Issue 6 2007 - acpfg

ACPFG VECTORNew FacesAT ACPFGDr Ainur IsmagulCharles LoveChristian PreussCourtney RamseyDion BennettFor the past 15 years, Ihave travelled the Globe,living in different countries:Hungary, Japan, Germanyand now Australia. MyHomeland is Kazakstan.Probably few of you haveever heard of it (may beonly from the epic story ofSasha Kohen – Borat). I havea Master of Science fromKazakh State University inAlmaty, and a PhD fromthe Institute of Botany inKiev (Ukraine). Most of myhands on experience is ingenetic transformation ofdifferent monocot species.For the last three years Ihave been transformingcommercial winter wheatlines for a breedingcompany in Germany. AtACPFG I will be in thewheat transformation groupworking with Dr Serik Eliby.Last year I received myBachelor of Science(Biotechnology /Biochemistry and MolecularBiology) from the Universityof Melbourne. During myundergraduate degreeI completed a researchproject with ACPFG andthe School of Botany at theUniversity of Melbourne,looking at how rice cellsrespond to osmotic stress/ drought. The experienceI had working on theproject was great and itinspired me to return tothe ACPFG Melbourneproteomics group asan Honours student.My Honours projectwill focus on how barleyresponds to salt stress bymonitoring changes inmembrane and solubleprotein abundance. It hasalready been a thoroughlyrewarding experience workingwith the proteomics andfunctional genomics team.Apart from looking atplants during my degreeI also took some timeout to travel the world. Iworked my way from thesnow fields of Canadathrough Central Americaand parts of Europe.I have just finished anhonours project investigatingnitrogen transporters inplants and simultaneouslygraduating from a degreein Agricultural Science atthe University of Adelaide.My love of agriculturestems from the time thatI’ve spent at my fathers’farm just outside ofYorketown, South Australia.I have always enjoyedresearch; after first year Iworked as a summer studenthere with Dr ChunyuanHuang and followingsecond year I worked withDr Nicolas Paltridge onenhancing wheat competitiveability. I also won aCSIRO summer studentshipto investigate glycosidesin wine after third year,and last summer I workedwith Prof Darryl Maresbreeding durum wheat.My spare time is spentdancing in nightclubs, ridingmotorbikes, water-skiing,running, playing sport, andmost recently surfing.At ACPFG I will conducta PhD with Dr Huangon phosphorus uptakeefficiency and drought resistancein wheat and barley tofulfil my interest in helpingthe most people that I can.I grew up on a sheep andcereal farm at Bucklebooon the Eyre Penninsulaso I guess an interestin Agriculture was, inmany ways a given. Igraduated last year from aBSc(Agricultural Science) atthe University of Adelaideand am now studying honourswith Dr Yuri Shavrukovand Prof Mark Tester, incollaboration with Dr TonyRathjen in the School ofAgriculture, Food and Wine.I will be investigating thecorrelation between saltexclusion in hydroponicsand salinity tolerance in thefield using a double haploidbread wheat population.I developed an interestfor agricultural science inhigh school, which I builton by beginning a degreein agricultural science in2002 at the University ofAdelaide. In 2006 I undertookan Honours projectwith the faba bean breedinggroup, supervised by DrJeff Paull, investigating theeffect of GxE on a qualitytrait, hydration capacity.Within this project, I alsoinvestigated the movementof water within the seed,which provided someinteresting results.Currently, I work forAQIS on the weekendat Adelaide Airport as aQuarantine Officer, whichnow means that I have verylittle spare time! However,when I do have some timeto myself, I enjoy workingon my cars, as well asgoing cycling with friends.I am looking forward to mytime with ACPFG, duringwhich I will be looking atdrought and heat tolerancewithin bread wheat.22