Belinda Ferrari at the BABS Seminar

Belinda gave a seminar to the School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences at UNSW.
In her talk, entitled ‘The Abyss to Casey station’, Belinda shared her exciting experiences from her recent expedition to Antarctica.

The talk was an opportunity to join the team for one of the most emblematic photos, when we all crammed into the same lift on the way back to the lab.

Congratulations to Nic for her thesis submission!

We are very pleased to share that Nic submitted her thesis on June 3! Her research used next generation sequencing technology and novel culturing techniques to identify polar soil bacterial communities with novel biosynthetic potential.

Her research had three main objectives: To identify polar soil bacterial communities with novel biosynthetic potential, establish a culture collection of Antarctic isolates with demonstrated bioactive capabilities and to perform whole genome sequencing on biotechnologically promising isolates for biosynthetic gene cluster (BGC) mining.

Check out her first publication here.

Congratulations Nic!

Natural Product-Encoding Genes in Polar Soils

Congratulations to Belinda Ferrari, her team Nicole Benaud and Eden Zhang and all those involved in this great publication using genome mining to identify polar soil bacterial communities with novel biosynthetic potential.

This paper highlights the potential of Antarctic desert soils as excellent candidates for novel natural product bioprospecting and gives further insight into the functional and ecological relevance.

You can find this publication here.

Ferrari Lab participates in the ANZMB 2019 conference

Belinda, Nicky and Carol participated in the ANZMB 2019 conference.

The Australia New Zealand Marine Biotechnology Society aims to be the primary voice of advocacy and representation for all aspects of marine biotechnology in Australia and New Zealand through developing and engaging in collaborations between scientists, technologists, investors, government, industry and community; informing educators and policy makers; and organising activities for the enhancement of science and exchange of knowledge and technology.

Belinda actively participated in the committee organizing the conference, while Nicky and Carol presented their research in creative and informative posters entitled “Antarctic Bacterial Conversation” and “Characterization of the Emulsifying Activity in Antarctic Soils Isolates“ respectively.

Belinda Ferrari: A woman in Australian Antartic Program

Our Lab founder, Belinda Ferrari, featured in a shout out to all the women who play a crucial rol in the Australian Antartic Program.

Angelique : The Polar ECR of the Week

Sally Crane in Trashy Science Interview

Trash Talk is the 7-part mini-series from Trashy Science where they show the science and humans behind sustainability.

Sally was invited to talk about cleaning up oil-contaminated Antarctic soil using the local bacteria.

Berg Cruising

To our excitement, after a hard day of sampling at Mitchell Peninsula, we found ourselves in a flurry of activity and managed to snag a spot on a boating trip amongst the bergs at Casey - blessed the weather.

Boating in Antarctica is a very part-time activity.  Within that short summer window, most days are unsuitable because of wind: anything stronger than 15 knots makes it cold and raises waves, and the whole thing gets uncomfortable and dangerous.

Adelie penguins on a berg.

Belinda on a boat with Cath as coxswain.

More bergy bits.

Matrix of blue and white.

Sampling Site #3: Browning Peninsula

Saving the hardest for last, Browning Peninsula is located approximately 3-4 hours away via Häg from Casey (2 hours with Cath’s driving).

MON 25/02/19 to THU 28/02/19

Long road trip out to the sampling site, very bumpy but still managed to catch some ZZZZs in the Häg. Whoever designed the interior layout of this field hut needs to reconsider their day job. We somehow managed for 4 days without showers and in close proximity to one another - thank goodness your sense of smell is diluted down here.

Beautiful but slightly treacherous location and close to wildlife (Elephant seals). First time having to equip ice chains on the baffins as we hiked across to our sampling site located approximately 500m NW from the hut. Weather was crappy, sieves wouldn’t dry, MilliQ was frozen, wildlife stealing our 50ml tubes and not enough bowls for delicious tuna-chicken (?) dinners. Many challenges but a worthwhile experience. Had to prioritise some samples during collection but managed to get 3/4 of them - better than expected, less than planned.

Traversing across the terrain, about 15min one-way to sample 7 distance points then back again.

Skuas inspecting our equipment.

Sieving the subsoil using a 4.75mm stainless steel sieve.

Dried algae around the large cobbles.

Sampling Site #2: Mitchell Peninsula

Only a 30min Häg ride from Casey, sampling at Mitchell Peninsula was completed within 2 day trips.

SAT 23/02/19 to SUN 24/02/19

Weather is taking a turn, with wind chill down to -5oC. A windy and rather steep start but eased off later during the day. Sea ice is quite dynamic here and also the reason we couldn’t park close to the sampling site, entailing a short walk carrying our equipment across snow. Nice view though. Sampling was completed with no major issues thanks to help from Mark and Bec.

Blue and yellow Hägs enroute to sampling site.

View across the bay whilst sampling.

Nearby tiger rock.

Stunning copper ore veins in the local rocks.