Prof Jamie Seymour ~ Professor, Promotional Chair

Australian Institute of Tropical Health & Medicine

JCU > Research Portfolio > Prof Jamie Seymour

About

Associate Professor Jamie Seymour or the “Jelly Dude from Nemo land” has been researching and working with venomous and dangerous animals for over 20 yrs with his present interest being “Why do animals have venom?” Based in Cairns, in Northern Australia, an area that has an over abundance of venomous animals, he is uniquely placed to study the ecology and biology of Australia’s venomous species. He teaches at all levels at James Cook University, one of the top 5% of research universities in the world with his favourite subject being “Venomous Australian Animals”, a subject designed and taught by this effervescent academic.

He has been successfully involved in programs designed to decrease the envenomings of humans by jellyfish, namely in Australia, Timor Leste (for the United Nations), Thailand and Hawaii. His research has been directly responsible for changes in the present treatment protocol for Australian jellyfish stings. He established and is the director of the Tropical Australian Venom Research Unit (TASRU) which is now recognised as one of the premier research groups in the world for the studies of the ecology and biology of box jellyfish and research into medical treatment of box jellyfish envenomings.

Experience

1996 to present - Associate Professor, James Cook University (Cairns)
1995 to 1996 - Senior Lecturer, James Cook University (Townsville)
1982 to 1996 - Chemist, Tooheys (Grafton)
1994 to 1995 - Research Director, Stahmann Farms (Moree)
1991 to 1994 - Research Scientist, CSIRO (Brisbane)
1986 to 1991 - Tutor, James Cook University (Townsville)

Research Disciplines

Socio-Economic Objectives

Publications

These are the most recent publications associated with this author. To see a detailed profile of all publications stored at JCU, visit ResearchOnline@JCU. Hover over Altmetrics badges to see social impact.

Journal Articles

Haydon T, Matthews J, Seymour J, Raina J, Seymour J, Chartrand K, Camp E and Suggett D (2023) Metabolomic signatures of corals thriving across extreme reef habitats reveal strategies of heat stress tolerance. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B, Biological Sciences, 290 (1992).
Lennox-Bulow D, Smout M, Wilson D and Seymour J (2023) Inter-species variation in stonefish (Synanceia spp.) ichthyocrinotoxins; an ecological perspective. Toxicon, 221.
Rowley O, Courtney R, Northfield T and Seymour J (2023) Physiological and morphological responses of 'Irukandji' polyps to thermal and osmotic conditions: consequences for niche profiling. Hydrobiologia, 850. pp. 1207-1216
Isman A, Seymour J and Little M (2022) Use of clonidine in the treatment of Irukandji syndrome: A 4-year retrospective cohort study on safety, efficacy and clinical utility. Emergency Medicine Australasia, 34. pp. 504-508
Kaposi K, Courtney R and Seymour J (2022) Implications of bleaching on cnidarian venom ecology. Toxicon: X, 13.
O'Hara E and Seymour J (2022) Inducing metamorphosis in the irukandji jellyfish Carukia barnesi. Scientific Reports, 12.
Rowley O, Courtney R, Northfield T and Seymour J (2022) Environmental drivers of the occurrence and abundance of the Irukandji jellyfish (Carukia barnesi). PLoS ONE, 17 (8).
O'Hara E, Wilson D and Seymour J (2021) The influence of ecological factors on cnidarian venoms. Toxicon, 9-10.
Rigg D, Courtney R, Jones C and Seymour J (2021) Morphology and weight-length relationships for the first six instars of Cherax quadricarinatus (von Martens, 1868). Freshwater Crayfish, 26 (1). pp. 9-16
Rigg D, Courtney R, Seymour J and Jones C (2021) Determining suitable thermal regimes for early instar redclaw juveniles, Cherax quadricarinatus (von Martens, 1868) (Decapoda, Parastacidae), for a proposed nursery phase. Freshwater Crayfish, 26 (1). pp. 17-23
Rigg D, Courtney R, Seymour J and Jones C (2021) Evaluation of four practical diets on the growth and survival of juvenile redclaw, Cherax quadricarinatus (von Martens, 1868). Freshwater Crayfish, 26 (1).
Saggiomo S, Firth C, Wilson D, Seymour J, Miles J and Wong Y (2021) The geographic distribution, venom components, pathology and treatments of stonefish (Synanceia spp.) venom. Marine Drugs, 19 (6).

More: ResearchOnline@JCU stores 141+ research outputs authored by Prof Jamie Seymour from 1991 onwards.

Current Funding

Current and recent Research Funding to JCU is shown by funding source and project.

