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Birgitta Ebert’s research focuses on developing biotechnology concepts to address critical challenges such as pollution, climate change and overexploitation of natural resources.

She specializes in improving microbial catalysts for eco-friendly chemical and material production by leveraging metabolic engineering, synthetic biology, systems analysis, and modelling. Her goal is to create microbial cell factories that convert renewable resources and waste into valuable products, reducing reliance on petrochemicals. She collaborates closely with chemists and chemical engineers to enhance the integration of chemical and biological processes for improved efficiency and sustainability.

Birgitta has a background in Chemical Engineering and a PhD in Systems Biotechnology from TU Dortmund University (Germany). She led a research group in Systems Metabolic Engineering at the Institute of Applied Microbiology at RWTH Aachen University (Germany) from 2012 to 2019. In 2016, she expanded her expertise in Synthetic Biology by joining the Keasling lab at the University of California in Berkeley and the Joint BioEnergy Institute in Emeryville (USA).

Since April 2019, she has been at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology at the University of Queensland, applying her expertise to engineer microbial cell factories for fermentation-based manufacturing.

Dr Daniel Edge-Garza is a horticulture and crop geneticist at the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation at the University of Queensland, Australia. His research interests are to develop and translate tools using genome-wide DNA information for breeders and growers to make meaningful decisions. Daniel’s PhD awarded by the University of Queensland in 2024 focused on identifying global G x E patterns to assist with improved germplasm-environment matching for commercial deployment. Before joining QAAFI, he obtained his Bachelor's Degree in Biological Sciences in 2005 and Master's Degree in Biotechnology in 2009 both at California State University, Fresno. From 2008, he worked as a faculty associate in research for tree fruit breeding at Washington State University becoming recognized worldwide for his efforts to streamline the deployment of DNA tests for pome and stone fruit breeding programs. He has also collaborated with the Genome Database for Rosaceae since 2018 to curate genomics data and train breeders on how to upload and access their data on the Breeding Information Management System.

Dr Bill Ellis is an ecological researcher based in the School of The Environment. He gained a BSc with honours in Zoology at The Australian National University and holds a Master of Environmental Law from the same institution. Bill graduated with a PhD in Zoology from The University of Queensland in 1998 and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at San Diego Zoo's Centre for Research on Endangered Species in 2011.

I am an entomologist with a research interest focused on studying host-pathogen interactions and discovering insect-specific viruses. I have investigated gene expression and the role of small non-coding RNAs in various host-pathogen models, particularly in crucial agricultural pests and medically significant vectors like the Aedes aegypti, responsible for transmitting dengue and Zika viruses. My previous project, aimed at exploring the function of Oryctes rhinoceros nudivirus in the biological control of the coconut rhinoceros beetle in the Pacific Islands, has substantially enhanced our comprehension of this invasive pest within the framework of an offshore biosecurity strategy. By establishing industry partnerships and securing funding to improve the Australian sugar industry, one of Australia's largest agricultural sectors, I have been able to focus on entomopathogenic viruses that affect root-feeding pests in sugarcane.

David Evans is an NHMRC Leadership Fellow and Professor of Statistical Genetics at the University of Queensland Institute for Molecular Bioscience. He is a winner of the NHMRC Marshall and Warren Award.

He completed his PhD in Statistical Genetics at the University of Queensland in 2003, before undertaking a four-year post-doctoral fellowship at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford where he worked as part of the The International HapMap Consortium and co-led the analysis of four diseases within the first Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium. In 2007 he moved to take up a Senior Lecturer position at the University of Bristol where he led much of the genome-wide association studies work in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). In 2013 he returned to take up a chair at the University of Queensland whilst continuing to lead an MRC Programme in statistical genetics at the University of Bristol.

His research interests include the genetic mapping of complex traits and diseases (including birthweight and other perinatal traits, osteoporosis, ankylosing spondylitis, sepsis, laterality) and the development of statistical methodologies in genetic epidemiology including approaches for gene mapping, individual risk prediction, causal modelling and dissecting the genetic architecture of complex traits. He has a particular interest in Mendelian randomization and has used it and other causal methods to investigate the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD)- the idea that adverse intrauterine exposures lead to increased risk of disease in later life.

He is Academic Codirector at the NIH funded International Workshop on Statistical Genetics Methods and is faculty on the European Programme in Educational Epidemiology.

He is Associate Editor at the International Journal of Epidemiology and Behavior Genetics journals.

