Researchers from The University of Queensland will share in more than $22.2 million in funding in the latest round of Australian Research Council Linkage grants announced today.
The research projects vary from breeding the next generation of biofuels to farming one of Queensland’s favourite crustaceans – the Moreton Bay bug.
UQ has received funding of almost $8.1 million in ARC funding, with the remainder to be met by pledged partner organisation contributions.
Associate Professor Ian Godwin, from UQ’s School of Land, Food & Crop Sciences, will lead the largest project ($1.77 million) in collaboration with Pacific Seeds to develop a new breed of the feed crop sorghum, bred specifically to be a biofuel.
Dr Godwin said sorghum was an ideal crop to be grown for biofuels in Australia.
“Sorghum is a water efficient plant that grows well in the hotter drier areas of Australia,” he said.
“By identifying and manipulating the genes to enable the improvement of sorghum as a dedicated bioenergy crop, we will enable the increased efficiency of the Australian biofuels industry and create sustainable rural industries.”
Professor Bernie Degnan, from UQ’s School of Integrative Biology, will work with Lobster Harvest and the CSIRO to look at the potential of farming the Moreton Bay bug, but a few fundamental questions need to be looked at first.
“To date, there is no available information on the underlying biochemical and genetic mechanisms that control gender and fertility in the Moreton Bay bug,” Professor Degnan said.
“Understanding how gender and fertility are controlled in this lobster species will allow development of technologies to exploit desired commercial traits. Such technologies will facilitate rapid uptake of commercial culture of this high value species in Australia and establishment of international markets.”
UQ was the leading Queensland institution in terms of funding ($22.2 million including partner contributions) and second in the nation behind the University of New South Wales ($32.5 million including partner contributions). A full list of projects can be found at the ARC website.
The ARC Linkage Projects scheme funds collaborative projects that encourage and develop long-term strategic research alliances between universities and other organisations to obtain national economic, social or cultural benefits.
Media: Andrew Dunne at UQ Communications (3365 2802 or 0433 364 181).
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