Far North Queensland Hospital Foundation - Research Grant

Optimising the methodology of box jellyfish venom extraction

Indicative Funding: $25,000 over 1 year
Summary: Box jellyfish present a severe health threat to the people of FNQ, however their venoms remain poorly understood, hindering the advancement of medical treatments. Our research team extracts venom for research and antivenom production, however our current equipment induces significant heat build-up, which can affect the biological activity and thus medical relevance of the venom components. The use of newer, technologically advanced equipment which is optimized to increase sample yield and preserve heat labile venom components will result in the extraction of a more biologically active and medically accurate sample of venom, which will bolster clinical sting research.
Investigators: Emily O'Hara and Jamie Seymour (Australian Institute of Tropical Health & Medicine)
Keywords: Irukandji; Box jellyfish; Venom

Far North Queensland Hospital Foundation - Research Grant

Curing arthritis using novel compounds from jellyfish venom

Indicative Funding: $43,630 over 2 years
Summary: This research aims to determine if a specific fraction of the venom from the box jellyfish Chironex fleckeri, relieves the symptoms in induced rheumatoid arthritic mice by either i) decreasing the severity of the damage in joints of mice, i.e. curing the disease or ii) decreases the pain associated with the disease but does not decrease the underlying disease.
Investigators: Jamie Seymour (Australian Institute of Tropical Health & Medicine)
Keywords: Box jellyfish; Arthritis; Drug

Australian Lions Foundation - Scientific and Medical Research on Marine Species Dangerous to Humans

Examining the venom ecology of the unknown juvenile stages of the Irukandji jellyfish Carukia barnesi

Indicative Funding: $3,500 over 1 year
Summary: The main aim of this study is to examine the venom ecology of the juvenile stages (polyps and recently metamorphosed medusa) of C. barnesi, an animal for which strong circumstantial evidence suggests venom variation may occur over its development. I aim to achieve this by collecting adult Carukia barnesi from double Island using underwater lights at night, return them to the lab and induce spawning in them. Once spawned, the venom from these adult animals will be collected from both the bell and tentacles using the previously published methods.
Investigators: Emily O'Hara and Jamie Seymour (Australian Institute of Tropical Health & Medicine)
Keywords: Irukandji; Box jellyfish

Far North Queensland Hospital Foundation - Research Grant

Does leaving an untreated box jellyfish tentacle on a victim increase the amount of venom delivered?

Indicative Funding: $8,012 over 1 year
Summary: We wish to determine if the number of stinging organelles discharging from tentacles of the box jellyfish Chironex fleckeri actually increases with time after the tentacles come in contact with the envenomed victim. If they do not, then this adds further weight to the suggested first aid advice of NOT using vinegar in box jellyfish and Irukandji stings.
Investigators: Jamie Seymour (Australian Institute of Tropical Health & Medicine)
Keywords: vinegar; Box jellyfish; First Aid

Ecological Society of Australia - Student Research Grant

Bleaching tolerance and recovery of Anemonia sp. to thermal and saline stress

Indicative Funding: $1,500
Summary: Corals and sea anemones that live within shallow and intertidal habitats are continually exposed to dynamic and often significant fluctuations in environmental conditions. As both temperature and salinity each have the capacity to result in bleaching stress of Anthozoans individually, it is important to understand how shallow and intertidal Anthozoans may respond when these stressors are combined.This study aims to examine the tolerance and recovery of anemones spp., a small tropical sea anemone, to bleaching.
Investigators: Katrina Kaposi, Jamie Seymour and Robert Courtney (College of Business, Law & Governance and Australian Institute of Tropical Health & Medicine)
Keywords: Anemonia sp (Actinaria); Bleaching; Symbiodinium spp

Far North Queensland Hospital Foundation - Research Grant

Elucidating previously undiscovered stinging organelles in the Irukandji jellyfish Carukia barnesi

Indicative Funding: $5,000 over 1 year
Summary: Nematocysts are stinging organelles found in jellyfish that contain and inject their venom. From the highly venomous irukandji jellyfish Carukia barnesi, a previously undiscovered type of nematocyst has been found. We seek to use high magnification and fluorescent microscopy to determine the nature of this new nematocyst, to further understand the venom ecology of this lethal jellyfish.
Investigators: Emily O'Hara, Jamie Seymour and Jen Whan (Australian Institute of Tropical Health & Medicine and Research Infrastructure)
Keywords: Irukandji; Nematocysts; Box jellyfish

Supervision

Advisory Accreditation: I can be on your Advisory Panel as a Primary or Secondary Advisor.

These Higher Degree Research projects are either current or by students who have completed their studies within the past 5 years at JCU. Linked titles show theses available within ResearchOnline@JCU.

Current

The Structure and Function of Ichthyocrinotoxins in Stone Fish and it's possible Application as an Anti-Helminth Treatment (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
Venomic Ecology in Cubozoans (Box Jellyfish) (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
Impacts of bleaching on the venom ecology of a tropical cnidarian (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)

Completed

Rethinking biological tools for logistically difficult species: a case study - the Irukandji (Carukia barnesi) and Box Jellyfish (Chironex fleckeri) (2022, PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
Identify factors influencing the variability of survivorship of juvenile redclaw crayfish Cherax quadricarinatus (von Martens, 1898) in aquaculture (2021, PhD , Secondary Advisor/AM)
Molecular and structural insights into Chironex fleckeri venom (2019, PhD , Secondary Advisor)

Data

These are the most recent metadata records associated with this researcher. To see a detailed description of all dataset records, visit Research Data Australia.

Seymour, J. (2014) Behaviour and Ecology Video Library of Indo Pacific Flora and Fauna. James Cook University

Collaboration

The map shows research collaborations by institution from the past 7 years.
Note: Map points are indicative of the countries or states that institutions are associated with.