Jack Hervey
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Role at Cawthron
Jack is a molecular biologist in the Food & Bioactives team at Cawthron. He leads the MBIE-funded Smart Ideas project ‘XNA-based biosensors for low-cost marine toxin screening’, which focuses on the development of the next generation of rapid-testing for the detection of toxins that contaminate kaimoana, produced by harmful algal blooms. Jack’s work at Cawthron also covers the development of metabolomic and multi-omic platforms to extend the analytical capabilities at Cawthron and support the wider research efforts across the Institute. These tools can be used for the simultaneous measurement of many compounds to study metabolic regulatory networks and identify bioactive compounds. Jack will use these techniques to study the metabolism of microalgae and seaweeds, with potential applications in seafood safety, novel foods, and biotechnology. Jack has particular interests in synthetic biology, photosynthetic organisms, and biotechnology for sustainability research projects.
Technical skills, experience and interests
- Biotechnology and synthetic biology
- Systems biology
- Bioremediation
- Metabolism and photosynthesis
- Protein and metabolite extraction
- Genetic engineering of microorganisms
- Bioinformatics and high-throughput data analysis
Qualifications
- PhD, Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, U.K. 2020
- BSc Plant Biotechnology (Hons, 1st Class), University of Otago, New Zealand, 2013