Genomics Aotearoa’s Environment projects use new approaches to unravel complex genomics problems within aquatic environments, in endangered and taonga species, and in key invasive species in Aotearoa.
Current Environment projects
Marine-fungi as a source of antimicrobials: New antimicrobials are needed to help against the antimicrobial resistance crisis. Research is now looking to the oceans for natural products with therapeutic effects to treat infection. This Genomics Aotearoa project focuses concerted effort on combining Pacific-led scientific innovation and Pacific Indigenous wisdom.
High quality genomes and population genomics: developing gold standard high quality assemblies on species unique to New Zealand to generate and analyse population genomic sequence data, leading to understanding functionally important variation in threatened species.
Environmental microbiomes: Developing clear methods and guidelines to reconstruct and analyse mixtures of bacterial and archaeal community sequence data and the genomes of other understudied organisms (viruses and microeukaryotes).
Invasomics: building a generalisable tool that characterises and compares invasive and non-invasive species to identify the genome, microbiome, and phenome traits that define successful border invaders.
Tactical Genetic Control of Rats: Genetic technologies to develop novel rat suppression methods are being investigated to help to advance New Zealand's ambitious Predator Free 2050 goal.
Completed Environment projects
Environmental metagenomics: developed national capabilities in genomics to contribute to improved environmental monitoring approaches utilising metagenomic technologies in environmental management.
High Quality Genomes: developed and adapted informatics methods and capability to produce high quality genomes from some of Aotearoa New Zealand's key species of high importance.