Dr James Cowley
Internal Grant-Funded Researcher (B)
School of Agriculture, Food and Wine
Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology
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.
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 and
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.
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Awards and Achievements
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 - - - -
Education
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 -
Research Interests
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Journals
Year Citation 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, 15 pages.
Scopus12025 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 & cell physiology, 66(1), 101-119.
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. International Journal of Biological Macromolecules, 304(Pt 2), 140898.
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.
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.
Scopus6 WoS1 Europe PMC22023 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.
Scopus5 WoS1 Europe PMC42023 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.
Scopus22022 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.
Scopus4 WoS12022 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(A), 1-11.
Scopus262022 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.. J Cannabis Res, 4(1), 1-13.
Scopus65 WoS17 Europe PMC212022 Mahmoud, H., Wu, W., & Gaber, M. M. (2022). A Time-Series Self-Supervised Learning Approach to Detection of Cyber-physical Attacks in Water Distribution Systems. ENERGIES, 15(3), 18 pages.
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.
Scopus15 WoS8 Europe PMC42021 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.
Scopus15 WoS9 Europe PMC62021 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.
Scopus15 WoS7 Europe PMC32020 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.
Scopus12 WoS10 Europe PMC52020 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.
Scopus19 WoS10 Europe PMC52020 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.
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Conference Papers
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.
DOI2023 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 -
Conference Items
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.
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Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)
Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name 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 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 Principal Supervisor Biotransformation of Functional Polysaccharides Doctor of Philosophy under a Jointly-awarded Degree Agreement with Doctorate Full Time Ms Lucija Strkalj 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 -
Past Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)
Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name 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 -
Other Supervision Activities
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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