Introducing Professor Pieter Marinus Kroonenberg…

Pieter is honorary professor in multivariate analysis at the Institute of Education and Child Studies of Leiden University in Leiden, the Netherlands. Strange as it may seem, he combines his stay at our School with one at the School of Psychology at McElwain. Such bizarre combinations seem only possible for statisticians who harvest data in each and every field and in this manner lead a symbiotic and useful life.

His association with the School and the University of Queensland is a long-standing one which started in 1987 with his appointment for a year at the then Department of Psychology. During that year he found in Kaye Basford a true companion in arms, and together they have now published twelve papers, mostly dealing with plant breeding, but on such topics as the ecology of the Great Barrier Reef and the attachment of children to their mothers.

Pieter seems to return to Queensland time and again for both scientific and personal motives. Who would not want to escape the grey skies of the Netherlands for the Sunshine state (see the photographs below for proof of this apt name). The year in Australia [in 1987] was one of the defining moments in his life and that of his family, laying the foundation for perpetual nostalgia for the days when the children were young and life was easy and sunny. The family as a whole returned twice for three-month stints (1991 and 1995), Pieter and his wife came back in 2002, and here they are again in 2009. His daughter spent six months at the University of New England in Armidale, NSW in 2004, and in 2006 he took his son along for the drive [from Brisbane to Cairns for the Biometrics conference. Australia has planted a tenacious bug that is impossible to get rid of.

On a wet day it can rain for ever	Darwin's Café on a less felicitous day

Kaye's and Pieter's collaborations primarily involve the analysis of three-way data such as routinely collected in agricultural trials: genotypes x environments x attributes. Their special interest/specialisations in three-mode clustering and three-mode component analysis have led to joint attacks on various crops, in particular maize, wheat , soy, cotton, and recently, adzuki beans. Several UQ PhD students have made use of these techniques to great effect in their theses. Another strain of statistics the industrious couple introduced into plant breeding research was component analysis for data with mixtures of measurement levels, such as ordered and unordered categorical data in combination with numerical variables. Evidence of this can be found in the theses of Bronwyn Harch, Amirul Islam, and Rodney Ellis on peanuts, common beans, and characteristics of the environment in the Green Zone of the Great Barrier Reef, respectively.

An example of hierarchical clustering; Statistics in the wild

Surprisingly Pieter also has other interests than work, in particular cycling to make him tired and photography to pretend he has a creative side as well. The latter activity results in a yearly calendar which already for the thirteenth year graces cupboard doors in Kaye's and Anne Webber's offices. As evidence of the curiosities he finds in Brisbane and surroundings (such as colourful birds and plants and high rises on the beach) a few photos are included in this mini-biography.

Should you feel the need to talk to him, either because you have nothing better to do, or because you think he needs to learn something from you, or you want him to talk about the statistics for your data, feel free to visit him in his office in Room S404 at Hartley Teakle on Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays. Via email Pieter can be reached at kroonenb@fsw.leidenuniv.nl and more information on his activities in his academic life can be found on
http://www.socialsciences.leiden.edu/educationandchildstudies/childandfamilystudies/organisation/staffcfs/
kroonenberg.html (home page)
http://three-mode.leidenuniv.nl (The Three-Mode Company).

At Wordsmith's they serve all kinds of customers, even if they have eaten their serving numbers. Or is this food on the table?

Noisy Miner on Golden Penda	Has it not heard of pedestrian crossings?

High rises on the beach

Sorghum Molecular Genetics Research…

Ian Godwin's group has been working on sorghum genetics since 1991, when sorghum was regarded as a crop of minor importance in Australia, and only in the northern grain region. Changes in rainfall patterns and improved varieties with midge resistance have made sorghum the main crop for many farmers in Queensland and northern NSW. This has led to renewed interest in the species as a biomass and biomaterials crop, and the sorghum genome was sequenced and made publically available by the US Department of Energy in 2007.

Applying modern biotech and genomics tools to sorghum has allowed the Godwin group to establish new exciting collaborations and partnerships with companies and government organisations nationally and internationally. Ian is currently leading three ARC-funded projects on sorghum genetic improvement for improved starch qualities (with Bob Gilbert), improved biofuel and biomass (with Chris Grof at Newcastle and Neil Muller at Pacific Seeds) and grain and endosperm properties (with Dave Jordan and Emma Mace at QPIF). The lab is also working on manipulation of seed storage protein genes with collaborators at UC Berkeley and USDA Kansas, sorghum gene flow with USDA Nebraska, molecular characterisation of Ethiopian landrace genetic resources, the development of transgenic insect resistant plants with the Indian National Research Directorate on Sorghum and delivery of bio-pharmaceuticals with Kathryn Steadman in UQ School of Pharmacy.

