Program Team
The University of New South Wales
Professor Des Cooper
Des Cooper is a geneticist with interests in wildlife conservation and human reproduction. Des Cooper has made contributions to the genetics of tammar wallabies and brushtail possums, sex differentiation studies and to the development of resources to study immunology and reproduction in marsupials. His most recent contributions have been to genetic issues in wildlife management. Professor Cooper has taken a leading role in discussions of policy, and has drawn attention to both the advantages and some of the limitations of biotechnological approaches to this endeavour.
Role in KKCP program: Des Cooper has responsibilities for overall direction of KKCP. He is involved in directing the genetic components of the program.
Dr Cathy Herbert
Cathy Herbert's research interests focus on the health and management of Australian marsupials, specifically kangaroos, wallabies and koalas and brushtail possums. Her recent work has concentrated predominantly on testing the Suprelorin® contraceptive implant on kangaroos, wallabies and koalas, with a view to its potential use as a fertility control agent to controlling overabundant marsupial populations. She has conducted the baseline studies investigating the effects of Suprelorin® on the physiology of a model marsupial species, the tammar wallaby and initial trials demonstrating the efficacy of the contraceptive implant on two target species, the eastern grey kangaroo and koala.
Role in KKCP program: Dr Herbert is involved in most phases of the program. She gives particular attention to captive studies on deslorelin and on the development of remote delivery techniques. She is also responsible for work on tammar wallabies in Western Australia , eastern grey kangaroos and koalas, and has a role in PhD supervision.
The University of Melbourne
Professor Marilyn Renfree
Marilyn Renfree's primary research interest is the developmental biology, reproductive physiology and endocrinology of mammals, but especially of marsupials. Professor Renfree has worked on all aspects of reproduction and development in these mammals such as the control of embryonic diapause, pregnancy, parturition, lactation, puberty and seasonal breeding. Her study group has made important contributions to the field of sexual differentiation, overturning several of the previously widely accepted paradigms.
Role in KKCP program: Professor Renfree integrates work being done on deslorelin with her other programs on the use of steroid contraceptives, and will be involved in the direction of all reproductive research.
Dr Geoff Shaw
Geoff Shaw's main research interests lie in reproductive and developmental biology. His research has focused on marsupials, including control of embryonic diapause, the endocrinology of parturition, regulation of fertility, and the control of sex-determination and differentiation. He has established radioimmunoassays for marsupial hormones including prostaglandins F2 a and FM, oestrogen, progesterone, testosterone and cortisol. He has special expertise in the interpretation of developing urogenital systems especially after hormonal manipulation.
Role in KKCP program: Dr Shaw provides advice on statistical methods and will train students in hormone assay methodology and ovarian and uterine histology. He assists in design of the experiments and field work.
Dr Kath Handasyde
Kath Handasyde's primary research interests are the habitat requirements, ranging behaviour and feeding and reproductive ecology of Australian native mammals. Her research is largely field based and she frequently utilise radio-telemetry for long term monitoring of individuals in wild populations. Dr Handasyde has co-authored a book on the koalas natural history, conservation and management (in 1999) and was co-editor of a major book ( The Biology of the Koala ).
Role in KKCP program : Dr Handasyde trains the students how to capture and handle koalas in the field and the use of radiotelemetry. She assists in design of experiments and field work.
Dr Graeme Coulson
Graeme Coulson's primary area of research is the behavioral ecology and population management of herbivorous mammals, with a particular interest in kangaroos and wallabies, and their interactions with people. His research is entirely based on free-ranging populations, and is mostly conducted in national parks and other conservation reserves. In recent years he has focused on the behavioral and demographic outcomes of kangaroo management strategies, including the effectiveness of surgical and chemical fertility control.
Role in KKCP program : Dr Coulson trains students in the capture, handling and monitoring of kangaroos. He will advise students working in Western Australia will supervise the Ph D student working on eastern grey kangaroos in Victoria ..
The University of Western Australia
Dr Roberta Bencini
Dr Roberta Bencini started working on the dibbler ( Parantechinus apicalis ) in 1997 when she became a member of the Dibbler Recovery Team and took part in an expedition to the Jurien Bay Islands , in Western Australia to collect the founders of a captive colony established at Perth Zoo. From this colony a new population of dibblers was established on Escape Island , also in Jurien Bay . This has considerably improved the chance of survival for the species. Her team has continued to investigate the island ecosystems inhabited by dibblers using a blend of traditional and innovative techniques to address questions of population dynamics, paternity and resource flows.
Role in KKCP program: Dr Bencini supervises the PhD students working in Western Australia . She assists in design of the experiments and field work.
