Biography and expertise
Biography
Prof Bronwyn Barkla is Deputy Associate Dean of Research for the Faculty of Science and Engineering, following five years as Associate Dean of Research. Previously, she was Director of Southern Cross Plant Science and spent nearly two decades at the Instituto de Biotecnología, UNAM in Mexico. Also serving on the Executive Board of the Mexican Proteomics Society.
Prof Barkla is a member of SCU's Research Clusters:
- Reefs and Oceans
- Harvest to Health
Prof Barkla's work contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals
Research
Prof Barkla has been applying proteomics technologies to advance knowledge in plant abiotic stress tolerance using the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana in parallel with the salt-tolerant model plants Mesembryanthemum crystallinum and Thellungiella salsuginea, and the heavy metal tolerant plant Arabidopsis halleri. Recent work has focused on understanding the role and regulation of membrane proteins and lipids in plant salt and heavy metal tolerance. Research using "omics" approaches has been undertaken to gain further insight into the role of the specialized trichomes called epidermal bladder cells which are found on the leaves and stems of the ice plant, Mesembryanthemum crystallinum. Research strengths include the fractionation of proteins to reduce sample complexity using non-traditional approaches including Free Flow Electrophoresis.
Other
ARC College of Experts - 2016 to 2018
Editorial Board Member - Journal of Agricultural Sciences
Special Issue Guest Editor - Journal of Proteomics
Educational Committee - International Plant Proteomics Organization
Peer Review Board Member - JoVE - Journal of Video Experiments