Scott Boden

Dr Scott Boden

ARC Externally-Funded Research Fellow (C)

School of Agriculture, Food and Wine

Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology

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


Scott is an ARC Future Fellow, who is investigating the genetic regulation of inflorescence architecture, flowering-time and grain quality in wheat, with the aim to improve the yield and nutrition of grain.

Scott also leads projects investigating the genes that control thermal responsiveness and floret fertility in wheat, and allelic variation controlling flowering-time in oats. Scott supervises students investigating floral architecture traits in wheat, with the aim to improve hybrid seed production, and he leads an ARC Discovery Project that is developing an approach for enhancing the introgression of genetic variation from wild barley into breeding programs.

Scott is an Honours Co-ordinator for the School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, and he is available to supervise Bachelor of Science (Honours) research projects in Plant Science and Agriculture.

Possible projects for 2024 include:
1) Investigation of genes that control daylength-dependent flowering of oats.
2) Spatial and temporal expression analysis of genes that control spikelet development in wheat.
3) Characterisation of genetic variation that influences grain protein content in wheat.

The Boden group investigates genes and molecular processes that control inflorescence architecture and flowering time in wheat, barley and oats. The goal of our research is to understand the fundamental mechanisms that regulate key yield components of reproductive development in cereals, which can then be applied in breeding programs to improve grain production and quality.

Our research includes investigation of genes that determine the number and arrangement of spikelets that form on an inflorescence, which are specialised reproductive branches that form grain-producing florets. To investigate this trait, we study the development of ‘paired spikelets’, which are supernumerary spikelets characterised by the formation of two spikelets rather than the typical single spikelet. Research investigating this trait has shown that transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of the photoperiod-dependent flowering pathway regulates spikelet architecture, with a weak-flowering signal during early developmental stages leading to the production of additional spikelets.

Our research includes analysis of the developmental regulation of floral architecture, particularly the control of stigma and carpel development in wheat and how this can be enhanced to benefit hybrid seed production.

We are also interested in the seasonal regulation of flowering-time, and how a plant interacts with its environment to determine when and how many fertile florets form. We are combining laboratory and field-based experiments to understand how genes respond to the seasonal progression of daylength and temperature to influence flowering-time. This work is being extended into oats to understand the major genetic regulators of phenology-related traits in this important cereal.

Scott is based at the Waite Research Institute at the University of Adelaide, and works with colleagues at the John Innes Centre in Norwich, UK, where he was previously a Group Leader and Royal Society Research Fellow. Scott’s collaborations with colleagues at JIC and the Designing Future Wheat research program in the UK aim to generate a wheat ideotype with improved yield potential that will be resilient to changes in the climate. Scott also collaborates with the international wheat research community through his aligned project with the International Wheat Yield Partnership, and he interacts with commercial breeding programs such as KWS and AGT.

  • Appointments

    Date Position Institution name
    2022 - ongoing ARC Future Fellow University of Adelaide
    2020 - 2021 Independent Research Fellow University of Adelaide
    2016 - 2020 Royal Society University Research Fellow John Innes Centre
    2015 - 2020 Group Leader John Innes Centre
    2011 - 2014 OCE Post-doctoral Research Fellow Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
    2009 - 2011 Marie Curie International Incoming Fellow John Innes Centre
    2008 - 2009 Post-doctoral Scientist John Innes Centre
  • Language Competencies

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

    Date Institution name Country Title
    2005 - 2008 University of Adelaide Australia PhD
    2004 - 2004 University of Adelaide Australia Bachelor of Science (Honours)
    2001 - 2003 University of Adelaide Australia Bachelor of Science

GRDC (2022-2027) - Increasing cereal yield potential through reduced floret abortion.

ARC Future Fellowship (2022-2026) - Deciphering the genetic regulation of inflorescence development in wheat.

ARC Discovery Project (2021-2025) - Harnessing genetic diversity for complex traits.

