Susan Glendinning

Dr Susan Glendinning is a postdoctoral fellow at UniSC and a member of the Centre for Bioinnovation. She uses molecular biology techniques to understand animal physiology, particularly in crustaceans and including species of importance to aquaculture and those in need of conservation. As a member of Associate Professor Tomer Ventura’s research group, collaborators include the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies at the University of Tasmania, as part of the ARC Research Hub for Sustainable Onshore Lobster Aquaculture.

Susan carried out her doctoral studies on environmental physiology and biochemistry in the UK collaborating with scientists at the Natural History Museum, London and the University of the North-West, South Africa funded by NERC. She combined field and laboratory studies to investigate the effects of metals on freshwater crabs, obtaining skills in analytical chemistry and enzyme assay development. Understanding the transport of metals across the gill epithelium paved the way for Susan to carry out medical research investigating the passage of other environmental pollutants across human epithelia, specifically the placental barrier using cell culture and ex vivo model systems. Returning to work on invertebrates, she developed skills in genetic modification using the model worm, Caenorhabditis elegans, at the University of Bath and in collaboration with scientists at the University of Oxford to understand receptors involved with ivermectin resistance in veterinary parasites, using funding from the Wellcome Trust. Since coming to UniSC, Susan has specialised in research on neuropeptides related to reproduction in species such as the tropical rock lobster and the Australian red claw crayfish. She currently uses techniques including quantitative PCR, transcriptomics and gene silencing to understand more about these fascinating animals.