Zheng Gong

School of Agriculture, Food and Wine

Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology


Zheng or known as Tommy is a postdoctoral researcher in Prof. Jenny Mortimer's lab and is a part of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plants For Space. Tommy's research interests are in developing the synthetic biology and biotechnological potential of plants (model plants and duckweeds) through genome engineering. In particular, Tommy has a strong interest in genome editing and viral-based delivery vectors.

Developing synthetic biology and biotechnology in plants.

  • Using developmental regulators to improve duckweed transformation
  • Developing viral vectors for transient expression of recombinant genes in plants.
  • Developing more effective genome editing and expanding the toolkit in plants.
  • Appointments

    Date Position Institution name
    2024 - 2027 Grant-Funded Researcher University of Adelaide
    2021 - 2024 Casual Academic Staff University of Queensland
  • Language Competencies

    Language Competency
    Chinese (Mandarin) Can read, speak and understand spoken
    English Can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review
  • Education

    Date Institution name Country Title
    2021 - 2025 University of Queensland Australia PhD
    2017 - 2020 University of Queensland Australia Bachelor of Advanced Science (Hons)
  • Research Interests

  • Journals

    Year Citation
    2024 Gong, Z., Previtera, D. A., Wang, Y., & Botella, J. R. (2024). Geminiviral-induced genome editing using miniature CRISPR/Cas12j (CasĪ¦) and Cas12f variants in plants. Plant Cell Reports, 43(3), 5 pages.
    DOI Scopus6 Europe PMC5
    2021 Gong, Z., Cheng, M., & Botella, J. R. (2021). Non-GM Genome Editing Approaches in Crops. FRONTIERS IN GENOME EDITING, 3, 11 pages.
    DOI Europe PMC13

Grants4Ag (2023)


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