Professor Mark Harrison

Biography

Mark Harrison is a Professor of Sustainable Agriculture and Manufacturing in the School of Mechanical, Medical, and Process Engineering at Queensland University of Technology, in Brisbane, Australia. Mark has extensive basic, applied, and commercial research experience, and his research is focused on conversion of agricultural wastes and residues into more valuable food, feed, fibre, fine chemical, and fuel products.  His current research projects include fibre modification to enhance digestibility in ruminants and non-ruminants, production of soluble sugar products from plant biomass, production of single cell protein using crop residues as substrates, isolation of natural plant products, bioactives, and nutraceuticals, and biomass pretreatment chemistry. Mark obtained an undergraduate degree in biochemistry from the University of Queensland in 1992. He completed his PhD (2001) at the University of Queensland, researching the molecular mechanisms by which cells transport, store, and detoxify essential metal ions. He then undertook post-doctoral work at Newcastle University (Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK) in the laboratories of Professors Nigel Robinson and Christopher Dennison, researching the biological chemistry of metalloproteins and their role in essential metal ion homeostasis. Mark returned to Australia in 2003 and was awarded a 3-year Queensland State Government Smart State Fellowship in 2004 to produce enzymes in a model plant. The development of this technology in sugarcane was a key part of the $3.8 million research collaboration between Syngenta, one of the world’s largest integrated agribusiness companies, and QUT. He has also lead research projects on integration of transgenic sugarcane into the global sugarcane production system, understanding protein stability under extreme conditions, and practical integration of enzymes into industrial systems.