GRDC (2020-2023) - Optimise oat phenology for Australian oat production environments.

SAGIT (2020-2023) - Enhancing grain production and quality traits for bread wheat.

BBSRC Responsive Mode (2020-2023) - Regulation of wheat inflorescence architecture by a cation amino acid transporter.

Royal Society Research Grant (2018-2020) - Genetic regulation of spikelet architecture in bread wheat

Royal Society Resaerch Grant (2017-2018) - Investigating genetic diversity regulating spikelet development in bread wheat.

Royal Society University Research Fellowship (2016-2020) - Genetic regulation of inflorescence architecture in wheat.

International Wheat Yield Partnership (2016-2019) - A genetic diversity toolkit to maximise harvest index by controlling the duration of developmental phases.

Marie Curie IIF (2009-2011) - TemPiC: Temperature perception in crop plants.

 

Honours coordinator, School of Agriculture, Food and Wine: 2023 - current.

Lecturer, Genetics 3212, University of Adelaide: 2021 - current.

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

    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2024 Principal Supervisor Deciphering the genetic regulation of inflorescence development in bread wheat Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Mawra Arif
    2023 Principal Supervisor Transcriptome analysis to unravel mechanisms underlining the heat stress response during barley reproductive stage Doctor of Philosophy under a Jointly-awarded Degree Agreement with Doctorate Full Time Mr Shiyu Sun
    2022 Principal Supervisor Investigating the genetic control of inflorescence development in wheat Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Guilherme Pedro Ventura Yoshicawa Simoes Silva
    2020 Principal Supervisor Understanding the physiological and molecular regulation of protein content variation in wheat grain Doctor of Philosophy under a Jointly-awarded Degree Agreement with Doctorate Full Time Mr Luqman Bin Safdar
  • Other Supervision Activities

    Date Role Research Topic Location Program Supervision Type Student Load Student Name
    2019 - ongoing Principal Supervisor Genetic control of stigma development and survival in bread wheat University of East Anglia/John Innes Centre - Doctorate Full Time Marina Millan-Blanquez
    2018 - 2019 Principal Supervisor Genetic regualtion of spikelet and floret development in wheat University of East Anglia/John Innes Centre - Master Full Time Agamemnon Soutas
    2018 - ongoing Co-Supervisor Improving yield components in Triticum aestivum at contrasting environment with novel QTL/genes for cell division and expansion. University of East Anglia/John Innes Centre - Doctorate - Aura Montemayor Lara
    2016 - ongoing Principal Supervisor Flowering time regulation in bread wheat University of East Anglia/John Innes Centre - Doctorate - Adam Gauley
    2015 - 2019 Co-Supervisor Balancing the genetics of source to sink to increase of bread wheat productivity University of East Anglia/John Innes Centre - Doctorate - Elizabeth Chapman
    2015 - 2016 Principal Supervisor Genetic diversity for floret development in wheat University of East Anglia/John Innes Centre - Master Full Time Abdul Kamara
  • Committee Memberships

    Date Role Committee Institution Country
    2022 - ongoing Member Institutional Biosecurity Committee University of Adelaide Australia
    2017 - 2020 Member Designing Future Wheat ISP John Innes Centre United Kingdom
    2015 - 2020 Member Monogram UK Monogram UK United Kingdom
  • Memberships

    Date Role Membership Country
    2018 - ongoing Member International Wheat Yield Partnership United States
  • Editorial Boards

    Date Role Editorial Board Name Institution Country
    2019 - ongoing Editor Agronomy Journal University of Adelaide Australia
    2016 - ongoing Consulting Editor Frontiers in Plant Science University of Adelaide Australia
  • Position: ARC Externally-Funded Research Fellow (C)
  • Phone: 83131551
  • Email: scott.boden@adelaide.edu.au
  • Campus: Waite
  • Building: Plant Genomics Centre, floor 1
  • Org Unit: Agricultural Science

Connect With Me
External Profiles