Bettina Berger

Associate Professor Bettina Berger

Grant-Funded Researcher (D)

School of Agriculture, Food and Wine

Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology

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


After a Masters degree in biotechnology and a PhD in plant molecular biology, I used a two-year fellowship to focus on the emerging field of plant phenomics. I joined the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics in 2008, where I used non-destructive imaging to study the effects of salinity on barley.

In 2010, I joined the newly established Plant Accelerator as Senior Scientist and became Scientific Director in 2015. The Plant Accelerator is one of the nodes of the Australian Plant Phenomics Facility (APPF) funded under the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) and provides critical infrastructure and services to the plant science community. In my roles, I have set up novel screening techniques to study plant growth and performance using automated, non-destructive imaging. I have engaged with researchers at all stages of their career, from the public sector and industry. The Plant Accelerator is accessed by researchers from Australian and overseas, including users from Europe, North America and Saudi Arabia. I enjoy the opportunity of hosting visiting students and scientists and train them in modern phenotyping approaches. I have managed large scale phenotyping projects looking at various aspects of plant performance, including early vigour, salinity tolerance and nutrient use efficiency.

While my basic research has focused on salinity tolerance, I am equally passionate about developing novel phenotyping approaches to support plant scientists in answering their research questions. Working together with customers and learning from each other to achieve the best possible outcome for their research project has been my biggest motivation.

  • Appointments

    Date Position Institution name
    2015 - ongoing Scientific Director The University of Adelaide
    2010 - 2015 Senior Scientist The University of Adelaide
    2008 - 2010 Feodor-Lynen Research Fellow ACPFG, University of Adelaide
    2007 - 2008 Research Assistant University of Cologne
  • Language Competencies

    Language Competency
    English Can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review
    French Can read, write, speak and understand spoken
    German Can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review
  • Education

    Date Institution name Country Title
    2003 - 2007 International Max-Planck Research School, Cologne Germany PhD in Plant Science
    2000 - 2003 Ecole Superieure de Biotechnology, Strasbourg France Master in Biotechnology
    1998 - 2000 Eberhardt-Karls University, Tuebingen Germany Undergraduate Diploma in Biology
  • Research Interests

Recent grants and funding:

Dates Role Grant
2020-2022 Lead CI Australian Research Data Commons - OzBarley, from genome to phenome and back
2018-2023 CI National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) – Australian Plant Phenomics Facility
2013-2019 CI National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) – Australian Plant Phenomics Facility
2019-2023 CI SA Department for Industry and Skills – The Plant Accelerator
2020-2023 Lead CI

GRDC – Improved late maturity alpha-amylase screening

2020-2023 CI AgriFutures - New technologies for oaten hay phenotyping
2020-2022 CI GRDC – Machine learning to extract maximum value from soil and crop variability
2019-2021 CI GRDC plus co-contributions – Accelerating wheat genetic gain by establishing a high-throughput spike phenotyping platform
2018-2019 CI Australian Research Data Commons – Agricultural Research Data Cloud
2013-2016 CI GRDC – Development of salinity tolerant wheat and barley

 

  • Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2023 Principal Supervisor Exploiting new breakthroughs in the regulation of root growth angle to engineer climate resilient Australian barley Doctor of Philosophy under a Jointly-awarded Degree Agreement with Doctorate Full Time Mr Maxwell Asiedu
  • Past Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2019 - 2023 Principal Supervisor Development of Sensor-based Phenotyping Methods for Ascochyta Blight Resistance Breeding of Chickpea Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Florian Carl-August Tanner
    2016 - 2020 Principal Supervisor The Measurement of Nutrient Levels and Yield Constraints in Wheat (Triticum aestivum) Using Hyperspectral Sensing Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mrs Brooke Bruning
    2015 - 2019 Co-Supervisor Quantifying Nitrogen Use Efficiency in Wheat Using High-Precision Phenotyping Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Nicholas John Sitlington Hansen
    2013 - 2017 Principal Supervisor Assessment of Stress-induced and Developmentally-induced DNA Methylation Changes in Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Moumouni Konate
    2012 - 2014 Co-Supervisor Salinity detection and control of sodium transport in Arabidopsis thaliana Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Sandra Manuela Schmoeckel
    2010 - 2014 Co-Supervisor Modifying sodium transport to improve salinity tolerance of commercial rice cultivars (Oryza sativa L.) Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr . Aris Hairmansis
  • Position: Grant-Funded Researcher (D)
  • Phone: 83130825
  • Email: bettina.berger@adelaide.edu.au
  • Fax: 83130828
  • Campus: Waite
  • Building: The Plant Accelerator, floor 1
  • Org Unit: Agricultural Science

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