Rana Ellen Munns

Rana Ellen Munns FAA and ISI highly cited,[1] is recognised as a world-leading authority on the mechanisms of salinity tolerance in crop plants.[2][3] Her primary research has been on dissecting and demonstrating the relative importance of traits that underpin salinity tolerance. She characterised the critical plant processes involved in tolerance of salinity, and showed what distinguishes salinity stress from drought stress. This work produced a highly sensitive technique for identifying salt-tolerant plants, and discovery of important genes for salt tolerance. Recently she discovered novel genes in an ancestral wheat that control the uptake of sodium and prevent it accumulating in leaves. These genes are being transferred to durum wheat and bread wheat cultivars, with the aim of improving grain yield in saline soil. The work resulted in developing a breeding line which yields 25% more than its parent on saline soils in farmers' fields.[4]

Career

BSc (Hons 1st Class) 1966 Biochemistry Department, University of Sydney
Doctor of Philosophy 1972, CSIRO Plant Physiology Unit, University of Sydney. Chloroplast Development
1973–1976 Senior Tutor, Macquarie University, NSW
1977–1980 Research Fellow, Department of Agronomy, University of Western Australia
1981–2005 Research Scientist CSIRO Plant Industry, Canberra
2005–2010 Chief Research Scientist, CSIRO Division of Plant Industry, Canberra
2011–present Honorary Fellow, CSIRO Plant Industry, Canberra[5]
2011–2013 Winthrop Research Professor, School of Plant Biology, University of Western Australia
2014–present Emeritus Professor, ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, jointly with School of Plant Biology[6]

Former Editor-in-chief of Functional Plant Biology

Honours and awards

Professional associations

Publications
  • Three patents
  • 111 journal articles

References
  1. Thomson Reuters Citation and Innovation Awards 2012 (http://ip-science.thomsonreuters.com.au/citation_innovation_awards_2012/)
  2. "Munns, Rana Ellen". Encyclopedia of Australian Science. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  3. Schachtman, Daniel P. "Rana Munns". American Society of Plant Biologists. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
  4. Munns R, James RA, Xu B, Athman A, Conn SJ, Jordans C, Byrt CS, Hare RA, Tyerman SD, Tester M, Plett D, Gilliham M (2012) Wheat grain yield on saline soils is improved by an ancestral transporter gene. Nature Biotechnology 30:360-364
  5. CSIRO (http://www.csiro.au/people/rana.munns.aspx)
  6. ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology (http://www.plantenergy.uwa.edu.au/people/)
  7. http://www.news.uwa.edu.au/201206044698/awards-and-prizes/plant-biologist-wins-national-award
  8. Australian Society of Plant Scientists Past Presidents (http://www.asps.org.au/about/past-presidents)
  9. "Honours and awards to Fellows | Australian Academy of Science". www.science.org.au. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
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