Biography and expertise
Biography
Prof Bronwyn Barkla leads the Plant Biochemistry group in the Faculty of Science and Engineering. She received her Master’s (1989) and Ph.D. (1994) in the Department of Botany at the University of Toronto and carried out Post-doctoral research in the Department of Plant Sciences (1994-1995) at the University of Oxford. Her work has significantly contributed to shaping research in the field of plant membrane biology, particularly by advancing our understanding of plant salinity stress responses, membrane dynamics, and proteomics. Recent research interests include understanding the role of specialised plant cells, including trichomes and guard cells to identify key adaptive mechanisms for plant abiotic stress tolerance.
Prof Barkla is a member of SCU's Research Clusters:
- 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.