Professor J William O Ballard
- Position: Professor and Head of School
- Room: 229/217, Biological Sciences
- Phone: (+61 2) 9385 2029
- Fax: (+61 2) 9385 1483
- email: w.ballard@unsw.edu.au
Ballard Lab Website: http://billb.babs.unsw.edu.au/
Professional Experience
- 2001-2006: Professor, University of Iowa, Iowa City
- 1998-2001: Pritzker Curator, The Field Museum, Chicago, IL
- 1995-1998: Assistant Curator, The Field Museum, Chicago, IL
Research Contribution
Ballard's research is focused but has broad application in the fields of population genetics and ageing. He has published significant invited reviews e.g. Ballard and Rand (2005), Ballard and Whitlock (2004). Notable among these is Ballard and Whitlock, which has been cited over 280 times and is now recognised as an ISI Citation Classic.
In the field of population genetics his work has informed the debate questioning whether biological species can be defined on the basis of mitochondrial DNA (Ballard and Rand (2005), Ballard (2004) and Ballard and Whitlock (2004)). He was the first to show that mtDNA can influence multiple life-history traits, including lifespan, development time, physical activity and frequency of genotypes in population cages (James and Ballard (2003), Ballard et al. (2007)). Examination of the evolutionary forces that influence mitochondrial DNA continues to be relevant with the increasing use of 'DNA Barcoding' to describe species diversity.
In the field of ageing he has questioned how and why specific mutations influence bioenergetics. He has recently published the quaternary structure model of Drosophila Complex IV of the electron transport chain. This enables him to make functional predictions of specific mutations (ref #6). Over the past five years, he has developed a battery of assays necessary for the detection of bioenergetic differences within a single species of Drosophila (Ballard et al. (2007), Melvin and Ballard (2006) and Ballard et al. (2007)). These assays will be used in future studies linking bioenergetics with diet. In February 2008 he collaborated on a PNAS paper that was the first use of the Geometric Framework to explore diet restriction and longevity in Drosophila (Lee et al. (2008)).
Honours & Awards
- Foundation Director Roy J Carver Centre for Comparative Genomics University of Iowa
- Pritzker Chair of Biosystematics Field Museum, Chicago, USA
- NSF CAREER Special Creativity Extension. NOTE: The Special Creativity Extension is unsolicited and is extremely rare. It followed an NSF CAREER Grant that was ranked the highest in its round.
- NH&MRC CJ Martin Postdoctoral Fellow
Active Research Projects
- Bioenergetics and Mitochondrial Metabolism
- Coevolution of Hosts and their Symbionts
- Dietary Restriction and Longevity
- Genetic Variation in the Amphipod Zeidler's Melita
- Molecular Systematics of Aedes Mosquitoes
Publications
- Lee, K.P., S.J. Simpson, F.J. Clissold, R. Brooks, J.W.O Ballard, and D.Raubenheimer. (2008)
- Lifespan and reproduction in Drosophila: new insights from nutritional geometry
- Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. U.S.A 105: 2498-2503
- Melvin, R.G., S.D. Katewa, and J.W.O. Ballard. (2008)
- A candidate complex approach to study functional mitochondrial DNA changes: Sequence variation and quaternary structure modeling of Drosophila simulans cytochrome c oxidase.
- J. Mol. Evol. 66(3):232-242
- Kenny MC, Wilton AN and Ballard, JWO (2008)
- Seasonal trade-off between starvation resistance and cold resistance in temperate wild-caught Drosophila simulans.
- Australian Journal of Entomology 47: 20-23
- Ballard, JW., Melvin, RG. & Simpson, SJ. (2008)
- Starvation resistance is positively correlated with body lipid proportion in five wild caught Drosophila simulans populations
- Journal of Insect Physiology, 54(9): 1371 - 1376
- Chung, P., Hyne, R., Mann, R. & Ballard, JW. (2008)
- Genetic and life-history trait variation of the amphipod Melita plumulosa from polluted and unpolluted waterways in eastern Australia
- Science of the Total Environment, 403(1-3): 222-229
- Van Voorhies, WA., Melvin, RG., Ballard, JW. & Williams, J. (2008)
- Validation of manometric microrespirometers for measuring oxygen consumption in small arthropods
- I Journal of Insect Physiology, 54(7): 1132-1137
- Ballard, J.W.O., R.G.Melvin, J.Miller, T. and S.D. Katewa. (2007)
- Sex differences in survival and disparity of mitochondrial bioenergetics in Drosophila simulans .
- Aging Cell 6: 699-708.
- Ballard, J.W.O., R.G Melvin, S.D. Katewa, and K.Maas. (2007)
- Mitochondrial DNA variation is associated with measurable differences in life history traits and mitochondrial metabolism in Drosophila simulans.
- Evolution 61: 1735-1747.
- Ballard, JW., Katewa, S., Melvin, RG. & Chan, G. (2007)
- Comparative analysis of mitochondrial genotype and aging
- Annals of New York Academy of Sciences, 1114. 93-106
- Ballard, JW. & Melvin, RG. (2007)
- Tetracycline treatment influences mitochondrial metabolism and mtDNA density two generations after treatment in Drosophila
- Insect Molecular Biology, 16(6): 799-802
- Melvin, RG., Van Voorhies, WA. & Ballard, JW. (2007)
- Working harder to stay alive: Metabolic rate increases with age in Drosophila simulans but does not correlate with life span
- Journal of Insect Physiology, 53: 1300-1306
- Katewa, S. & Ballard, JW. (2007)
- Sympatric Drosophila simulans flies with distinct mtDNA show age related differences in mitochondrial metabolism
- Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 37: 923-932
- Melvin, R.G. and J.W.O. Ballard. (2006)
- Intraspecific variation in survival and mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation in wild-caught Drosophila simulans.
- Ageing Cell 5: 225-233.
- Ballard, J.W.O. and D. M. Rand. (2005)
- The population biology of mitochondrial DNA and its phylogenetic implications.
- Ann. Rev. Ecol. Evol. Syst.36: 621-642
- Ballard, JW. (2005)
- Drosophila simulans as a novel model for studying mitochondrial metabolism and aging
- Experimental Gerontology, 40(10): 763-773
- Ballard, J.W.O. (2004)
- Sequential evolution of a symbiont inferred from the host: Wolbachia and Drosophila simulans.
- Mol. Biol. Evol. 21: 428-442.
- Ballard, J.W.O. and M.C. Whitlock. (2004)
- The incomplete natural history of mitochondria.
- Mol. Ecol.13: 729-744.
- James, A.C. and J.W.O. Ballard. (2003)
- Mitochondrial genotype affects fitness in Drosophila simulans.
- Genetics 164: 173-186.
- Dean, M. D., K. J.Ballard, A. Glass A., and J. W. O. Ballard. (2003)
- Influence of two Wolbachia strains on population structure of east African Drosophila simulans.
- Genetics 16: 159-169.