Research within the McDougall lab centres on the molecular biology and evolution of invertebrates - especially molluscs. Key research areas include the evolution of biomineralisation and improvement of molluscan aquaculture. We are part of the Scottish Oceans Institute, University of St Andrews, Scotland, and the Coastal and Marine Research Centre, the Australian Rivers Institute, and the School of Environment and Science at Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia.
News
December 2024
Our lab’s research was profiled in an episode of ‘Landline’, along with progress by Max Wingfield and team (QLD DAF) in cultivating blacklip and new ‘Queensland Sunshine’ oysters. Marina and Niki had starring roles! You can watch the episode here.
NOVEMBER 2024
Carmel had the honour of delivering a keynote presentation at Molluscs 2024, the triennial conference of the Malacological Society of Australasia, in Perth. Thank you to the organising committee for putting together a fantastic programme (and for the invitation)!
Marina has been awarded her PhD! Congratulations Dr Richardson!
September 2024
The Griffith crew visited St Andrews! Fantastic to have (nearly) the whole group together. A big thank you to the Roslin Aquaculture team for hosting a visit, also.
August 2024
The Australian contingent of the lab descended on the World Aquaculture conference in Copenhagen, with Ya, Marina, Niki, Brett and Carmel each giving research presentations.
Congratulations to Niki, who won first prize for the best student presentation. A huge achievement, well done!
June 2024
Carmel attended Euro Evo Devo 2024 in Helsinki!
May 2024
Marina’s methodological paper on the development of multiplex PCRs for rapid species identification of Queensland Saccostrea has now been published in BMC Ecology and Evolution. It can be found here.
Congratulations Mollie on being awarded a Melbourne R. Carricker Student Research Award from the American Malacological Society! This funding will allow her to carry out transcriptomic analyses to explore allorecognition in bivalves. Thanks to the AMS for their support!
March 2024
The results of our survey of Queensland oyster species are now published in Aquaculture. We find 14 distinct oyster lineages, and confirm that the correct species name for Saccostrea ‘lineage J’ (the tropical black-lip oyster) is Saccostrea spathulata. The paper can be found here.
February 2024
Lorelle’s paper on vine thicket biogeography and camaenid land snail genera is now published in AJZ. You can view it here. Congratulations Lorelle!
December 2023
Congratulations to the new PhD graduates Dr Stanisic and Dr Lawley!
October 2023
Marina’s final (?) PhD fieldtrip is complete! A huge thank you to OzFish for making this happen. Possibly the largest Queensland shellfish reef yet?
September 2023
Carmel thoroughly enjoyed catching up with friends and colleagues at Bivalves 2023. Thanks to the organisers for an excellent conference.
August 2023
And another one’s done! Congratulations Dr. Jon W. Lawley on the conferral of your PhD!
Carmel and Mollie travelled to the University of Exeter to visit Rob Ellis. Rob very kindly took us on our first mussel-hunting expedition (they weren’t exactly hard to find - a good thing, given the weather!). Thanks Rob (and lab!).
July 2023
Lorelle has officially been awarded her PhD! Congratulations Dr Stanisic!
MAY 2023
Mollie has had a chance to show off her research at the School of Biology PGR conference.
Marina has been out again (with the help of Niki and the OzFish crew) to continue her characterisation of shellfish reefs near Turkey Beach. More information to come soon!
APRIL 2023
Marina was heavily involved in a fantastic ABC Landline segment on OzFish’s Moreton Bay Shellfish Reef restoration project, which once again provided an excellent opportunity for Griffith’s Estuarine Ecology students to get some hands-on experience! You can check out the segment here.
MARCH 2023
Mollie has taken the plunge and has relocated to St Andrews to complete her PhD! Welcome to Scotland, Mollie!
January 2023
Big lab news! Carmel has moved to the Scottish Oceans Institute, University of St Andrews, to take up a new lectureship position! The research group will be a St Andrews/Griffith hybrid for a while…..
November 2022
Congratulations to Brett on passing his confirmation! Great work!
Molluscs 2022 went off without a hitch! Well, any major ones anyway. Congratulations to Mollie and Ya on presenting their first conference posters, and Niki, Lorelle, Brett and Marina on presenting their first conference talks.
October 2022
Congratulations Clarissa on passing your confirmation!
We had a great time at the ARI forum! Time to update the lab photo (missing Lorelle and Brett!). For those wondering, the dinner theme was ‘music through the decades’.
Brenton’s paper on Assassins and Apples (of the snail variety) is out! You can find it here.
September 2022
Carmel has also been in the field - oyster collecting! Thanks to Thomas and Ivan for showing her the best spots for blacklip. If anyone fancies camping we highly recommend Elim Beach!
