Associate Professor L Slade Lee PhD(Wollongong) DipTch(MtGravattTC) GAppSc(Hons)(QldAgcoll) Slade Lee is Deputy Director (Operations) for the Centre for Plant Conservation Genetics, and one of the three Platform Leaders for the Grain Foods CRC Ltd. His principal role is the management of a series of grain food research projects sponsored by Grain Foods CRC Ltd aimed at discovering genetic solutions to improving the quality of a diverse range of grain crop products. He is also involved in smaller plant improvement and genetics research projects in other fields including grapevine, cotton, hemp and coffee. In 2001 he was invited to serve as a six-month term as a consultant molecular plant breeding expert with the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Austria assisting in the management of projects which convey agricultural biotechnology to developing countries. Prior to that he was project leader of the genetic research on Tea Tree and the projects on Table & Wine Grape Genetics at the Centre for Plant Conservation Genetics. Before joining the Centre, he led the citrus breeding program of the Queensland Department of Primary Industries. As Senior Scientist he managed collaborative projects with CSIRO and other State Agriculture Departments, and research associations with colleagues in USA and other countries. During this period he built his laboratory at Bundaberg Research Station into a well-equipped and staffed facility for utilising biotechnology in plant breeding. He and his staff employed methods including quantitative isozyme densitometry in studies of citrus polyploids, tissue culturing for embryo rescue and micropropagation, gamma radiation mutagenesis for citrus breeding, polymerase chain reaction and the random amplified polymorphic DNA technique for marker-assisted tomato breeding. Concurrently Slade became associated with Central Queensland University as supervisor of post-doctoral research and postgraduate students working in his laboratory, and later as a visiting lecturer at the University's Bundaberg Campus. Early in 1997, Slade accepted an Associate Professorship in the Centre for Plant Conservation Genetics at Southern Cross University, Lismore, to lead a team of field biologists, laboratory technicians and molecular biologists in a very detailed genetic study of the tea tree species used for commercial essential oil production. This work entailed development of DNA microsatellite markers and use of gas chromatography to study the genetic and phenotypic structure of the tea tree population throughout the entire known range of the species. In 1998 he also assumed the role of project leader of the grape genetics projects which involved a team of scientists at the Centre for Plant Conservation Genetics working to genetically improve table grapes and wine grapes. The methods in use included DNA microsatellite marker technology, development of cDNA libraries and BAC libraries for the identification and characterisation of specific expressed grape genes, tissue culturing and transformation to introduce novel genes into grapevines. In his current role as Research Manager, Slade also assists the Centre's Business Manager to facilitate the development and commercialisation of the Centre's substantial suite of expertise, technology and intellectual property in plant genetics, biotechnology and molecular biology.
Journal articles
Variation in Granule Bound Starch Synthase I (GBSSI) loci amongst Australian wild cereal relatives (Poaceae) (with Frances M. Shapter, Peter Eggler, and Robert J. Henry), Journal of Cereal Science (2009)
A complex cascade of enzymes is responsible for the development of starch granules in grain...
Endonucleolytic Mutation Analysis by Internal Labeling (EMAIL) (with Michael J. Cross, Daniel LE Waters, and Robert J. Henry), Electrophoresis (2008)
Endosperm and starch granule morphology in wild cereal relatives (with Frances M. Shapter and Robert J. Henry), Plant Genetic Resources (2008)
Australia's native grass species contain a diverse array of wild cereal relatives which are adapted...
Genetic diversity of ICARDA’s worldwide barley landrace collection (with Abderrazek Jilal, Stefania Grando, Robert J. Henry, Nicole F. Rice, Helen Hill, Michael Baum, and Salvatore Ceccarelli), Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution (2008)
Twenty genic- and genomic SSR markers were used to study genetic diversity and geographical differentiation...
A quinolizidine alkaloid O-tigloyltransferase gene in wild and domesticated white lupin (Lupinus albus) (with Yihua Chen and Robert J. Henry), Annals of Applied Biology (2007)
Wild white lupins have high levels of alkaloids, which cause a bitter taste, whereas domesticated...
Book chapters
Commercial applications of plant genotyping (with Robert J. Henry), Plant genotyping: the DNA fingerprinting of plants (2001)
Molecular analysis of wild plant germplasm: the case of tea tree (Melaleuca alternifolia) (with Maurizio Rossetto, Laura E. Homer, and Robert J. Henry), Plant genotyping: the DNA fingerprinting of plants (2001)
Conference publications
CEL I and the EMAIL mutation scanning assay (with Michael J. Cross, Daniel LE Waters, and Robert J. Henry), International Plant and Animal Genome XVI Conference (2008)
Scanning for unknown mutations has been advanced by mismatch cleavage techniques. Pioneering methods include the...
EMAIL - a highly sensitive tool for specific mutation detection in plant improvement programs (with Michael J. Cross and Robert J. Henry), IAEA International Symposium on Induced Mutation in Plants (ISIM) (2008)
TILLING (Targeting Induced Local Lesions IN Genomes) is a useful tool for discovery of specific...
Identification of novel starch traits in sorghum (with Helen Hill and Robert J. Henry), 58th Australian Cereal Chemistry Conference (2008)
Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) is the fifth most important cereal grain crop in the world...
A novel detection strategy for scanning multiple mutations using CEL I mismatch cleavage and capillary electrophoresis (with Michael J. Cross, Daniel LE Waters, and Robert J. Henry), Plant and Animal Genomes XV Conference (2007)
CEL I endonuclease cleavage of heteroduplex DNA is noted as an efficient, high-throughput technique for...