Women in Animal Science

 

Emeritus Professor Mary Fletcher
Mary’s passion is the application of analytical chemistry to assist agricultural industries particularly northern livestock industries, but also diverse industries from grain production to honey. Her research investigates the effects of toxins of poisonous plants and fungi on animal production, food safety and trade. Currently, she is leading a Meat and Livestock Australia funded project to manage the adverse effects of Pimelea, a native pasture plant that causes cattle deaths in western Queensland. View Mary's research profile here

 

 


Professor Ala Tabor
Ala’s passion is to use genomics and molecular tools to develop translational solutions for animal health. She has led research to develop patented vaccines (cattle tick and paralysis tick) and has a strong research portfolio associated with northern Australian bovine health including health biomarkers and pathogenic diseases. She is funded by industry including commercial companies and Meat & Livestock Australia and is passionate about diversity and inclusion in the workplace. View Ala's research profile here.


Dr Conny Turni
Conny's research is largely concentrated on bacterial respiratory diseases in livestock, especially Glässer’s disease due to Glaesserella parasuis. Her major advances include development of a suite of diagnostic and support tools for the pig, poultry and cattle industries. Dr Turni is leading a national and international reference laboratory for respiratory bacterial pathogens where identification, serotyping, genotyping, sequencing and antimicrobial sensitivity testing are performed. Dr Turni is currently working on the development of bead-based assays to diagnose respiratory disease of cattle and antibiotic sensitivity. Her latest project is the development of a novel test to identify the new bacterial species. View Conny's research profile here.


Tatiana Briody
Tatiana is a final year PhD candidate in the Centre for Animal Science at the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation. Her research investigates new ways of breeding superior traits in cattle to protect against endemic viruses, such as those which cause bovine respiratory disease. Hailing from a sheep and cattle property in Western Victoria, Tatiana is dedicated to bringing cutting edge research to the farmgate and supporting the next generation of agricultural leaders. She has gained valuable experience in the beef industry, working with MLA and QDAF on projects tackling emerging biosecurity threats in the feedlot sector. Throughout her candidature, Tatiana has engaged with a range of stakeholders, although visits to regional schools with the Wonder of Science program is by far her favourite form of outreach. She uses these opportunities to promote awareness in agricultural research and encourage young people, particularly girls, to follow in her footsteps and pursue a career in STEM.”  View Tatiana's research profile here.


 

Christie Warburton 
Christie is a PhD student with the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation. Her research interest is in the development of multi-breed genomic evaluations for the north Australian beef industry. Christie grew up on a cattle station near Comet in central Queensland. With a passion for agriculture and the bush, Christie studied a Bachelor of Rural Science with Honours at the University of New England in Armidale. After graduating, Christie worked in a number of positions within the agricultural industry, in both academic and industry roles, before taking time away from her career to start and raise her family. She now lives with her family on a small farm in the Darling Downs, studying her PhD part-time while raising her son and supporting their family business. View Christie's research profile here.


Melissa Wooderson 
Melissa is a PhD candidate in the University of Queensland’s Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI). Growing up on her grandfather’s small cattle property, she has always been interested in working in agriculture, with a focus on beef cattle. In 2011, she completed a Bachelor of Applied Science majoring in Plant and Animal Biosecurity and Animal Science. Since then Melissa spent six years working in livestock health in north Queensland with the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, before joining the Katherine Research as a Livestock Officer while completing her PhD part-time. Melissa’s research is investigating the use of analgesics and haemostatic techniques during dehorning to improve calf welfare in northern Australia. For her doctoral research, she is investigating the application of analgesics and haemostatic techniques during dehorning of beef cattle in the extensive environment of northern Australia. She is investigating if the administration of analgesic products and haemostatic techniques during dehorning improve calf welfare by reducing pain related behaviours, reducing bleeding and infection and improve production. This research aims to find ways to improve the welfare of beef calves during dehorning in the extensive environment of northern Australia. View Melissa's research profile here.


Dr Natasha Hungerford
Natasha’s research interests focus on natural toxins of plant origin, which can present as residues in agricultural goods, which can impact on livestock and human consumers. Remedies are being sought to mitigate detrimental effects on cattle who consume native Pimelea plant species in pastures and LC-MS technologies are used to assess toxin levels and evaluate different strategies to enable toxin breakdown.  Further interests include the occurrence of natural toxins in honey, which originate from diverse floral sources, and the evaluation of honey for any environmental contaminants, and levels of trace elements and minerals. View Natasha's research profile here.


