The Executive Management Committee (EMC) manages the ACPFG’s research programs. The Committee meet monthly to ensure the research plan is followed and to foster research collaborations. The EMC is also responsible for resource sharing and ensuring that research reporting and performance obligations are met. To aid effective communication between the EMC and ACPFG research teams and nodes, all ACPFG staff meet for two days, quarterly, to exchange results, ideas and to survey progress. Researchers from the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) funded Functional Genomics Group also attend the quarterly research meetings. Research leaders also meet with their groups on a weekly basis to further ensure effective communication and knowledge transfer.

EMC Profiles

EMC Chair/ Deputy CEO of ACPFG Professor Geoff Fincher

Geoff specializes in the biochemistry, physiology and molecular biology of enzymes involved in cereal growth and development. A core interest is the role of functional genomics in the growth and end-use quality of cereals, functional analysis of plant genes, protein-protein and protein-ligand interactions, 3D structures of plant proteins, protein and carbohydrate chemistry, enzymology, plant cell wall biochemistry and cereal transformation. He is also Director of the Waite Campus and Professor of Plant Science at the University of Adelaide.

Email: Geoff Fincher

Professor Antony Bacic

Tony leads the ACPFG team at the University of Melbourne. He is a Professor (Personal Chair) in the School of Botany (UM), Director of the Plant Cell Biology Research Centre (UM), Deputy Director of the GRDC-funded Cereal Functional Genomics Centre (UA/UM) and a Program Leader of the CRC for Bioproducts.

His major research interests focus on the structure, function and biosynthesis of complex carbohydrates in biological systems (cell walls, cell surfaces, extracellular matrices) and their biotechnological utility; cloning and expression analysis of polysaccharide synthases; and the application of functional genomics platform technologies (proteomics/metabolomics) to abiotic stress and productivity in cereals.

Email: Antony Bacic

Professor Kaye Basford

Kaye leads the ACPFG node at UQ and is Head of the School of Land and Food Sciences there. She is a Professor of Biometry, having gained her PhD from UQ and undertaken a Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellowship at Cornell University. Her speciality is at the interface between statistics and quantitative genetics through the analysis and interpretation of data from large-scale multi-environment experiments and bioinformatics (which includes database management, integration and analysis). In 1998, Kaye was awarded the Australian Medal for Agriculture from the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology.

Email: Kaye Basford

Professor German Spangenberg

German is Director of the Plant Biotechnology Centre and Adjunct Professor with the Department of Botany at La Trobe University, Melbourne. He is Research Director, Plant Genetics and Genomics of Primary Industries Research Victoria – the Research Division of the Victorian Department of Primary Industries (DPI).

German‘s research has largely centred on somatic cell genetics and the molecular genetic manipulation of plants. He is recognised as the world authority on pasture plant genomics and biotechnology.

German is Research Director of the MPBCRC and leads the Australia-New Zealand pasture plant genomics program. He also leads the DPI nodes of the Victorian Microarray Technology Consortium, the Victorian Bioinformatics Consortium, and the Victorian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics, serving on the Boards of these consortia in Victoria. Besides his employment in DPI, German is Director and Chief Scientific Officer of Phytogene Pty. Ltd., a biotechnology spin-off company, and is Managing Director (R&D) of AgGenomics Pty. Ltd., Australia’s first company in agricultural genomics.

Email: German Spangenberg

Professor Mark Tester

Mark is a research Professor in the School of Agriculture and Wine, University of Adelaide. He is funded by the ARC under the Federation Fellow scheme and is based in the ACPFG. His research program is to explain molecular mechanisms that enable certain plants to thrive in suboptimal soil conditions, such as high salinity or low water supply, in particular by mechanisms controlling allocation of salts to the shoot. Mark is developing new cereals with increased tolerance to environmental stress conditions, in particular saline soils.

Email: Mark Tester

Professor Peter Langridge

Peter has been a Professor in Plant Science since 1998 and has been with the University of Adelaide since 1984. Until 2002 he was the Research Director for the CRC for Molecular Plant Breeding. His research has focused on development and application of molecular biology to crop improvement. For this work he received an Australian Technology Award in 1998. He is currently a member of the Gene Technology Technical Advisory Committee of the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator, a member of the scientific advisory group for the USA National Science Foundations Wheat SNP Program and convener for the International Triticeae Mapping Initiative (ITMI). ITMI is the major international body coordinating genetic and genomics research in wheat and barley and provides a forum for the development and discussion of collaborative programs.

Email: Peter Langridge

Mr Michael Gilbert
Company Secretary

Michael managed the project leading to the incorporation of the ACPFG in late 2002. In July 2003 he joined the ACPFG as General Manager and Company Secretary and has responsibility for intellectual property management and commercialisation activities. Michael also heads the administration unit that manages research grants and reports to the funding bodies. He is responsible for ensuring that the administration of the ACPFG complies with the relevant agreements and deeds. Michael is supported by several other members of the ACPFG administration team. He is also a Director of AusBiotech Ltd.

Email: Michael Gilbert