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Contact details:
CANBERRA ACT 2601 AUSTRALIA
Biography
Dr Thatcher is Team Leader of Microbial Technologies, a dynamic and collaborative team focused on the synergic use and establishment of innovative technologies for the discovery, development, deployment and uptake of beneficial microbes and microbial-derived products for crop protection, plant health and sustainable production. From microbe(biome) to natural products.
The team focuses on both applied research to deliver industry specific outcomes, as well as basic strategic research to develop novel approaches for enhancing the durability and the efficacy of microbial biological control agents and their biopesticide molecules, and how we can integrate these into current and future farming practics. These research approaches involve a broad range of disciplines from comparative -omics, analytical chemistry, microbial engineering and fermentation systems, plant genetics, plant pathology, and field trial evaluation over multi-environments.
Dr Thatcher's research encompasses:
* Biological control of crop diseases through beneficial soil microbes and endophytes, and the bioactive compounds they produce.
* Omics-based platforms for microbial natural product discovery.
* Microbial engineering.
* Microbiome studies and applying this knowledge to develop new crop protection strategies.
* Crop pre-breeding research for improved disease resistance and agronomic traits.
Join the team:
Louise is always looking for talented new team members. Please make contact via email.
Background:
Dr Thatcher obtained a BSc (1st class Hons, 1999) and PhD (2007) in microbiology and plant molecular biology from the University of Western Australia. Her Honours studies focused on biocontrol of bacterial diseases in aquaculture, and her PhD research examined genes controlling pathogen defense and stress responses in the model plant Arabidopsis. She completed two Postdoctoral Fellowships within CSIRO Plant Industry (Brisbane, Perth) focusing on pathogenicity mechanisms of Fusarium wilt members, plant resistance and the roles of jasmonate signalling.
From 2014 Dr Thatcher was Team Leader of Break Crop Genomics with a Focus on Disease where she developed Fusarium pathogenomics and molecular plant pathology research in legumes and canola. From 2015 Dr Thatcher combined her molecular plant pathology research with biological control and led the Crop Biologics Team. In 2019 she relocated to CSIRO Canberra and led the Crop Protection Group. She currently leads a biologicals crop protection science area in CSIRO Ag&F.
Dr Thatcher has attracted over $9.1M in direct or competitive funding as lead, and a further $11.3M as co-lead. In addition to her biologicals-based strategies for crop protection and improving yield, Dr Thatcher has an ongoing research interest in genetic strategies for crop disease resistance.
Other Interests
Mountain biking, bush walking, growing veges and catching up with friends.
Professional Areas
Fields of Research
Current Roles
-
Team Leader
Microbial Techologies -
Co-Project Leader
Bioinsecticide discovery -
Project Leader
Biocontrol Strain Improvement -
Project Leader
Phyllosphere microbiomes in crop protection - MOSH FSP -
Co-Project Leader
Expanding secondary metabolite production and function prediction in Actinobacteria - AEB FSP
Academic Qualifications
-
2007
PhD (Plant molecular biology)
University of Western Australia -
1999
Bsc, Hons (1st class) (Microbiology)
University of Western Australia
Professional Experiences
-
2022-current
Associate Editor
MPMI (Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions) -
2020-2024
Associate Editor
Plant Molecular Biology -
Aug 2023-Aug 2023
Visiting Scientist
USDA Cereal Disease Laboratory -
2019-2021
Group Leader - Crop Protection
CSIRO -
May 2019-Aug 2019
Visiting Scientist
Molecular Microbiology Department, John Innes Centre -
July 2019-July 2019
Visiting Scientist
Plant Pathology Research Unit, INRA -
2012-2017
Research Scientist
CSIRO -
2010-2013
OCE (Office of the Chief Executive) Postdoctoral Fellowship
CSIRO -
2007-2010
OCE (Office of the Chief Executive) Postdoctoral Fellowship
CSIRO -
Jan 2007-June 2007
Research Associate
CLIMA, UWA
Achievements and Awards
-
2019-2019
INRA-CSIRO exchange scheme award
CSIRO -
2018-2020
Julius Career Award
CSIRO Research Office -
2017-2017
Agriculture and Food Director’s Award in the category ‘Inclusion & Diversity’ (Team award)
CSIRO -
2015-2015
AW Howard Memorial Trust Study Grant
AW Howard Memorial Trust -
2012-2012
Science Communication Award (Team)
CSIRO Plant Industry
Other highlights
-
2016-2016
ON Innovation Program - Lean Launch Pad Team Leader - Rotstopper biologicals
-
2017-2017
ON Innovation Program - ONPrime4 team member - New Traits in Canola
Grants
-
2025-2028
CSIRO Industry PhD program - Development of singular and modular multi-purpose peptides for efficient crop protection (Belide, Thatcher, Colgrave), with ECU and Nufarm
-
2023-2027
Advanced Engineering Biology (AEB) FSP - Expanding secondary metabolite production and function prediction in Actinobacteria (Gallart, Mead, Thatcher)
-
2024-2027
Bioinsecticide discovery with industry (Gallart, Mead, Thatcher)
-
2022-2025
CSIRO R+ CERC - Biocontrol strain improvement
-
2021-2024
CRC-P with industry, Pre-commercial pilot trial of novel biofungicide
-
2018-2022
Biofungicide development with industry
-
2021-2024
CSIRO Microbiome Future Science Platform - Plant Health (Vadakattu, Thatcher, Barrett)
-
2018-2021
CSIRO R+ CERC - Advancing microbe assisted crop protection through plant immune-biosensors and omics-guided compound discovery (Thatcher, Singh)
-
2018-2018
COGGO Research Fund - Assessment of entomopathogenic fungi (Jacques, Thatcher)
Community and Corporate Citizenship
-
2018-2019
Floor Fire Safety Warden
-
2015-2018
Deputy Floor Fire Safety Warden
-
2016-present
Participant in SAGE and STEM discussion groups, and hosting STEM students
Related links
- CSIRO Pests and Diseases Group
- Microbiome (MOSH) Future Science Platform
- Harnessing the invisible and invaluable microbes that enhance our food, environment and health
- Can engineering biology feed more people with fewer resources?
- Overcoming a chemically limited future for weed, pest and disease control in agriculture
- Durable solutions for pest control in agriculture
ORCID 0000-0001-7622-6610
We have publications by Dr Louise Thatcher