Frazer Noble
Doctor of Philosophy, (Microbiology and genetics)
Study Completed: 2013
College of Sciences
Citation
Thesis Title
A Novel, Neuroscience-based Control Paradigm for Wearable Assistive Devices
Read article at Massey Research Online: 
The rumen is the modified fore-stomach of ruminants like cows and sheep. It is heavily colonised by bacteria that break down the ingested plant material that would otherwise be indigestible by the ruminant animal. Most rumen bacteria have never been cultured in the laboratory, and remain unstudied. Ms Noel used a new cultivation approach and modern molecular biology methods to study rumen bacteria in New Zealand dairy cows. She was able to culture over 1000 strains of rumen bacteria and showed that these represented a large part of the uncultured species diversity in the rumen. Over 100 potentially new species were discovered. These newly cultured rumen bacteria now form an important resource that can be used to help understand rumen function, potentially leading to greater productivity, lower environmental impacts, and novel biological products.
Supervisors
Professor Johan Potgieter
Professor Peter Xu