Dr Laura Wilkinson

Grant-Funded Researcher (A)

School of Agriculture, Food and Wine

Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD (as Co-Supervisor) - email supervisor to discuss availability.

Laura is a plant biologist with expertise in plant reproduction and seed development, and a passion for translational research and plant breeding.

Laura gained a BSc in Molecular Biology from the University of Adelaide in medical genetics and biochemistry before making the jump to plant science, supported by Coopers Brewery and the Playford Memorial Trust for her Honours project on malting barley at the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Cell Walls.

Laura completed a PhD in 2019 under the supervision of Prof. Matt Tucker. Her PhD was about how barley plants grow fertile ovules, and the role that the nucellus - aka the plant's version of a placenta - plays in crop fertility and yield. Following her PhD Laura undertook a postdoc at the John Innes Centre (UK), where she researched how environmental cues influence genetic regulation of stem cell fate in brassica crops. In other words, trying to answer the question: how is climate change messing up crop flowering time?

In her role as a Plant Breeding Research Fellow Laura is associated with Australian Grains Technology and sits between academia and industry, researching farming systems to identify future opportunities for breeding programs in Australia.

Career
Publications
Contact

Appointments

Date Position Institution name
2022 - ongoing Plant Breeding Research Fellow University of Adelaide, Australian Plant Breeding Academy
2019 - 2022 Postdoctoral Researcher John Innes Centre
Language Competencies

Language Competency
French Can read and understand spoken
Education

Date Institution name Country Title
2015 - 2019 The University of Adelaide Australia PhD
2014 The University of Adelaide Australia BSc (Hons)
2013 The University of Adelaide Australia Dip Lang

Date	Position	Institution name
2022 - ongoing	Plant Breeding Research Fellow	University of Adelaide, Australian Plant Breeding Academy
2019 - 2022	Postdoctoral Researcher	John Innes Centre

Language	Competency
French	Can read and understand spoken

Date	Institution name	Country	Title
2015 - 2019	The University of Adelaide	Australia	PhD
2014	The University of Adelaide	Australia	BSc (Hons)
2013	The University of Adelaide	Australia	Dip Lang

Journals

Year	Citation
2023	Yang, X., Wilkinson, L. G., Aubert, M. K., Houston, K., Shirley, N. J., & Tucker, M. R. (2023). Ovule cell wall composition is a maternal determinant of grain size in barley. New Phytologist, 237(6), 2136-2147. DOI Scopus6 WoS1 Europe PMC2
2021	Penfield, S., Warner, S., & Wilkinson, L. (2021). Molecular responses to chilling in a warming climate and their impacts on plant reproductive development and yield. Journal of Experimental Botany, 72(21), 7374-7383. DOI Scopus10
2021	Matros, A., Houston, K., Tucker, M. R., Schreiber, M., Berger, B., Aubert, M. K., . . . Burton, R. A. (2021). Genome-wide association study reveals the genetic complexity of fructan accumulation patterns in barley grain. Journal of Experimental Botany, 72(7), 2383-2402. DOI Scopus14 WoS8 Europe PMC10
2021	Shoesmith, J. R., Solomon, C. U., Yang, X., Wilkinson, L. G., Sheldrick, S., van Eijden, E., . . . McKim, S. M. (2021). APETALA2 functions as a temporal factor together with BLADE-ON-PETIOLE2 and MADS29 to control flower and grain development in barley. Development, 148(5), 1-16. DOI Scopus16 WoS9 Europe PMC6
2020	Matros, A., Houston, K., Tucker, M., Schreiber, M., Berger, B., Aubert, M., . . . Burton, R. (2020). GWAS reveals the genetic complexity of fructan accumulation patterns in barley grain. DOI Europe PMC1
2019	Shirley, N. J., Aubert, M. K., Wilkinson, L. G., Bird, D. C., Lora, J., Yang, X., & Tucker, M. R. (2019). Translating auxin responses into ovules, seeds and yield: insight from Arabidopsis and the cereals. Journal of Integrative Plant Biology, 61(3), 310-336. DOI Scopus40 WoS36 Europe PMC25
2019	Wilkinson, L. G., Yang, X., Burton, R. A., Würschum, T., & Tucker, M. R. (2019). Natural variation in ovule morphology is influenced by multiple tissues and impacts downstream grain development in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.).. Front Plant Sci, 10, 1374. DOI Scopus7 WoS7
2018	Wilkinson, L. G., Bird, D., & Tucker, M. R. (2018). Exploring the role of the ovule in cereal grain development and reproductive stress tolerance. Annual Plant Reviews Online, 1(1), 1-35. DOI Scopus11 WoS9
2018	Tucker, M., Lou, H., Aubert, M., Wilkinson, L., Little, A., Houston, K., . . . Shirley, N. (2018). Exploring the role of cell wall-related genes and polysaccharides during plant development. Plants, 7(2), 42-1-42-17. DOI Scopus49 WoS43 Europe PMC32
2017	Wilkinson, L., & Tucker, M. (2017). An optimized clearing protocol for the quantitative assessment of sub-epidermal ovule tissues within whole cereal pistils. Plant Methods, 13(1), 67-1-67-10. DOI Scopus20 WoS18 Europe PMC11
2017	Betts, N., Wilkinson, L., Khor, S., Shirley, N., Lok, F., Skadhauge, B., . . . Collins, H. (2017). Morphology, carbohydrate distribution, gene expression, and enzymatic activities related to cell wall hydrolysis in four barley varieties during simulated malting. Frontiers in Plant Science, 8, 1872-1-1872-15. DOI Scopus25 WoS21 Europe PMC7

Position: Grant-Funded Researcher (A)
Phone: 83136700
Email: laura.wilkinson@adelaide.edu.au
Campus: Waite
Building: Waite Building, floor Ground Floor
Room: GN09A
Org Unit: Agricultural Science

Dr Laura Wilkinson

Appointments

Language Competencies

Education

Journals

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