A catch-all area encompassing anything to do with plants including plant physiology, genetics and development. It includes both model and crop species and all aspects of crop breeding, productivity, crop protection (pathogen and pest management). In addition, all aspects of soil as a major resource (ecosystem services) including soil formation, function, health and includes the impacts of agriculture on the environment and environmental protection.
* These are SWBio DTP CASE studentships. As part of the programme, you will be required to undertake a placement with the CASE partner for a minimum of 3 months.
| Project title | Main / Rothamsted supervisor | Host institution | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|
| Antibiotic exposure impacts on skin microbiomes and disease resilience in fish in aquaculture * | Prof Charles Tyler | University of Exeter (Streatham) | Aquaculture; microbiome; molecular biology; food security |
| A knowledge-based AI for arthropod vectored diseases * | Prof Matthew Wills | University of Bath | Big data; biodiversity; artificial intelligence; arthropods; phylogeny |
| A role for lncRNAs in the transcriptional co-ordination of neighbouring genes | Dr Hans-Wilhelm Nuetzmann | University of Bath | Long non-coding RNA; chromatin genetics; gene regulation; Bioinformatics; plant science |
| Answering key questions of One Health antimicrobial resistance using a new livestock research data platform | Dr Kristen Reyher | University of Bristol | Antimicrobial resistance; veterinary epidemiology; livestock; data science; social science |
| Compound-specific radiocarbon analysis as new tool to investigate C-dynamics in sustainable agriculture | Prof Richard Evershed | University of Bristol | Soil carbon; biochemicals; radiocarbon analysis; carbon cycling; greenhouse mitigation |
| Controlling plant growth in canopy shade | Prof Kerry Franklin | University of Bristol | Plant; growth; shade; circadian clock |
| Enhancing crop yield with high and low tech nanomaterials * | Dr Heather Whitney | University of Bristol | Photosynthesis; nanomaterials; yield; biology; chemistry |
| Environmental genomics of water conservation in a desert-adapted rodent | Prof David Murphy | University of Bristol | Desertification; water conservation; hypothalamus; kidney; transcriptomics |
| Epigenetic control of strawberry secondary metabolism- a small fruit with a complex genome | Dr Hilary Rogers | Cardiff University | food quality; fruit development; gene expression; epigenetic control; biosynthetic pathways |
| Harnessing deep learning and data science to create a research data platform of intensively monitored cattle to underpin sustainable food security and animal welfare research | Prof Andrew Dowsey | University of Bristol | Food security; sustainability; deep learning; sensing; artificial intelligence |
| Helping vertical farming stack up * | Dr Antony Dodd | University of Bristol | Circadian rhythms; vertical agriculture; plant environmental signalling |
| Horizontal transfer of antiviral defences between bacterial species | Dr Edze Westra | University of Exeter (Streatham) | Antimicrobial resistance; bacteria; virus; phage; CRISPR |
| How do organelles communicate? Deciphering the relationship between reactive oxygen species and organelle dynamics | Dr Imogen Sparkes | University of Bristol | Cell biology; organelle; movement; plant; signalling |
| Integrating immune responses, metabolism and respiratory microbiome to explain virus shedding during swine influenza infections | Prof Mick Bailey | University of Bristol | Immunology; virology; microbiome; metabolome; data integration |
| Intercepting CLAVATA receptor-like kinase function to engineer ear size in wheat * | Dr Jill Harrison | University of Bristol | Plant development; wheat; CLAVATA; receptor kinase |
| Landscape genomics of Bornean water buffalos | Dr Pablo Orozco-terWengel | Cardiff University | Water buffalo; landscape genomics; local adaptation; livestock |
| Mechanisms for plant shape determination in Marchantia | Dr Jill Harrison | University of Bristol | Plant shape; growth; development; auxin; modelling |
| Molecular epidemiology of aquaculture pathogens by whole genome analysis (WGS-aqua Plus) | Dr Mark van der Giezen | University of Exeter (Streatham) | Aquaculture; animal disease; parasites; fisheries; genome. |
| Novel technologies for early detection and monitoring of fish pathogens * | Prof Jo Cable | Cardiff University | Aquaculture; food security; fish disease; rapid diagnostics; molecular biology |
| Optimising cell size for specialised functions: using a systems approach to understand the cell cycle during differentiation | Dr Angharad Jones | Cardiff University | Arabidopsis; cell cycle; light-sheet microscopy; next generation sequencing; systems biology |
| Phage therapy within microbial communities * | Prof Angus Buckling | University of Exeter (Penryn) | Microbiome; phage therapy; genomics; modelling; experimental evolution |
| Plant adaptation in agroecosystems: the ecological genetics of a major agricultural weed | Dr Paul Neve | Rothamsted Research (Harpenden) | Plant ecology; evolutionary ecology; quantitative genetics; adaptation; quantitative biology |
| Preparing for Fusarium Wilt of Banana in Latin America and the Caribbean | Dr Daniel Bebber | University of Exeter (Streatham) | Panama disease; biological control; soil microbiome; food security; interdisciplinary research |
| Role of the fungal cell wall in the interaction of plant pathogens with the host | Dr Steven Bates | University of Exeter (Streatham) | Microbiology; molecular biology; plant science; biochemistry; fungal biology |
| Saving Cassava : A novel gene in a deadly virus | Prof Gary Foster | University of Bristol | Food security; plant virology; plant molecular biology; genomics |
| Signalling the way forward: understanding plant adaption to environmental change | Dr Richard Haslam | Rothamsted Research (Harpenden) | Climate; adaption; signalling; transcription; lipids |
| Sustainable vertebrate pest management on farms * | Prof Robbie McDonald | University of Exeter (Penryn) | Integrated pest management; ecotoxicology; pesticide resistance; agricultural ecology; anticoagulant rodenticides |
| The mechanics and photonics of plant seeds as diagnostic features for germination and health | Prof Daniel Robert | University of Bristol | Sensory biophysics; plant environmental physiology; biomechanics; biophotonics |
| The role of cyclic nucleotides in stomatal responses to environmental signals | Prof Alistair Hetherington | University of Bristol | Plant signalling; guard cells; cGMP; responses to drought and light; imaging |
| The role of RIPP proteins in plant pathogenic fungi | Dr Andy Bailey | University of Bristol | Septoria; wheat; plant microbe interactions; gene function in fungi |
| Thermal acclimation and adaptation in fungal bio-control agents | Dr Ben Raymond | University of Exeter (Penryn) | Evolutionary biology; sustainable agriculture; biological control; metabolic theory; plant fungal interaction |
| Transcriptional landscaping in plant stem cells: from chromatin to gene regulatory networks | Dr Simon Scofield | Cardiff University | Stem cell; transcription factor; gene regulatory network; gene expression, chromatin landscape |
| Uncovering novel regulators of Fusarium Head Blight and targets for disease control | Dr Neil Brown | University of Bath | Genomics; forward & reverse genetics; fungal biology; pathogenesis; crop protection |
| Understanding and modifying meiotic recombination in wheat | Prof Keith Edwards | University of Bristol | Molecular biology; meiosis; Spo11; wheat |