APrf Bettina Berger
Grant-Funded Research Associate Professor
School of Agriculture, Food and Wine
College of Sciences
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.
| 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 | 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 |
| 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 |
| Year | Citation |
|---|---|
| 2019 | Liu, H., Bruning, B., Berger, B., & Garnett, T. (2019). Green plant segmentation in hyperspectral images using SVM and hyper-hue. Poster session presented at the meeting of Proceedings: 7th International Workshop on Image Analysis Methods for the Plant Sciences (IAMPS 2019). Lyon, France. |
| 2016 | Konate, M., Wilkinson, M. J., Scott, E., Mayne, B., Berger, B., & Rodriguez Lopez, C. M. (2016). Tissue specificity of salinity stress induced DNA methylation markers in barley (Hordeum vulgare). Poster session presented at the meeting of ComBio 2016. Brisbane. |
| Year | Citation |
|---|---|
| - | Borjigin, C., Schilling, R., Jewell, N., Brien, C., Sanchez, J. C., Eckermann, P., . . . Roy, S. (n.d.). Identifying the genetic control of salinity tolerance in the bread wheat landrace Mocho de Espiga Branca - data. DOI |
| - | Schwerdt, J., Berger, B., & Sainsbury, G. (n.d.). OzBarley_test. DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). OzBarley: raw images from controlled environment growth experiment of OzBarley elite panel. DOI |
| - | Berger, B., Jewell, N., Brien, C., Power, S., Woodin, S., Pendall, E., & Ball, K. (n.d.). Supplementary data - High-throughput, image-based phenotyping reveals nutrient-dependent growth facilitation in a grass – legume mixture - PLoS One. DOI |
| - | Liu, H., Berger, B., Garnett, T., & Bruning, B. (n.d.). public data for wheat_n experiment. DOI |
| - | Gill, A., Loveys, B., Brien, C., Jewell, N., Berger, B., Cavagnaro, T., & Burton, R. (n.d.). Data for phenotyping of industrial hemp (<i>Cannabis sativa</i> L.) experiments. DOI |
| - | Berger, B., Tucker, M., Baumann, U., Kalashyan, E., Schwerdt, J., Chalmers, K., . . . Shaw, P. D. (n.d.). OzBarley: genotypic and expression data of the OzBarley elite panel. DOI |
| - | Berger, B., Tucker, M., Baumann, U., Kalashyan, E., Schwerdt, J., Chalmers, K., . . . Shaw, P. D. (n.d.). OzBarley: phenotypic data of OzBarley elite panel collected in greenhouse trials at Australian Plant Phenomics Network, University of Adelaide. DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: UA (Berger) - Various (Student). DOI |
| - | Berger, B., & Wilkinson, M. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: UA AFW (Konate, Wilkinson) - Barley. DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: Ecovortek (Berger) - Various. DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: EPPN (Berger) - Canola. DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: EPPN (Berger) - Maize (1). DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: EPPN (Berger) - Maize (2). DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: TU Muenchen (Kipp, Berger) - Wheat. DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: UA ACPFG (Berger) - Chickpea (Wheat). DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: UA AFW (Konate, Wilkinson) - Barley. DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: UA (Hansen) - Wheat. DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: UA TPA (Berger, Burton) - Barley. DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: UA TPA (Berger) - Fake (EPPN N). DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: UA TPA (Berger) - Fake (EPPN S). DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: UA TPA (Berger) - Maize (leaf rolling). DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: UA TPA (Berger) - Quinoa (trial 2). DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: UA TPA (Berger) - Rice. DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: UA TPA (Berger) - Rice. DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: UA TPA (Berger) - Tomato. DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: UA TPA (Berger, UGradPrj) - Tomato. DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: UA TPA (Berger, VanDenHengel) - Wheat (3D). DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: UA TPA (Berger) - Various (camera calibration). DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: UA TPA (Berger) - Various (evap 2014). DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: UA TPA (Berger) - Various (leaf tracking). DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: UA TPA (Berger) - Various (shadow 2014). DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: UA TPA (Berger) - Wheat. DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: UA TPA (Berger) - Wheat (2010 salt). DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: UA TPA (Berger) - Wheat (root 2013). DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: UA TPA (Berger) - Wheat (UniformityTrial). DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: UA TPA (Bruning) - Wheat. DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: UA TPA (MacAlpine, Berger) - Lantana. DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: UA TPA (MacAlpine, Berger) - Various. DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: UA TPA (Mischis, Berger) - Various. DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: UA TPA (Mischis, Berger) - Various (N July). DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: UA TPA (Mischis, Berger) - Various (N June). DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: UA TPA (Mischis, Berger) - Various (S July). DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: UA TPA (Mischis, Berger) - Various (S June). DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: UA TPA (Mischis, KAUST) - Quinoa (pilot). DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: UA TPA (Tanner) - Chickpea. DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: UA TPA (Tanner) - Chickpea. DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: UA TPA (Tester, Berger) - Wheat. DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: UCopenhagen (Jall) - Maize. DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: Uni Sask (Beattie, Murrell) - Barley. DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: Uni Sask (Taran) - Chickpea. DOI |
| - | Berger, B. (n.d.). APPF TPA phenotyping dataset: UniSA (Seiffert, Berger) - Various. DOI |
| Year | Citation |
|---|---|
| 2020 | Konate, M., Wilkinson, M., Taylor, J., Scott, E., Berger, B., & Rodriguez Lopez, C. M. (2020). Greenhouse spatial effects detected in the barley (<i>Hordeum vulgare</i>L.) epigenome underlie stochasticity of DNA methylation. DOI |
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 |
| Date | Role | Research Topic | Program | Degree Type | Student Load | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Principal Supervisor | Novel Field-based Phenotyping Methods for Trait Evaluation | Doctor of Philosophy | Doctorate | Full Time | Mr Qiwei Shen |
| 2025 | Principal Supervisor | Novel Field-based Phenotyping Methods for Trait Evaluation | Doctor of Philosophy | Doctorate | Full Time | Mr Qiwei Shen |
| 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 |
| 2023 | Principal Supervisor | Exploiting new breakthroughs in the regulation of root growth angle to engineer climate resilient Australian barley | Doctor of Philosophy | Doctorate | Full Time | Mr Maxwell Asiedu |
| 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 |
| Date | Role | Board name | Institution name | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 - ongoing | Member | International Advisory Board | Netherland Plant Eco-phenotyping Centre | Netherlands |
| Date | Role | Committee | Institution | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 - ongoing | Member | Scientific Advisory Committee | South Australian Genomics Centre | Australia |
| 2021 - ongoing | Member | Scientific Advisory Committee | ARC Centre of Excellence for Plant Success in Nature and Agriculture | Australia |
| Date | Office Name | Institution | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 - ongoing | Chair - Expert Working Group - Wheat Phenotyping to Support Wheat Improvement | Wheat Initative | - |