Research

W/Prof Shaun Collin

Winthrop Professor/WA Premier's Research Fellow
UWA Oceans Institute

Contact details

Address

UWA Oceans Institute
The University of Western Australia (M317)
35 Stirling Highway
CRAWLEY WA 6009
Australia

Phone

6488 2632

Fax

6488 7527

Email

shaun.collin@uwa.edu.au

Location

Room 111b, Curnow Building, Crawley campus

Qualifications

BSc MSc Melb., PhD Qld

Biography

Professor Shaun P. Collin is a world leader in comparative neurobiology. He completed his BSc (Hons) and MSc at The University of Melbourne and his PhD at The University of Queensland. Using a range of vertebrate models, he has investigated the sensory systems of lampreys, elasmobranchs, teleosts, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals from a diversity of environments in order to investigate broad concepts of plasticity and adaptation. Having spent time at a large number of Universities and research institutes around the world, Professor Collin is now a West Australian Premier's Fellow at the University of Western Australia and heads a large laboratory dedicated to neuroecology and behavior of a range of vertebrates with a particular focus on sharks. He has held many of the world’s most prestigious fellowships in places such as Scripps Institution of Oceanography in the US, the Marine Biology Laboratory in Woods Hole in the US, The University of Tuebingen in Germany, the University of Montreal in Canada, the University of Washington (Friday Harbor) in the US and The University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. Prof. Collin is the author of over 150 international scientific publications on sensory systems (vision, electroreception, lateral line, olfaction, gustation and audition) of primarily aquatic vertebrates including two books.

Western Australia has an exceptionally rich biodiversity that is ranked second in the world in terms of its endemism. The habitats for native animals are unsurpassed from arid deserts to rainforests to estuarine mangroves to deep ocean canyons. Management of these different ecosystems is dependent on a sound understanding of the diverse fauna and how it is likely to fair in the face of coastal development, farming, recreation and climate change. Within every ecosystem, the ability to detect light by all living things is crucial for survival e.g. for setting circadian rhythms, avoiding predation, finding food and reproductive success. As a Premier’s Fellow, I will introduce innovative technologies combined with both basic and applied research to trace the evolution of light detection and image formation and to explore the impacts of light on biodiversity, sustainability of animals native to Western Australia and (animal and human) health. The research will galvanise existing strengths in eco-physiology, neuroscience and marine science and provide a world class international Centre of Excellence within the State. Outcomes will include a strong international network of collaborations, the development of management strategies for fisheries, commercial farming, caring for captive animals, education and public engagement.

