Professor Matthew Tucker is the Director of the Waite Research Institute. He also chairs the University’s Institutional Biosafety Committee and serves as joint Director of the Adelaide node of Plant SynBio Australia. Prof Tucker is also an established researcher in plant biology, with expertise in plant reproduction, shoot growth, and seed development. He earned his PhD at the University of Adelaide and CSIRO Plant Industry, followed by postdoctoral research as an EMBO Fellow at the University of Freiburg in Germany. In 2015, he was awarded an ARC Future Fellowship at the University of Adelaide.
His laboratory focuses on improving crop yield, grain quality and end-use through traditional breeding, gene editing, and genetic modification. Recent research has explored cereal inflorescence, flower, and grain development. Prof Tucker is a Chief Investigator with both the ARC Training Centre for Future Crops Development and the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plants for Space.
He actively contributes to academia and industry through advisory roles, media engagement, national and international symposia, and early-career researcher training networks. His research has been supported by grants from the ARC, SAGIT, GRDC, ARDC, EMBO, and the EU. He has published over 100 scientific articles in leading journals, including Nature Plants, Nature Communications, PNAS, Developmental Cell, PLOS Genetics, New Phytologist, and Development.