As a teaching and research academic within the School of the Environment at the University of Queensland, I research the biology and genetics of mosquitoes in our region of the Indo-Pacific that delivers fundamental knowledge into the role mosquitoes play in mosquito-borne disease. This work moves across basic and applied research and has advanced our understanding of mosquitoes, their evolution, species’ distributions, permitting better focused mosquito control to be imagined. More recent research involves exploring new environmentally friendly biological control tools such as using the Wolbachia bacterium and genetic modification to combat mosquito-borne disease.
For more detail on my research please see below and at this link http://www.nigelbeebe.com
Evolutionary and ecological genomics of marine invertebrate animals.
Animals evolve because their genomes need to respond to the constantly changing environment presented by both their external habitat and their internal microbial symbionts. Over evolutionary time, these different factors interact during development, when the animal body plan is being established, to generate the extraordinary animal diversity that graces our planet. In ecological time, early life history stages must detect and respond to the precise nature of their environment to generate a locally-adapted functional phenotype. Using coral reef invertebrates from phyla that span the animal kingdom, we study these gene-environment interactions using genomic, molecular and cellular approaches combined with behavioural ecology in natural populations. We work mostly with embryonic and larval life history stages of indirect developers, as these are crucial to the survival, connectivity, and evolution of marine populations. When not immersed in the molecular or computer lab, we are lucky enough to be immersed in the ocean, often in beautiful places!
Valentin was awarded a PhD from the French National Institute of Higher Education in Agricultural Sciences and the University of Montpellier (France) in 2018. His thesis focused on methodological developments for genetic differentiation analysis in the Next Generation Sequencing era in a neutral and adaptive context. Since 2019, he works as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Queensland in the Program in Complex Trait Genomics group under the supervision of Professor Peter Visscher. His current research focuses on studying the within and between-population genetic variation in human complex traits.
In The Ortiz-Barrientos Lab we seek to understand how natural selection drives the origin of traits and new species. We combine empirical and theoretical approaches from across multiple disciplines.
We are located in beautiful Brisbane, Australia, in the School of The Environment at The University of Queensland.
Please explore our pages to learn about research, culture, and the team of scientists that bring their passion and creativity to discovering how nature works.
Dr Sathish Periyasamy is a Research Fellow at a Queensland Brain Institute and Senior Scientist at Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research. He is currently building and focusing on Systems/Genomic Medicine and conducting research in the interface of systems genetics and psychiatry. He is involved in studying the mechanisms of (patho-)physiological processes in psychiatric disorders using a unique combination of educational experience coupled with over twenty-five years of computer programming and eleven years of computational biology experience in biomedicine. Over the past 20 years, his experience working in chemical, biological and medical domains has enabled him to focus on the interface of basic and clinical research and contribute to translational research. From 2011 to 2014, he was involved in cancer genetics research at King Abdullah International Medical Research Centre, KSA. As the bioinformatics lead, with interdisciplinary skills and expertise at the interface of computational intelligence, systems biology, and quantitative/psychiatric genetics, He has been contributing to psychiatric genetics research since 2014 in Professor Bryan Mowry’s lab.
His current research areas include:
Bioinformatics, Systems Biology and Statistical Genetics - Developing and applying GWAS, post-GWAS bioinformatics, cross-population genetic association and systems genetics approaches.
Psychiatric Genomics
Common and rare variant association studies in schizophrenia using data generated from DNA microarray and whole-exome/whole-genome sequencing technologies.
Post-GWAS bioinformatics approaches to characterise risk variants discovered in schizophrenia GWAS.
Cross-population genetic association approaches in schizophrenia.
Computational Intelligence – Developing conventional and visible deep learning models for biomedicine.
Developing genetic resources for Indigenous Oceanic populations
Dr. Tatiana Proboste is a Research Fellow at the Spatial Epidemiology Lab (UQ), specialising in zoonotic disease transmission and spatiotemporal analysis. Her work utilises spatial models and network analysis techniques to enhance our understanding of disease transmission dynamics, particularly within wildlife populations and at the wildlife-human interface.
As a veterinarian with a robust background in terrestrial ecology and biodiversity management, Dr. Proboste brings a unique perspective to her research. She holds a Master’s degree from the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, where she focused on wildlife disease ecology and molecular tools. Her academic pursuits led her to earn a PhD from the University of Queensland in 2020, with her doctoral research centring on the use of genetic analysis tools to study wildlife’s role in disease transmission in modified environments.
Dr. Proboste’s contributions to research are extensive and varied. She has been involved in projects ranging from the molecular detection of tick-borne pathogens to the development of tools for exploring wildlife’s role in disease transmission. Recent years have seen her focus on investigating mosquito-borne disease outbreaks, identifying Q fever clusters in Queensland and associated risk factors, and applying network analysis to estimate contact rates in feral pig populations in eastern Australia. In addition to her research, Dr. Proboste is a casual lecturer at the School of Veterinary Science. She is also part of the Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, Q fever Interest Group and the HEAL Network
My group's research uses large-scale genomic data to address knowledge gaps in disease, with a particular focus on cardiovascular disease.
