Centre for Crop Science - Summer Research Programs

Primary Supervisor: Dr Mahen Sabampillai |  m.sabampillai@uq.edu.au

Please contact Dr Mahen Sabampillai (m.sabampillai@uq.edu.au) before applying.

Duration: 6 weeks (30 hours per week); desktop work + Some field work (Gatton)

An F1 population has been generated from a breeding trial cross between selected parents. Before this population can be advanced to single plant selection, it is essential to confirm that individuals are genuine hybrids (true F1s) rather than selfs, half-sibs, or contaminants arising from imperfect pollination control. Genotyping provides a reliable means of verifying parentage and ensuring only true F1 individuals are carried forward, improving the efficiency and integrity of the selection process.

Key activities student will undertake: Trial establishment: F1 seeds and their corresponding parents will be sown into pots and grown under glasshouse conditions. Sample collection: Leaf tissue will be collected for DNA extraction from all candidate F1 individuals and their corresponding parents. Parentage analysis: Progeny genotypes will be compared against parental profiles to confirm true hybridity.

Expected outcomes:  The student will gain hans-on experience in:

1. Trial management,
2. DNA extraction,
3. Pedigree analysis,
4. Data manegement within breeding context. 

Suitability: Student with an interest in plant breeding, genetics and molecular biology. Baisc laboratory skills are an advantage but not essential. 

Primary Supervisor: Dr April Hastwell |  a.hastwell@uq.edu.au

Please contact Dr April Hastwell (a.hastwell@uq.edu.au) before applying.

Duration: 6 weeks (36 hours per week); On site (St Lucia Campus)

Legumes can form a beneficial symbiosis with soil bacteria known as rhizobia. This interaction results in the formation of specialised root organs called nodules, in which rhizobia convert atmospheric nitrogen into a form available to the plant. Although this symbiosis is highly beneficial in agricultural systems, nodulation is not typically a direct target of crop breeding. This project will assess nodulation and plant growth in newly developed African bean cultivars to identify variation in their ability to form nodules with rhizobia.

Key activities student will undertake: Conduct a pot experiment, inoculate plants with rhizobia, and assess nodulation and plant growth parameters. Opportunities may also be available to gain broader laboratory experience by working with other members of the research group.

Expected outcomes:  The student will gain skills in plant growth experiments, media and solution preparation, microbiological techniques, and data collection and analysis. The student may also present their findings to the research group.

Suitability: Students with an interest in plant or agricultural science. Previous experience in microbiology or data analysis would be advantageous but is not essential.

Primary Supervisor: Dr Gagandeep Singh | g.gagandeepsingh@uq.edu.au

Please contact Dr Gagandeep Singh (g.gagandeepsingh@uq.edu.au) before applying.

Duration: 6 weeks (30 hours per week); On site (Gatton)

Evaluate the efficacy of selected post-emergent herbicides and herbicide mixtures for controlling fleabane (Conyza spp.) at different growth stages. The study will identify effective options for improved fleabane control and support development of practical herbicide strategies for Australian cropping systems.

Key activities student will undertake: The student will assess fleabane response to different post-emergent herbicides, including visual injury, control efficacy and plant recovery. They will develop practical knowledge of herbicide injury symptoms and relate these responses to herbicide modes of action.

Expected outcomes:  The student will develop skills in identifying herbicide injury symptoms, understanding herbicide modes of action, and assessing treatment efficacy. Deliverables will include recorded assessment data, interpretation of treatment responses, and a brief summary of key findings.

Suitability: This project is suitable for 3rd–4th year students with a background in agricultural science, horticulture, plant science, environmental science, agribusiness, economics, statistics, or data science. Familiarity with Excel or other analytical software is desirable but not essential, as guidance will be provided.

Primary Supervisor: Dr Sofie Pearson | sofie.pearson@uq.edu.au

Please contact Dr Sofie Pearson (sofie.pearson@uq.edu.au), Professor Emma Mace (emma.mace@uq.edu.au) and Professor David Jordan (David.jordan@uq.edu.au) before applying.

Duration: 6 weeks (36 hours per week); Based at Hermitage Research Facility, or hybrid arrangement.

Cowpea is a vital legume crop for food security in many parts of the world, and breeding better varieties faster is a major goal for global agriculture. This project uses genomic prediction (GP), a method that uses DNA marker data to predict a plant's traits before it's even grown in the field, to accelerate cowpea breeding. Starting with a simple, visible trait (flower colour), the student will explore the genetic basis of the trait using existing genomic and phenotype datasets, then apply a genomic prediction ensemble method developed at UQ (which combines several prediction models for more reliable results) to predict flower colour across a diverse panel of cowpea lines, validating predictions against real field data. Student input will directly contribute to a broader effort to apply genomic prediction across UQ's global cowpea collection and lay the groundwork for extending the approach to more complex traits such as flowering time in future work.

