Welcome to the Schenk Lab at UQ Australia
We focus on plant-microbe interactions and sustainable biofuel production.
Guided by Associate Professor Peer Schenk, we explore:
Ernie the Algae Cell:
Fed on a diet of hamburgers and french fries before being stained and shoved under our flourescent microscope. The yellow suggests he has a cholesterol problem.
Size: 10 µm
We specialise in molecular approaches. Analysing DNA gets us up in the morning..
Checkout Matt's Algae-Hydrogen powered car.
Schenklab 2007
Industry Partners
We actively seek collaboration with business. And we highly value our industry partners who take our R&D into the commercial world.
Granting Agencies
We're very grateful for the assistance of the following agencies. Their support enables us
to perform strategic research into cutting-edge concepts.
Plant and Microbial Biotechnology
The Plant-Microbe Interaction Group specialises in the discovery of interesting new genes from plants and microorganisms. This team aims to provide disease-resistant plants and to identify novel compounds from microbial communities associated with the rhizosphere of plants.
We use a Functional Genomics approach to study beneficial and parasitic interactions between plants and microbes. Regulation of defence signalling genes can lead to disease resistance. In conjunction with industry we're working on improving crop plants for resistance against fungi, bacteria, viruses and nematodes.
In our microbial community project, functional gene microarrays and next-gen sequencing are used in a metatranscriptomics approach to characterise highly diverse microbial communities associated with plants, capturing microbial activity profiles irrespective of species.
Oil from Microalgae - A renewable source of fuel
The Algae Biotechnology Group aims to sustainably produce biodiesel and other high value products from microalgae.
Microalgae can be farmed without competing for arable land and food production. We find local strains that are efficient producers of lipids, then optimise these by using adaptive evolution and metabolic engineering. Our lab takes a "Non-GM" approach to strain improvement.
Research is aimed at providing industry partners with cost effective algae oil production.
Our team is developing improved non-GM Australia microalgae strains, as well as low cost algae cultivation and harvesting systems to provide a cost & energy effective biodiesel production module. This module fully utilises microalgae’s potential as a zero-waste biorefinery concept, producing not only bioenergy, but also aquaculture feedstock and high-value products such as Omega-3 fatty acids and sterols for the food industry.
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Microbial interactions in the rhizosphere of plants
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Oil from Microalgae
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Plant Biotechnology to improve disease resistance