Prof Darryl Eyles is the head of the Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research Developmental Neurobiology laboratory. One of Darryl’s research directions is focused on how known risk-factors for schizophrenia change the way the brain develops. His group have established the biological plausibility of various epidemiological risk factors for this disease including developmental vitamin D deficiency, prenatal hypoxia and maternal immune activation. Strikingly all these exposures affect the early development and later differentiation of early dopamine neurons. A second major focus is on understanding the effects of increased dopamine release in selective circuits and how this may be causal in schizophrenia. A third major interest is in factors such as the gut microbiome, and how increased testosterone contribute to altered brain function related to autism.

The first half of my academic career was focused on neuroscience research. My PhD looked at the modification of processing of painful information in the spinal cord by analgesics. Following my PhD, I investigated the electrical activity and properties of neurons in the amygdala, a brain region attributed with processing and mediating emotions and emotional memories. In addition I became interested in the prefrontal cortex, a brain region that is important for emotion regulation. I studied mechanisms involved in synaptic transmission and synaptic plasticity in the amygdala and prefrontal cortex, with a focus on the role of potassium channels, including SK channels.

For the second half of my career I have moved into a more teaching-focused role. This was first as a casual academic in the School of Biomedical Sciences, from 2014-2020, and since 2021 as a teaching-focused lecturer, with my current research in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. My research interests are primarily now in looking at emotions, emotion regulation and motivation regulation during learning, and how these can be harnessed to improve student experiences and learning outcomes. I'm also extremely interested in the development of transferable skills in undergraduates, such as science communication, critical thinking, and cultural capability, in preparation for their future lives and careers.

Honours projects are currently available with myself and others in the SBMS Biomedical Education Research Group, looking at:

• The use of motivation strategies to improve undergraduate student experiences and learning outcomes.
• Effective emotion regulation strategies in first year undergraduate students.

Professor Fairlie is an NHMRC Research Investigator Fellow (Level 3) (2022-present), a Node Leader of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Innovations in Peptide Protein Science, one of four Centre Directors and former Head of the Division of Chemistry of Structural Biology at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience (since 2009), and an Affiliate Professor of the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences. He was previously an NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellow (2012-2021), a Node Leader at the ARC Centre of Excellence in Advanced Molecular Imaging (2014-2021), an ARC Federation Fellow (2006-2011), an ARC Professorial Fellow (2002-2006), and Scientific Director and Chief Scientific Officer of a startup company. He undertook postdoctoral studies at Stanford University and University of Toronto, postgraduate studies at Australian National University and University of New South Wales, and undergraduate studies at University of Adelaide.

His research group works across the disciplines of chemistry (synthesis, structure, reaction mechanisms), biochemistry (enzyme inhibitors, protein-protein interactions, GPCRs, transcription factors), immunology (innate immune cells in health and disease, mucosal T cells), and pharmacology (molecular pharmacology and human cell signalling, experimental pharmacology in rodent models of human diseases). He has published over 480 scientific journal articles in high impact chemistry journals (e.g. Chem Rev, Acc Chem Res, J Am Chem Soc, Angew Chem Int Edit, Chem Sci, J Med Chem, Org Lett, J Org Chem) and biology journals (e.g. Nature, Science, Nat Rev Endocrinol, Mol Cancer, Immunity, Nature Immunology, Science Immunology, Am J Resp Crit Care Med, J Hepatol, Trends Immunol, Mol Neurodegen, Adv Drug Deliv Rev, Nature Communications, Trends Pharmacol Sci, J Exp Med, J Clin Invest, Kidney Int, Arthritis & Rheum, Science Advances, Pharmacol Ther, Cancer Res, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, Dev Cell, Curr Biol, J Cell Biol, Cell Reports, PloS Biol, Br J Pharmacol, JCI Insight, Diabetes, Mucosal Immunol, etc). He has been a Highly Cited Researcher (Clarivate Analytics), with over 37,000 citations and 113 publications with over 100 citations (Google Scholar), and has collaborated with many of the world’s largest pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

Jad is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Frazer Institute, currently focused on the detailed immune profiling of novel group A Streptococcus vaccines, with a specific interest in dissecting the diverse immune responses generated by StrepA vaccines. His expertise is built upon a PhD in cancer immunotherapy and immunology, where he investigated the role of complement receptors in glioblastoma (GBM) tumour growth. Jad possesses strong technical proficiency in working with murine models and advanced multi-colour flow cytometry (capable of +40 colours). Furthermore, his commitment to education is recognized through a fellowship in the Higher Education Academy.

In 2020 I formed the Fellowship of the Spring, an international consortium of people concerned with understanding dryland springs and securing their preservation. We are about 40 people spanning 25 countries from a broad range of disciplines, who collaborate with particular attention to fostering work in countries with disadvantage. This platform, focussed on the concept of an 'oasis' provides for multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary exchange. The Felloship of the Spring has its foundation in quantitative field ecology in Queensland. I have ongoing research interest in threatened plant species assessment, and other interests relating to avoiding extinction and better managing our natural resources. I have far more ideas than capacity to fulfil them, so welcome committed post-grads to discuss potential projects.

