Curriculum vitae- Dr. Iain Searle
Curriculum Vitae
Personal Details
Name: Iain Robert Searle
Country of birth and current residence: Australia
University Education:
 PhD research: Departments of Biochemistry and School of Food and Land
Sciences, University of Queensland. Supervisor Assoc. Prof. Carroll. Awarded in
2004
 Undergraduate: Bachelor of Agricultural Science (First Class Honours) Major in
Molecular and Quantitative Genetics, University of Queensland, Brisbane,
Australia.
Research Experience post PhD:
 ARC Future Fellow and Laboratory Head (July 2014-current) The University of
Adelaide, School of Medical and Biomedical Sciences and School of Agriculture
Food and Wine, Adelaide, Australia.
 ARC QEII Research Fellow and Laboratory Head (The University of Adelaide,
School of Medical and Biomedical Sciences and School of Agriculture Food and
Wine Adelaide (March 2013- June 2014), The Australian National University,
Research School of Biology, Canberra, Australia (October 2009- February 2013).
 Wellcome Trust Value-in-People Research Fellow (October 2008- September
2009) University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
 Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow (March 2006- September 2008) The Sainsbury
Laboratory, John Innes Centre, Norwich, United Kingdom.
 Postdoctoral Fellow (April 2002- February 2006) Max Planck Institute for Plant
Breeding Research, Dept of Plant Developmental Biology, Koeln, Germany.
Research Publications:
 Widespread occurrence and conservation of tRNA and rRNA RNA methylation in
the kingdom Plantae. Burgess, A., David, R., and Searle, I. under review at BMC
Biology (16/11/2014).
 microRNAs complement DNA methylation in controlling developmental
canalization in the honeybee female and male castes. Ashby, A., Foret, S.,
Searle, I., Maleska, R. under review at Nature Communications (09/10/2014).
 Cazzonelli, C.I., Vanstraelen, M., Simon, S., Yin, K., Carron-Arthur, A., Nisar, N.,
Tarle, G., Cuttriss, A.J., Searle, I.R., Benkova, E., Mathesius, U., Masle, J., Friml,
J., Pogson, B.J. (2013) PLoS One. 8(7): e70069.
 Campoli, C., Drosse, B., Searle, I., Coupland, G., von Korff, M. (2012) Functional
characterisation of HvCO1, the barley (Hordeum vulgare) flowering time ortholog
of CONSTANS. Plant J 69(5): 868-880.
 Castro, M. I., Loef, I, Bartetzko, L., Searle, I., Coupland, G., Stitt, M., Osuna, D.
(2011) Nitrate regulates floral induction in Arabidopsis, acting independently of
light, gibberellin and autonomous pathways. Planta 233(3): 539-552.
 Searle, I.R., Pontes, O., Melnyk, C.W., Smith, L.M., Baulcombe, D.C. (2010)
JMJ14, A JmjC domain protein, is required for RNA silencing and cell-to-cell
movement of an RNA silencing signal in Arabidopsis. Genes & Development
24(10): 986-991.
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Curriculum vitae- Dr. Iain Searle
 Indrasumunar, A., Searle, I., Lin, M., Kereszt, A., Men, A., Carroll, B., Gresshoff,
P. (2010) Nodulation Factor Receptor Kinase 1α Controls Nodule Organ Number
in Soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.). Plant J 65(1): 39-50.
 Indrasumunar, A., Kereszt, A., Searle, I. Miyagi, M., Li, D., Nguyen, C.D., Men,
A., Carroll, B.J. and Gresshoff, P.M. (2010) Inactivation of duplicated nod factor
receptor (NFR5) genes in recessive loss-of-function non-nodulation mutants of
allotetraploid soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.). Plant Cell Physiology 21(2): 201214.
 Huang, L., Jones, A., Searle, I., Patel, K., Vogler, H., Hubner, N.C., Baulcombe,
D. (2009) An atypical RNA polymerase involved in RNA silencing shares small
subunits with RNA polymerase II. Nature Structural Molecular Biology 16(1):
91-93.
 Smith, L., Pontes, O., Searle, I., Elina, N., Yousafzai, F. K., Herr, A. J., Pikaard,
C. S. Baulcombe, D. (2007) An SNF2 protein associated with nuclear RNA
silencing and spread of a silencing signal between cells in Arabidopsis. Plant
Cell 19 (5): 1507-1521.
 Corbesier, L., Vincent, C., Jang, S., Fornara, F., Fan, Q., Searle, I., Giakountis,
A., Forrona, Gissot, L., Turnbull, C., Coupland, G. (2007) FT protein movement
contributes to long-distance signaling in floral induction in Arabidopsis. Science
316(5827): 1030-1033.
 Searle, I. R., Yuehui, H., Turck, F., Vincent, C., Fornara, F., Kroeber, S.,
Amasino, R., Coupland, G. (2006) The transcription factor FLC confers a
flowering response to vernalisation by repressing meristem competence and
systemic signalling in Arabidopsis. Genes & Development 20(7): 898-912.
 Benwith, K., Searle*, I., Ravenscroft, D., Koncz, C., Batschauer, A., Coupland,
G., Sommisch, I., Ulker, B. (2005) A rapid one-step nucleic acid extraction
procedure and a polymorphic DNA marker set between Arabidopsis accessions
Columbia and Landsberg. Plant Methods 1(1): 4
 Searle, I. R., Men, A. E., Laniya, T. S., Buzas, D. M., Ormaetxe, I. T., Carroll, B.
J. and Gresshoff, P. M. (2003) Long-Distance Signaling in Nodulation Directed
by a CLAVATA1-like Receptor Kinase. Science 299: 109-112.