Haile Desmae with diverse sorghum landraces in Ethiopia	Sorghum field day at Warwick

Recent PhD graduates from the lab include Dr Hunter Laidlaw, Dr Hailemichael Desmae, Dr Kim Ritter and Dr Dipal Parh. Current PhD students in the sorghum team include Phuong Mai Hoang, Prati Pandit, Rajnesh Sant, Avril Finn, Peter Stuart, Norazlina Ahmad and Enpeng Li, with staff members Dr Agnieszka Mudge, Dr Pete Prentis, Guoquan Liu, Sharon Williams, Brad Campbell and Dr Ed Gilding. Ian has been asked to deliver a keynote address on his research at the Eucarpia Maize and Sorghum Genetics Meeting in Italy in June.

Jellyfish green fluorescent protein expression in sorghum callus (photo by Raj Sant)

The Continuing Travels of Soils Group members Pax Blamey and Bernhard Wehr…

Pax and Bernhard departed Brisbane on Saturday 16 May to head to China for the long-anticipated 7th International Symposium on Plant-Soil Interactions at low pH (7 PSILPH) held at the South China Agricultural University in Guangzhou (SCAU), China.

Stopover in Hong Kong

After a brief stopover in Hong Kong, they departed by express train for Guangzhou, arriving two hours later.

Skyline of downtown Guangzhou, the 610 m tall TV tower is nearing completion	View over Guangzhou

Pax and Bernhard found getting through Guangzhou traffic a memorable experience as road markings appear to be purely ornamental. And they thought peak-hour traffic in Brisbane was bad! They believe that Guangzhou' peak hour time is 23 hours a day. Fortunately, the subway system was excellent (with trains arriving every two minutes).

The next day, the conference was officially opened and they met old friends and made new friends with other researchers working on acid soils and aluminium toxicity.

Conference venue at South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou	Some of the new buildings at SCAU	Some of the old buildings (a bit like UQ, really)

The two papers presented by Pax Blamey and Bernhard Wehr were well received.

Pax in distinguished company

The four day conference included a mid-conference tour to the University Experimental Farm and a boat trip on the Pearl River.

"Paddy" maize and groundnut	Rice variety evaluation

Since the wet season had started the day after Pax and Bernhard arrived in Guangzhou, the soils were wet and made investigating the soils pits an interesting proposition.

A soil pit in the rain (a paddy soil)

Most crops (except rice) were grown in raised beds to improve drainage. They were amazed by the small size of farms, with most labour done by hand or buffalo. Buffalo are even used as lawn movers on the University lawns. South China Agricultural University is impressive, with 40,000 students living on campus.

In Pax and Bernhard's areas of interest, they noted enthusiastic students, good staff and impressive facilities. After the conference they returned to Brisbane via a very wet Hong Kong. Altogether, they noted that the conference was informative and productive and they left with a head full of new ideas.

Update on the 2009 Sunflower Competition…

LCAFS Sunflower Competition was held at the UQ Gatton campus in May and proved a great success for all involved. The event would not have been possible without the support of our sponsors Grains Research Foundation, Pacific Seeds, Queensland Agriculture Teachers' Association, Agforce, and the Australian Sunflower Association.

Approximately 100 students from surrounding schools and as far away as Nambour and Goondiwindi submitted sunflowers for the weigh-in. The winning School was Ferny Grove State High School with a plant weighing just over 1.3 kg.

Ferny Grove Year 11 agricultural class, from left, Becky Wade, Damian Hatfield, Katie Kelly, Hannah Clements, Liam Coucher, Elaine Brook, Andrew Fletcher, Blaze Isaacs and Steven Stripsky	Kaye Basford presenting a 'cheque' to the winning team leader, Katie Kelly

Many people contributed to the event. Special mention to Doug George, Vic Robinson and the technical staff at Gatton who worked tirelessly on the planning, setting up and hands-on activities. Jitka Kochanek gave a captivating presentation on plant breeding, and fourth year student Byron Birch spoke on his experience as a student in agricultural science. There was a presentation by past student, Andrew Easton, who now works for Pac Seeds. Representatives from our main sponsors were all present.

A big thank you also to the Faculty marketing team, Erin Pearl and Carissa Dennis, for their support and contribution. They were ably assisted by student ambassador, Jade.

