People
Meet our team
The Australian Centre for Ancient DNA is home to some of the leading scientific minds in the fields of evolutionary biology, environmental change and population genetics.
Meet our team of scientists and students who are pioneering new discoveries across these exciting areas of ancient DNA research.
A/Professor Jeremy Austin
Director, ACAD
Area: Forensic, ancient DNA, conservation genetics, megafauna extinction
Jeremy's profile Study options
Phone: (08) 831 34557
Office: Darling building, Room 213
Dr Linda Armbrecht
Postdoctoral Fellow
Area: Sedimentary ancient DNA, marine genomics, micropaleontology, biological oceanography and phytoplankton taxonomy
Phone: (08) 831 33698
Office: Darling building, Room 205e
Dr Raphael Eisenhofer
ARC Research Associate
Area: Microbiology and microbial ecology of Australian mammals
Phone: (08) 831 33698
Office: Darling building, Room 205e
Dr Holly Heiniger
Technical Officer/Lab Coordinator
Phone: (08) 831 33698
Office: Darling building, Room 205e
A/Professor Bastien Llamas
ARC Future Fellow
Area: Ancient genomics
Phone: 831 30262
Office: Darling building, Room 216
Dr Kieren Mitchell
Postdoctoral Fellow
Area: Phylogenomics
Phone: (08) 831 35565
Office: Darling building, Room 205c
Dr Vilma Perez-Godoy
Postdoctoral (Becas Chile funded) Researcher
Area: Diversity and survival strategies of microbial communities in very extreme environments
Phone: (08) 831 33698
Office: Darling building, Room 205e
Dr Yassine Souilmi
ARC Research Associate
Area: Bioinformatics
Phone: (08) 831 35565
Office: Darling building, Room 205c
Dr Raymond Tobler
ARC DECRA Fellow
Area: Population genetics
Phone: (08) 831 35565
Office: Darling building, Room 205c
Robbi (Roberta) Davidson
Area: Human migration
Phone: (08) 831 38245
Office: Darling building, Room 205d
Divon Lan
Area: Using genomes to unravel the demographic and evolution history of the first peoples of Sahul
Phone: (08) 831 33698
Office: Darling building, Room 205e
| Year | Name | Award | Research area |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Alex Salis | PhD | Investigating faunal responses to climate and environmental change using ancient DNA from ursids |
| 2021 | Caitlin Selway | PhD | Human Microbiomes: Another Piece to the Puzzle for Non-communicable Diseases |
| 2020 | Luis Arriola | PhD | Bioinformatics |
| 2019 | Emily Skelly* | PhD | Processes of industrialisation influencing the human oral microbiome |
| 2019 | Oscar Estrada Santa Maria | PhD | Ancient plant DNA to the rescue: Unlocking crop genetic diversity from the past |
| 2019 | Yichen Liu* | PhD | The role of epigenetic modifications and microbiome evolution in bovid adaptation to environmental changes |
| 2019 | Graham Gower | PhD | Inferring the characteristics of ancient populations using bioinformatic analysis of genome-wide DNA sequencing data |
| 2019 | Felicia Bardan | PhD | New Forensic DNA profiling techniques for human identification |
| 2019 | Raphael Eisenhofer# | PhD | New and refined tools and guidelines to expand the scope and improve the reproducibility of palaeomicrobiological research |
| 2018 | Ayla Lore Van Loenen* | PhD | The 'next generation’ of ancient DNA research: a series of methods and approaches to improve our understanding of the evolutionary history of species in general, and European bison in particular |
| 2018 | Muslih Abdul-Aziz | PhD | Genomic and metagenomic alterations and impacts on disease through time using ancient DNA |
| 2017 | Andrew Farrer* | PhD | Ancient DNA studies of dental calculus |
| 2017 | Tim Rabanus Wallace | PhD | Climate-driven ecological changes through the Last Glacial Period |
| 2017 | Lauren White | PhD | Investigating Australian mammal extinctions and conservation using ancient DNA, population genetics and time-series analysis |
| 2016 | Guido Valverde* | PhD | Ancient DNA from pre-Columbian South America |
| 2016 | Oliver Wooley | MSc | Developing methods to process, interpret and present NGS data for end users using the Geneious platform |
| 2016 | Paul Czechowski* | PhD | Antarctic soil biodiversity/environmental genomics |
| 2016 | Alex Boast | MSc | Ancient DNA of New Zealand's extinct avifauna |
| 2016 | Jennifer Shaw* | PhD | Metagenomic amplicon sequencing as a rapid and high-throughput tool for aquatic biodiversity surveys |
| 2015 | Kieren Mitchell*^ | PhD | Using High-Throughput DNA sequencing and molecular phylogenies to investigate the evolution and biogeography of the southern hemisphere fauna |
| 2015 | Michael Herrera* | PhD | Genetic studies on prehistoric, translocations of chickens in the Indo-Pacific |
| 2015 | Steve Richards | PhD | Investigation and Application of Methods for Ancient DNA Research |
| 2014 | Denice Higgins | PhD | Post-mortem degradation on the ability to retrieve DNA from ancient & forensic tooth specimens |
| 2013 | Jennifer Young | PhD | Forensics investigation of soil samples |
| 2013 | Jessica Wadley | PhD | Population genetics and phylogeography of Antilopine Wallaroo using degraded DNA from scats and museum specimens |
| 2013 | Vicki Thomson | PhD | Using ancient DNA as an essential tool to explore past Australian biodiversity |
| 2012 | Julien Soubrier* | PhD | What ‘molecular’ time is it? – Use of ancient DNA to refine estimates of molecular timescales |
| 2012 | Christina Adler | PhD | Ancient DNA studies of human evolution |
| 2012 | Clio Der Sarkissian* | PhD | Mitochondrial DNA in ancient human populations of Europe. This project is also part of the National Geographic Society's 'Genographic Project' |
| 2012 | Sarah Bray | PhD | The evolution and genetic diversity of ancient bears |
| 2011 | Nic Rawlence | PhD | Palaeoecology and population demographics of the extinct New Zealand Moa (Aves: Dinornithiformes) |
| 2008 | Trevor Worthy | PhD | Tertiary Fossil Waterfowl (Aves: Anseriformes) of Australia and New Zealand |
|
*Dean's commendation for Doctoral Thesis Excellence |
Dr Salvador Herrando-Perez
Postdoctoral Fellow at the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Spain.
A/Professor Laura Weyrich
A/Professor of Anthropology at Penn State, USA
Dr Wolfgang Haak
Leader, Molecular Anthropology Group
Max Plank Institute for the Science of Human History, Germany
Dr Pere Bover Arbos
Leader, Paleontology Group
Instituto Universitario de Investigacion en Ciencias Ambientales de Aragon, Spain.
Dr Christian Huber
Penn State University, USA
