Dr Simon Potter - Ensis Genetics

Dr Simon Potter was the General Manager of Ensis Genetics whilst Ensis was an unincorporated joint venture and now represents the Australian group in tree breeding and genetic research.  Genetics research focus on the marriage between genomics and phenomics for future forests.

Area of Expertise

Dr Potter’s research interest is in the capacity for cutting-edge molecular genetics technologies to transform the traditional forest and forest products industry. Techniques such as association mapping, high-throughput genotyping, phenomics and bioinformatics all will have a transformative effect on the practice of agri-forestry and plantation research, enabling fit-for-purpose forests to be developed with specific uses and products in mind. 

Such techniques will also allow very early evaluation of superior planting stock, enabling greater efficiencies in the forest growing sector of the value chain.

Background

Prior his current appointment, Dr Potter was Deputy General Manager for Ensis Wood Quality up until May 2007.
Dr Potter joined CSIRO in 2004 after working for seven years with the Pulp and Paper Research Institute of Canada (Paprican).

Academic qualifications

• Dr Potter has a Doctor of Philosophy in Molecular Biology from the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.

Awards and achievements

1. In 2006, Dr Potter was awarded the Gottstein Fellowship, which enabled him to spend two weeks in Tennessee, USA, studying a technique called Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) - a fast, non-destructive evaluation technology that looks at the inorganic components of wood chemistry.
2. In 2005, Dr Potter was part of the team who won the CSIRO Corporate Award for Business Excellence in recognition of securing the sale of the SilviScan™ system to Canada.
3. Dr Potter is a member of the Technical Association of Pulp and Paper Industry in the United States (TAPPI) and the Poplar Genome Science Council.

Find out more about Ensis's work with Genetics.