PLANT MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY


Melbourne School of Land and Environment
University of Melbourne
Parkville, Victoria 3010 Australia

The Group Directors:
 Professor Mohan B Singh                   Professor Prem L Bhalla 
Phone/Fax : +61 3 8344 5051                            Phone/Fax : +61 3 8344 9651
mohan@unimelb.edu.au                                 premlb@unimelb.edu.au


The Plant Biotechnology group offers an exciting and stimulating world class environment for research, education and training in plant molecular biology and plant biotechnology. Programs cover the broad spectrum of research using modern techniques to genetically engineer pasture, vegetable and horticulture crops for future agricultural and environmental needs. The group is part of the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Integrative Legume Research.

Postgraduate Scholarships in Genomics, Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology

Here are some links:
Research Projects | Publications | Research Collaborations | News articles | Site Map

ACHIEVEMENTS

The plant molecular biology and biotechnology group:

  • developed world's first hypoallergenic ryegrass using genetic engineering
  • the first to identify Bcp1, a gene that is essential for male fertility in flowering plants. This gene is being used to develop new hybrid seed production system for crop plants.
  • the first to identify and clone the major allergenic protein from ryegrass pollen. This discovery is being used to produce a vaccine against grass pollen-induced hayfever.
  • the first to identify male gamete specific gene expression and gamete specific promoters in flowering plants.
  • world first report of successful tissue culture based micropropagation system for macadamia
  • produced modified forms of grass pollen allergen for hayfever immunotherapy
  • wins competitive research funds.
  • wins prestigious awards.
Back to the top ...

Current Staff

  • Dr Mohan Singh, Professor
  • Dr Prem Bhalla, Professor
  • Dr Annie Wong, Research Fellow
  • Dr Tatiana Kolesnik, Research Fellow
  • Dr Isabelle Damiani, Research Fellow
  • Dr Lijuan Luo, Fellow
  • Mr Chris Chong, Technical assistant (part-time)
  • Ms Lin Zhang, Technical assistant

POSTGRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL TRAINING

The Plant Biotechnology Group provides a world class intellectual and physical environment for postgraduate and postdoctoral training in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology. Applications for postgraduate scholarships are collected on a continuing basis.

Back to the top ...

INDUSTRY AND INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATIONS

Academic collaboration: We have international collaboration with research groups in Austria, China, France, India, Japan, Netherlands, UK and USA.

Industry collaboration: Close collaboration with the private sector is highly valued by the group. We have a number of ongoing collaborative projects with the seed and horticulture industry. The following link provides a list of our research capabilities and active projects.

Back to the top ...

FURTHER INFORMATION

For further information contact the group directors:

Professor Mohan B. Singh
School of Agriculture and Food Systems
Melbourne School of Land and Environment
The University of Melbourne
Parkville, Victoria 3010
Australia

Telephone: +61 3 8344 5051
Fax: +61 3 8344 5051
Email: mohan@unimelb.edu.au

Professor Prem L. Bhalla
School of Agriculture and Food Systems
Melbourne School of Land and Environment
The University of Melbourne
Parkville, Victoria 3010
Australia

Telephone: +61 3 8344 9651
Fax: +61 3 8344 9651
Email: premlb@unimelb.edu.au

Some group members in the Systems Garden, Feb. 2005

Dr. Farzad Haerizadeh, Dr. Harald Ottenhof,
Dr. Titiana Kolesnik and Dr. Mokoto Endo

Dr. Farzad Haerizadeh, Mr. Sake Chinwang,
Dr. Takashi Okada and Ms. Anzu Okada

Dr. Harald Ottenhof

Dr. Tatiana Kolesnik

Dr. Mokoto Endo

Mr. Sake Chinwang

Ms. Anzu Okada

Dr. Farzad Haerizadeh

Images of the lab outing in Jan. 2005

Back to the top ...