报告题目：Developing new tools for Biotechnology

　　报告人：Dr. David Catcheside, Emeritus Professor of Genetics, Flinders University, Australia

　　报告时间：9月21日（周一）上午9: 20

　　地点：生地楼一楼机房

　　报告人简介：BSc (Imperial College), PhD (Birmingham Univ.), 现为澳大利亚 Flinders Univ. 遗传学名誉退休教授，主要研究领域为减数分裂过程的分子遗传及其调控；在应用微生物方面也有建树，研究煤炭中的微生物代谢过程及其在甲烷生产中的应用。

　　报告摘要：The development of novel biotechnology is often based on well understood science.However it is ultimately dependent on basic curiosity motivated research which has been conducted without thought of technological applications. New knowledge gained in this way can revolutionise technology in a way rarely achievable by applied research alone. There are many historical examples of this, such as the discovery of bacterial genetics and restriction enzymes that later formed the basis for genetic engineering.In my lab, I am interested in understanding the molecular mechanism of genetic recombination. Advances in understanding the mechanism of recombination we gained from work with a model organism, the fungusNeurospora crassa,unexpectedly led to the development of a novel method for directed evolution of genes. We found we were able to take genes from other living organisms, introduced them into Neurospora cells and generate panels of variant sequences that could be screened in living cells for improvements to the gene product . I will outline how this discovery was made and applied and also some applied forensic research conducted in collaboration with a colleague where we have developed DNA based methods for tracing the origin of street drugs and trace soil samples.