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Professor David Burt is a research group leader at the Roslin Institute (Edinburgh), Director of the ARK-Genomics facility (www.ark-genomics.org) and is the co-coordinator of AvianNET (www.chicken-genome.org) the international chicken genome network. He graduated in Molecular Biology from Edinburgh University in 1978; studied the molecular genetics of bacteriophage lambda at Leicester University and received his PhD in 1980. He was a research associate at the ICI/University of Leicester Joint Laboratory from 1980-1985, Harvard Medical School from 1985-1987, and Medical Research Council from 1987-1988, involved mainly in structural and gene expression studies in bacteria, rodents and humans. In 1988, he was appointed as a principal investigator at the Roslin Institute where he now leads national and international research on the genomics of the chicken and other birds.

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Professor Winston Hide is Chair of Genomics and Bioinformatics at The University of the Western Cape and Director of the South African National Bioinformatics Institute. He focuses his research in two areas: unraveling the gene deregulation processes which initiate the development of cancers, and determination of the interactions of genes that protect the body from pathogens such as HIV. Hide has developed broadly used algorithms and systems for organisation of gene expression information, including d2, STACKdb, StackPack and eVOC. Hide's major interest in development of health solutions in South Africa revolves around the establishment of a cadre of international quality health science professionals, able to lead in the management and development of solutions for epidemic problems in Africa.

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Marilyn Raymond (National Institutes of Health)

Dr. Menotti-Raymond is a staff scientist at the National Cancer Institute-Frederick, Frederick, MD. Her research has focused on the generation of genetic maps in the domestic cat in order to characterize genes associated with hereditary disease and related biological interest. Dr. Raymond’s group has recently mapped and characterized a mutation causative of late onset retinal atrophy in the Abyssinian cat, a model of human retinitis pigmentosa, and identified the causative mutation in a unique gene (LIX1) for spinal muscular atrophy. They have mapped and characterized mutations associated with coat color (chocolate, cinnamon, Burmese, Siamese) and the dilution of coat color (dilute) in the cat. Additionally, Dr. Raymond has been involved with application of genetic markers in the cat for forensic analysis, which led to the first introduction of an animal DNA fingerprint into court and the development of an STR genotyping system for genetic individualization of cat specimens.
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Professor Ruth Hall is Senior Principal Research Scientist at the School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences at The University of Sydney. Well-known for her discovery of integrons, she investigates the mobility of DNA in bacteria, particularly where it is important in the dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes and the evolution of new pathogens. Her focus is on identifying and unravelling new mechanisms for gene movement that are important in the dissemination of resistance genes. She also studies the biochemistry of these processes.

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Professor Alan Cooper is Australian Research Council Federation Fellow and Director of the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, The University of Adelaide. Cooper specialises in using ancient DNA to record and study evolutionary processes in real time, especially those associated with environmental change. His work ranges over timescales of hundreds of years old to permafrost-preserved bones of mammals and sediment dating to >300 kyr. His research is characterised by multi-disciplinary approaches involving the combination of information from areas such as geology, archaeology, anthropology, and even forensics to provide novel views of evolution, population genetics and palaeoecology.

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Professor Jeremy Timmis is in the discipline of Genetics at the School of Molecular and Biomedical Science at the University of Adelaide. His research focuses on the endosymbiotic coevolution of nuclear, mitochondrial and chloroplast genomes. He also investigates the genetic control of cotton fibre development with a view to crop improvement. Timmis has published over 80 papers, including four in the high-impact journal Nature. He is president of the Genetics Society of Australia and will present this year's MJD White address.

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Professor Richard Harvey is head of the Developmental Biology Program and Deputy Director at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute. His research focuses on the Molecular mechanisms underlying formation, morphogenesis and function of the mammalian heart. He uses genomic and bioinformatic technologies to dissect genetic pathways in the developing mouse, which facilitates a better understanding of the molecular basis of cardiac disease. In March 2007, Richard was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Sciences.

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Professor John Mattick is Foundation Chair of the Institute of Molecular Biosciences at The University of Queensland. He was responsible for the development of one of the first recombinant DNA-based vaccines, and more recently has pioneered studies into the role of non-coding RNAs in the evolution and development of complex organisms. He is a member of the Queensland Biotechnology Advisory Council and is on the Scientific Advisory Boards of several institutes nationally and internationally. In 2001 he was appointed as an Officer in the Order of Australia.

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Professor Scott O'Neill is Head of Integrative Biology at The University of Queensland. He was among the first researchers to apply molecular biological tools to understand the biology of the fascinating inherited bacterium Wolbachia, arguably the most common parasite in the world. Interest in Wolbachia is currently exploding, in part thanks to O'Neill's early work. His team recently finished sequencing the first Wolbachia genome, and is now using genomic tools to understand the molecular mechanisms by which it exerts its remarkable effects on host biology. This has led to the award of a $10 m grant from the Gates foundation aimed at manipulating the ability of insect disease vectors to transmit pathogens to humans.

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Professor Brook is an international research leader in conservation biology and ecology. He has published two books and over 90 scientific papers on aspects of species preservation, extinction, conservation genetics, the effects of deforestation and climate change, and methods of sustainable wildlife management. In 2006, aged 31, he won the Australian Academy of Science Fenner Medal for distinguished research in biology and in 2007 was awarded the Edgeworth David Medal by the Royal Society of New South Wales. In March 2007 took up an appointment as the Foundation Sir Hubert Wilkins Chair of Climate Change and Director of the Research Institute for Climate Change and Sustainability at the University of Adelaide. The principal motivation for his research is to identify ways and means of reducing extinctions and mitigating the worst ravages of global change.

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Marilyn Renfree (University of Melbourne)

Marilyn’s primary research interest is the developmental biology, reproductive physiology and endocrinology of mammals and she has worked on a wide range of species from mice to elephants but most of her research has been on marsupials, because of their ingenious alternative solutions to reproduction. Marsupials give birth to small underdeveloped young that undergo the majority of their development in the pouch, making it possible to study the control of normal organ growth throughout developmental stages otherwise inaccessible in utero. Her laboratory is known internationally for its innovative studies of these unique and charismatic Australian animals. Marilyn is a Laureate Professor of the University of Melbourne, an ARC Federation Fellow, the Ian Potter Chair of Zoology and Deputy Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Kangaroo Genomics.

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Bill Ballard (University of New South Wales)

Professor John William Oman Ballard is an interdisciplinary scientist with skills in mitochondrial evolution, population genetics and bioenergetics. He has published 55 peer reviewed papers and been cited over 1,000 times. Ballard has received funding from NHMRC, NIH, NSF and private industry. Significantly, he was awarded an unsolicited Special NSF Creativity Extension Award in 2000. Ballard received his PhD from the University of Queensland in 1990 and was awarded a CSIRO postdoctoral fellowship in the same year. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Chicago from 1991-94 and faculty at Field Museum in Chicago from 1995-2001. Ballard moved to the University of Iowa in 2001, as Professor and Foundation Director of the Carver Center of Comparative Genomics, and in 2006 accepted the position of Professor of Evolutionary Genetics in the School of Biotechnology and Bimolecular Science (BABS) at University of New South Wales.

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