 Men, A.E., Laniya, T.S., Searle, I. R., Iturbe-Ormaetxe, I., Gresshoff, I., Jiang, Q.,
Carroll, B.J. and Gresshoff, P.M. (2003) Fast neutron mutagenesis of soybean
(Glycine soja L.) produces a supernodulating mutant containing a large deletion
in linkage group H. Genome Letters 1: 1-9
 Waldron, J., Peace, C., Searle, I. R., Furtado, A., Wade, N., Graham, M., Carroll,
B. J. (2002) Randomly Amplified DNA Fingerprinting (RAF): a culmination of DNA
marker technologies based on arbitrary PCR amplification. Journal of
Biomedicine and Biotechnology 2(3): 1-10.
 May, K. J., Whisson, S. C., Zwart, R. S., Searle, I. R., Irwin, J. A. G., Maclean, D.
J., Carroll, B. J. and Drenthe, A. (2002) Inheritance and mapping of eleven
avirulence genes in Phytophthora sojae. Fungal Genetics and Biology 37 (1):
1-12.
 Schenk, G., Ge, Y., Carrington, L. E., Wynne, C. J., Searle, I. R., Carroll, B. J.,
Hamilton, S., de Jersey, J. (1999) Binuclear Metal Centers in Plant Purple Acid
Phosphatases: Fe-Mn in Sweet Potato and Fe-Zn in Soybean. Archives of
Biochemistry and Biophysics 370 (2): 183-189.
* Joint first author
Invited Reviews or Commentaries:
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Curriculum vitae- Dr. Iain Searle
 Burgess, A. and Searle, I. (2011) The clock primes defense at dawn.
Immunology and Cell Biology, 89: 661-662.
 Gursanscky, N., Searle, I., Carroll, B. J. (2011) Mobile microRNAs hit their target.
Traffic, doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0854.2011.01253.x.
 Searle, I., Mosher, R., Melnyk, C., Baulcombe, D. (2007) Gene Silencing: the
Biology of Small RNAs and the Epigenome - New Phytologist, 174(3): 479-82.
 Searle, I. R., Coupland, G. (2004) Induction of flowering by seasonal changes in
photoperiod, EMBO J. 2004; 23(6): 1217-22.
Provisional Patent Application
 Method for creating wide crosses in agricultural crops, Inventors Lohe & Searle
(PCT6864484) Submitted in 2013.
Invited keynote and other addresses (in the last 6 years)
International meetings
 QMB Plant Molecular Biology meeting, invited speaker, part travel and all
registration and accommodation expenses paid (Queenstown, 2014)
 3rd International Symposium on Plant Reproductive Development, all travel,
accommodation and registration expenses paid, invited session speaker
(Shanghai, 2013)
 Japan Australia Joint Symposium on Plant Sciences for Agriculture- Keynote
speaker, all travel and registration expenses paid (Hokkaido, 2012)
 International Botanical Congress- invited session speaker (Melbourne, 2011)
 Emerging Topics in Plant Sciences Meeting- invited session speaker (Oxford,
2008)
National meetings
 Epigenomics in the Capital- invited session speaker (Canberra, 2012)
 Genetics society of Australasia annual meeting- invited session speaker
(Canberra, 2009)
Review editorial board member
 Frontiers in Plant Genetic and Genomics
Ad hoc scientific reviewer for
 The Plant Cell
 The Plant Journal
 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
 Nature
 Science
Competitive grants awarded:
 GRDC E-Innovation award- EzyCross- Investigator Searle (2013)
 CSIRO SEIF top-up PhD scholarship- Investigators Searle and Helliwell (20112013)
 ARC Discovery Grant DP110103805- Investigators Searle, Tremethick and
Helliwell (2011-2013)
 ARC Discovery Grant DP0988846- Investigator Searle (2009-2014)
 QEII ARC Independent Fellowship DP0988846- Searle (2009-2014)
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Curriculum vitae- Dr. Iain Searle
 Wellcome Trust Value-In-People Award- Searle (2008-2009)
 Epigenome travel scholarship- Searle (2007)
 Marie Curie International Incoming Fellowship- Searle (2006-2007)
Translation grant(s) awarded:
 ANU Connect Ventures, Direct Translation Fund- Investigators Lohe and Searle
(2012)
Conference posters presented at international meetings (in the last five years):
 Jones, A., Searle, I. Identification of long non-coding RNAs in developing siliques
of Arabidopsis thaliana. Keystone meeting on RNA silencing. Whistler, Canada,
(2013).
 Searle, I., Smith, L., Baulcombe, D. Identification of two novel histone modifying
proteins required for RNA silencing in Arabidopsis. 2nd European conference on
MicroRNAs: Biology to Development and Disease. Cambridge, UK (2007).
Teaching activities (ANU)
 BIOL3161- Genomics and it’s Applications (2010-2012)
 BIOL3181- Developmental and Molecular Biology (2010, 2011)
 BIOL2162- Molecular Biotechnology, (2010- 2012)
 BIOL3208- Research Project, (2011)
 BIOL8703- Master research proposal, (2011)
 Advanced Study Course- PhB student elective, (2012)
Formal mentoring of ANU PhB (Bachelor of Philosophy) students
 Samantha Lambe (2nd year undergraduate student at ANU)
 Imogen Moran (3rd year undergraduate student at ANU)
Course Convenorship (ANU
 PhB Biology Program (Semester 1 2012)
Teaching activities (community)
 Teacher Scientists Network- Swaffham Primary School (UK, 2006, 2007)
 Scientists in School- North Ainslie Primary School (AUS, 2011, 2012)
Professional Memberships
 Genetics society of AustralAsia
 The Genetics Society (UK)
 Australian Society of Plant Biologists
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