Cecilia Villacorta Rath

Cecilia is passionate about using genetic tools for the sustainable management of aquatic and terrestrial resources. She is currently working on a range of projects using the environmental DNA (eDNA) technique for biosecurity and conservation purposes. Cecilia is trailing field methods and conducting laboratory experiments testing the persistence and detectability of eDNA of an array of species of conservation and management significance, in freshwater and marine, as well as terrestrial ecosystems. She is working towards engaging non-specialists, including Indigenous ranger groups, for sample collection in remote areas of northern Australia.

Cecilia has previously worked on a wide variety of research topics, ranging from larval fish and seagrass ecology to invertebrate genomics. At James Cook University she pursued MSc in Marine Biology studying the factors affecting growth during early life stages of a reef-associated pelagic fish. She then worked for the Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation of Queensland conducting seagrass monitoring along the northern and central Queensland coast. In 2013 Cecilia moved to Hobart to start a PhD at the University of Tasmania. Using next-generation sequencing (NGS) Cecilia investigated the patterns of larval dispersal of the Southern rock lobster in southeast Australia.