Postgraduate Student talks
Presentation by See Below
The Royal Society Room
Tuesday, 4th October 2011 Commencing 8.00 pm until 10.00 pm
Three postgraduate students from areas such as CRC Forestry, Menzies and Tasmanian Devil Research
About the Speaker
1. Ms Gemma Morrow. 2. Ms Clare Smith. 3. Dr Natasha Wiggins
Brief Abstract of the Talk
1. Gemma Morrow is nearing completion of her PhD in the School of Zoology at UTAS. Using a multidisciplinary approach utilising novel ultrasonography, cytology, endocrinology, genetic techniques as well as behavioural obsevations, she aims to understand the mating system of the Tasmanian echidna tachyglossus aculeatus setosus in the wild. Gemma was runner-up for the Bollinger award for best student talk at the 2011 joint meeting of the American and Australian mammal Societies in Oregon, USA. 2. Clare Smith is a PhD student (about to hand in her thesis) with the Menzies Research Institute, UTAS. Her work has focused on developing new antimalarials to overcome the problem of drug resistance, using a ‘host-directed’ approach. Clare was one of only six Australians selected to attend the recent 61st Nobel Laureates Meeting in Lindau, Germany. She also spent 2 months working with collaborators at the Pasteur Institute, Paris, and was awarded the Bede Morris Travelling Fellowship by the Australian Academy of Science. 3. Dr Natasha Wiggins’ research has predominately focused on plant-animal interactions between the Eucalyptus genus and mammal herbivores. Specifically, she is interested in the chemical and physical properties of plants and how this influences herbivore feeding preferences. Her PhD focused on the feeding behaviour of possums in response to a variety of eucalypt species, and she has since worked on wallaby movement patterns across agriculture landscapes as a postdoctoral fellow with the School of Plant Science at UTAS.
