Introducing Dr Jennifer Waanders, LCAFS new Scientific Manager…

Jennifer commenced work as the Scientific Manager on the St. Lucia campus in January this year. Born and raised in England she completed an undergraduate Masters in Chemistry from the University of York in 1999, and was awarded a PhD in analytical Chemistry from the University of Warwick in 2003. During her studies she twice had the opportunity to work in Sweden, and while she can still speak some Swedish, she has never succeeded in learning to ice-skate.

Jennifer came to Brisbane in 2003, met her husband six weeks later, and has lived here ever since. She spent two years as a research fellow at the Eskitis Institute on Griffith's Nathan Campus. After this she was the Analytical Services Manager at Alchemia, a bio-tech company based in Eight Mile Plains. In this job she was responsible for managing the analytical chemistry equipment in the company, and successfully set-up and oversaw a project outsourcing the purification of 15,000 samples to China.

Jennifer's research has been in developing new methodologies to identify and quantify molecules using mass spectrometry techniques. Since first using a mass spectrometer in 1998, she has worked with a wide range of samples including pharmaceutical candidates, bio-fluids and natural products. Jennifer is pleased to have the opportunity to further develop her knowledge of analytical technologies in applying them to plant, food and soil samples.

In her spare time Jennifer plays viola in a Brisbane community orchestra, and enjoys teaching the family dog new tricks. She is also a keen traveller and likes to spend weekends going for long drives and exploring SE Queensland. When bushwalking, Jennifer finds it frustrating that she cannot identify many of Australia's native plants, and hopes that she will have the opportunity to rectify that whilst working here at LCAFS.

Introducing Associate Professor Hongyin Zhang…

Hongyin is a visiting scholar from China who is working with Mark Turner in the area of food microbiology. Hongyin obtained a research fellowship (the Government Scholarship for Study Abroad of Jiangsu) from the government of China, and arrived in Australia late last year and will be here for 12 months. He is travelling with his wife (Jinhua Cui) and 7 year old daughter (Qidi Zhang) who is attending Indooroopilly primary school.

The gate of Jiangsu University

Hongyin got his doctorate from Zhejiang University (one of the top 10 universities in China) in 2004, and now he is an Associate Professor of Jiangsu University which is about a 3 hour drive from Shanghai. His research interests are in the area of food microbiology and in particular biocontrol agents for fruits. His research focuses on the use of antagonistic yeasts (Cryptococcus laurentii and Rhodotorula glutinis) to control postharvest fungal diseases of fruits. He publishes most of his research results in international journals including the International Journal of Food Microbiology, Postharvest Biology and Technology, Journal of Food Engineering, Food Control, Biological Control, Biocontrol. Hongyin's research at UQ will involve looking at the identification and development of bacterial biocontrol agents for fruits and vegetables. While at UQ, Hongyin will continue to supervise his students back in China. He will also be writing papers and applying for grants.

The efficacy of Cryptococcus laurentii to control the gray mold decay of pears: The right pear was the control, the left 4 pears were treated with Cryptococcus laurentii of different concentrations, the most left one has the highest yeast concentration

Since being in Australia, Hongyin and his family have enjoyed the sunshine, friendly people, beaches, sandwiches and hamburgers, but are still struggling to find a good Chinese restaurant. Hongyin said that he likes the Brisbane sunshine so much, he has given himself an English name "Sunny".

Hongyin giving a presentation to the colleagues in LCAFS	Hongyin and his family in a friend's farm in Brisbane

If you are interested in Hongyin's research, or would just like to say hello, he is located in room S316 of the Hartley Teakle building. Or you could send him an email zhanghongyin126@126.com.

