The talented researchers in the Climate Change Cluster all have remarkable stories to tell. Whilst their backgrounds vary the common threads of passion, determination and enquiry run through their research. We hope these profiles will inspire and excite others to follow their lead.
PhD candidates
Jack Adriaans - Microbial Bioremediation and Biotransformation of phenolic compounds in Industrial Effluent
Lorenzo Barolo - Glyco-engineering of therapeutic proteins from microalgae
Abanti Barua - Molecular ecology and diversity of Alexandrium species and toxin related genes in Australia
Harvey Bates - The Energetics of photosynthesis to understand stress response of microalgae
Iurii Bodachivskyi - Acid-catalysed Conversion of Algal Biomass into Value Added Small Molecules
Richard Carney - High inflow river plumes and their impact on estuarine and coastal microbial community composition
Caroline Dornelles De Azevedo - Assessing the Risk of Ciguatera Fish Poisoning at Heron Island Reef: Great Barrier Reef.
Eva Fernandez - Sulphur-mediated Marine Microbial Interactions: How Phytoplankton Physiology Shapes Microbial Landscapes
Giselle Firme - Plasticity of phytoplankton in a changing ocean and implications for primary productivity in Eastern Australian waters.
Nerissa Fisher - Strategies of Resource Allocation by Phytoplankton under Dynamic Ocean Environments
Sage Fitzgerald - Applying an integrative taxonomic approach to resolve systematics of the Acropora hyacinthus (Scleractinia, Cnidaria) species complex in the Indo-Pacific
Jestin George - The green horizon for biotech: a genome editing approach
Marco Giardina - Micro-scale measurements of marine microbial interactions with global-scale consequences
Leandro Giovannini - Monitoring Land Degradation and Ecosystem Resilience Across Australian Rangelands
Trent Haydon - Roles of Metabolite Transformations in Providing Corals with Enhanced Stress Tolerance
Kenji Iwasaki - Algal Bioproducts – Investigating the Effect of Light Quality on Metabolite Production by Photosynthetic Diatoms
Ana Cristina Jaramillo Madrid - Improvement of microalgae biomass production through systems biology
Mikael Kim - Molecular and cellular investigation of photosynthesis-driven carbon fixation in seagrass
William King - New Qualitative Tools to decrypt, Predict and Manage Oyster Disease
Julian Kofler - Design of a scalable single-use photobioreactor for axenic cultures of microalgae
Leonardo Lailo - Incorporating new knowledge of phytoplankton diversity and nutrient utilisation into an ocean-climate model to improve forecasts of ocean function
Caitlin Lawson - Is Isoprene the Key to Thermal Resilience Amongst Reef Building Corals?
Nine Le Reun - Elucidating chemicals exchange between Thalassiosira and bacteria interactions
Bojana Manojlovic - A dynamic carbon model for Australian seagrasses
Valentina Hurtado McCormick - The microbiology of seagrasses in a changing ocean: Does environmental stress encourage seagrass pathogens?
Nasim Shah Mohammadi - Molecular and physiological investigations of heavy metals stress in the seagrass Posidonia australis.
James O’Brien – Chemical signalling and cycling in a changing ocean: Will environmental shifts alter the microbial-scale interactions that control marine sulphur cycling?
Amelia Pezzano – Use of algae as an alternative fibre source
Shawn Price - Developing Next Generation Algal Bioplastic Technology
Margaret Ramarajan - Development of an advanced molecular toolkit for genetic engineering of Nannochloropsis sp. for functional genetics and high value bio-products.
Mickael Ros - Adaptive strategies of carbon transformation amongst coral symbionts (Symbiodinium spp.)
Rendy Ruvindy - Ecological implications of Genomic Copy Number variability in marine biotoxin producing dinoflagellates
Cristin Sheehan - Frozen glasshouses: evolutionary adaptation of Antarctic diatoms and their future under a warmer world
Paras Sidiqui - Quantifying the direction and magnitude of global and local climate change on urban ecosystem
Kanoknate (May) Supasri - Characterisation of Photosynthetic Apparatus of Symbiodinum Exposed to Bleaching Condition
Nguyen Ngoc Tran - Impacts of Extreme Climate Conditions on Ecosystem Seasonal Dynamics and Productivity Patterns
Nhan-An Thi Tran – Microalgal harvesting by bacterial bioflocculation
Peta Vine – Evolution of phytoplankton functional traits under different types of environmental variability
Oksana Vronska - Developing a harvesting process for algal biomass production
Navpreet Kaur Walia - Optimisation of strain and culture conditions of the microalga, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, for recombinant protein production from nuclear transgenes.
