Stable isotopes for you - seminar and roundtable discussion

Sponsored by RSB Directors Seminar Series:  The Stable Isotope Laboratory has served academic research and business activities in Australia and world-wide for over 50 years. The laboratory is hosted by the Farquhar group and, having enabled world-class research in plant physiology, its capabilities have mainly been associated with plant research. However, stable isotopes are natural tracers in all biological, physical and geological systems. Their use spans from elucidating global carbon, water and nitrogen cycles, to more targeted research questions concerning for example food webs and trophic levels, metabolic remobilisation by microorganisms, dating, food authentication, even medical diagnosis. In the context of climate change, stable isotopes serve as proxies and for models of past climates, as well as being tools for studying photosynthesis and improving crop agronomic traits (i.e. water use efficiency).  The Stable Isotope Laboratory is equipped to support such a wide range of isotope research, awaiting only for users to imagine it. Recently, the Stable Isotope Laboratory in ANU has partnered via the INRAe scheme LIA with the stable isotope facility in Angers-Nantes (PLI) led by Prof. Guillaume Tcherkez and Dr Illa Tea, and therefore enhancing its analytical capabilities.