Student topics

Lions mane strains are capable of producing very small fruiting bodies (mushrooms) in static liquid culture. In this project we will try establish parameters and conditions that favour mushroom synthesis on a liquid surface. If we can understand how and why this species produces mushrooms on a liquid surface – we may be able to target genes that could improve yields and tendency to grow hydroponically.'Hericium erinaceum (Bull.: Fr.) Pers. is an edible fungus of great significance in medicine. It …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours, Vacation research experience scheme

Faculty

Faculty of Science

School

School of Biology and Environmental Science

Research centre(s)

Centre for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy

Composite materials are widely researched and widely used in applications such as aircraft, automobiles, ships, structural components and even the space industry.There is a need to create new composite materials which are environmentally friendly and do not use fossil fuel based products. Moreover, the properties of the composites need to be improved while at the same time minimising the costs involved.Consequently our research group is working on composite materials which not only include inexpensive inorganic fillers from the mining sector …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Engineering

School

School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering

Many industries generate copious amounts of waste products.Of particular interest are those wastes generated by the mining sector as typically a large fraction of the ore bodies are dumped or the agricultural sector.Potential solutions we are investigating include:converting aluminosilicate waste to zeolitestransforming inorganic waste to catalyst materialscreation of materials for water and wastewater treatmentmaking activated carbonrenewable fuels,

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Engineering

School

School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering

The removal of nutrients like carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater is critical to the prevention of eutrophication in receiving water systems and is carried out by complex microbial communities.Eutrophication can have devastating consequences on aquatic life and natural ecosystems, with toxic algal blooms also posing a risk to human health.Understanding the microbiology of phosphorus (P) removal from wastewater is considered essential to knowledge-based optimisation of enhanced biological P removal (EBPR) systems.Most of the species in these systems are novel …

Study level

Honours

Faculty

1043076

School

School of Biomedical Sciences

Research centre(s)

Centre for Microbiome Research

Fungi are essential components of all ecosystems in roles including symbiotic partners, decomposers and nutrient cyclers and as a source of food for vertebrates and invertebrates. While vital to soil health and organic matter turnover, fungi have great potential in sustainable design and medicine.Ganoderma strains in particular produce bioactive compounds and display growth characteristics that favour their use in medical and applied biotechnology. Some species produce triterpenoids, such as ganoderic acids, and have been used in traditional Asian medicine for …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours, Vacation research experience scheme

Faculty

Faculty of Science

School

School of Biology and Environmental Science

Research centre(s)

Centre for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy

Optimising the application rates of organic amendments in agricultural soils is one of the most promising and practical solutions to reduce nitrogen (N) losses into the environment while maintaining an economically-adequate crop production.Organic amendments alone often don't meet the crop's needs. Consequently, a supplementary application of N synthetic fertiliser is needed in conventional farming systems to meet perceived production needs.Accounting for the amount of plant-available N (PAN) released by organic amendments and combining this with N-fertiliser will:ensure N demands of …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Science

School

School of Biology and Environmental Science

Research centre(s)

Centre for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy

There is limited water monitoring occurring in the Gold Coast hinterland. In partnership with the City of Gold Coast, we will be setting up water monitoring networks to improve assessment and management of groundwater resources in this region.

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Science

School

School of Biology and Environmental Science

Nutrients such as ammonium and phosphate species are essential in agriculture. However, release of excessive amounts of nutrients to waterways may result in eutrophication which can lead to toxic algae blooms, killing of fish and destruction of the environment.Compounding this issue is the fact that phosphate rock sources are gradually being exhausted. Hence, finding a means to capture and reuse phosphate species from sources such as wastewater treatment plants is potentially attractive.Consequently, this project involves the development of new phosphate …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours, Vacation research experience scheme

Faculty

Faculty of Engineering

School

School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering

Melanoma is the 4th most common cancer in Australia. The link between skin cancer and UV exposure is now well established. If a DNA damage induced by UV exposure is left unrepaired, the mutation generated in the genome can lead to cell death or cancer. It is thus highly important to understand of how a cell can repair DNA damage. The main pathway to repair UV DNA damaged is the nucleotide excision repair pathway (NER) (Kamileri I. et al, Trends …

Study level

Honours

Faculty

1043076

School

School of Biomedical Sciences

Nicotiana benthamiana is a widely used model plant and the species of choice for studying gene expression and protein synthesis. Today, N. benthamiana is used as a plant biofactory worldwide for the production of pharmaceuticals including antibodies and protein-based vaccines.Optimum codon usage plays a critical role in determining effective translation of a gene, which ultimately affect protein production. Despite a number of codon optimisation tools available for N. benthamiana, little studies has been done to demonstrate the efficacy of the …

Study level

Honours, Vacation research experience scheme

Faculty

Faculty of Science

School

School of Biology and Environmental Science

Research centre(s)

Centre for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy

Driving growth and employment in the rapidly evolving Indigenous business sector is a key priority of Australia’s national and state governments. An important growth strategy for firms is internationalisation through, for example, exporting, international strategic alliances or even foreign direct investment. Yet we know relatively little about the growth of Indigenous businesses through international business.This project will answer questions including:How do Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses internationalise?Is their approach to international growth like that of other small and medium …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy

Faculty

Faculty of Business and Law

School

School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations

Research centre(s)

Australian Centre for Entrepreneurship Research

Corporate remuneration schemes can attract, retain, and motivate executives to exert effort and align their interests with shareholders’ interests. Prior studies find that executives are likely to resign when they are paid less than their peers, leading to a high rate of managerial turnover. However, paying excess compensation reduces firm value and it’s commonly related to firm underperformance. On the other hand, replacing top executives can be extremely costly for firms. Therefore, it’s very important to understand the reasons behind …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy

Faculty

Faculty of Business and Law

School

School of Accountancy