People

Professor David Miller received his PhD from the University of Kent at Canterbury in 1980. He was a Postdoctoral Research Assistant at Bristol University between 1980 and 1982 and a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Adelaide between 1982 and 1984. He joined James Cook University as a Reader in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 1996.

Research Interests

• Using flies to understand the function of coral gene
• Coral spawning
• Dinoflagellate genetics
• Evolutionary genetics
• Microarrays of coral genes
• Evo – Devo: the evolution of developmental mechanisms

Grants

• Australian Research Council – Centres of Excellence, “ARC Centre of Excellence – Innovative science for sustainable management of coral reef biodiversity”, $19million over 11 years
• Australian Research Council – Discovery – Projects, “The transcriptome, genome and metagenome of Acropora millepora: a model system for studying coral health and disease”, $400,000 over 3 years
• Australian Academy of Science – Japan Society for the Promotion of Science invitation fellowship (short term), “Molecular genetics and genomics of corals and other “lower” animals”, $1,639

ResearchOnline @ JCU

Selected publications:

Lin M, Moya A, Ying H, Chen C, Cooke I, Ball E, Forȇt S and Miller D (2017) Analyses of corallimorpharian transcriptomes provide new perspectives on the evolution of calcification in the Scleractinia (corals). Genome Biology and Evolution, 9 (1). pp. 150-160

Mohamed A, Cumbo V, Harii S, Shinzato C, Chan C, Ragan M, Bourne D, Willis B, Ball E, Satoh N and Miller D (2016) The transcriptomic response of the coral Acropora digitifera to a competent Symbiodinium strain: the symbiosome as an arrested early phagosome. Molecular Ecology, 25 (13). pp. 3127-3141

Moya A, Howes E, Lacoue-Labarthe T, Forêt S, Hanna B, Medina M, Munday P, Ong J, Teyssié J, Torda G, Watson S, Miller D, Bijma J and Gattuso J (2016) Near-future pH conditions severely impact calcification, metabolism and the nervous system in the pteropod Heliconoides inflatus.Global Change Biology, 22 (12). pp. 3888-3900

Moya A, Sakamaki K, Mason B, Huisman L, Forêt S, Weiss Y, Bull T, Tomii K, Imai K, Hayward D, Ball E and Miller D (2016) Functional conservation of the apoptotic machinery from coral to man: the diverse and complex Bcl-2 and caspase repertoires of Acropora millepora. BMC Genomics, 17. pp. 1-20

Bertucci A, Forêt S, Ball E and Miller D (2015) Transcriptomic differences between day and night in Acropora millepora provide new insights into metabolite exchange and light-enhanced calcification in corals. Molecular Ecology, 24 (17). pp. 4489-4504

Hayward D, Grasso L, Saint R, Miller D and Ball E (2015) The organizer in evolution–gastrulation and organizer gene expression highlight the importance of Brachyury during development of the coral, Acropora millepora. Developmental Biology, 399 (2). pp. 337-347

Lutz A, Raina J, Motti C, Miller D and van Oppen M (2015) Host coenzyme Q redox state is an early biomarker of thermal stress in the coral Acropora millepora. PLoS ONE, 10 (10). pp. 1-18

Moya A, Huisman L, Fêret S, Gattuso J, Hayward D, Ball E and Miller D (2015) Rapid acclimation of juvenile corals to CO2-mediated acidification by upregulation of heat shock protein and Bcl-2 genes. Molecular Ecology, 24 (2). pp. 438-452

Sakamaki K, Imai K, Tomii K and Miller D (2015) Evolutionary analyses of caspase-8 and its paralogs: deep origins of the apoptotic signaling pathways. BioEssays, 37 (7). pp. 767-776

Bosch T, Adamska M, Augustin R, Domazet-Loso T, Foret S, Fraune S, Funayama N, Grasis J, Hamada M, Hatta M, Hobmayer B, Kawai K, Klimovich A, Manuel M, Shinzato C, Technau U, Yum S and Miller D (2014) How do environmental factors influence life cycles and development? An experimental framework for early-diverging metazoans. BioEssays, 36 (12). pp. 1185-1194

Kitahara M, Lin M, Forêt S, Huttley G, Miller D and Chen C (2014) The “naked coral” hypothesis revisited: evidence for and against Scleractinian monophyly. PLoS One, 9 (4). pp. 1-13

Lin M, Kitahara M, Luo H, Tracey D, Geller J, Fukami H, Miller D and Chen C (2014) Mitochondrial genome rearrangements in the Scleractinia/Corallimorpharia complex: implications for coral phylogeny. Genome Biology and Evolution, 6 (5). pp. 1086-1095

Full List of Publications