James Cowley

Research Interests

Agricultural Biotechnology Agriculture Food Processing Plant Biology & Botany Plant Cell and Molecular Biology

Dr James Cowley

Internally Grant-Funded Research Fellow

School of Agriculture, Food and Wine

College of Sciences

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.

I am an early career researcher currently working as a Food Product Development Fellow for the School of Agriculture, Food and Wine. The goal of our program is to complement University of Adelaide's plant breeding programs by developing new and innovative food products and processes for these breeding outputs. We also aim to support researchers and industry with analytical capability and academic research in the food quality and nutrition space. Please read more about the Food Product Development group and our capabilities here.

Various pieces of food preparation and testing equipment along with various food samples in glass jars, all neatly arranged on a table for display

I have expertise in the areas of plant science and food science. I recently (Oct 2020) completed my PhD in the School of Agriculture, Food and Wine under the supervision of Prof. Rachel Burton and Dr Tina Bianco-Miotto where I explored natural variation in the seed composition of the Plantago genus as a source of novel food ingredients and nutritional supplements. Following my PhD I worked for three years on an ARC Linkage Project developing breeding and characterisation technologies for psyllium (Plantago ovata).

My research interests are focussed on the valorisation of novel andA basil seed is stained bright pink with a chemical called ruthenium red. A jelly layer is released from the seed surface that resembles thousands of tiny fingers. underutilised crops including Plantago, Salvia, industrial hemp and sorghum. We know our favourite novel crops could never replace wheat or rice, but I am interested in how we could supplement traditionally nutrient-poor staples like bread or pasta with these incredibly nutrient-dense seeds that could be produced on marginal lands of Australia. I also have a keen interest in the relationship between dietary fibre structure and both in-food and in vivo functions.

I am very passionate about science education, science communication (follow me on twitter at @jamesmcowley!) and citizen science. In 2017, I was honoured to be recognised by the University of Adelaide for my work with Children's University's Regional Lecture Series program and awarded the Vice Chancellor's Student Volunteer of the Year Award. Watch the video below by Children's University Australia where I talk about study, making mistakes and following your passion.

Date Type Title Institution Name Country Amount
2018 Scholarship Farrer Memorial Travelling Scholarship - Australia -
2018 Scholarship Barr Smith Travelling Scholarship in Agriculture University of Adelaide Australia -
2018 Award 2017 Student Volunteer of the Year Award The University of Adelaide Australia -
2016 Scholarship School of Agriculture, Food and Wine Honours Scholarship The University of Adelaide - -
2015 Scholarship Crawford Fund Scholarship - - -

Date Institution name Country Title
2017 - 2020 The University of Adelaide Australia PhD
2016 The University of Adelaide Australia Bachelor of Science with First-Class Honours in Plant Science
2015 The University of Adelaide Australia Bachelor of Agricultural Sciences