New major equipment infrastructure grant - l-PAD - A lysimetry platform for study of Plant Adaptation to Drought …

Graeme Hammer was recently successful in securing a Major Equipment & Infrastructure grant for $300K to build the l-PAD at Gatton Campus. So what is the l-PAD? Lysimetry is a technique for measuring the rate of use of water by plants by weighing. It enables study of critical issues like plant water use efficiency - how much crop per drop? However, it is usually quite laborious as individual pots need to be weighed and watered carefully prior to harvesting the plant. l-PAD is a fully automated plant lysimetry system for the study of plant adaptation to drought. The system facilitates growth of individual plants of major crop species through their entire life cycle while continuously logging their water use and automatically regulating their watering. In conjunction with plant measures of organ size and mass this enables calculation of water use efficiency and organ growth dynamics throughout the plant life cycle. The platform proposed is unique in its capacity for detailed study of water use efficiency at plant scale in crop plants that can be grown through their entire life cycle. The system proposed will ultimately be capable of experiments with up to 200 entries. The intention is to use this capacity in current research programs on the physiology and genetics of drought adaptive traits in sorghum and maize. However, there is considerable potential for use of the facility for research in other crops.

l-PAD consists of (i) enclosing greenhouse and support infrastructure, and (ii) the lysimetry platform

(i) Greenhouse and support infrastructure - a steel-framed, solar-weave covered structure (10m x 12m) with concrete floor forms the major structure. A control room for computerised monitoring and control of electronic weighing and watering systems is included. Adjacent soil handling, pot filling, and sludge removal (after root washing) systems and structures are included.

(ii) Lysimetry platform - custom-built trolleys to hold 8 units each have been designed. Each lysimeter pot is 30 cm diameter and can be up to 80cm long. The mountings and trolleys have been designed to cater for this weight. Each unit is mounted on a separate load cell and has regulated watering. Weighing and watering are controlled via electronic connection to the control system. Trolleys are mounted on wheels and can be manoeuvred into bays in the greenhouse after filling, moved apart to allow access for non-destructive measurement of plants, and moved out for harvest and root washing. A pot filling and root washing bay are included.

The Travelling Soils Group…

The Soils2008 conference was held at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand.

Beautiful Massey University

UQ was represented by Neal Menzies, Peter Kopittke, Bernhard Wehr, Gunnar Kirchoff, Brigid McKenna, Sarah Vaughan, Alison Devereux and Tia Northfield.

Bernhard Wehr and Peter Kopittke gave presentations on their current work. Brigid McKenna presented a poster. Congratulations Brigid who was awarded the 2008 Conference Presentation Award for the Most Meritorious Poster Presentation under 35. Her poster was titled "Using Gluconacetobacter xylinus as a tool to investigate aluminium interactions with plant cell walls".

Brigid McKenna with her award winning poster

At the Conference, there was discussion:

Neal Menzies, Brigid McKenna

there was touring:

At Manawatu Gorge. Back: Neal Menzies, Tim Smith (DPI), Peter Kopittke Front: Brigid McKenna, Tia Northfield, Sara Vaughan

there was social activity:

From L to R - Brigid McKenna, Sarah Vaughan, Tia Northfield, Alison Devereux (UQ), Di Allen (DNR&W)

Bernhard Wehr, Neal Menzies, Peter Kopittke, Tim Smith (DPI)

There was indeed also some soil to be seen:

2009 Sunflower Competition…

LCAFS is again hosting its Sunflower Competition in 2009 to see which budding agriculturalists can grow the heaviest sunflower. The competition is sponsored this year by GRF, Pacific Seeds, the Australian Sunflower Association and QATA.

The competition is open to school students in Yr 6 to 12 within Queensland and Northern NSW and is designed to encourage our budding future agriculturalists.

Kits have already been sent out. Planting is scheduled for 6 March. Weigh-in will be on Tuesday 26 May. For more information contact UQ (07) 5460 1279 or sunflower@uq.edu.au

Staff News…

Gary Dorr has been with the Centre for Pesticide Application & Safety (CPAS) based at the Gatton Campus since 1991. CPAS is a leading international scientific research and training group that maintains close links to government, commercial companies, industry associations and research institutes throughout Australia and overseas.