Research themes:

Artesian springs

Artesian springs are isolated oases in a sea of arid-lands containing weird and wonderful endemic creatures including snails, crustacea, plants and fish. The springs provide a focus for research relating to their hydrological function, cultural significance conservation, optimum management and biogeographic history.

Threatened species

Applied ecology relating to the ecology of threatened species generates insights into their habitat and leads to tangible conservation outcomes.

A/Prof Brett Ferguson’s research interest are in molecular genetics, genomics, genetic transformation and genome editing, such as CRISPR, to unravel the molecular mechanisms driving plant development. His primary focus is on legume crops, using biotechnology and bioinformatic approaches to identify key genes and signals controlling traits of interest. This includes the agriculturally- and environmentally-important symbiosis between legume plants and beneficial rhizobia bacteria that fix critical nitrogen for their host plant. In addition, A/Prof Ferguson works with the fascinating legume tree, Pongamia pinatta, which has tremendous potential as a feedstock for the sustainable production of biodiesel and aviation fuel.

A/Prof Brett Ferguson leads the Integrative Legume Research Group (ILRG) in the School of Agriculture and Food Sciences (SAFS) at the University of Queensland (UQ). He is an Affiliate of the Centre for Crop Science in the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI), and an Affiliate of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Innovations in Peptide and Protein Science (CIPPS). A/Prof Ferguson is also a Chief Investigator in the large, multi-national Hy-Gain for Smallholders Project primarily funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The work of A/Prof Ferguson has contributed to the discovery of many new genes and signals, such as novel microRNAs and peptide hormones, that have critical roles in controlling plant development. His research group identified the complete family of CLE peptide encoding genes of several legume species using an array of molecular and bioinformatic approaches. Additional discoveries of genes involved in legume nodule formation, nitrogen signalling and the regulation of root development, are also having an impact in the research field. Many of these factors could be useful in supporting translational studies and breeding programs that look to improve crop performance. His work also established a requirement for brassinosteroid hormones in legume nodulation and demonstrated a central role for gibberellins in nodule development. Moreover, he contributed to some of the initial work reporting a role of strigolatones in shoot branching, and demonstrated that plants can transport quantities of auxin far in excess of their endogenous levels.

A/Prof Ferguson has also contributed to the developed of new tools and techniques, such as petiole feeding, precision feeding in growth pouches, stem girdling, pHairyRed for promoter-reporter fusions, new hairy-root transformation techniques, novel integrative vectors to enhance transformation efficiency, synthetic biology approaches to generate mature double stranded miRNA, etc.

Dr. Javier A. Fernandez is a Research Fellow at The University of Queensland. His research specializes in crop physiology, plant nutrition, corn production, and crop modelling reflected by over 30 articles (refereed journal publications, extension articles, conference proceedings, and others). He is currently engaged in the use of statistical, digital, and model technologies to assess crop growth and development, with the overall goal of enhancing production, resource use efficiency, and sustainability of agricultural systems in Australia. Javier received his BS in Agricultural Engineering from Universidad Nacional del Nordeste in Argentina, and his PhD in Agronomy from Kansas State University. He is recipient of several honours and awards from university, professional societies, and governmental organizations, including two Fulbright Commission scholarships.

Dr Fred Fialho Teixeira is an architect, media artist and senior lecturer at University of Queensland, School of Architecture, Design and Planning. He has been working in the fields of computational architecture and immersive environments for the last 20 years. He has been awarded the Dean's Fellowship from the University of California and Media Arts and Technology Fellowship where he initiated is PhD on innovative biological-based design strategies at the California Nano Systems Institute. Additionally he co-established and developed an international research program on the studies of Perception of Space in Architecture and Culture and the UQ Visualisation Lab with a focus on the used of immersive technologies and extended realities (VR/AR/XR). With over 50 publications on design methods and research in digital design and fabrication, his research focuses on bio-augmented spaces through the experiential traits of immersive media and spatial computing strategies. He's an alumni of the Architectural Association, School of Architecture (AA) and accredited architect by Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and Portuguese Chamber of Architects (OA) and also practiced for high profile offices such as Zaha Hadid Architects. Through his innovative strategies he designed over 30 projects from which he was internationally awarded within biology, art and architectural domains. Presently his research work on spatial computation combines the use of mixed reality and advanced manufacturing to enable the next generation of built environments.

