Associate Professor Fiona Young

Academic Status

College of Medicine and Public Health

fiona.young@flinders.edu.au

Flinders Medical Centre

GPO Box 2100, Adelaide 5001, South Australia

After 30 years association with Flinders University, and the last 20 (part-time) years devoted to research and teaching in Biotechnology, I have retired to pursue long-standing interests in writing and environmental conservation. I continue to hold adjunct academic status.

Qualifications

BSc. (Hons), PGCE, PhD

Honours, awards and grants

Awards

Sandoz Junior Scientist Award (1992) Awarded by the Endocrine Society of Australia

CoOp Bookshop Dialogica Award (2002) “Stems Cells & Cloning” Highly Commended published in Campus Review 2002 vol12 (44)

SA Australian Water Association (2008) Co-supervised PhD student Dina Zebian- Best Scientific Presentation for 'Blooming Problems in Water, and Possible Effects on Future Baby Booms'.

Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (2012) Memorable Conference Presentation for 'Establishment of methods & measurement of hormones in river source water and its derived potable water supply'.

Ozwater (2014) Co-supervised Honours student Anna Wilson - National Undergraduate Water Prize for “Development of rapid tools for Cryptosporidium species identification”.

Ozwater (2018) Co-supervised Honours student Sarah Aucote - National Undergraduate Water Prize for “Developing quantitative Faecal Source Tracking PCR assays targeting bacteria and mitochondria from host faeces”.

Selected Grants

2005 - 2008 Development of a BioAssay to Measure Xenoestrogens in Environmental Water Samples, Fiona Young, Andrew Humpage, Barbara Sanderson, Greg Barritt, Richard Ivell, $355,077 awarded by ARC Linkage Grant / Australian Postgraduate Award (Industry).

2006 – 2009 Effects of Cylindrospermopsin toxin on human male and female reproduction, Fiona Young & Andrew Humpage, Australian Postgraduate Award awarded by Australian CRC for Water Quality and Treatment. $95,000.

2010 Safety of recycled wastewater for end-users determined by mouse in vivo studies Fiona Young, Humpage, Blackbeard, Chapman, Leusch, Water Quality Research Australia Ltd., $150,758

2012 - 2013, Development of a novel anticancer hormone replacement therapy from a marine mollusc, Flinders Foundation, Fiona Young, Edwards, Benkendorf, $100,000.

2013 - 2014 Microarray study to elucidate the mechanism of action of a novel class of anti-cancer agents against estrogen-sensitive breast cancer cells, Blue Sky Beat Cancer, Fiona Young, Edwards, Benkendorf, Abbot, $40,000

2017 - 2019 Fiona Young, Anton Blencowie, “Bioprinted oviduct model to screen novel contraceptives”, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, US$99,900

Key responsibilities

Design, implementation and delivery of research
Supervision of research students
Coordination, design and delivery of a number of topics including Medical Biotechnology, Legal, Ethical and Social Aspects of Bioscience, and Molecular Biotechnology.

Teaching interests

Conceived, designed and organised research projects, then supervised and trained 20 students during implementation of these (9 month full time) Honours research projects, and 10 international students during their (9 month full time) Masters of Biotechnology research projects. Also supervised 9 PhD students; 2 did not complete, 2 have submitted and are being examined, and 5 have completed and graduated with PhDs (see following page).

I conceived, designed, organised and coordinated, and/or taught and assessed, the following topics:

Introduction to Biotechnology (1st year)
Genetic and Cell Biotechnology (2nd year)
Agricultural and Pharmaceutical Biotechnology (2nd year)
Legal, Ethical and Social Aspects of Bioscience (2nd year)
Environmental Biotechnology (3rd year)
Medical Biotechnology (3rd year)
Biobusiness (4th year)
Molecular Biotechnology (postgraduate Masters course)
Masters of Biotechnology Research Project

Professional engagement

Selected Invited Presentations

2005 “What is Biotechnology?”, Australian School of Mathematics and Science, Adelaide, SA

2006 “Can endocrine disrupters affect your reproductive health?” SA State Government Department of Health

2006 “What is Biotechnology?” Craigmore High School, Adelaide, SA

2007 to 2010 “The 3R’s in Action – Replacement” Flinders Animal Welfare Day

2010 "Something in the Water" Basil Hetzel Research Institute, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Adelaide, SA

2011 "Establishment of ELISA Analytical Methods" Water Quality Research Australia members meeting, Gold Coast, Queensland

2011 “Test to assess the effects of EDCs on steroid hormone biosynthesis”, EDC Workshop Satellite Symposium to EnviroTox 2011, Darwin, Northern Territory.

2011 "Anti-cancer properties of a common sea snail" FMC Foundation ‘Food for Thought’ Seminar series ’, Adelaide Casino, SA

2012 "Reproductive and toxicity preclinical testing" Workshop for the Strategic Development of Natural Medicines from Muricidae Molluscs, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW

2012, "Tales of the George River: oysters, people and politics", School of Science, Environment and Engineering, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW

2013 "AMH and fertility after cancer treatment", Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer Clinical Research Afternoon, Adelaide, SA

2015 "Wastewater-derived endocrine disrupting compounds stimulate cancer that can be treated with bioactive extracts from marine snails" International conference: Biomolecular Approach to Particulate Matter Effluxes on Human Health and its Prevention using Natural Products, Milang Islamic University, Indonesia.

2016 "Cancer and Fertility: Follicle Freeze, Store and Thaw", Scientists in Reproductive Technology Annual Meeting, Adelaide, SA

2016, "Effects of Glyphosate and Roundup on mammalian cells in vitro", Weed Management Society of SA Annual Meeting, Adelaide, SA

2019, "Interactions between wastewater particles and pathogens", NextWater WaterRA conference, Melbourne, Vic.

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Interests