Genetic crop switch - and children's courts
A further $3.2 million worth of grants has been awarded to La Trobe University researchers by the Australian Research Council (ARC).
Crop boost
A research team led by Professor Roger Parish, Head of the School of Life Sciences, working in collaboration with Pacific Seeds Pty Ltd, has received $396,000 to develop a reversible male sterility system for hybrid seed production in canola, cotton and oilseed mustard.
Global demand for grains, fibre and other agricultural products, says Professor Parish, has increased significantly and, as a result, the security of food production is emerging as a critical issue.
The La Trobe researchers have identified a key plant gene linked to pollen development. They are now using this knowledge to increase productivity for Australian oilseed and fibre industries.
The system the group is working on provides a ‘genetic switch’ which can be used by seed producers to develop more vigorous crop varieties by turning off a plant’s ability to self-fertilise, or in-breed. Hence, crosses involving parents from different inbred lines are possible and hybrid vigour can be achieved.
Courts probe
Professor of Social Work and Social Policy, Allan Borowski, has gained $580,000 for a national assessment of Australian children’s courts and the effectiveness of their responses to often marginalised delinquent youth and vulnerable children and families.
Professor Borowski says there is increasing concern in Australia and overseas that existing children’s court systems may be ineffective – and even contribute to longerterm problems, both for communities and government.
His study examines how key stakeholders, including judicial officers, view the courts’ role in the 21st century and the sorts of legal and social policy changes they would like to see.
Cell damage
Professor Paul Fisher and his Microbial Cell Biology Group in the School of Life Sciences have won $170,000 for research on a new understanding of how mitochondrial dysfunction damages cells – namely that this may result from a signalling disorder in the cells, rather than an energy insufficiency as previously thought.
The work – for which Professor Fisher was awarded last year’s Australasian Science Prize – has implications for the development of drug therapies to treat mitochondrial diseases, as well as many neurodegenerative disorders where mitochondrial dysfunction plays a central role.