The newly launched ARC Centre of Excellence for Plant Success in Nature and Agriculture is cultivating the next crop of plant science experts. Administered by The University of Queensland, the collaborative research initiative aims to develop tools to improve plant productivity and resiliency. Deputy Centre Director (Research) Professor Mark Cooper said the next generation of plant scientists was urgently needed to tackle the

The Australian Research Council (ARC) officially launched the ARC Centre of Excellence for Plant Success in Nature and Agriculture on Thursday 11 August 2022.  ARC Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Ms Judi Zielke, said the Centre’s work will only become increasingly important as our climate continues to change. “As the amount of arable land decreases, we need research that boosts food

Increasing crop production is at the core of achieving food security in the 21st century. A group of scientists is addressing this challenge by studying shoot branching, one of the key factors affecting yield. They simulated breeding trials with selection for branching using computational simulations ofgene-controlled traits. They found that selection for branching is difficult due to the complex interactions among

Dr Franziska Fichtner is a postdoctoral researcher in Professor Christine Beveridge’s lab at The University of Queensland Node of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Plant Success in Nature and Agriculture. Franzi specialises in plant metabolism and sugar-signalling.  Where do you work and what is it like living in your city?I am working at the University of Queensland located in Brisbane (Australia).

This article from Chief Investigators Brad Sherman and Robert Henry, explores some of the challenges to existing legal schemes developed to regulate plant genetic resources and the need for compromise when developing policy. Over time, a complex web of international legal agreements has been developed that regulate the access, transfer, and use of plant genetic resources. In doing so, policy

This journal article from Associate PhD Student Kate Johnson, Chief Investigator Tim Brodribb and colleague Christopher Lucani, involved monitoring a drought-resistant conifer, Callitris rhomboidea (Oyster Bay pine), to better understand how trees become damaged during drought events. Drought kills trees of all species and ages, and there is knowledge gap around the mechanisms driving drought-induced tree death. Trees play a

This journal article from Postdoctoral Researcher Owen Powell, Associate Investigator Kai Voss-Fels and Chief Investigators David Jordan, Graeme Hammer and Mark Cooper explores the ability of novel methods to improve the prediction of plant traits across environments, breeding cycles, and populations. Predicting plant traits becomes more difficult whenever interactions among genes (GxG) and between genes and the environment (GxE) result

Following a successful application developed by PhD candidate Kate Johnson, a group of researchers affiliated with the Centre for Plant Success including fellow PhD candidates Beatrice Harrison-Day, Vanessa Tonet, and Ibrahim Bourbia, along with Dr Chris Blackman and Prof. Tim Brodribb, travelled to the Australian Synchrotron in Melbourne to access its high-resolution Imaging and Medical Beamline (IMBL). With support from

In a career which began before anyone had a computer and no plant gene had been isolated, I have graduated from, or been employed by, six universities and four research institutes on four continents, and have witnessed some truly staggering advances in plant science during that time. But I have never before encountered anything like the ARC Centre of Excellence for

Captivated by carnivorous plants from a young age, Francois Barbier never doubted that he would one day become a plant scientist.  Years later, with a PhD on the role of sugars in triggering shoot branching in the rose, he had a chance encounter with Prof. Christine Beveridge in Paris, which led to him taking up a post-doctoral position in 2015