The University of Western Australia

Dr Matthew Timmins

Research Associate
Plant Energy Biology, ARC Centre of Excellence

Contact details

Address

Plant Energy Biology, ARC Centre of Excellence
The University of Western Australia (M316)
35 Stirling Highway
CRAWLEY WA 6009
Australia

Phone

6488 4457

Fax

6488 1148

Email

matthew.timmins@uwa.edu.au

Location

Room 3.42, Molecular and Chemical Sciences Building, Crawley campus

Biography

My research interest is on using metabolomics as a tool to uncover methods of energy utilisation and production in green microalgae under varied environmental conditions. This research will lay a foundation upon which algal biology may be manipulated to allow their use in commercial systems to provide energy sources for human use. My research work has branched out to develop methods of analysis for a wider range of organisms but my key interest is in the development of analytical tools to employ on microalgal strains for potential use in carbon fixation, health and energy production.

Key research

Metabolomics, algal biofuel technology

Publications

•Timmins M., Zhou W., Lim L., Thomas-Hall S.R., Hankamer B., Marx U.C., Smith S.M. & Schenk P.M. (2009) The metabolome of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii following induction of anaerobic H2 production by sulphur deprivation. Journal of Biological Chemistry 284:23415–23425.
•Timmins M., Thomas-Hall S.R., Darling A., Zhang E., Hankamer B., Marx U.C. and Schenk P.M. (2009) Phylogenetic and molecular analysis of hydrogen-producing green algae. Journal of Experimental Botany 60:1691-1701.
•Nguyen, A. V., Thomas-Hall, S. R., Malnoe, A., Timmins, M., Mussgnug, J. H., Rupprecht, J., Kruse, O., Hankamer, B. and Schenk, P. M. (2008). Transcriptome for photobiological hydrogen production induced by sulfur deprivation in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Eukaryot Cell 7, 1965-1979.
•Schenk P.M., Thomas-Hall S., Nguyen A.V., Malnoë A., Timmins M., Stephens E., Mussgnug J.H., Rupprecht J., Kruse O. and Hankamer B. (2008) Transcriptional profiling of photosynthetic genes during photo-biological hydrogen production in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Proceedings of the 17th World Hydrogen Energy Conference, Brisbane, 15-19 June.
•Keelan JA, Nitsos I, Saito M, Musk GC, Kemp MW, Timmins M, Li S, Yaegashi N and Newnham JP. (2011) Maternal-amniotic-fetal distribution of macrolide antibiotics following intravenous, intramuscular, and intraamniotic administration in late pregnant sheep. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 204(6):546.e10-7.

Roles, responsibilities and expertise

Lab management, GC/MS and LC/MS machine maintenance, natural product extraction and analysis method development

Future research

Anaerobic fermentation of algal biomass, algal strain selection, metabolomics

Funding received

2004: $5,000 honours scholarship from the CRC for Tropical Plant Protection
2005 - 2008: $69,500 over 3.5 years for an Australian Postgraduate Award.
2010: $1000 UWA travel scholarship to attend Mass Spectrometry conference in Florence.
2011: $18700 BRCA travel scholarship

Industrial relevance

Biofuel, Pharmaceutical

Languages

English, Italian, Japanese, Spanish

Useful links

http://www.metabolomics.uwa.edu.au/

Research profile

Research profile and publications