Matthias Windhagauer – Optimising diatom metabolism for bioplastic production
Nathan Williams – Microbial threats in coastal environments
Peter Wood - Improved continuous culturing for algal biofuels: linking chemostat and turbidostat operation and identifying opportunities for scalability.
Rachel Alderdice - Revealing the mechanistic basis for coral hypoxia sensitivity versus tolerance via coupled transcriptomics-metabolomics platforms.
Research Student Alumni
Pemika Apichanangkool - Assessment of blue carbon reserves in Thailand
Kirralee Baker - The biogeochemical role of diatoms in Australia’s coastal ocean.
Kasper Elgetti Brodersen - Analysing the below-ground microenvironment of seagrasses
Katie Chartrand - Environmental tolerances and drivers of deepwater seagrass photophysiology
Ponlachart Chotikarn - A comparison of computer model and eddy correlation system
Jenn Clark - Integrating physiological, ecological and evolutionary approaches to assess stress resilience of a habitat-forming macroalga.
Nikolaus Csaszar - Estimating the potential for adaptation of corals to climate change.
Peter Davey - An integrated view of seagrass response to changing light environments.
Risa Fujise - Distribution abundance and life cycle of free-living Symbiodinium
Stephanie Gardner -The ecological role of dimethylsulphoniopropionate (DMSP) in coral reef ecosystems, from cells to communities
Samantha Goyen - How have corals pushed their limits to thrive in Sydney's backyard?
Malin Gustafsson - Modelling macromolecular synthesis and flux in scleractinian coral
Ying Hong - The role of zooplankton in cyanobacteria bloom development in Australian reservoirs
David Hughes - Using next-generation multi-spectral FRRf to improve current estimates of marine primary productivity (MPP) within Australian waters
Johanna Howes - Biochemical Energy Balance of the Coral Symbiosis
Isabel Jimenez - Thermal properties of corals and implications for coral bleaching.
Jeff Kelleway - Carbon Dynamics of Saltmarsh Wetlands
Tara Konarzewski - Clinal variation in life-history traits of the invasive plant species Echium plantagineum L.
Anna Liza Kretzschmar - Molecular genetics of Gambierdiscus, producer of ciguatera fish poisoning
Michaela Larsson - Understanding the ecological niche of toxin producing dinoflagellates
Pei-Chuan (Tina) Liu - The correlation between photosynthesis and hybrid vigour
Alicia Lloyd - Assessing the Risk of Ocean Acidification for Scleractinian Corals on the Great Barrier Reef
Hannah Lloyd (MSc)- Intertidal Biodiversity of South-east Australian Rocky Shores: How do habitat-forming species control biodiversity?
Leigh Martin - Impacts of invasive exotic plants on reptile and amphibian assemblages
Lauren Frances Messer - The role of microbes in nitrogen cycling processes in the Australian marine environment
Louisa Norman - Role of saccharides in transformation of iron chemistry in seawater
Katherina Petrou - Nutrient limitation and photokinetics of southern ocean phytoplankton
Megan Phillips - Plant life history and the naturalisation to invasion transition: the exotic flora of Australia
Dale Radford - Enhancing Biofuel Production in Microalgae
Charlotte Robinson - Optical partitioning of phytoplankton niches and implications for carbon cycling (CSIRO top-up scholarship recipient)
Olivia Sackett - Impact of climate change on Antarctic sea ice algae photosynthesis
Verena Schrameyer -Defining the bio-energetic limits of Symbiodinium sp.'s host-symbiont relationship under future climate scenarios.
Sutinee Sinutok - Impact of ocean acidification on sediment-dwelling marine calcifiers
Rachel Smith - Examining the best stormwater treatment techniques and monitoring the toxicity of stormwater using bioassays.
Alex Thomson - The role of bioturbators in blue carbon cycles.
