Tatiana Soares da Costa

Dr Tatiana Soares da Costa

Group Leader and ARC Future Fellow

School of Agriculture, Food and Wine

Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology

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


Dr Tatiana Soares da Costa is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow and the Head of the Herbicide and Antimicrobial Innovation Laboratory at The University of Adelaide's Waite campus.

Dr Soares da Costa leads a research team dedicated to developing innovative strategies to mitigate the rise in herbicide and antimicrobial resistance that threatens the global agricultural and health industries. Dr Soares da Costa's team have applied their expertise in protein biochemistry, plant biology, chemistry and microbiology to make several breakthrough discoveries:

Dr Soares da Costa has published >50 journal articles and has been awarded >$4M in competitive funding as sole or lead chief investigator, including an NHMRC Peter Doherty Biomedical Fellowship (2015-2019), an ARC DECRA (2019-2022) and an ARC Future Fellowship (2024-2028). Her research has been recognised by >35 awards, including being named a 2023–24 Superstar of STEM (Science & Technology Australia), the 2023 Peter Goldacre Medallist (Australian Society of Plant Scientists) and the 2022 SA Young Tall Poppy of the Year (Australian Institute of Policy and Science). Dr Soares da Costa is passionate about science communication and promoting scientific research to the media, policymakers and the general community. She regularly gives radio interviews, writes newspaper/magazine articles, participates in community festivals and outreach at schools, and contributes to activities during University Open Days and National Science Week. 

For more information on Dr Tatiana Soares da Costa's research, have a look at her laboratory webpage Herbicide and Antimicrobial Innovation Laboratory | School of Agriculture, Food & Wine | University of Adelaide, and profiles on LinkedIn and Research Gate. You can follow Tatiana on X/Twitter @Tatiana_Biochem. To get in contact with her, please e-mail tatiana.soaresdacosta@adelaide.edu.au.

Dr Tatiana Soares da Costa is recruiting Honours, Masters and PhD students to work on various projects spanning biochemistry, chemistry, microbiology, molecular biology and plant biology. Please contact Tatiana directly with an expression of interest (tatiana.soaresdacosta@adelaide.edu.au). 

Members of the Soares da Costa research group (from left to right). Eloise Hart (Honours student), Ryan McClean (PhD student), Dr Emily Mackie (postdoctoral researcher), Dr Andrew Barrow (postdoctoral researcher), Sreshtha Malik (PhD student), Mirrin McKay (PhD student) and Dr Tatiana Soares da Costa (Laboratory Head).

 

  • Appointments

    Date Position Institution name
    2024 - ongoing Group Leader and ARC Future Fellow University of Adelaide
    2022 - 2024 Group Leader and Future Making Fellow University of Adelaide
    2019 - 2022 Group Leader and ARC DECRA Fellow La Trobe University
    2015 - 2019 NHMRC Early Career Peter Doherty Fellow La Trobe University
    2013 - 2015 Teaching Only Lecturer Charles Sturt University
  • Language Competencies

    Language Competency
    Portuguese Can read, write, speak and understand spoken
  • Education

    Date Institution name Country Title
    The University of Adelaide Australia PhD
    University of Canterbury New Zealand Master of Science (First Class Honours)
    University of Canterbury New Zealand Bachelor of Science
Year Funding Role Amount
2025–2028 ARC Discovery Project (DP250102939): Learning lessons from drug resistance to tackle herbicide resistance Lead CI $666,653
2024–2028 ARC Future Fellowship (FT230100203): Striving for the path of least herbicide resistance Sole CI $830,380
2022–2025 ARC Discovery Project (DP220101901): Re-purposing shelved ‘antibiotics’ in the search for new herbicides Lead CI $446,368
2022–2025 Hermon Slade Foundation: Towards novel diagnostic tools to monitor and combat herbicide resistance Lead CI $77,842
2022–2024 South Australian Potato Industry Trust FundNew herbicides for effective weed control in potato cropping systems Sole CI $85,477
2022–2024 Australian Academy of Science Thomas Davies Research Grant for Marine, Soil and Plant Biology: Using supercomputers in the search for herbicides that inhibit amino acid production in plants Sole CI $19,960
2022–2023 Yitpi Foundation GrantHerbicides with new active ingredients for effective wheat protection Sole CI $14,500
2019–2022 ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DE190100806): Towards herbicide cocktails with a new mode of action to avert resistance Sole CI $419,854
2019–2022 Australian Academy of Science JG Russell Award (to support the ARC DECRA) Sole CI $6,000
2020–2022 Defence Science Institute Research Higher Degree Stipend (to fund an HDR student): Combating the resistance crisis: Towards new antibiotic and herbicide targets Sole CI $15,000
2020–2022 Defence Science Institute Research Higher Degree Scholarship (to fund an HDR student): Fighting superbugs with novel drugs to tackle resistance Sole CI $15,000
2019–2022 Grains Research and Development Corporation Research Higher Degree Scholarship (to fund an HDR student): Development of herbicide cocktails with a novel mode of action for circumventing resistance mechanisms   $107,091
2015–2019 NHMRC Early Career Fellowship: Broad spectrum inhibition of an enzyme antibiotic target Sole CI $309,436

2022–2024: Honours Coordinator, School of Agriculture, Food and Wine

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

    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2024 Co-Supervisor Preclinical evaluation of new derivatives of the anticoccidial drug robenidine as novel antibacterial agents Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mrs Sayara Bista
    2024 Co-Supervisor Identify and characterise plant glycosyltransferases involved in critical components of cell wall biosynthesis: identifying essential building blocks for efficient bioenergy production. Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Xingyi Zhou
    2023 Principal Supervisor Unlocking the Value of Lysine for Sustainable Agriculture Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Mirrin McKay
    2022 Principal Supervisor Developing novel strategies to monitor and combat herbicide resistance Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Sreshtha Malik
    2022 Principal Supervisor Validating Novel Antibiotic and Herbicide Targets to Circumvent Resistance Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mr Daniel Adam Hawkins
    2022 Principal Supervisor A novel repurposing approach for herbicide discovery to combat resistant weeds Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Ryan James Francis McClean
  • Past Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2022 - 2023 Principal Supervisor Strategies to Circumvent Herbicide Resistance Through the Inhibition of Lysine Biosynthesis Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Emily Rose Ronayne Mackie
    2022 - 2024 Principal Supervisor Exploring Alternative Strategies in Antibiotic Discovery to Tackle Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Jessica Anne Wyllie
  • Board Memberships

    Date Role Board name Institution name Country
    2020 - ongoing Board Member Board of Directors Science & Technology Australia Australia
    2019 - ongoing Member Executive Committee Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Australia
  • Editorial Boards

    Date Role Editorial Board Name Institution Country
    2016 - ongoing Editor Editor Australian Biochemist Magazine Australia
  • Position: Group Leader and ARC Future Fellow
  • Phone: 83131069
  • Email: tatiana.soaresdacosta@adelaide.edu.au
  • Campus: Waite
  • Building: Plant Genomics Centre, floor Level Two
  • Room: 2.34
  • Org Unit: Waite Research Institute

Connect With Me
External Profiles