Outstanding Alumnus Award, research in plant biotechnology (June 2013)
2002 Master of Science graduate Dr Amal Johnston has had an outstanding career trajectory and made significant contributions in the fields of plant breeding, cell and molecular biology, biochemistry and genetics research. He has worked in some of the world’s most prestigious academic and research institutions, and is now leading his own research team in Germany. Amal is the Research Group Leader and Assistant Professor for Germline Biology, Centre for Organismal Studies, at the University of Heidelberg, currently ranked in the top 3 universities in Germany and top 80 in the world. He was awarded over 1.6 million euros from an Emmy-Noether grant under the German Research Foundation. (Full details via link above).
His research has the potential to revolutionise agriculture and promote global food security by producing seeds without pollination. Most seed production – including the main food crops of rice, wheat and corn - relies on flowers being pollinated by wind or insects. Food production would be greatly increased if major crops could produce seeds without pollination. Some of the wild relatives of the major food crops can produce seeds without pollination. Amal's research is about understanding how these plants form seeds without pollination, so that this characteristic can be transferred to the major food crops.
Receiving a Masters Scholarship from the Queensland Department of Primary Industries in 2000, Amal came to USC as an international student from India and studied under the supervision of Professor Helen Wallace on the hybridisation of pine trees in Queensland forestry plantations. Papers from his Masters degree were published in the international journal of plant breeding Euphytica.
Amal then completed his PhD in plant developmental biology at the University of Zurich. His focus was to uncover genes that control apomixis - an asexual mode of plant reproduction. This was followed by a Postdoctoral Fellowship at ETH Zurich, co-funded by the prestigious Roche Research Foundation. ETH is currently ranked the 8th best university in the world in engineering, science and technology, with over 20 Nobel Prize recipients, including Albert Einstein. From 2009 to 2012 he was a Project Leader and Humboldt Research Fellow at the internationally renowned plant research centre, IPK Gatersleben in Germany.
Amal has co-authored 12 peer-reviewed publications (6 as lead author) on asexual seeds and the use of biotechnology for sustainable agriculture production. His research findings have been presented at conferences in Australia, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Spain, United Kingdom, China and Japan.
Please note: this is archival information and may not reflect the recipients' current work details.