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A Smart Career Move
| Agricultural biotechnologist with SARDI Livestock Systems, Dr Greg Nattrass, is developing a novel molecular technique that measures the activity of genes and simultaneously identifies DNA sequence variations. Greg, who is based at Roseworthy, says the DNA-based technology will provide a unique strategy for the development of DNA diagnostic tests that will help producers make critical decisions and improve the genetic potential of their livestock. He recently won the Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) sponsored 2004 Science and Innovation Award for Young People in Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. |  |
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Molecular Biologist, Dr Valeria Torok, works with SARDI in the Field Crops Pathology Unit at the Waite Campus, on an Australian Poultry CRC funded project Application of advanced DNA based tools for monitoring and managing the gut microflora of poultry. She is developing tools to investigate how diet induced changes can impact on the gut microflora and health of poultry. To do this she is developing a microbial profiling technique for the chicken intestinal microflora based on high-throughput, high resolution fingerprinting of bacterial gene regions. This new bacterial profiling tool is rapid, relatively inexpensive and capable of providing a ‘snap shot’ of the complex bacterial population at any particular time. |
| Environmental chemist, Dr Milena Fernandes, is working on the potential environmental effects of tuna aquaculture off Port Lincoln. Her research involves the characterisation of particulate and dissolved waste streams from tuna farms. Milena, who is based at the SARDI SA Aquatic Sciences Centre at West Beach, is also involved in a study on the effects of various stressors on seagrass meadows off the Adelaide coast. Her main interests are related to the assessment of water and sediment quality and processes controlling the input, transport and fate of nutrients and organic materials in the environment. |  |
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University of Adelaide PhD student and Flinders University Bachelor of Biotechnology graduate, Paul Bogacki, is based at the Waite Campus with SARDI’s molecular genetics laboratory. He has been investigating plant defence genes associated with disease resistance in barley following fungal infection. His Post-doctoral research at SARDI will continue his investigation into plant disease resistance genes and will involve a genetic engineering approach aimed at producing barley plants with durable disease resistance against fungal pathogens. |
