Associate Professor
Roberto Barrero Gumiel

Biography

Associate Prof. Roberto Barrero, Ph.D., MSc., completed his Ph.D. at The University of Tokyo, Japan in 2002 and has postdoctoral bioinformatics research experience in Japan.  He held a research Assistant Professor position at the National Institute of Genetics,  Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI (2004 -2006; Mishima, Japan) and a research position in Bioinformatics and Genomics at the Murdoch University (2006-2018; Perth, Australia) before becoming Associate Professor at the Queensland University of Technology (2019-present) where he leads an eResearch-Bioinformatics team providing research support and training to QUT researchers.  Roberto's research, in partnership with the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, is on the use of  genomics technologies and scalable end-to-end Bioinformatics workflows to accelerate routine phytosanitary testing of plant viruses and viroids in imported horticulture commodities to Australia.  Accelerating safe and robust post entry quarantine diagnostics will provide rapid access to new genetics to diverse plant industries enabling them to maintain and gain access to local and overseas high value markets.  Roberto's team continues to develop innovative R&D strategies to enhance Australia's Biosecurity System and contribute achieving Australia's Agriculture 2030 vision to increase the value of the sector to $100B and protecting Australia's Food Security.