Staff | Current Students

Honours opportunities for students - 2013

Our current research projects are listed below and are updated on a regular basis. For further information on other research topic areas, please check our staff research interests.

Centre of Excellence for Climate Change Woodland & Forest Health

• Various projects available.

Centre for Fish, Fisheries and Aquatic Ecosystems Research

• Reproductive biology of Southern Calamari in Cockburn Sound
• Influence of environmental variability on black bream biology
• Several Honours projects focusing on different aspects of the prawns

Centre for Rhizobium Studies

• Why are some rhizobia better at fixing N₂ than others?
• How effective are bacteroids from the Medicago-Sinorhizobium symbiosis?
• Is bacterial gluconeogenesis important in N₂ fixation?
• Can we engineer symbiotic bacteria to fix more N₂?

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Environmental Science opportunities

• Ecology
• Biosensing of odour
• Marine Science
• Environmental Policy and Law
• Climate Change

Fish Health Unit and Freshwater Fish Group

We have a number of different research programs, and an active group of Honours and postgraduate students. Some possible projects are listed below, but they are by no means all we have to offer. Visit our website (www.freshwaterfishgroup.com) to learn more and feel free to contact us to discuss any of these projects or any other ideas you may have.

• Is there really just one species of western minnow?
• Are introduced parasites a threat to our native fishes?
• How well do fish swim
• Do freshwater mussels improve water quality and fish health?
• Can zoonotic pathogens be detected in mussels?
• Is river health linked to tree health?
• The impact of the introduced parasite, Lernaea cyprinacea, on native freshwater fishes
• The link between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem health

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Institute for Immunology and Infectious Diseases (IIID)

• Development of technologies to capture and sequence specific nucleic acids
• Comparison of pre amplified and un pre-amplified sequencing on viral sequencing of HCV and HIV using the roche 454
• Making and Characterization of Human Monoclonal antibodies against HCV

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Peel Child Health Study

• Interaction of prenatal exposure to indoor air pollutants and indoor allergens on immune responses at birth (Honours, Masters or PhD)
• Impact of early life exposure to environmental toxicants (metals, pesticides, persistent organic pollutants) on foetal and infant stress responses. (PhD)
• Impact of environmental pollutants on foetal growth (PhD)
• Biomarker research (Honours, Masters or PhD)
• Honours Projects in the Peel Child Health Study

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Plant Biotechnology Research Group

• various projects available

Veterinary and Biomedical Science

• Identifying the role of bilbies as ecosystem engineers
• Chemical composition of renal tubular epithelial intranuclear inclusion bodies in immunodeficient laboratory mice with inclusion body nephropathy
• Development and validation of a cell-free culture system for Cryptosporidium 
• Describing new species of Cryptosporidium in fish 
• Proteomics analysis of Cryptosporidium life cycle stages using Maldi Imaging
• Predicting climate change impacts on human-infectious parasitic disease in marsupials and the public health implications. (Two projects available)
• Biological characterisation of a new species of Cryptosporidium in pigs
• Regulation of omega 3 in lamb meat
• Understanding factors that effect beef quality in Western Australia
• Understanding retail colour display in lamb meat/Gene markers for tenderness in Bos indicus and Bos tauris cattle
• Regulation of pH decline in post mortem muscle
• The welfare and behaviour of travelling horses
• The characterisation of a novel flagellate from laboratory mice Scholarship available with this project.
• Nutrition, gastrointestinal tract physiology, and meat science in pigs.
• Kangaroos: sexual selection and foraging.
• Exploring effective treatment strategies for obesity and obesity related disease.
• Various wildlife biology projects - Contact Trish Fleming for details.
• Animal Welfare Projects - Contact Trish Fleming for details
• Welfare measures for livestock production.
• Bone biology: a paradigm for biomedical science training.
• Investigating the immune responses of premature and term infants to immunisation and their susceptibility to infection.
• Using behaviour to assess the welfare of dogs.
• Finding solutions to the unwanted companion animal problem.
• Understanding attitudes to animals: what is needed? Contact Dr Teresa Collins for details
• Novel species of Eimeria in bobtail lizards.
• Determining the sources, prevalence and clinical impact of Giardia infections in Auckland Zoo.
• Conditioning of B Cells for Antibody Protection at Respiratory Mucosal Surfaces.
• Unique adaptations of the knee structure and function in kangaroos.
• Adrenergic signalling in chronic pain.
• Metabolic and physiologic changes during muscle fatigue.
• Inverse agonism at the δ opioid receptor in neuronal cell lines.
• Effects of pesticide residues on neuronal cell metabolism. For further information contact A/Prof Ian Mullaney
• Metabolomic and biochemical profiling in three neuronal cell lines. For further information contact A/Prof Ian Mullaney
• Can we deter foxes from predating turtle nests?
• Drug Science.