Research programme
1. Cardiovascular disease research using big-data and genomics: with the goal of improving prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease. By focusing on underrepresented groups, including women, my research aims to also address inequity in cardiovascular outcomes. I am the lead of the South Asian Genes and Health in Australia (SAGHA) study, which aims to increase representation of Australian South Asians in cardiovascular and genomics research. See saghaus.org for further details.
2. Drug genomics: I'm interested in using genomic approaches to predict drug effects, including identification of drug repurposing opportunities as well as identifying unknown adverse effects of medication.
3. Liver transplant research: In this collaboration with the QLD Liver Transplant Unit, we are using genomics to understand the effect of normo-thermic perfusion (a new organ storage method) on liver function, with the long-term goal of improving our ability to predict transplant outcomes.
Career summary: I was awarded my PhD from University College London (UK) in cardiovascular genetics. I began my post-doctoral fellowship under the mentorship of Prof Peter Visscher at the Queensland Brain Institute in 2013. Between 2016-2018, I was the lead analyst for the International Heart Failure Genetics Consortium (HERMES). In 2018, I was awarded an NHMRC Early Career Researcher Fellowship to investigate the relationship between cardiovascular and brain-related disorders using large-scale genetic and genomic data, under the mentorship of Prof Naomi Wray. I currently hold a National Heart Foundation Future Leader Fellowship.
Recognition:
2024 Australian Academy of Science Ruth Stephens Gani Medal for outstanding contribution to genetics research
2023 1 of 5 global finalists for the Nature Inspiring Women in Science (Scientific Achievement Award)
2023 Lifesciences QLD Rose-Anne Kelso Award
2023: Named in Australia's Top 25 Women in Science by Newscorp
2022 Queensland Young Tall Poppy Award
2022 UQ Foundation Research Excellence Award
2021/2022 Australian Superstar of STEM,
2020 Genetic Society of Australasia Early Career Award
2020 Women in Technology Rising Star Science Award
RESEARCH INTERESTS Fire Ecology, Ecological Genomics, Wildlife Ecology, Conservation Biology, Invasive Plants
My research group studies fire ecology and conservation biology. Currently, we are working on:
Managing interactions between changing fire regimes and invasive plants
Influence of changing fire regimes on plant-animal interactions
Restoration of native grassland
Biodiversity in agricultural landscapes
Platypus distribution & conservation
We have a special interest in plants and animals living in fire-prone areas because of the fascinating fact that these ecosystems are never static but continually re-shaped by cycles of fire and regeneration. While being grounded in fundamental biology and ecological theory, our research is always aimed at improving knowledge for biodiversity conservation. Our work has applications in fire management, biological invasion and threatened species conservation.
TECHNICAL APPROACHES: POPULATION GENETICS | SPATIAL LANDSCAPE GENETICS | DEMOGRAPHIC SIMULATION MODELLING | STATISTICAL MODELLING OF POPULATIONS & COMMUNITIES | BIOINFORMATICS | SPATIAL ANALYSIS IN R | We also know how to drop a hand-made 1 x 1 m polypipe quadrat on the ground and do good old-fashioned field work.
TEACHING: I teach ecology and wildlife science. At UQ I have coordinated and taught AGRC1032 Elements of Ecology and ANIM3018 Wildlife Technology for four years, among other teaching duties.
EDITORIAL I am Associate Editor for Wildlife Letters (2023–)
I was Associate Editor for Journal of Applied Ecology for four years (2018–2022).
CURRICULUM VITAE
2019 – current Lecturer, University of Queensland
2018 – 2022 Associate Editor, Journal of Applied Ecology
2018 – 2019 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellow, Trinity College Dublin
2016 – 2017 Post-doctoral Research Fellow, Trinity College Dublin
2015 – 2016 Post-doctoral Research Assistant, University of Melbourne
Dr Jian Zeng is a statistical geneticist and NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB) at the University of Queensland (UQ). He received his PhD in animal breeding and genetics at Iowa State University and joined the Program in Complex Trait Genomics (PCTG) at UQ in 2016. His research focuses on the development and application of innovative statistical methods for estimating the genetic architecture and evolutionary signals in complex traits, identifying genetic variants, genes and other molecular intermediates associated with phenotype variation, and predicting trait phenotypes using genome sequence data. In 2019, he was awarded an NHMRC Investigator Emerging Leadership Grant to develop statistical methods and software tools for best predict an individual’s disease risk using genomic and omics data. He was an invited speaker at the prestigious Gordon Research Conference in 2019.
