$2.5 Million for barcoding in Australia

The Australian Government program BioPlatforms Australia is tasked with building research capabilities and expertise in the fields of genomics, proteomics, metabolomics and bioinformatics. This national program supports research infrastructure in Australia since 2007.

Today the University of Adelaide announced an investment of $2.5 Million by BioPlatforms Australia to advance DNA Barcoding in Australia. The project is led by the Andrew Lowe in partnership with a number of Australian Institutions*.

The project will focus on five key areas with immediate strategic value:

- verifying timber origins to combat illegal timber trading;

- authenticating labelling and geographical origin of fish in the retail marketplace;

- mapping plant biodiversity in the Pilbara to help with mine site environmental impact assessment 

  and restoration management;

- biodiversity discovery and impact assessment of invertebrates that inhabit underground aquifers 

  utilised by mining and farming; and

- generating barcodes for Australia’s orchids to enhance conservation.

Congratulations to the colleagues in Australia - this is a nice boost for DNA Barcoding down under.

* - Kings Park Botanic Garden, CSIRO, Australian Tropical Herbarium, the South Australian Museum, ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology and WA Department of Parks and Wildlife