AuGUST 2022
Marina had a productive field trip to survey the Turkey Beach shellfish reefs - huge diversity, and lots of mud! Thank you so much for OzFish for providing excellent volunteers and a boat!
Niki and Mollie have started a podcast! Check out their show here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5YUK9pFitOkDvFmyRiL81x?si=TAQzv18tQNq5ZVUHkBPJMA
June 2022
It’s been a big month for Ya as well, with confirmation complete, and abalone trials commenced. Keep up the good work, Ya! A BIG thank you to the team at CSIRO for your help with the project.
Lorelle’s second PhD paper is also out! You can find that one here.
Congratulations Marina on publication of your first PhD paper! Read it here.
MAY 2022
We all finally got to meet Brett in person! Congrats on winning the student poster prize at the CSIRO Cutting-edge Symposium on Integrated Systems Biology.
Labsters in the News! Marina, Niki and Mollie made it in to ‘Noosa Today’ for helping the Noosa Integrated Catchment Association with their oyster gardening project. Read the article here.
march 2022
Congratulations to Marina and Niki for successfully completing their PhD confirmation - major milestone achieved!
FEBRUARY 2022
Welcome Mollie! Mollie has officially begun her PhD on the evolution of immune systems in molluscs.
Griffith’s Estuarine Ecology students headed out to the OzFish base to perform the first assessment of settlement on the reef units. We were amazed at how many animals had made these ROBS their home in just 8 weeks!
NOVEmber 2021
A big CONGRATULATIONS to Mollie for being awarded First Class Honours, and for receiving a PhD scholarship for next year. We’re very glad that you will be continuing in the lab!
October 2021
Marina, Niki and Carmel at the launch of the OzFish Moreton Bay Shellfish Reef Restoration Project. That’s a lot of shell! Read more about the project here.
Welcome Brett! The lab welcomes our new (remote!) lab member. Brett will be based at CSIRO Hobart and will be investigating the use of filter feeders as natural eDNA sampling platforms.
September 2021
And she’s off! Farewell Tessa, we wish you all the best for your postdoc in Canada.
New paper! Congrats Jon - first PhD manuscript. You can read it here.
August 2021
Book chapter published: ‘Reproductive challenges in abalone production’. First lab publication for Ya, in collaboration with CSIRO researchers. You can find the chapter here.
july 2021
First lab PhD awarded! Congratulations Dr. Tessa Page!
Once again, lab members have had success in the Australian Rivers Institute’s 3MT competition! Congratulations to Mollie, who won people’s choice, and Jon, for second place!
May 2021
A very warm welcome to Ya Zhang, who has just joined the group to begin her PhD focusing on improving greenlip abalone aquaculture. Ya is co-supervised by Carmel McDougall and Natasha Botwright (CSIRO). Welcome Ya!
april 2021
Marina and Carmel were lucky enough to attend the 20th International Conference on Shellfish Restoration at Nelson Bay, NSW. Was fantastic to check out the remnant oyster reefs in the region. Thanks to the organisers for an awesome program!
New preprint!!! Tessa’s manuscript on the molecular responses of coralline algae to global change stressors is now online: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.18.440109v1.full.pdf+html. Thanks to Griffith University for the professional photo…
march 2021
Just published - our report on the detection of the black-scar oyster, Magallana bilineata, in northern Queensland. Check out the paper here.
February 2021
Very happy to welcome incoming PhD students Marina and Niki to the lab! Marina’s PhD will focus on shellfish reef restoration, and Niki’s on QX disease. We are looking forward to working with both of you!
January 2021
New publication! Here we use transcriptomics to demonstrate that different pearl defects have different underlying gene expression profiles. The results also hint that ciliation may play a role in biomineralisation. Check out the paper here.
November 2020
Congratulations Niki on completing your honours project entitled ‘A molecular investigation of Marteilia sydneyi in Moreton Bay’. Your results will certainly help out our local farmers. Stay tuned for the publication!
October 2020
Just published! Find out about Queensland’s oysters and their distribution in this guide. Download it here!
Congratulations to Lorelle and John on their recent publication on the type specimens and localities of Figuladra land snails. Check it out in the Memoirs of the Queensland Museum.
August 2020
Check out this blog by Lorelle about her experiences as a mature age PhD student. You can find it here.
Congratulations to Lorelle for making it to the Griffith University 3MT Final! Lorelle converts everyone she meets into a land snail lover. Excellent work with the presentation and the interview.
Oysters are awesome! Carmel got the opportunity to interview Robbie Porter from OzFish during his oyster filtration demonstration for Griffith Sustainability Week. Check out the recording here.
Finally got out on the water with Dr Simon Walker (ESP) to conduct our survey of oysters within the Noosa Estuary as part of our Noosa Biosphere Reserve Foundation project. A beautiful (but chilly) day and some excellent oyster finds. How many species? Carmel guesses four, but only genetics will tell!