 

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Women in Crop Science

Karen MasselDr Millicent Smith
Dr Millicent Smith is a Senior Lecturer in Crop Physiology at The University of Queensland. Her research is focused on understanding traits that underpin yield stability and seed quality in pulse crops. She has a history of working closely with pulse breeders, both in Australia and overseas, to develop improved knowledge on abiotic stress adaptation and tools to accelerate genetic gain. Since her appointment at UQ in 2019, Millicent has attracted >$30M in research funding including from the Australian Research Council and the Grains Research & Development Corporation. Millicent is building a research team currently comprised of 8 PhD candidates and 2 PhD graduates. She is passionate about communicating science and coordinates and teaches undergraduate courses ‘Biological Concepts‘ and ‘Plant Physiology’ as well as Masters course ‘Principles of Plant Physiology. View Millicent's research profile here.


Karen MasselDr Karen Massel
Karen’s research is focused on the improvement of cereal crops using genomic and biotechnological tools, enhancing their qualities and performance for the food and feed industries. Her work utilises the targeted and precise manipulation of genes and their networks in hopes of further understanding these complex systems and concurrently expediting genetic gains for seamless integration into breeding programs. As a post-doctoral researcher, she is currently modulating the branching patterns in a variety of cereal crops to understand and improve their drought tolerance strategies, with dreams of advancing these initiatives to be able to tweak the design of crops to be tailored for specific environments. Karen is a strong advocate for the benefits of biotechnology and GM plants for sustainable food uses. View Karen's research profile here.


Associate Professor Karine Chenu
Karine is passionate about understanding how plants can adapt to their environments. She loves working with motivated students and integrating new knowledge into crop models. A better understanding of plant response to their environment can help us understand why some genotypes perform well in some environments while performing poorly in others. Modelling then allows us to integrate this information to simulate how different genotypes grown under different management practices perform in production environments. There is a lot to gain with such an approach and this links with genetics, genomics and breeding. “Integrating the insights of different disciplines to assist crop improvement is fascinating”, she says, adding “I hope more young people will consider a career in this area, as it can be really rewarding.”  View Karine's research profile here.


Dr Barbara George-Jaeggli
Producing food while at the same time protecting our natural resources is something Barbara George-Jaeggli not only strives for in her research, but also on the small farm she and her husband have owned and operated for the last thirty years. Barbara came to Australia in 1996 with a master’s degree in Agricultural Ecology from ETH Zurich and joined the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) at the Hermitage Research Facility in Warwick to contribute to the development of improved dry-land crop varieties in various technical roles. After completing a PhD in Crop Physiology at UQ, Barbara joined the Queensland Alliance for Food and Agriculture Innovation. She has conducted and published research on improving drought resilience and water-use efficiency of major cereals, and more recently she has made significant contributions towards increasing the capacity of breeding programs to screen their large breeding populations for important traits by using AI and multi-spectral sensors mounted on tractors or UAVs. She currently is Theme Leader for Climate Resilient and Environmentally Sustainable Agriculture in QAAFI and Centre Leader at Hermitage. She also sees attracting more women and young people in general to research and agriculture as an important part of sustainable food production, which is why she has been a passionate committee member of the annual DAF Hermitage Schools Plant Science Competition for over 20 years. View Barbara's research profile here.


Professor Emma Mace
Emma’s research interest is in the development and application of innovation genomics tools to support plant breeding programs, with a particularly focus on the grain crop sorghum. Emma is involved in a range of projects to increase the rate of genetic gain in sorghum improvement programs both in Australia and internationally, through work in Ethiopia funded by The Bill and Melinda gates Foundation. Emma’s other passion is mentoring women scientists and she has recently become a mentor for the Australia Awards Women’s Leadership Initiative. View Emma's research profile here.


 

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Women in Horticultural Science

Professor Neena Mitter
Neena leads an impactful research group to deliver global innovations, namely ‘DsRNA based BioClay spray for crop protection’ and ‘Clonal propagation of avocado using plant stem cells’. These are ground breaking platform technologies impacting agricultural production, environmental sustainability and socio-economic dynamics of farming community. With increased scrutiny on use of chemicals as crop and animal disease control agents; Prof Mitter is focussed is on developing clean technologies for the agriculture of tomorrow. View Neena's research profile here.