Key activities student will undertake: 

1. Review literature on genomic prediction and the genetics of flower colour in legumes.
2. Prepare and format cowpea genomic marker and flower-colour phenotype data for analysis.
3. Run genomic prediction analyses using EasiGP, a UQ-developed ensemble pipeline that combines multiple prediction models into a single, more reliable prediction.
4. Validate predictions against real field phenotype data and interpret results, including which genomic regions the models highlight as important for flower colour.

Expected outcomes:  The student will gain hands-on experience in genomic prediction methods, handling SNP marker datasets, and using an ensemble modelling pipeline for plant breeding applications. They will develop skills in interpreting model outputs (including genome-level visualisations of marker effects) and comparing prediction accuracy across models. Expected deliverable: a short report and/or presentation summarising ensemble GP performance for flower colour prediction in cowpea, suitable as a foundation for future work extending to more complex traits.

Suitability: Suitable for 3rd-4th year undergraduate or Masters students with an interest in plant breeding, genetics, bioinformatics, or data science. Ideally with some exposure to R, Python, or basic statistics/coding. The student will gain experience using Linux/Bash and high-performance computing environments to analyse large genomic datasets and communicate research outcomes.

Primary Supervisor: Dr Albert Chern Sun Wong | albertchernsun.wong@uq.edu.au

Please contact Dr Albert Chern Sun Wong (albertchernsun.wong@uq.edu.au) before applying.

Duration: 6 weeks (30 hours per week); on-site at St Lucia campus.

Rhodes grass is an important tropical and subtropical forage species valued for its productivity, persistence and adaptation to challenging environments. The development of reliable plant transformation methods would support future studies of gene function and the improvement of agronomically important traits, and this depends on the availability of an efficient tissue culture system capable of regenerating whole plants from transformed cells. The student will investigate shoot regeneration from callus previously induced from root explants of selected Rhodes grass cultivars on a focused range of shoot-regeneration media containing different plant growth regulator treatments. The project will identify promising medium formulations for further optimisation and will provide a foundation for the future development of an Agrobacterium rhizogenes-mediated transformation platform.

Key activities student will undertake:  The student will undertake the following activities to meet specific objectives:

1. Maintain and prepare root-derived callus.
2. Compare a manageable number of shoot regeneration media on their efficiencies in inducing shoot regeneration and other parameters.
3. Quantify callus responses on a range of parameters, including the evaluation of cultivar effects.
4. Identify promising treatments that can feed into the research pipeline for future Agrobacterium rhizogenes-mediated transformation workflow.

Expected outcomes:  The student will gain skills in plant tissue culture, understanding the nuances in plant tissue culture and factors that influence variuos outcomes, and critical evaluation skills of genotype-by-medium responses. The student's work will contribute heavily to the foundation work  for establishing a regeneration protocol for future Agrobacterium rhizogenes-mediated transformation in forage grass species.

Suitability: We are looking for a motivated and reliable student with an interest in plant biotechnology, tissue culture, crop improvement, or molecular biology. The successful student should be willing to learn aseptic laboratory techniques, work meticulously and consistently, and maintain accurate experimental records. Good organisational and time-management skills are important, as cultures will require regular monitoring and data collection throughout the project. Previous experience in plant tissue culture is desirable but not essential, as appropriate training will be provided.

Primary Supervisor: Dr Joseph Eyre | j.eyre@uq.edu.au

Please contact Dr Joseph Eyre (j.eyre@uq.edu.au) before applying.

Duration: 6 weeks (30 hours per week); on-site at Gatton campus.

This project aims to develop a high throughput protocol for screening grain quality atributed sugh as size, composition and expression of proteins in response to high tempertures during grain filling. 

Key activities student will undertake:  Set-up in field heat chambers, program heat chambers and loggers, monitor plant growth and development

Expected outcomes:  Scholars will be trained in mechanistic crop modelling, meterological and crop sensor logging and crop phenotyping.

Suitability: This project is open to applications from 3rd and 4th year or master students with a background in plant science or agricultural science. 

Primary Supervisor: Prof Daniel Rodriguez | d.rodriguez@uq.edu.au

Please contact Prof Daniel Rodriguez (d.rodriguez@uq.edu.au) before applying.

Duration: 6 weeks (30 hours per week); on-site at Gatton campus.

Root growth and function during grain filling has been proposed as a key trait influencing the expression of the stay-green phenotype. However, there is limited direct evidence that root growth continues after flowering, or whether different hybrids show different responses to a drying environment i.e., phenotypic plasticity. In this field research we will combine the use of novel high throughput functional root phenotyping with soil coring during grain filling, to answer what is the relationship between root growth and function and the expression of the stay-green phenotype in sorghum. The student will work collaboratively with three PhD candidates.

Key activities student will undertake:  Soil surveys with EMI instrumentation, soil coring, root washing, determinations of root length density, data analysis and report writing.

Expected outcomes:  Research methods, electro magnetic induction instrumentation, crop modelling, crop ecophysiology.

Suitability: Students with interest in crop ecophysiology and work in the field at Gatton.