Reconstructing past marine life using ancient DNA

Reconstructing past marine life using ancient DNA from deep ocean sediments.

Honours projects are available focussing on the reconstruction of Australian and Antarctic marine eukaryote communities and their responses to variations in climate. 

Sediment cores used for this research were collected off East Australia, and East and West Antarctica, covering time periods from ~12,000 to 0.5 Ma (depending on the coring site). 

This research is highly interdisciplinary, spanning across marine science, biological/palae-oceanography, and palaeo-genomics, and a good understanding in at least one of these disciplines is required. Study activities include primarily bioinformatics and data analysis.

Dr Armbrecht's research at the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA (ACAD) revolves around improving our understanding of modern and ancient phytoplankton and their relationships with the environment - now, in the past and in the future.

This honours project will be based at ACAD at North Terrace campus.