UC EVENTS

Accelerating species recovery through the application of genomics: a tale of the Tasmanian devil and the koala.

Australia has the worst mammalian extinction record in the world. We are facing a biodiversity crisis - rapidly losing unique species found no-where else in the world, as well as valuable genetic variation found within those populations. Genetic variation within populations has evolved over millennia, shaped by pathogens, climate and other variables. This variation provides resilience for populations to evolve. But as populations become smaller, critical adaptative genetic variants are lost.

The Australasian Wildlife Genomics Group focus on understanding functional genetic diversity in Australia’s threatened species, primarily at risk of disease, with the specific purpose of working with government agencies and NGOs to assist in species recovery. During the Krebs lecture, I will present two case studies of species we are working on – the Tasmanian devil (which has been decimated by two separate contagious cancers) and koalas (which are increasingly susceptible to Chlamydia due to habitat destruction).

I will show how genomic data can be used to guide captive breeding and translocation programs and provide evidence that we have increased immunological fitness of wild populations as a result. I will also discuss how immune defence molecules mined from genomes of our native species can be used to combat emerging infectious disease. The Bioplatforms Australia Threatened Species Initiative is applying our approach to a broader range of threatened species, supercharging the way Australia manages its threatened species recovery programs.

Professor Kathy Belov AO

BSc(Hons) PhD, Professor of Comparative Genomics, Pro Vice-Chancellor Global Engagement, School of Life and Environmental Sciences

Professor Kathy Belov is the Pro-Vice Chancellor (Global Engagement) at the University of Sydney. In this position she takes responsibility for managing the development and execution of the University’s global engagement strategy. Key priorities are the development of the capacity of academic and professional staff to support international student learning and international research collaborations, and to achieve educational excellence in the international arena. She also promotes the University’s position in the international academic and research community, and identifies and enables strategic opportunities for partnership and collaboration in research and education.

Kathy’s research is based in the School of Life and Environmental Sciences (SOLES) and her focus is on comparative genomics and immunogenetics of Australian wildlife. Her team study Tasmanian devils, koalas, wallabies, platypus and many other species. Kathy has received two Eureka awards, the Crozier medal and the Fenner medal for her research.