Peptech Animal Health Pty Ltd
Dr Tim Trigg
Dr Trigg is overseeing the developing technology for companion animal contraception. He is the principal inventor of Peptech's drug delivery technology and has been responsible for the company's R&D programmes that have led to the development of these products. Ovuplant is recognised as the first wholly Australian developed biotechnology product to obtain approval from the FDA for a new pharmaceutical drug, which had been developed entirely in Australia without involvement of a major pharmaceutical company. He is an author of numerous scientific papers and patents. His specific interest in this programme is to broaden the applications for the GnRH technology.
Role in the KKCP program : Dr Trigg has an advisory role with the programme and is the link between the commercial and other aspects of the project. Peptech Animal Health Pty Limited. supplies the deslorelin implants, and will also be involved in attempts to develop longer-acting implants and associated technology.
Department of Environment and Heritage (South Australia)
Dr Glenn Shimmin
Marsupial reproduction, and more specifically mating systems, have been of primary interest to Glen Shimmin since commencing his PhD. He became the first person to confirm multiple paternity within a single litter in a marsupial species. In addition to his dasyurid work, he has been involved in wombat research for the past ten years, which has produced a great deal of detailed information on the species' reproductive biology.
Role in KKCP program: Dr Shimmin coordinates work on South Australian koalas and has a role in PhD supervision.
Dr Graeme Moss
For the past six years as Conservation Programs Manager for the Department of Environment and Heritage on Kangaroo Island, Graeme Moss has been responsible for over-seeing the Koala Management Program, and providing supervisory and scientific expertise for the staff covering biodiversity research and conservation programs associated with habitat, threatened species, overabundant species, fire and water management. Over the past two decades, he has initiated and implemented a number of research projects which have had a strong ecological emphasis and involved the development of practical management outcomes.
Role in KKCP program: Dr Moss directs field operations on South Australian koalas and has a role in PhD supervision.
Dr Desley Whisson
tba
Parks Victoria
Tony Varcoe
Tony Varcoe is Parks Victoria's Manager of Parks Research. He has a diverse background in park management including policy, planning, and senior field roles in environmental management of parks, One of his highest priorities is to develop strong collaborative partnerships with research practitioners to provide a sound scientific basis for implementing new park management programs such as wildlife management. This includes involving particular parks to test the effectiveness of new techniques such fertility control techniques.
Role in KKCP program : Mr Varcoe directs Parks Victoria's involvement in koalas and kangaroos.
Department of Sustainabiligy and Environment (Victoria)
Peter Menkhorst
Since 1995, Peter Menkhorst has been responsible for over-seeing the management of koalas in Victoria , particularly the search for alternative means of managing over-abundant populations that cause serious ecological degradation through defoliation of favoured food trees. He initiated and supervised the first trial of the efficacy of slow-release hormone implants in the koala, a highly successful, six year trial on a wild population in south-western Victoria (Middleton et al. 2003). Peter Menkhorst prepared the Victorian Government's Koala Management Strategy (DSE 2004). He contributed, as the Victorian member of the National Koala Network, to the Australian Government's ‘National Koala Conservation Strategy' (ANZECC 1998).
Role in KKCP program: Peter Menkhorst oversees the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment's work on koalas and assists in field work in Victoria .
Department of Environment and Conservation (Western Australia)
Keith Morris
Since 1982, Keith Morris has been involved in the conservation and management of native mammals in Western Australia . He has led the recovery program for the Chuditch Dasyurus geoffroii ,, the Shark Bay Mouse Pseudomys praeconis , and the WA component of the Greater Stick-nest Rat Leporillus conditor . He has also been closely associated with the development of the Western Shield fauna recovery program in WA and has provided advice to other States on introduced predator control programs and fauna monitoring protocols. Keith Morris has also been involved in the management of island fauna populations, in particular mammals. He developed eradication techniques for the introduced black rat on Barrow Island , and established a mammal monitoring program for that important nature reserve.
Role in KKCP program: Mr Morris is involved in all work being carried out in Western Australia , and is the industry supervisor of the PhD student working there. He is directly involved in the Abrolhos Island tammar work.
Dr Peter Mawson
Since 1994, Peter Mawson has been responsible for all native fauna licensing matters under the provisions of the Wildlife Conservation Act 1995 (WA), including the management of the crocodile, emu and kangaroo management programs. From 1995-2002 he personally conducted the kangaroo aerial surveys. In the past two years Dr Mawson has re-written the two kangaroo management programs (2003-2007) and the crocodile management program (2004-2008) to comply with the commonwealth EPBC Act requirements for sustainably harvested species. He is also responsible for the management of pest native fauna species, in particular avian and marsupial, in urban, confined and insular situations. He has supervised an undergraduate research project examining the differences in high density urban possum populations in comparison to wild populations in an area of high quarantine sensitivity (i.e. the Perth Zoo).
Role in KKCP program: Dr Mawson directs work on the Western grey kangaroo.
Content Last Modified: Thursday, 9th November 2006.
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October 2006
In the press:
Australian scientists
to try contraceptive
darts on koalas.
For more info, click here.