Stacey Trevathan-Tackett - Effects of habitat degradation on the long-term storage of carbon in seagrass meadow sediments
Jessica Tout - The role of microbial behaviour in structuring coral-microbe interactions
Daniel Taylor - Mechanisms linking site water status and NPP of Australian woody ecosystems
Arjun Verma - Diversity and genetics of benthic dinoflagellate Ostreopsis in Australasian waters
Chris Watson - Using Hyperspectral Remote Sensing Techniques to Determine Physiological, Phenological and Compositional Changes in Eastern Australian Grasslands
Rhys Whitley - A soil-vegetation-atmosphere transfer model for Australian woodlands and forests
Kim Wilson - Impact of oil and dispersants on seagrasses
Zunyi Xie - Remote Sensing of Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems
Sepideh Zolfaghar - Examination of groundwater dependent ecosystem’s ecophysilogical traits and their responses to climate change
Honours alumni
2019
Clayton Beranek - Optimisation of biostimulant production using building façade aglal panels
Emma Bowen - Seeking refuge or dangerous invader: Defining key fitness traits by which the subtropical coral Pocillopora aliciae is proliferating within Sydney Harbor
Raissa Gill - Implications of environmental variability on traits of ocean microbes
Nicola Henderson - Are reef restoration approaches ever scalable?
Daniel Hood - Techniques to maintain desired microalgal species dominance in algal-based culture systems
Abeeha Khalil - Chemical interactions between diatoms and bacteria
Sean Macdonald Miller - Enhancing microalgal pigment production
Kate McLennan - Determining abundance and distribution of Prorocentrum minimum
Rachelle Tran - Metabolic engineering of microalgae for synthetic biology applications
2018
Kristopher Abdullah - Bacterial production of plant growth-promoting hormones, a driving force in the symbiosis between phytoplankton and bacteria
Emma Barrett - Microalgae as a functional food to ameliorate disease (anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic and anti-obesity)
Christopher Cooney - Unlocking the competetive capacity of soft corals through metabolic profiling
Annabelle Doheny - Integrity of coral skeletons persisting under natural extreme reef habits
Erica Leal - Production optimisation of algal feed for aquaculture industry using large scale photobioreactors
Axel Olander - Exploring volatile gas emissions of coral reef bethnic taxa
Amelia Pezzano - Systems biology to understand the regulation of metabolic pathways enhancing the fucoxanthin production in marine microalgae
Nathan Williams - A dynamic insight into Pacific Oyster mortality, with focus on temperature, nutrients, and oyster microbial ecology
2017
Renee Ashton - Tropicalization of temperate waters: spacial dynamics of microhabitat use by vagrant tropical fishes along the NSW coast
Rene Delmas - Utilisation of terrestrial organic carbon by zooplankton
Ashley Douglas - Determining broad scale associations between air pollutants and urban forestry - a GIS approach
Robert Fleck - Production optimisation of the diatom species chaetoceros melleri for aquaculture feed using large-scale photobioreactors
Trent Haydon - Characterisation of the microbiome and secondary metabolite (DMSP) in soft corals
Helen Hayes - The role of bacteria on nutrient uptake in dinoflagellates
Patrick Monarca - Exploring the nexus between behaviour and thermal physiology of coral reef fishes
Luke Niven - Phytoremediation of lead in the blue macquarie region
Thomas Pettit - Development and augmentation of a botanical biofilter for the remediation of indoor air quality
Jack Silburn - The effect of sample selection on estimates of catch composition from a penaeid trawl fishery in SE Australia
Jake Violi - A new algal toxin linked to neurobiological disease
2016
Jack Adriaans - Cultivation optimisation and recombinant protein expression profiles in GE microalgae
Harvey Bates - Photosynthetic energetics in seagrasses; what do electron and proton circuits tell us about the fine tuning of photosynthesis under stress?