Staff News…

Mark Turner The Shak from Channel 9 visited LCAFS on the St Lucia campus in April to learn about food science. They filmed in Mark Turner's food microbiology practical class where the reporter Drew (aka "Curio") joined a group of intrepid students (Theresia, Anita, Charissa and Chiung-Yin) who were making and analysing yoghurt. Curio turned out to be a promising food microbiologist and learnt about the changes that occur during the fermentation process and how to perform microbiological analyses. After all of the negative stories about "bad" disease causing bacteria, Curio was happy to learn about some bacteria that are useful. The story went to air on 1 June.

student yoghurt bacteria (fermentation ended)

Ross Humphreys has just released his new book Crawford Munro. A Vision for Australia's Water. Details are as below:

Bhesh Bhandari The papers co-authored by Bhesh Bhandari and colleagues are top in the list of the most cited papers in four different Journals.

These papers are in the field of microencapsulation and glass transition properties of food materials.

1. Top 4 in the Drying Technology (since 1983, total published 2,535): Bhandari, B.R., Datta, N. and Howes, T. (1997). Problems associated with spray drying of sugar-rich foods. Drying Technology, 15 (2): 671-684.

2. Top 5 in the Journal of Food Engineering (since 1978, total published 5,535): Bhandari, B.R. and Howes, T. (1999). Implication of glass transition for the drying and stability of dried foods. Journal of Food Engineering. 40(1-2): 71-79.

3. Top 2 in the International Journal of Food Properties (since 1998, total published 560). Adhikari, B., Howes, T., Bhandari, B.R. and Truong, V. (2000). Experimental studies and kinetics of single droplet drying and their relevance in drying of sugar-rich foods- a review. International Journal of Food Properties 3(3): 323-351.

4. Top 1 in the International Journal of Food Properties in the past 5 years (since 2004): Jafari, S.M., He, Y., Bhandari, B. (2005). Nano-emulsion production by sonication and microfluidization- A Comparison. International Journal of Food Properties. 9 (3): 475-485.

5. Top 4 in the International Dairy Journal in the past 5 years (since 2003, total published 898): Krasaekoopt, W., Bhandari, B., Deeth, H. (2003). Encapsulation techniques for probiotics: a review. International Dairy Journal. 13(1): 3-13.

This information has been obtained from Scopus database and the note published in the journal.

Congratulations…

to Peter and Hayley Kopittke on the birth of their son Joshua Joel, born 24 March 2009, 4.25 kg.

to Vic Galea who has been selected as one of UQs nominees for the 2009 Australian Awards for University Teaching - Awards for Teaching Excellence.

Spotlight on some of LCAFS new Postgraduate Students

Nor Mayati Che Husin (Maya) is supervised by Daryl Joyce (LCAFS) and Jimmy Botella (School of Integrative Biology).

Maya's PhD research aims to shed light on the fundamental ethylene response in physical wounding in the Australian native tree Acacia holosericea. She will use a multidiscipline approach to focus on various types of mechanical wounding on a range of tissues. Her research will improve the vase life of ornamental species, and also has relevance for optimizing crop yield in agriculture and in agro-industry.

Maya completed her Bachelor of Molecular Biology-Genetic (Honours) in 1999 and her Masters in Biochemistry at the National University of Malaysia in 2002. Her Masters project dealt with ethylene and other gene regulation during papaya fruit ripening. While writing her Master's thesis, Maya was employed as a Research Officer with the Malaysian Rubber Board (MRB). Her PhD study at UQ is fully sponsored by MRB as part of their training program in Malaysia for young scientists.

Over the last seven years at MRB, Maya has been involved in various projects, including research on ethylene implementation to enhance latex yield in rubber trees. She has also monitored and implemented MRB technologies in the northern Malaysian Peninsular. Maya has given many presentations on the outcomes of her research to smallholders and implementation agencies for that region.

For the last three years Maya has been conducting research in tissue culture and the propagation of rubber trees, dealing with regimes of modern clones, and responsible for planting of the transgenic rubber trial in Malaysia. She has also supervised the industrial placements of final year first degree students from several local universities in Malaysia and regularly delivers technical assistance to local and international customers.

By the end of 2008, Maya decided to expand her knowledge in ethylene and joined the School's strong research group at the Centre of Native Floriculture at UQs Gatton campus. After finishing her PhD study at UQ she will return to MRB where she hopes to apply her skills and better understanding to enhance the Malaysian rubber industry.

Thi Ha Thanh Mac (Thanh) is supervised by Bhesh Bhandari and Hilton Deeth.

