Amanda Choo

Amanda Choo

School of Biological Sciences

Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology


Dr Amanda Choo is a Visiting Fellow in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Adelaide. Her previous postdoctoral research focussed on developing genetic strains for the use of agricultural and biosecurity pest control. She was the first in her research field to establish the CRISPR/Cas genome editing technology in tephritid fruit flies, with her work being amongst the top cited articles in the Journal of Applied Entomology in 2018-2019 (Choo et al., 2018). Dr Choo has been awarded the Dean’s Commendation for Doctoral Thesis Excellence (2015), University of Adelaide School of Biological Sciences Postgraduate all round Achievement Award (2015), Insect Genetic Technologies Research Coordination Network (IGTRCN) Peer-to-Peer Training Fellowship (2016), SARDI Publication of the Year Award (2020), Australian Federation of University Women Postdoctoral Grant Award (2021), Edith Dornwell Medal for Early Career Research Excellence (2021) and an ARC Discovery Early Career Research Award DE23. Dr Choo was a member of the national SITPlus Technical Advisory Committee and have strong collaborations with various tephritid fruit fly research groups, both nationally and internationally.

Dr Choo has since moved into the rare disease sector. Whilst Dr Choo is still collaborating and consulting on insect genetics research in her own time, she does not currently have any active research projects available for students.

  • Appointments

    Date Position Institution name
    2024 - ongoing Visiting Fellow University of Adelaide
    2020 - ongoing Grant-funded Researcher University of Adelaide
    2015 - 2019 Research Associate University of Adelaide
    2010 - 2010 Research Assistant University of Adelaide
    2009 - 2009 Research Assistant (Lysosomal Diseases Research Unit) SA Pathology
  • Education

    Date Institution name Country Title
    2011 - 2015 University of Adelaide Australia PhD
    2008 - 2008 University of Adelaide Australia B.Sc. (Hons) (Genetics)
    2005 - 2007 University of Adelaide Australia B.Sc. (Mol. Biol.)
  • Research Interests

Horticultural Innovation Australia FF18002: Breeding a male-only strain of Queensland fruit fly (Partner Investigator, 2019-2022, $1,711,500) 

 Hermon Slade Foundation: Developing novel, cost efficient methods for controlling the invasive horticultural pest, Bactrocera tryoni (Queensland Fruit Fly) (Co-investigator, 2018-2020, $53, 272) 

 

Named project personnel on the following grants:

 Horticultural Innovation Australia FF17000: Sex selection genes from fruit fly species for use in SITplus (Project Personnel, 2018-2022, $4, 699,143)

 

  • Other Supervision Activities

    Date Role Research Topic Location Program Supervision Type Student Load Student Name
    2020 - ongoing Co-Supervisor Developing Bactrocera tryoni sexing strains using Sterile Insect Technique for pest control Macquarie University PhD Doctorate Full Time Ngoc Mai Han Nguyen
    2018 - ongoing Co-Supervisor Manipulating key developmental and regulatory pathways in the Queensland fruit fly to develop improved strategies for pest control University of Adelaide, University of Melbourne PhD Doctorate Full Time Zoey Nguyen
    2017 - 2017 Co-Supervisor Development of embryonic lethal temperature sensitive mutations for controlling the fruit fly Bactrocera tryoni using the Sterile Insect Technique University of Adelaide Master of Biotechnology (Biomedical Science) Master Full Time Zoey Nguyen
  • Memberships

    Date Role Membership Country
    2015 - ongoing Advisory Board Member SITPlus Technical Advisory Committee Australia
    2012 - 2013 Member Open Day Committee, School of Molecular and Biomedical Science, University of Adelaide Australia
    2012 - 2012 Representative School Research Symposium Committee, School of Molecular and Biomedical Science, University of Adelaide Australia

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