Issue 7 2008 - acpfg

ISSUE 7 – 2008Jacqueline BatleyJunji MiyazakiMonica OgiermanBettina BergerPrior to moving to Australia much ofmy research experience was gainedin and around Bristol in the UK. Igained a Bachelor of Science withhonours from Bristol University in1995, while spending my summersanalysing cereals from field trialsfor Nickerson Seeds. I took a yearaway from Bristol to experience lifein the North of England, gainingmy MSc from Durham University,and then went back to Long AshtonResearch Station for my PhD withKeith Edwards. Much of my workhas involved the discovery andapplication of molecular markers fordifferent species. My PhD involvedstudying the population geneticsof a beetle pest of short rotationcoppice willow. Following this Icontinued to work for Keith on arange of projects before moving toBristol University to characterisethe temporal population geneticstructure of cyanobacteria in theBaltic Sea using SNPs. The yearningto experience work overseas ledme to Australia five years ago,where I accepted the position ofSenior Research Scientist at DPIVictoria. This work predominantlyinvolved Brassica and strawberrygenetics and genomics, with smallercommercial projects genotypingmany species including wheat,barley, cattle, sheep and nativeplants. I moved to the ACPFG UQnode in March and I am currentlyvalidating and applying molecularmarkers identified through custombioinformatics tools, while applyingfor further research funds. I ambased in the laboratory of PeterGresshoff at the ARC Centre ofExcellence for Integrated LegumeResearch, where I am gaining valuableexperience of legume research.I am married to Dave Edwards andseem to spend most of my sparetime chasing after our toddler!I was born and grew up in Osaka,which is the second biggest cityin Japan. When I was a universitystudent at Kyoto Institute ofTechnology, I visited Australia onholidays and I was attracted tolive in this beautiful country.I then decided to come toAustralia to do my PhD at CurtinUniversity of Technology. MyPhD project was about bacterialendophytes in Macropidiafuliginosa (Black Kangaroo Paw).After I completed my PhD,I came to Adelaide as a newAustralian migrant under the migrationscheme of South Australia. Ireally appreciate the great opportunityto join the innovative andexciting research groups in ACPFG.I am working with Dr Nick Collinson Aluminium tolerance and Dr YuriShavrukov on salinity tolerance. Iam enthusiastic about the contributionI can make to the ACPFGwith my effort and experience.I spend my spare time playinggolf, fishing or playing theoboe which I used to play in anamateur orchestra in Kyoto.I originally started at AdelaideUniversity, so my career hascome full circle. I obtained myhonours degree in the Departmentof Biochemistry, and my PhD inthe Department of Microbiology.The focus of my research formany years was molecularpathogenesis – using molecularbiology to investigate how microbesinvade humans to create disease.After my PhD, I moved to theMolecular Microbiology Unit at theWomen’s and Children’s Hospital(where we had great views of theAdelaide cricket ground). It wasthen time to spread my wings andexplore more of the world, so mynext post-doctoral position was inTuebingen, Germany. My sojournwas funded by an Alexander vonHumboldt fellowship. As well asdrinking wine and eating lots ofGerman pastries, I also managedto do some research on a receptorused for iron transport into bacterialcells. After spending two and a halfyears in Germany, I missed beingable to feel my toes (it was verycold there), and so I came hometo sunny Australia. I also decidedthat pure research was no longerfor me. As I really enjoy meetingpeople, I then spent two years asa scientific sales representative.Before starting at ACPFG I workedfor three years as the NationalBusiness Development Manager fora scientific recruitment company.I now feel I have the perfectjob as Education Manager forACPFG, interfacing betweenworld class research scientistsand the broader community.I spent my first two years of universityin Tuebingen studying biology,then focused on biotechnologywith a European Masters programin Strasbourg. For my Mastersproject I joined Mark Tester’s labin Cambridge and analysed theexpression of glutamate receptorlikegenes in Arabidopsis. Aftercompleting my Masters I movedto Cologne where I did my PhDwithin the International Max PlanckResearch School studying theregulation of glucosinolate accumulationin Arabidopsis. Havingspent all my life in Europe, I thoughtit was time to move a bit further.Therefore, I am now working as apostdoc in Mark Tester’s lab withfunding from the Alexander vonHumboldt Foundation and ACPFG.My project will focus on leaf Na+tolerance in wheat and barley usinga forward genetics approach.15