Developing and applying new technologies, and making these innovations available to researchers across Australia and the globe

Measuring plant growth and function (phenotyping) is key to identifying the roles of the genes, proteins and regulators that we study. Our range of imaging equipped climate chambers and glasshouse space allow measurement of plant growth under varying light (color and brightness), temperature, moisture and CO2 conditions across all our University Partners.

Our phenomic analysis platforms include:

• Imaging-based growth analysis systems for monitoring the growth of plant shoots under various conditions.
• Climate chambers with LED lighting and time lapse cameras to simulate climate scenarios and measure plant responses.
• Hyperspectral imaging with 1000s of colors and machine learning predictions of energy traits Chlorophyll fluorescence imaging systems to monitor spatial and temporal changes in leaf properties both in high resolution and high throughput.
• Gas exchange systems for analysis of CO2 and O2 exchange, including isotope analysis to monitor photosynthesis and respiration.

In addition to our in-house facilities, the Centre is closely involved with the NCRIS-funded Australian Plant Phenomics Facility (https://www.plantphenomics.org.au/), both the APPF@ANU and the Plant Accelerator based at the University of Adelaide.

The first steps in molecular profiling involve isolating samples to be profiled and extracting the molecules that we wish to identify and quantify. Increasingly we need to be able to deal with very small samples and high numbers of samples in parallel.

• laser capture micro-dissection platform (Zeiss PALM MicroBeam). Precision lasers allow the capture of cells and cell components from fresh, paraffinized or frozen plant tissue sections to create accurate and repeatable molecular analysis of DNA, RNA and proteins.
• robots for high-throughput sample preparation from frozen plant tissue to accelerate our extractions of DNA and metabolites from large numbers of samples, making large-scale projects feasible that weren't previously.

Once we have taken these samples from the plants of interest, the following technology allows us to analyse the DNA, RNA, proteins or metabolites.

The first steps in molecular profiling involve isolating the cells to be profiled and extracting the molecules that we wish to identify and quantify. Increasingly we need to be able to deal with very small samples and high numbers of samples in parallel. Two new platforms relevant to these needs were acquired in 2012.

Firstly, we obtained a laser capture micro-dissection platform (Zeiss PALM MicroBeam). Precision lasers allow the capture of cells and cell components from fresh, paraffinized or frozen plant tissue sections to create accurate and repeatable molecular analysis of DNA, RNA and proteins.

Once we have taken these samples from the plants of interest, the following technology allows us to analyse the DNA, RNA, proteins or metabolites.

Communication and energy exchange between organelles and cells requires highly specialised transport proteins. Our University of Adelaide node is well regarded internationally for its suite of facilities to fully understand transport protein function, hosting visitors from around the world and being the home to numerous collaborative projects. The purpose built laboratories house specialised QC2 and PC2 rated growth environments alongside electrophysiological, imaging and radioactive assay equipment for localisation and characterisation of transport activity in planta and in a range of heterologous expression systems (e.g. plant suspension cells, Xenopus laevis oocytes, yeast) for detailed investigation of transport specificities and regulation.

By combining dedicated in-house High-Performance Computing (HPC) infrastructure with national cloud, supercomputing, and big-data platforms, the Centre can leverage significant resources to perform the data-intensive tasks required by our research. Partnerships with technology providers such as DELL, Amazon (AWS), the Pawsey SuperComputing Centre, and local university infrastructure ensure that computational workflows can be performed efficiently and at scale.

Additionally, the Centre has constructed several applications and databases to house and analyse molecular profiling data integrated into genomic data sets based on Arabidopsis genome sequencing and annotation from international sources.

Web-based interfaces to our databases and software are available on the tools page of this website.