Funding received

1991: Research funding of $5,000 for C. J. Martin Fellowship from NH&MRC.
1992: International collaborative grant from the Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC; $1.25 million) to fund scientific expedition on the RRS Challenger to trawl for deep-sea fishes to 4,000 meters in the North Atlantic Ocean.
1992: Overseas Travel Grant from the Division of Agriculture and Science, University  of Western Australia to join the RRS Challenger Cruise in Scotland ($1,650).
1992: Ian Potter Foundation grant ($2,000) and George Alexander Foundation grant ($2,000) for travel, subsistence and maintenance for the project "Ecology,  behaviour and the visual systems of demersal fishes in the Porcupine Sea Bight".
1993: Department of Psychology, University of Western Australia, Special Research Grant ($6,000) for research on the deep-sea material collected in the North Atlantic.
1993: Research funding of $52,500 ($10,500 p.a. for 5 years) for QE II Fellowship from the Australian Research Council.
1993: Department of Psychology, University of Western Australia, Resources Committee Grant of $6,000 to allow Prof. K. Negishi to spend 6 months sabbatical in collaborative research at the University of Western Australia.
1993: International collaborative grant from the Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC; $1.25 million) to fund scientific expedition on the RRS Discovery to trawl mesopelagic deep-sea fishes to a depth of 2,000 meters in the tropical Atlantic Ocean.
1993: British Council Grant (Academic Links and Interchange Scheme) of $3,000 for travel to London and onto join scientific expedition ("Photobiology and Vision") off the West coast of Africa on board the RRS Discovery 14th October - 1st November 1993.
1993: Ian Potter Foundation grant ($2,000) and George Alexander Foundation grant ($2,000) for travel, subsistence and maintenance for the project "Photobiology and Vision in Deep-sea Fishes".
1994: Clive and Vera Ramaciotti Foundation grant-in-aid ($10,000) for the purchase of an image analysis system.
1994: Project grant from NH&MRC ($120,800) for the project "Transient neural  projections in the developing visual system".
1994: ARC Small Grant ($86,654) for 3 years for the project "Vision in Deep-sea Fishes: Retinal Specialisations, Visual Fields, and Binocular Visual Pathways".
1994: Overseas Travel Grant ($1,650) from the Faculty of Science and the Departments of Psychology and Zoology, University of Western Australia.
1995: National Health and Medical Research Council Program Grant (one of four principle investigators – Beazley, Dunlop and Harman) to study the "Development and regeneration of the vertebrate visual system". ($0.5 million per year for 5 years).
1995: Distinguished Visitors Grant from the Faculty of Science, University of Western Australia ($2,000) to invite Professor John D. Pettigrew FRS to the Department of Zoology to continue our research collaboration.
1995: Travel, subsistence and maintenance grants from the Ian Potter ($1,000) and George Alexander ($1,000) Foundations, Melbourne, Australia for the project "Vision and Bioluminescence in the Deep-sea" on board the RRS Challenger over the Madeira Abyssal Plain.
1996: Relocation funds to transport newly acquired microspectrophotometer from Monash  University, Melbourne. $3,400 from Department of Zoology and Faculty of Science, University of Western Australia.
1998: Support Funding for the University of Western Australia for the 1st International Conference on Sensory Processing of the Aquatic environment” to be held on Heron Island, 22nd – 28th March 1999. (S. P. Collin and N. J. Marshall Organisers). $20,000.
1998: Grant-in-Aid for the upgrade of a Microspectrophotometer (J. Shand and S. P.
Collin). Faculty of Science, The University of Western Australia. $20,000.
1998: Grant-in-Aid for the upgrade of a Microspectrophotometer (J. Shand and S. P.
 Collin). Department of Zoology, The University of Western Australia. $7,000.
1998: Research Infrastructure Equipment and Facilities (RIEF) Grant (J. Marshall, J. D.
Pettigrew, I. Owens, J. H. Choat, J. Zeil, R. Mark, A. Cockburn, P. Martin, S. P.
Collin). University of Queensland $140,000.
1999: University of Queensland. Set up grant. $150,000
2001: University of Queensland Small Grant (N. J. Marshall, J. D. Pettigrew, S. P. Collin, O. Hoegh-Guldberg, A. Goldizen and I. Owens). Light in reef, rainforest and bush. An interdisciplinary approach using Australia’s first UV-MSP to examine questions from molecules to behaviour. $30,000.
2001: University of Queensland enabling grant. The evolution and development of colour vision in lampreys and lungfish: tracing the prehistoric origins of visual pigments. $15,000
2001: UQ First Link Fund Grant. Vision and remote sensing: using nature's technology to examine the health of the Great Barrier Reef and Moreton Bay. Marshall NJ, O Hoegh-Guldberg O, Dennison WC, Phinn SR, Pettigrew JD, Vaney DI, Collin SP, Bryceson K, Zeil J, Ball MC. $2,000
2001: Travel Grant, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, $3,500
2001: Travel Grant, School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Queensland. $2,000
2001: Australia Research Council RIEF Grant, Infrastructure support for the purchase of a multi-photon confocal microscope Adams DJ, Nurcombe V, Collin SP et al. $300,000
2002: Support Grant for the production of a book entitled “Sensory Processing in Aquatic Environments” (SP Collin and NJ Marshall Editors), School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Queensland, $2,000
2002: Australian Research Council Discovery Grant, SP Collin, AEO Trezise, NJ Marshall, DM Hunt, IC Potter, The evolution of colour vision in vertebrates. ARC Discovery grant (3 years) $345,000