During his 18 years with the Centre, Gary has managed or contributed to over 100 research projects in pesticide application technology. A significant achievement during this time has been helping to establish and run the Wind Tunnel Research Facility located at the Gatton campus. The wind tunnel is unique in Australia and is regarded as the best of its type in the world. It is capable of determining the effect of nozzle design, chemical formulation and certain environmental parameters such as airspeed on spray behaviour.

Dantec PDA laser used to measure size and velocity of sprays

Gary grew up on a horticultural property near Gatton and completed a Bachelor of Engineering (Agricultural) at the Darling Downs Institute of Advanced Education in 1985. His work with pesticide application started with the Western Australian Department of Agriculture where he was responsible for conducting a research project with the aim of improving the performance of herbicides in cereal crops. Since commencing work at CPAS, Gary has completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Applied Science in Plant Protection in 1996 and recently completed his PhD studies with a thesis titled "Minimising Environmental and Public Health Risk of Pesticide Application Through Understanding the Droplet-Canopy Interface".

Guta Bedane, Nivedita Datta, and Peter Sopade have all been successful in obtaining ResTeach funding.

Olena Kravchuk has been award a Promoting Women Fellowship valued at $15,000. Olena was selected from a strong field of candidates.

Higher Degree Research Students

LCAFS welcomes the following new research higher degree students:

Lauren Bragg (PhD), Principal Supervisor Dave Edwards, Development of statistical and computational methids for the analysis of metagenomic sequence data.

Jeremy Brawner (PhD), Principal Supervisor Mark Dieters, Optimizing the deployment of genetic resources for reafforestation.

Nor Che Husin (PhD), Principal Supervisor Daryl Joyce, Involvement of ethylene in plant wounding responses.

M Haris Effendi Hasibuan (PhD), Principal Supervisor Bob Gilbert, Study of resistant starch from Indonesian rice varieties for healthier nutrition.

Yoke Lee (MPhil), Principal Supervisor Bhesh Bhandari, Low fat peanut butter.

En Peng Li (PhD), Principal Supervisor Bob Gilbert, Biosynthesis-structure-property relations of sorghum starch.

Dennis Murray (PhD), Principal Supervisor Mike Gidley, Characterisation of protein structure and nutritional functionality at low moisture levels.

Lakshmi Ramasubramanian (PhD), Principal Supervisor Hilton Deeth, The interaction of calcium and proteins during heat treatment of milk.

Joel Waramboi (PhD), Principal Supervisor Peter Sopade, Influence of processing on digestibility and mineral bio-availability of sweet potato from Papua New Guinea.

Sheron Weerasuriya (MPhil), Principal Supervisor Neal Menzies, Nitrogen use efficiency in tomato.

Congratulations to the following student who has been awarded his doctorate:

Gary Dorr, Phd, Minimising Environmental and Public Health Risk of Pesticide Application Through Understanding the Droplet-Canopy Interface.

Gary's thesis is available for borrowing. Email your request to lcafs@uq.edu.au.

New Grants

Ian Godwin and Bob Gilbert, $969,002, Factors controlling higher-level starch structure.

Dion Harrison, Daryl Joyce, Kevin Davies, $530,767, Australian native plant species as models for understanding the regulation and roles of betalain pigment synthesis.

Graeme Hammer, $297,000, I-PAD - A lysimetry platform for study of plant adaptation to drought.

Vic Galea and Zaiton Sapak, $144,949, Benchmarking predictive models, nutrients and irrigation for management of downy and powdery mildew and white blister.

Graeme Hammer, Vincent Vadez, Andrew Borrell, H.S. Talway, $26,409, Improving postrainy sorghum varieties to meet the growing grain and fodder demand in India.

Jacqui Batley, $26,207, Investigating the evolution and conservation of nodulation and mycorrhization genes across the brassicaceae.

Daryl Joyce and Bruce D'Arcy, $16,500, Scent and consumer acceptability of cut Ptilotus flowers.

Jacqui Batley, Dave Edwards and N Nesi, $14,000, French-Australian Science and Technology Program round 6 project: Characterisation of candidate genes underlying oil quality in Canola (Brassica napus).