Who we are
eDNA frontiers continues to grow and evolve. Our team consists of highly experienced and motivated personnel who would be pleased to assist you. For new service or general enquiries, you can contact the eDNA Frontiers team on the group email eDNAFrontiers@curtin.edu.au, or contact one of the team below
Mr Shane Herbert – Business Development Manager
Shane is the primary point of contact for clients seeking new work and project communication, and is the main interface between users and the technical team. His responsibilities include the development of new national and international clients across the expanding range of eDNA applications, and establishing the business infrastructure, financial management and marketing of eDNA frontiers. Shane has over 20 years experience working for genomic and proteomic service providers and commercial companies.
Phone: +61 8 9266 4119 / +61 466 837 484
Email: Shane.Herbert@curtin.edu.au
Dr Kathryn (Kat) Dawkins – Operations Manager
Kat is an experienced Research Scientist and Operations manager for eDNA frontiers having responsibilities for the resourcing, quality control, and operating logistics of the service team. Kat and the team analyse eDNA samples using metabarcoding and next generation sequencing to generate species diversity profiles, provide baseline audits and to identify organisms of biosecurity interest for the resources sector. Kat has 13 years’ experience working on molecular biology applications including conservation genetics, species delineation, and detection of rare species.
Phone: +61 8 9266 5263
Email: Kat.Dawkins@curtin.edu.au
Ms Melissa Borges Rodriguez – Administrative Assistant
Melissa is responsible for client interface, shipping logistics, purchasing, general administration and organisation of the lab. Melissa has had more than 20 years of professional administrative experience from a broad range of industries including various government departments and the resources industry.
Phone: +61 8 9266 5260
Email: melissa.borgesrodriguez@curtin.edu.au
Dr Miwa Takahasi – Research and Development Scientist
Miwa leads eDNA frontiers research interests, community engagement program, and oversees the conversion of eDNA frontiers data into academic publications. She is also responsible for establishing data analysis, method innovation and collaborations.
Phone: +61 8 9266 3373
Email: Miwa.Takahasi@curtin.edu.au
Ms Georgia Peverley – Research Assistant
Georgia is responsible for processing samples in the wet-lab and assisting with daily operations.
Dr Mahsa Mousavi
Mahsa is a bioinformatician with wide experiences in analysing various types of next-generation sequencing data, including genotyping-by-sequencing for population genetics, whole-genome and metabarcoding sequencing. As part of her role, she develops bioinformatic pipelines, analyses data and provides bioinformatics support for team members. Currently, she is developing an internal database for eDNA frontiers to store taxa information found by the group’s assays.
Email: s.mousavid@curtin.edu.au
Dr Tina Berry – Research Assistant
Tina is responsible for processing samples in the wet-lab and assisting with daily operations.
Email: tina.berry@curtin.edu.au