Principal Investigator
Macquarie University Vice-Chancellor's Innovation Fellow
Director of Higher Degrees Research (CISAB)
Postdoctoral Fellows
Chris completed his PhD at University of Sydney and joined the lab as a post-doctoral fellow in October 2006. He is continuing his research on the Sterile Insect Technique used to manage wild populations of the Queensland fruit fly.
Chris' research and fellowship is supported by two grants from Horticulture Australia Ltd.
John, from Northern Ireland, joined the lab in 2006 and is working on aggressive mimicry of Stenolemus giraffa, a bizarre web-invading assassin bug from Northern Territories (and other exotic locations).
John's fellowship and research is supported by an ARC-Discovery Project grant.
Research Students
Anne completed her PhD research in June 2008. Her research investigated flexible aggressive mimicry by Stenolemus assassin bugs that lure spiders with vibrations that appear to mimic insects caught in the web.
Anne's research was supported by an ARC-Discovery Project grant.
Sam completed two honours projects in the lab: one on intraspecific interactions of Helpis minitabunda, a jumping spider, and one on sperm use patterns in Q-flies. Sam is now carrying out his PhD developing improved irradiation procedures to sterilize tephritid flies for use in the Sterile Insect Techniqe (SIT) of pest management.
Sam's PhD scholarship and research is supported by a grant from Horticulture Australia Ltd.
Fernando started his PhD in June 2007. His project involves an investigation of the life history, behaviour and ecology of an extraordinary Australian assassin bug, Stenolemus giraffa. His project combined expansive field studies at numerous sites in The Northern Territories as well as detailed laboratory studies in Sydney.
Fernando's research is supported by an ARC-Discovery Project grant.
Julie is a co-tutelle PhD student, also completing her PhD at University of Massachussetts (Amherst) under Beth Jakob's supervision. Julie is studying the development of eyes and visual competence in jumping spiders.
Ben is a new PhD student in 2008, and will be working on strategies used by Queensland fruit flies to optimize nutritition.
Veena Prabhu
Veena started her MPhil in January 2004. She is working on predictors of pre-copulatory mating success of male Queensland fruit flies. Who are the sexiest males and do the females agree? What role does diet play in maturation and sexual activity? Can nutritional supplements be used to enhance sexual success of sterile males used in release programs.
Veena's work is supported by grants from Horticulture Australia Ltd and is part of an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Co-operative Research Program.
Honorary Research Associates
Kerry's research examines how changes in stress and reproductive physiology may influence the outcome of a reintroduction effort. Using the non-invasive technique of fecal hormone monitoring, she is able to monitor patterns of hormone expression in reintroduced Canada lynx. Her PhD advisers are Jeffrey Lucas at Purdue University and Nadja Wielebnowski at Brookfield Zoo.
http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~kfanson/Lynx/Home.htm
Technical staff
Maria is a Research Assistant working on ecology, behaviour and mass-rearing of Queensland fruit flies. Having diverse skills and experience, she is involved in a wide array of projects in the lab.