michael dow

We used a transgenic approach to modify flowering in poplar, eucalyptus and sweetgum to promote genetic containment and improve public acceptance of transgenic crops. My role was to identify candidate genes to affect flower development, produce complex multi-gene DNA constructs containing positive and negative selection, zinc finger nuclease, reporter and recombinase genes to transform trees and direct establishment of the transgenic plants in a field trial.

The position involved communicating to the public about how biotechnology is used for producing food & fuel, and its impacts on human health, environment, and prosperity. Specifically, the position required me to: liaise with University Deans and external potential funding agencies to petition for and negotiate financial support, search and write proposals for extramural funding, assist in lecture series management, develop website and promote lecture messages through social media, and organise distribution of teaching materials and support teaching of topics to local high schools.

I isolated actinomycete-derived compounds via methanol extraction of freeze dried actinomycete culture and characterised these using thin layer chromatography. I generated transgenic plants containing defence gene promoters linked to the reporter gene, GFP, to identify compounds which induce transcriptional responses of plant defence genes.

I identified transcription factors from microarray data with differential expression under salt stress in rice cultivars differing in salt tolerance and used a transgenic approach to examine the effect of increased and reduced expression on salinity tolerance. I performed genetic and phenotypic analysis of transgenic plants, including analysis of plant morphology and salt tolerance using sodium and potassium accumulation and plant health as indicators. Activities and Societies: Treasurer of Flinders University Biotechnology Association