Year Citation
2026 Perera, D., Devkota, L., Kumar, G., Cowley, J., & Dhital, S. (2026). Underexplored role of cell wall modifications in the hard-to-cook (HTC) phenomenon. Food Chemistry, 498(Pt 1), 10 pages.
DOI
2025 Cowley, J. M., Ren, Y., Štrkalj, L., Foster, T. J., & Burton, R. A. (2025). The influence of mucilage-rich flours from diverse Australian Plantago species on the pasting, storage, and gluten-free breadmaking properties of rice flour. Food Hydrocolloids, 160(Part 1), 110788-1-110788-15.
DOI Scopus5 WoS5
2025 Hassan, A. S., O'Donovan, L. A., Cowley, J. M., Akomeah, B., Phillips, R. J., Pettolino, F., . . . Burton, R. A. (2025). In Planta Ectopic Expression of Two Sub-types of Tomato Cellulose Synthase-like M (CslM) Genes Affects Cell Wall Integrity and Supports a Role in Arabinogalactan and/or Rhamnogalacturonan-I Biosynthesis. Plant and Cell Physiology, 66(1), 101-119.
DOI Scopus1 WoS1 Europe PMC1
2025 Akintayo, O. A., Falconer, R. J., Lauer, J. C., Cowley, J. M., & Bozkurt, H. (2025). The effect of gelatinisation and enzymatic hydrolysis methods on the starch, sugar and physicochemical profiles of faba bean milk.. Int J Biol Macromol, 304(Pt 2), 140898.
DOI Scopus2 WoS2
2025 Herliana, L., Cowley, J. M., O'Donovan, L. A., Bianco-Miotto, T., & Burton, R. A. (2025). Morphological and developmental analysis of Plantago spp. seed capsules reveal key features of the dehiscence zones. Annals of Botany, 135(1), 1425-1439.
DOI Scopus1 WoS1 Europe PMC1
2025 LoPresti, E. F., Cowley, J. M., Gorb, S. N., & Kreitschitz, A. (2025). How to Test for Seed Mucilage to Examine an Age-Old Question: A Response to Ladwig and Lucas (2024). Plant Environment Interactions, 6(3), 9 pages.
DOI
2025 Strkalj, L., Yakubov, G. E., Burton, R. A., & Cowley, J. M. (2025). Structural and Functional Properties of Fiber From Psyllium (Plantago ovata) Husk: Current Knowledge and Strategies to Expand Its Application in Food and Beyond. Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, 24(5), e70297-1-e70297-27.
DOI Scopus1 WoS1 Europe PMC1
2025 Štrkalj, L., Burton, R. A., Yakubov, G. E., & Cowley, J. M. (2025). Contrasting impacts of Plantago ovata fibre fractions on corn starch structure and digestibility. Food Function, 16(22), 8890-8910.
DOI
2024 Doan, T. N. A., Cowley, J. M., Phillips, A. L., Briffa, J. F., Leemaqz, S. Y., Burton, R. A., . . . Bianco-Miotto, T. (2024). Imprinted gene alterations in the kidneys of growth restricted offspring may be mediated by a long non-coding RNA. Epigenetics, 19(1), 2294516-1-2294516-12.
DOI Scopus2 WoS2 Europe PMC1
2023 Ang, M. E., Cowley, J. M., Yap, K., Hahn, M. G., Mikkelsen, D., Tucker, M. R., . . . Burton, R. A. (2023). Novel constituents of Salvia hispanica L. (chia) nutlet mucilage and the improved in vitro fermentation of nutlets when ground. Food and Function, 14(3), 1401-1414.
DOI Scopus7 WoS7 Europe PMC4
2023 Herliana, L., Schwerdt, J. G., Neumann, T. R., Severn-Ellis, A., Phan, J. L., Cowley, J. M., . . . Burton, R. A. (2023). A chromosome-level genome assembly of Plantago ovata. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 1528-1-1528-14.
DOI Scopus9 WoS8 Europe PMC8
2023 Cowley, J. M., Phillips, A. L., Khor, S. F., Neumann, T., Lim, W. L., & Burton, R. A. (2023). Carbohydrates in Kangaroo grass (Themeda triandra Forssk.) grain and perspectives on its food potential. Journal of Cereal Science, 111, 103670-1-103670-5.
DOI Scopus4 WoS4
2022 Cowley, J. M., McNeil, D. L., Lui, K. Y., Barsby, J. P., Ciani, S., Cerne, V., & Burton, R. A. (2022). Rain events at maturity severely impact the seed quality of psyllium (Plantago ovata Forssk). Journal of Agronomy and Crop Science, 208(4), 567-581.
DOI Scopus7 WoS6
2022 Gill, A. R., Loveys, B. R., Cowley, J. M., Hall, T., Cavagnaro, T. R., & Burton, R. A. (2022). Physiological and morphological responses of industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) to water deficit. Industrial Crops and Products, 187(Part A), 115331-1-115331-11.
DOI Scopus46 WoS36
2022 Burton, R. A., Andres, M., Cole, M., Cowley, J. M., & Augustin, M. A. (2022). Industrial hemp seed: from the field to value-added food ingredients.. Journal of Cannabis Research, 4(1), 45-1-45-13.
DOI Scopus107 WoS93 Europe PMC44
2021 Cowley, J. M., & Burton, R. A. (2021). The goo-d stuff: plantago as a myxospermous model with modern utility. New Phytologist, 229(4), 1917-1923.
DOI Scopus21 WoS20 Europe PMC12
2021 Cowley, J. M., O’Donovan, L. A., & Burton, R. A. (2021). The composition of Australian Plantago seeds highlights their potential as nutritionally-rich functional food ingredients. Scientific Reports, 11(1), 12692-1-12692-16.
DOI Scopus25 WoS27 Europe PMC14
2021 Barsby, J. P., Cowley, J. M., Leemaqz, S. Y., Grieger, J. A., McKeating, D. R., Perkins, A. V., . . . Bianco-Miotto, T. (2021). Nutritional properties of selected superfood extracts and their potential health benefits. PeerJ, 9, e12525-1-e12525-20.
DOI Scopus18 WoS14 Europe PMC9
2020 Cowley, J. M., Herliana, L., Neumann, K., Silvano, C., Cerne, V., & Burton, R. (2020). A small-scale extraction pipeline for rapid analysis of seed mucilage characteristics. Plant Methods, 16(10), 1-12.
DOI Scopus15 WoS19 Europe PMC11
2020 Phan, J., Cowley, J., Neumann, K., Herliana, L., O'Donovan, L., & Burton, R. (2020). The novel features of Plantago ovata seed mucilage accumulation, storage and release. Scientific Reports, 10(1), 11766-1-11766-14.
DOI Scopus29 WoS28 Europe PMC16
2020 Cowley, J. M., Herliana, L., Betts, N. S., & Burton, R. A. (2020). Cellular debris, not mucilage polysaccharides, dominate extracts of Plantago ovata and Plantago lanceolata calli grown in vitro.
DOI

