Wildlife Genomics Group student projects

Current student projects
Our students work on a range of exciting projects, which are outlined below.

Rebecca Gooley (PhD Student) has developed new microsatellite markers for Tasmanian devils to understand the role of inbreeding, and potential effects of inbreeding depression, in both the insurance population and wild populations.

Rowena Chong (PhD Student) is working on describing the Tasmanian devil virome and differences between captive and wild devils. We know from previous work in our group that there are significant differences in the devil microbiome between captivity and the wild. Rowena is describing changes in devil microbiomes when Tasmanian devils are released to the wild from captivity.

Elspeth McLennan (PhD Student) is developing new metabarcoding methods to examine the foraging patterns of Tasmanian devils on Maria Island. As part of her Honours project, Elspeth reconstructed the pedigree of the Maria Island Tasmanian devil population. As part of her PhD she is furthering this work by examining the influence of MHC and mate choice in the Maria Island devil population.

Kate Farquharson (PhD Student) is undertaking a study to understand the impacts of intensive management on conservation. This includes the influence of generations in captivity on productivity on a suite of species as well as the influence of mate choice in a group housing management systems.

Caitlin Morrison (PhD Student) is working with one of Australia’s most critically endangered birds, the orange bellied parrot. Caitlin’s project is assessing the influence of immune gene diversity on the survival of OBPs in the face of disease. Her study also encompasses understanding the genetic differences between the captive insurance population and the last remaining wild birds.

Parice Brandies (PhD Student) is studying the immunogenetic basis of mate choice in conservation breeding programs. Parice’s Honours project with the AWGG investigated the role of mate choice in an zoo-based koala population.

Postdocs
Beata Ujvari
Amanda Lane
Emily Wong
Katrina Morris
Yuanyuan Cheng
Denis O’Meally

PhD
Hannah Siddle
Claire Sanderson
Emily Wong
Camilla Whittington
Cherry Wang
Yuanyuan Cheng
Katrina Morris
Mette Lillie
Justin Ng
Tracey Russell
Belinda Wright
Vanessa Barrs
Emma Peel
Sarah Jobbins
Bridget Murphy
Jennifer Koh
Amy Suthers
Oliver Griffith

Masters
Natashia Evans
Jian Ciu
Chen Wu
Eric Chow
Tejaswi Shetty
Yuanyuan Cheng
Quinlu Zhang
Zijian Zhao
Takaya Saito
Sunny Liu
Emily Wong

Honours
Parice Brandies
Diego Garcia
Rehana Hewavisenti
Elizabeth Jones
Emma Peel
Cassandra Flanagan
Laura Piddington
Lindsay Muir
Lauren van der Kraan
Belinda Wright
Oliver Griffith
Jessica Gurr
Katy Kirby
Mette Lillie
Jolanta Marzec
Melanie Booth
Katrina Morris
Bridget Murphy
Camilla Whittington
Jarek Latinik
Karunya Prassad
Claire Sanderson
Hannah Siddle
Rachael Woodward
Mai-Anh Nguyen