2002: Australian Research Council Linkage Grant, NJ Marshall, O Hoegh-Guldberg, WC Dennison, SR Phinn, JD Pettigrew, DI Vaney, SP Collin, K Bryceson, J Zeil, MC Ball Vision and remote sensing: using nature's technology to examine the health of the Great Barrier Reef and Moreton Bay (5 years) $2,000,000
2002: Ultracolour vision: A proposal for the Vision, Touch and Hearing Research Centre, Vorobyev M, Marshall NJ, Pettigrew JD, Hart NS, Fritsches KA, Vaney DI, Barnett N, Collin SP. The University of Queensland, $450,000
2003: Australian Research Council Discovery Grant, Environmental regulation of opsin expression and spectral filtering. SP Collin, AEO Trezise, NS Hart and JK Bowmaker (1 year) $65,000.
2004: Australian Research Council Discovery Grant, Environmental regulation of opsin expression and spectral tuning in the vertebrate retina. SP Collin, AEO Trezise, NS Hart and JK Bowmaker (3 years) $210,000.
2004: Australian Research Council Network Grant (Special Research Initiative). Netvision: Australia’s national vision research network. I. G. Morgan, S. P. Collin et al.,. $10,000.
2004. Australian Research Council Network Grant (Special Research Initiative). Interdisciplinary network for aquatic animal health. Nowak, B. F., S. P. Collin et al., $10,000
2004. Collin, S. P. and Bennett, M. B. Sharks of Moreton Bay: Movement patterns and conservation status. Project Aware: Asia Pacific. $2,500.
2005: Australian Research Council Discovery Grant, S. P Collin, A. E. O Trezise, D. M. Hunt, M. Kalloniatis and I. C. Potter, The evolution of dim-light vision in vertebrates. ARC Discovery grant (3 years) $330,000.
2005: National Health and Medical Research Council Equipment Grant, Drennan, J., Parton, R. G., McDowall, A. W. Cribb, B. W., Collin, S. P. Degnan, B. M., and Webb, R. J. Purchase of a biological transmission electron microscope (TEM). $399,000.
2005: Contract Research Grant. Collin, S. P. and Whitehead, D. Affects of shark repulsion devices in surfboards on large sharks. Blue Pulse Technologies, Canada. $10,000. (2005-2006).
2006: First Link Grant. S. P. Collin and Andrew Barnes. Sensory indicators to optimize feeding and growth in the aquaculture industry: The development of a new biosynthetic microdiet for finfish”. The University of Queensland. $2,000.
2006: The University of Queensland Major Equipment and Infrastructure Grant. Parton, R., Drennan, J., Hancock, J., Marsh, B., Yap, A., Stow, J., Webb, R., Pollitt, C., Johnston, S., Collin, S. P., Fuerst, J., Schembri, M. and Degnan, B. High pressure freezing system for Correlative light and electron microscopy. $335,250.
2006: Australian Research Council Linkage Project. Marshall, JN, Collin, SP, McCauley, RD, Fritsches, KA, Hart, NS, Degnan, BM, Norman, MD, Hooper, JN, Hutchins, PA, Meekan, MG, Widder, EA, Frank, T, Partridge JC, Diebel, CE, Warrant, EJ, Johnsen, S, Worheide, G. and Lindsay, DJ. Deep Downunder: designing a deep-sea exploration and discovery capability for Australia. $1,090,000 (3 years).
2007: Australian Research Council Linkage Grant. Collin, S. P., Barnes, A., Porter, M. J., and Smullen, R. P. Alternate diets for a sustainable aquaculture industry: neuroethology of feeding in barramundi. $200,880 (3 years).
2007: Australian Research Council Discovery Grant. Collin, S. P., Hunt, D. M., Foster, R. G. and Potter, I. C. Seeing without eyes: the evolution of non-visual photoreceptors in vertebrates. $345,000 (4 years)
2007: Hoegh-Guldberg, O., Degnan, B., Collin, S. P., Cribb, T., Degnan, S. and Phinn, S. University of Queensland Major Equipment & Infrastructure (MEI) & NH&MRC Equipment Grant. Heron Island Station Connectivity Upgrade. $249,733.
2007: Pandolfi, J., Hoegh-Guldberg, O., Collin, S. P. and Lovelock, C. MicroCT scanner for the study of present and past ocean calcification rates. Collin, S. P., Cribb, T., Degnan, S. and Phinn, S. University of Queensland Major Equipment & Infrastructure (MEI) & NH&MRC Equipment Grant. $125,495
2007: Wueringer, B and Collin, S. P. Sensory biology and prey manipulation behaviour of sawfish. Sea World Research and Rescue Foundation. $7,810.
2008: Pandolfi, J., Hoegh-Guldberg, O., Lovelock, C., Dove, S. and Collin, S. P. Analysis system for studying ocean acidification. The University of Queensland Major Equipment and Infrastructure (MEI) and NH&MRC Equipment Grant. $203,495 (including UQ contributions).
2008: Hoegh-Guldberg, O., Degnan, B., Collin, S. P., Cribb, T., Degnan, S. and Phinn, S. Heron Island Research Station connectivity upgrade. The University of Queensland Major Equipment and Infrastructure (MEI) and NH&MRC Equipment Grant. $269,489 (including UQ contributions).
2008: Collin, S. P. Sensory biology and prey manipulation behaviour of sawfish. First Link Grant. Research and Research Training Division of UQ. $2,000.
2008: Australian Research Council Linkage Grant. Collin, S. P. Sensory strategies for protecting endangered sawfishes. $84,000 (2 years)
2009: Collin SP. West Australian Premier’s Fellowship. Joint between WA State Government and The University of Western Australia $4.6 million (4 years).
2009: National Evolutionary Synthesis Centre (NASCent) Collaborative Grant USA “Evolutionary shifts in vertebrate visual ecology and visual system morphology” (M. Hall, C. Heesy and A. Iwaniuk, PIs). One of 10 invited participants for 4 international meetings over 2 years. $140,000.
2010: Sampson, DD, Clode, PL, Collin SP et al. In-vivo multispectral and X-ray micro-CT Imaging: Founding a Western Australian small animal imaging core facility. ARC Linkage, Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) Grant. $450,000.
2010: Harvey, A, Plant, G, Collin, S. P., Rodger, J., Dunlop, SA, Fitzgerald L, Grounds, M, Hodgetts, S., Hool, L, Mark, P., Muhling, J, Mulders, H., Sherrard, R. Shavlakadze, T. and Waddell, B. Purchase of a surgical microscope and electroporator. NH&MRC Equipment Grant. The University of Western Australia. $30,000.

Research profile

Research profile and publications