Operations

Safeguarding an important food crop—and the world’s beer supply

• On-site – farmers’ crop of barley infected with leaf rust
• Lee Hickey, University of Queensland geneticist and John Agnew, Chair of the Northern Region Barley Advisory Committee will be available for comment.

An international study led by a Queensland scientist has found a way to better safeguard an important food crop—and the world’s beer supply.

The study, led by University of Queensland geneticist Dr Lee Hickey, successfully identified a gene that protects barley against leaf rust – a disease that hit Queensland farmers in 2010 and could destroy almost a third of the national crop.

[Read more…] about Using genes to counter rust

Despite the claims of some, commercially viable fuels from algae have not yet been developed. But newly trialled native algae species provide real hope, a Queensland scientist has found.

Dr Evan Stephens and the team at the University of Queensland’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience, in collaboration with Germany’s Bielefeld University and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, have identified fast-growing and hardy microscopic algae that could prove the key to cheaper and more efficient production of the alternative fuel.

With the help of these native species, Australia could potentially become an oil exporter like Middle East by devoting just 1% of its land to algae farms.

[Read more…] about Aussie algae fuel green oil hope

The discovery of a link between a specific gene and ageing in a species of worm could reveal valuable lessons for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.

Low levels of the protein generated from the gene known as ‘tau’—also present in humans—not only hastens age-related changes in the brain of the worm, but also shortens the worm’s life, Sydney University PhD candidate Yee Lian Chew has found.

[Read more…] about Worms reveal link between dementia gene and ageing