Research output per year
Research output per year
The University of Western Australia (M082), 35 Stirling Highway,
6009 Perth
Australia
I grew up in the large city of Melbourne, but a love of farms and plants lead me to the Agricultural Science degree at Melbourne University, from which I graduated in 1975. I was awarded a University of Melbourne Travelling Scholarship and studied for the PhD in Plant Pathology at the University of California at Davis, completed in 1980. My PhD supervisor was Dr David Gilchrist, Professor in Plant Pathology at UC Davis. Plant breeding for disease resistance and associated molecular and genetic research has dominated my career since that time, starting with a CSIRO Postdoctoral Studentship at Cornell University and then as a plant breeder for lupins at Agriculture Western Australia. In February 1999 I took up a position in Plant Breeding at the University of Western Australia where I was promoted to full Professor in 2012. My position is 70% funded by a project at UWA to breed canola in Australia for the company NPZ Australia Pty Ltd, and 30% funded through the UWA Institute of Agriculture as Associated Director and for undertaking research and some teaching.
As a practicing plant breeder, I have released several commercial lupin and canola varieties. I have also undertaken research into genetics and physiology of resistance to various diseases in lupins and canola, and published several research papers in this field. I was co-author with international authors on a book chapter on lupin breeding (Cowling et al., 1998b), and published a monograph on lupin genetic resources through the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources (Cowling et al., 1998a).
I have developed new methods for crop improvement based on the animal model and genomic selection, and to explore new ways to improve Brassica oilseeds through interspecific crossing, doubled haploidy, gene transformation or hybrid development. This involves international collaboration with our German plant breeding partners NPZ Lembke, Agriculture and Agrifood Canada’s canola molecular genetics laboratory at Saskatoon, Canada, and others.
I acted as convenor of the 12th Australasian Plant Breeding Conference in 2002 and the 1st Australian Lupin Technical Symposium in 1994, and an OECD conference on Brassica genomics in 2009. I co-managed the scientific program for the Internaitonal Rapeseed Congress in 2023 in Sydney, Australia.
I act as Principal Plant Breeder for NPZ Australia Pty Ltd, a small canola breeding company which funds the project at The University of Western Australia. I am qualified as a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. As a plant breeder, I have released several lupin and canola cultivars during my career, and I am enthusiastically applying new breeding approaches to canola in our company NPZA. I achieve great satisfaction from seeing the results of research in new and improved canola varieties on farms.
I developed a new system of plant breeding based on four major components - accurate breeding values, rapid cycles of recurrent selection, index composed of multiple economic traits, and optimal contributions selection to optimise crossing designs and to improve long-term genetic gain. This system of breeding has been applied to canola, field peas, and recently common bean in a project funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) in East Africa.
Hybrid breeding requires advanced understanding of “heterotic pools” of germplasm that may be exploited in hybrids with strong hybrid vigour or heterosis. I am developing new systems for developing heterotic pools.
With research colleagues, I hope to further explore the application of molecular genetics to the study of gene transfer in wide crosses in the Brassica family. We are already seeing great practical benefits from our previous research in this area, and hope to extend the research to new Brassica species and related species.
I have a strong interest in the basic mechanism of disease resistance and susceptibility in plants, and would like to pursue our current results that suggest that the susceptible reaction in lesions caused by necrotrophic fungal pathogens is the result of apoptosis in plant tissue induced by the fungus.
I contribute to teaching genetics and breeding at UWA. I supervise or co-supervise PhD and MSc students. I help to co-ordinate other plant breeding activities at UWA.
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Chen, S. (Data Manager), Cowling, W. (Data Manager), Siddique, K. (Data Manager) & Hu, X. (Data Manager), The University of Western Australia, 28 May 2024
DOI: 10.26182/nrgj-2846
Dataset
Chen, S. (Data Manager), Cowling, W. (Data Manager) & Siddique, K. (Data Manager), The University of Western Australia, Apr 2023
DOI: 10.26182/80cs-xm11
Dataset
Chen, S. (Data Manager), Cowling, W. (Data Manager) & Siddique, K. (Data Manager), The University of Western Australia, 2023
DOI: 10.26182/p0bd-k580
Dataset
Chen, S. (Data Manager), Cowling, W. (Data Manager) & Siddique, K. (Data Manager), The University of Western Australia, Apr 2023
DOI: 10.26182/g0wj-gq95
Dataset
Guo, Y. (Creator), Chen, S. (Data Manager) & Cowling, W. (Data Manager), The University of Western Australia, 21 May 2014
Dataset
Chen, S., Cowling, W. & Siddique, K.
Grains Research & Development Corporation
30/04/24 → 30/06/28
Project: Research
Chen, S., Cowling, W. & Siddique, K.
Grains Research & Development Corporation
28/06/24 → 5/10/24
Project: Research
20/01/23
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Press / Media
19/01/23
2 items of Media coverage
Press/Media: Press / Media