of N2O = 298 kg of CO2).

This project aims to implement a cutting-edge approach to transfer the relevant microbiological mechanisms from highly diverse soil microbiomes into engineered bio-products by re-assembling microbial communities that suppress N2O emissions in soils. This project will involve working in the biophysical characterization of soils, metagenomics analysis of soils microbiomes, analysis of microbial communities using multiomics, and evaluating the effects of those communities in soils and plants.

The project primarily operates in the 'systems biology' field with some work in 'soil science' and would suit someone looking for a Honours project or work experience in these fields.

Supervisors include: Dr. Axayacatl Gonzalez, Dr Chelsea Janke, and Associate Professor Esteban Marcellin

Please contact: Chelsea (c.stroppiana@uq.edu.au) or Axa (r.gonzalezgarcia@uq.edu.au)