Thanh is from Danang city, a poetic and beautiful sea city in Central Vietnam. She graduated from Danang University of Technology in 2001 with a Bachelor of Engineering Degree (Food Chemistry Studies). In 2002, Thanh began studying for her master's degree in Beverage and Food Technology, also at the University of Danang. From mid-2003 she worked for the College of Food Industry as an Assistant Lecturer - a good introduction to academic life and a great learning experience. In 2005, whilst carrying out experiments for her master thesis Removal of the moisture and glucose from liquid egg whites she was really challenged by the unexpected results: two months of hard work in the laboratory failed to achieve the expected results - Thanh learnt that there is always something new to learn whether it is carrying out a reaction for the first time or not. This experience enabled Thanh to realize her interest in Food Science and Technology research and when the opportunity for a PhD scholarship covered by the Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training and UQ came up she didn't need to think twice!

At the end of March, Thanh moved to Australia to realize her dream. Some of her friends asked why she chose to study at The University of Queensland. Her answer was so simple - to ensure success. With so many people obtaining degrees these days, Thanh felt that it was important to choose a reputable and well-known school like the School of Land, Crop and Food Sciences, one of Australia's leading providers of postgraduate research training in the agricultural, natural resource and food sciences disciplines.

Thanh is grateful to be a new PhD student with the School. Her project is to investigate the size fractionation of casein micelles and characterization of their fundamental and functional properties. Casein micelles in milk are spherical colloidal particles consisting of approximately 94% protein (mainly as1-, as2-, ß- and ?-caseins) and 6% calcium phosphate, responsible for the association of micelles (De Kruif & Holt, 2003; Fox, 2003). The composition, physical and functional properties of milk depend on the size of the casein micelles. Fractionated casein based on micelle size could be produced without destroying the native binding systems using an ultracentrifuge at various speeds and membrane separation using various pore sizes. By understanding the composition of casein micelles of different sizes and their fundamental properties, the features of dairy products can be manipulated by adding some portions of particular fractionated casein. Therefore, this laboratory-based research is expected to contribute to dairy science and lead to commercial applications.

These days Thanh spends most of her time trying to find research articles to include in a literature review and attending training courses to build her laboratory skills. Also, during her time with the School she has learnt that she has to speak out and show everyone what she can or cannot do if she wants help. Thanh feels that she has become a lot more independent and mature.

LCAFS welcomes the following new research higher degree students…

Adam Wilson (MPhil), Supervisors Neal Menzies and Peter Kopittke, Changes in soil carbon content and food quality due to different soil management practices.

Kathryn Conrad (Phd), Principal Supervisor Neal Menzies, The sequestration and turnover of soil organic carbon (SOC) in tropical grazing systems of central Queensland.

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

Thi Ha Mac (Phd), Principal Supervisor Bhesh Bhandari, Size fractionation of case in micelles and characterization of their fundamental and functional properties.

Torsten Witt (Phd), Principal Supervisor Bob Gilbert, Structure-property relations of starch: the influence of tertiary structure.

Congratulations to the following students who have been awarded their doctorates…

Barbara George-Jaeggli, The Physiology and Genetics of Height-Yield Associations in Sorghum.

Eremas Tade, Agronomic physiological and genetic studies on a dwarf mutant of cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.)

These are available to be borrowed. Email your request to lcafs@uq.edu.au.

New Grants…

Jacqui Batley, Dave Edwards, and Regine Delourne, $2,602,330, Co-evolution of the host pathogen interaction between Leptosphaeria maculans and Brassica species.

Jacqueline Batley, and Dave Edwards, $2,016,222, Characterising genetic variation in Brassica napus.

Shu Fukai, $1,175,823, Increased productivity and profitability of rice-based lowland cropping systems in Lao PDR (re-recorded).

Mike Gidley and Bob Gilbert, $773,427, Establishing the relations between starch nano- and mesostructure and macroscopic physical properties.

Mike Gidley, $616,000, Molecular basis for processing functionally (re-recorded).

Ian Godwin, Emma Mace and Dave Jordan, $234,000, NextGen Sorghum: Genomic approaches to novel renewable bioproducts.

Bob Gilbert, $227,731, Next-generation technology for determining fitness-for-use of starches in cereal grains.

Daryl Joyce, $50,454, Understanding constraints and opportunities in the use of native floriculture to improve the livelihoods of indigenous communities in Australia, Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Islands.

Chris O'Donnell and Steve Adkins, $34,276, Australian Weeds Research Centre: Management of creeping lantana - stage 2.

Peter Kopittke, $11,951, Elucidating the role of auxin in the toxicity of Al (and other metals) to plant roots.

If we have inadvertently missed listing any new grants in this or previous issues, please let Anne Webber [a.webber@uq.edu.au] know the details.