Karen MasselDr Karishma Mody
Karishma is an early career Advance Queensland Industry Research Fellow and passionately advancing research in the area of Agricultural (Ag)-biotechnology. She has been working on developing cutting edge technologies for solving prominent challenges faced by the agriculture and animal health industry. Strongly directing her research on pursuing commercial endeavours, this includes building strong partnerships with industry, government and end-users to advance and translate her research on Ag-innovations. Her current research outputs have been instrumental in fostering linkages to develop commercial outcomes on: Development of a much-needed clean-green sustainable solution to control blowfly/lice-infestation using the transdisciplinary ‘BioClay’ platform in collaboration with industry partners and regional Queensland sheep growers and Development of an improved control to manage ‘fire-ants’ in collaboration with National Red Imported Fire Ant Eradication Program of Biosecurity Queensland. View Karishma's research profile here.


Dr Lilia Costa Carvalhais
I am driven by a curiosity to understand the overwhelming complexity of the biological world and how we can use it to solve problems of our time. I find especially intriguing all the invisible interactions between plant and microbes. I investigate the drivers of these interactions and aim to address major societal challenges, like food security. Currently, I study the biology, distribution and epidemiology of banana diseases to: 1) develop molecular diagnostic assays to prevent new incursions and further spread, and 2) identify the best management strategies. Diseases include banana Fusarium wilt, banana wilt associated phytoplasma (BWAP), Black Sigatoka, Eumusae leaf spot, Moko (Bugtok), banana blood disease, Xanthomonas wilt and Freckle. View Lilia's profile here


Associate Professor Elizabeth (Liz) Dann
Liz’s goal is to increase the productivity and quality of tropical and sub-tropical crops through improved management of diseases.  She works closely with the horticultural industry and growers to identify the constraints to quality and productivity, and undertakes targeted, collaborative research activity to develop new and improved products and methodologies which may be easily implemented into existing farm management operations. She takes a holistic approach and actively promotes “best practice” principles for more sustainable production of our horticultural food crops. View Liz's research profile here


 

 


 

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Women in Nutrition and Food Sciences

Professor Heather Smyth
Professor Heather Smyth is a flavour chemist, sensory scientist and expert in all things delicious.  Her research on premium food and beverages spans two decades and has involved projects such as exploring the mouthfeel of wine, defining the buttery melt of wagyu and measuring the exotic aromas of tropical fruits. With a background in wine flavour chemistry, her focus is on unravelling the secrets behind our gustatory pleasures.  Not only does she focus on the molecular basis of quality, but she also delves into understanding the human sensory experience of food and the secrets behind hedonics and choice. View Heather's research profile here.

 


Dr Gabi Netzel
Gabi is currently working on a project investigating the degradation of indospicine (a natural plant toxin) through rumen microbiota in cattle. Her research interest is not restricted to the metabolisation of plant toxins. She is also interested in phytonutrients from plants/plant food and their bioavailability and metabolic fate during digestion using in vitro and in vivo strategies.


Professor Yasmina Sultanbawa 
Professor Yasmina Sultanbawa is the Director of the Centre for Nutrition and Food Sciences at Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation. Her research interests are in food and nutrition security, in particular micronutrient deficiency (hidden hunger), lack of diet diversity and nutritional losses in the food supply chain, which are addressed by her work with Australian native plant species. She is also the Director of the ARC Industrial Transformation Training Centre on Uniquely Australian Foods, where her focus is working with Indigenous communities and enterprises to create social and economic benefits for remote communities. View Yasmina's full research profile.


Ms Sherie Bruce
As an Australian Aboriginal PhD student with an academic background in biotechnology and environmental science, my journey has been a testament to the power of perseverance, curiosity, and commitment to making a meaningful impact on society. My research delves into the intricate relationships between Australian Aboriginal people and fungi, exploring not only the chemical, nutritional, and genetic aspects of fungi but also aiming to harness these insights to develop innovative products. This work is a bridge between traditional indigenous knowledge and contemporary scientific research, highlighting the importance of integrating diverse perspectives and knowledge systems for sustainable development and innovation. My PhD experience has been both challenging and rewarding, offering me opportunities to engage deeply with Aboriginal communities, learn from their profound knowledge of the natural world, and apply this understanding in a scientific context. This endeavour requires not only technical skills but also cultural sensitivity, open-mindedness, and a genuine respect for the knowledge and practices of Indigenous peoples. It has been a journey of learning and growth, pushing the boundaries of my own capabilities and contributing to a field that has the potential to benefit both People and Country. View Sherie's research profile here.


 

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