Annalisa Humphries - Bioactivity screening of micro and macro algae
Seoyeon Jung - monitoring impact of microbial community composition and functional analysis during growth cycle stages of Nannochloropsis oculata
James O'Brien - Sulphur-mediated microbial interactions under mesoscale oceanographic perturbations
An Tran - Bioflocculation of the green alga Nannochloropsis oculata by using a member of its own bacterial consortium
2015
Jake Amaro - Tropical rainforest phenology and functioning assessed through combined satellite and field data
John Hanna - Algal biotechnology: optimising Chlorella vulgaris biomass production in photo-bioreactors
Regan Hayward - Developing an open source comparative transcriptomics portal for Zostera muelleri
Anna Hespe-Poulos - Understanding photoprotection in diatoms
Mikael Kim - Do seagrass have an intermediate photosystem between a C3 and a C4 plant?
Caitlin Lawson - Evaluating the functional role of biogenic volatile compounds in coral symbiotic algae
Maxwell McKinley - Developing a phylogenetic-independent index of stress susceptibility for Symbiodinium: a potential new indicator of coral health
2014
Isobel Cummings - Future reefs; how will ocean acidification and warming affect symbiont bearing foraminifera
Samantha Goyen - Understanding the molecular background to ROS damage of the coral
Simon Hardy - Effects of warming on seagrass carbon stocks
Kenji Iwasaki - Effects of CO2 enriched aeration on Nannochloropsis oculata and Chaetoceros muelleri growth in ePBR
Brendan O'Keefe - Stability of Holocene "blue" carbon in seagrass meadows in Jervis Bay, NSW
Jacob Pooley - Photoprotective capabilities of different genetic clades of the coral endosymbiont algae, Symbiodinium sp
Lachlan Webster - How chemistry links plants and bacteria: the role of exudates in seagrass ecology
Peter Wood - Batch versus continuous culture: improving algal biofuel productivity
2013
Richard Carney - Bacterioplankton community responses to inflow events in the Hunter river estuary
Adam Kemp -Physiological and meteorological control of water and carbon relations amongst Australian ecosystems
Liana Pozza - Using satellites to understand phytoplankton dynamics in Australia's coastal ocean
Jessica Roy - Do burrowing infauna increase carbon turnover in seagrass sediments?
Cristin Sheehan - Sunlight through glasshouses: understanding diatom physiology and production under a changing climate
Michael Simpson - Impacts of an invasive crab in Tasmania
2012
Kirralee Baker - Microalgal performance under short-term environmental change vs. long-term environmental selection
Mitch Duley - The effects of hypo-saline conditions on the health of the cnidarian symbiosis
Ben Hogan - Ecotoxicological validation of arsenic remediation technique using three aquatic microorganisms
Ellen Mannix - Comparative patterns of habitat use by bird assemblages in an urban environment
James Tomlinson - Algal and bacterial interactions in the Hawkesbury/Nepean Estuary
2011
Samuel I'Ons - Determining the factors that drive invasion success for marine invertebrates
Kieran Parker - Productivity of biofuel-generating algae in a new solar bioreactor configured to distribute light and avoid photoinhibition
Charlotte Robinson - Correcting oceanographic estimations of chlorophyll distribution
Matthew West - Establishment and environmental impacts of the invasive alga Caulerpa taxifolia
2010
Ken Loong Chew - Parameter optimization for land surface models in simulation of plant-atmosphere exchange of water and CO2
Jennifer Clark - Adaptation potential of seaweeds to elevated temperature
Lyndle Hardstaff - Relationships between the flammability of plant leaves and their physicochemical attributes: comparing native and exotic species
Hannah Lloyd - Marine molluscs: biogeography
Miles McInerney - Ultrastructure and communication of the multi-partner coral symbiosis
Kien Nguyen - "Differential impacts of native and exotic invasive plants on invertebrate assemblages."
Lily Serna - Modelling pesticides in an estuary feeding into the Great Barrier Reef
Gabe Shaw - " Phytoplankton species composition and productivity in the Tasman Sea
Jessica Tout - "Coral bacteria associations; the role of chemotaxis."
2009
Chris Arendshorst - Coral signalling: protein-specific interactions with bacterial
Justine Djajadikarta - Phytoplankton and nutrient dynamics in New South Wales coastal waters
Justine Gilbert - How does the microbial consortium associated with corals contribute to coral health?
Mitchell Hollier - Effects of CO2 enrichment on Southern Ocean phytoplankton.
Michaela Larsson - Phytoplankton and Nutrient Dynamics in the Lower Hawkesbury-Nepean