Dean Jerry

Professor Dean Jerry (PhD, GAICD) is a Professor in Aquaculture and the Director of the ARC Research Hub for Supercharging Tropical Aquaculture Through Genetic Solutions and the Tropical Futures Institute, JCU Singapore. He is also the Associate Dean of Research for the College of Science and Engineering.

Professor Jerry is globally known for his work in aquaculture, with his primary area of research focus and expertise in the application of genetic technologies to the improvement of farmed aquatic species. He has worked with over 14 aquaculture species and over this time has built a large internationally recognised research team which has been instrumental in the development of genetic tools and knowledge to inform selective breeding programs for numerous tropical farmed species. He recently has also built a team in the area of aquatic animal health and established a pathogen testing facility at JCU Australia and JCU Singapore. Prof Jerry has acquired $42+ million of external funding, the majority linked to industry co-funded projects, and published 200+ scientific articles in the area of aquaculture and genetics.

As a strong advocate for the role aquaculture will play in securing humanity's future protein needs, Prof Jerry is always interested in hearing from companies and stakeholders who are seeking to conduct R&D leading to improved efficiencies in aquaculture production. He works with all types of companies from SMEs through to multi-national agribusinesses, as well as government.

Prof Jerry is also pioneering the application of environmental DNA technologies to the detection of rare and invasive aquatic organisms in Australia, and in detection of aquaculture pathogens.

Current and recent research projects with industry

Supercharging tropical aquaculture through genetic solutions, ARC Industrial Transformation Research Program (partners Cygnet Bay Pearls, Mainstream Aquaculture Group, Seafarms Group, The Company One, Seaforest, Australian Genome Research Facility, University of Queensland)

Striking gold - Determining the genetics of gold skin colour in barramundi, ARC Linkage Scheme

Pearls of wisdom - breeding for increased tolerance to juvenile pearl oyster mortality syndrome, CRC-P for Northern Australia (industry partners Cygnet Bay Pearls, Clipper Pearls)

Northern Australia Aquaculture Situational Analysis, CRC for Developing Northern Australia (partners Aust Prawn Farmers Assoc, Aust Barramundi Farmers Assoc, Blueshift Consulting, CSIRO)

Biosecurity in northern Australia prawn aquaculture, CRC for Developing Northern Australia (partners Aust Prawn Farmers Assoc)

Testing established methods of early prediction in abalone broodstock, Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (partner Aust Abalone Growers Association)

Rapid iteration selective breeding : Australia's fish to feed the world, CRC-P (lead Mainstream Aquaculture)

Breeding for scale drop resistance in barramundi Lates calcarifer - Understanding the genetic architecture of resistance, Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore Productivity Fund (partner Barramundi Asia)

Latest Book - Biology and Culture of Asian seabass Lates calcarifer, CRC Press

Areas of interest for prospective graduate students

Genomics and selective breeding of aquaculture species

Genetic audits of aquaculture species

Enviornmental DNA to detect pathogens

Recent media

This is Uni: Our food future

Supercharging northern Australian aquaculture

Can aquaculture solve the Seaspiracy

The Role of aquaculture in helping feed the world

Old school breeding and high-tech genomics to boost prawn and barramundi production

Unleashing the genetic potential of the black tiger prawn

Detecting tilapia using eDNA