Year Citation
2024 Strkalj, L., Cowley, J. M., Yakubov, G. E., & Burton, R. A. (2024). Dietary fibre from seeds of Australia native Plantago species as modulators of quality and glycaemic response in starch gels. In Proceedings of the Nutrition Society Vol. 83 (pp. E161-1). Massey University, Albany, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland: Cambridge University Press.
DOI
2023 Herliana, L., Cowley, J. M., & Burton, R. A. (2023). Screening Putative Gamma-Irradiated Plantago ovata (Psyllium) Mutants for Higher Mucilage Yields. In AIP Conference Proceedings Vol. 2972 (pp. 020012). Online: AIP Publishing.
DOI Scopus1

Year Citation
2023 Habibi, N., Bianco-Miotto, T., Herde, C., Burton, R. A., & Cowley, J. M. (2023). The effect of Australian Plantago whole seed flour on cardiometabolic health. Poster session presented at the meeting of PROCEEDINGS OF THE NUTRITION SOCIETY. CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS.
DOI

Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
2025 Principal Supervisor Investigating the potential of duckweed biomass as a novel food ingredient and prospects for high-value utilization Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Anxing Zhang
2025 Principal Supervisor Investigating the potential of duckweed biomass as a novel food ingredient and prospects for high-value utilization Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Anxing Zhang
2024 Co-Supervisor Developing a semi-model food system to explain the development of flavour in complex plant-based meat analogues Doctor of Philosophy under a Jointly-awarded Degree Agreement with Doctorate Full Time Mr Adam John Douch
2024 Co-Supervisor Processing duckweed into an ingredient for use in novel foods and beverages Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Chigozie Emmanuel Ofoedu
2024 Co-Supervisor Developing a semi-model food system to explain the development of flavour in complex plant-based meat analogues Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Adam John Douch
2024 Co-Supervisor Processing duckweed into an ingredient for use in novel foods and beverages Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Chigozie Emmanuel Ofoedu
2023 Principal Supervisor Extraction and Characterisation of Pectin from Faba Bean Hulls and its Food Applications Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Miss Matilda Rose Cormack
2023 Principal Supervisor Extraction and Characterisation of Pectin from Faba Bean Hulls and its Food Applications Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Miss Matilda Rose Cormack
2022 Co-Supervisor Nutri-priming; A study on its effects on hemp physiology, epigenetic memory, and stress tolerance development. Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Zane Marks
2022 Co-Supervisor Nutri-priming; A study on its effects on hemp physiology, epigenetic memory, and stress tolerance development. Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Zane Marks

Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
2022 - 2025 Principal Supervisor Fabricating functionally superior starch-based products with fractionated Plantago seed mucilage Doctor of Philosophy under a Jointly-awarded Degree Agreement with Doctorate Full Time Ms Lucija Strkalj
2022 - 2024 Co-Supervisor Superfood or Superficial: Investigating Health Benefits of Novel Plant Extracts and the Accuracy of Superfood Health Claims Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Jacqueline Paige Barsby

Date Role Research Topic Location Program Supervision Type Student Load Student Name
2022 - 2022 Co-Supervisor Characterisation of Salvia verbenaca growth and seed mucilage under water deficit The University of Adelaide - Honours Full Time Nicole Crowhurst
2021 - 2022 Principal Supervisor Investigating the medicinal crop potential of Australian native Plantago The University of Adelaide - Honours Part Time Jared Vandersluys
2021 - 2021 Principal Supervisor The role of oxidative stress in seed priming to improve germination and vigour The University of Adelaide - Honours Full Time Zane Marks

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