Dr Antony van der Ent works in the fields of ecophysiology and biogeochemistry and his research focuses on trace element regulation in plants. More specifically, Antony's research concentrates on trace element hyperaccumulator plants (especially those occurring in tropical regions), and the use of advanced analytical techniques based on X-rays for characterising the in situ metallome of plants. With this research, Antony aims to support the development of novel phytotechnologies that make use of the unique properties of hyperaccumulator plants, including phytoremediation and agromining. Antony's research bridges systematics, ecology and physiology of plants and is highly collaborative in nature. He works closely with plant taxonomists, ecologists, agronomists and X-ray physicists in order to advance understanding of the regulation of trace elements in plants. He has developed expertise in the application of cutting-edge synchrotron and microprobe techniques to probe the distribution and coordination chemistry of plants. Antony has successfully used these synchrotron and laboratory-based X-ray fluorescence Spectroscopy (XRF) methods not only to hyperaccumulator plants, but also to crop plants, such as sunflower and soybean. Antony's work has led to major discoveries yielding significant advances in knowledge in the field, including pioneering work on tropical nickel hyperaccumulator plants leading to the discovery of 400 new hyperaccumulator species and 16 plant species new to science.
I joined UQ as a PhD candidate in 2010, following on he was employed as a postdoctoral research fellow between The University of Queensland and the University of Lorraine in France. He was subsequently granted an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (2016–2018) to undertake research on the ecophysiology of tropical (nickel) hyperaccumulator plants. Following on, he received a University of Queensland Amplify Fellowship (2019–2020), was then a Senior Research Fellow and moved permanently to The Netherlands in 2022 to join Wageningen University & Research. Currently, he is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at The University of Queensland.
Featured projects | Duration |
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Pathways of Nickel Accumulation in Tropical Hyperaccumulator Plant Species (New Caledonia) |