Memberships

Architectural Association, School of Architecture (UK),Royal Institute of British Architects (UK), Chamber of Architects (PT), Australian Smart Communities Association (AU).

My research interests include causes and detectability of extinction and decline, conservation ecology of threatened and declining marsupials (especially dasyurids and macropods), and tropical mammals, evolutionary ecology, mating systems and life history evolution, especially associations between life histories and seasonality, climate and sexual selection.

My long-term interest in conservation and evolutionary ecology of carnivorous marsupials started at The University of Sydney, where I was an Honours student of Chris Dickman. I did a PhD on ecology of bridled nailtail wallabies at The University of Queensland with Craig Moritz and Anne Goldizen. My research fellowships and programmes since then have investigated ecology and evolution of mammals: a Royal Society fellowship at the University of Aberdeen with Xavier Lambin, an ARC APD fellowship at ANU with Andrew Cockburn, and an ARF fellowship, and a Future Fellowship and UQ Fellowship at The University of Queensland School of Biological Sciences.

I have worked in state environment agencies and the Australian Museum at times before joining UQ in 2007. I am co-chair of the IUCN Marsupial and Monotreme Specialist Group (with Professor John Woinarski), chair of the Australasian Mammal Taxonomy Consortium (affiliated with the Australian Mammal Society), and winner of the 2020 ESA Australian Ecology Research Award.

History:

Principal Research Fellow / Deputy Academic Director UQ Hidden Vale Research Station/ Associate Professor, School of the Environment / Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, UQ. Jan 2022-

UQ Fellow, School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland. Conservation and life history evolution of mammals in Australia and Melanesia. January 2016 – December 2018.

ARC Future Fellow / Senior Lecturer, School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland. Life history evolution, extinction and conservation ecology of carnivorous marsupials. January 2012 – December 2015.

ARC Australian Research Fellow, School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland. Causes of animal extinction and rediscovery, detection of extinction and trajectories of decline in mammals with respect to the spread of invasive predators. January 2007 – December 2011.

Natural Heritage Trust, federal Department of Environment and Heritage, Canberra. Collating published data on threats to nationally endangered vertebrates under the EPBC Act, for the Species Profiles And Threats database. Part time, January- December 2006.

ARC Postdoctoral Fellow, Division of Botany and Zoology, Australian National University, Canberra. Testing hypotheses to explain the evolution of polyandry, using antechinuses. April 2002 to February 2006 (maternity leave December 2004 – October 2005).

Royal Society Postdoctoral fellow, Department of Zoology, University of Aberdeen. Behavioural mechanisms of density-dependent immigration and implications for population dynamics in the water vole. Jan 2000 - April 2001 (maternity leave April 2001 – April 2002).

Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Queensland. Ecological correlates of marsupial life histories, behaviour and social organisation. 1999 - 2000.

PhD. The Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Queensland, supervised by Professor Craig Moritz and Dr Anne Goldizen: Behavioural ecology and demography of the bridled nailtail wallaby, Onychogalea fraenata 1994 - 1998.

Marina Fortes has a degree in Veterinary Medicine (2004) and a Master of Science in Animal Reproduction (2007) from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. She completed her PhD in genetics, in 2012 at The University of Queensland (UQ). For her PhD Marina had international scholarships from UQ and the Beef CRC. Her PhD received the Dean's commendation award. After that, Marina worked as a post-doc at the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI). In August 2014, Marina joined the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences (SCMB) as an academic and established the Livestock Genomics Group. As a researcher, Marina is interested in genetics and genomics, sustainable livestock production, and reproductive biology. Ongoing collaborations link her group to a rich research environment, both domestic and international, which contributes to sustainable livestock industries. Meat and Livestock Australia has provided ongoing support to the projects led by her group. For her work on the genomics of cow fertility, Marina received an Advanced Queensland Fellowship (2018-2021). Marina teaches undergraduate and postgraduate courses, including the Livestock Biotechnology course (BIOT7038) within the Master of Biotechnology program. The Women in Science podcast - https://soundcloud.com/womeninscience - was produced by Marina Fortes, Marloes Dekker, and Kirsty Short.

I completed my PhD, supervised by Dr. Jan Engelstaedter, investigating host shift dynamics of parasites within a host clade. In this project I am was interested in understanding the long-term dynamics and consequences of host-shift dynamics, while taking into account the evolutionary relationships between host species. I was interested in identifying predictable patterns in the distribution of pathogens using statistical and mathematical modeling.

Currently, I am a postdoctoral researcher working at the University of Queensland under Dr. Christine Beveridge. I will be creating computational models of plant hormone signalling in order to make predictions on the phenotypic outcomes of plant species.