July 2025
Gail, Athira, Chloe and Rhiannon are all attending the 2025 IS-MPMI Congress in Cologne (July 13th-17th). Do check out Athira, Chloe and Rhiannon's posters to say hello and learn more about our work.
July 2025
We're recruiting a new post-doctoral research associate for an exciting collaborative project on the effect of temperature on bacterial plant pathogens and plant-microbe interactions. Click here for more information. The deadline for applications is August 7th.
June 2025
Congratulations to Chloe for being jointly awarded the Interdisciplinary Bioscience DTP's 2025 public engagement award for her outreach work with Katie Heighes, which included a stall on endometriosis at the NIHR Biomedical Research Council Open Day. Chloe also won joint first prize for her presentation and outstanding communication skills at the Biology student symposium. Well done Chloe!
June 2025
New publication: The influence of the polyamine synthesis pathways on Pseudomonas syringae virulence and plant interaction
We are excited to report a new collaborative publication describing work undertaken by Marcel Bach Pages with researchers from Andres Garriz's group examining the impact of polyamine synthesis on Pseudomonas syringae and its interactions with plant hosts has been published in Microbiology. Thank you to everyone involved.
June 2025
Gail gave a talk on our work on the domestication of the seed microbiome at London Zoo, as part of a workshop funded by the Royal Society and organised by the Leverhulme Centre for the Holobiont on the "Holobiont Tree of Life". It was fascinating to hear a wide range of different perspectives on this important concept.
April 2025
Welcome to Callum Houghton-Flory, who is undertaking his DTP rotation project with us and with Luke Clifton at ISIS Neutron and Muon Source as we continue to study the factors affecting P. syirngae survival and virulence in the plant environment.
April 2025
New publication: Bacterial pathogen deploys the iminosugar glycosyrin to manipulate plant glycobiology
We have finally published our work on the glycosidase inhibitor glycosyrin produced by Pseudomonas syringae, which has developed through a long-term collaboration with the van der Hoorn group and outstanding work throughout his doctorate and postdoc by Nattapong (Tee) Sanguankiattichai, supported by a truly interdisciplinary and inspiring group of collaborators. Thanks to everyone involved.
March 2025
Congratulations to Rose for passing her doctoral viva and completing a ground-breaking project that has provided exciting new insights in the biology of metal-hyperaccumulator plants and their interactions with plant pathogens. Thank you very much to Katie Moore and Mark Fricker for acting as examiners.
November 2024
We are delighted to be able to announce that a bid led by Gail in collaboration with colleagues at Oxford, Oxford Brookes, The Open University, The Pirbright Institute, Diamond Light Source and ISIS Neutron and Muon Source for a new Doctoral Landscape Award was successful and that this will support the establishment of the BBSRC and NERC-funded Interdisciplinary Life and Environmental Science Landscape Award (ILESLA), which will admit its first cohort of students in 2025. The new programme builds directly on the success of current and previous programmes in the DTC, including the Interdisciplinary Bioscience DTP, and will allow the six collaborating organisations, together with additional industrial and collaborative partners, to support students across the full breath of life and environmental science and at the interface between BBSRC and NERC remits.
November 2024
Gail was delighted to be able to give a presentation on our research at the Copenhagen Plant Science Center at the University of Copenhagen. Thank you very much to David Collinge and colleagues for the invitation.
September 2024
We were delighted to be the local organising team for the BSPP's Plant Pathology 2024 and Early Careers Plant Pathology 2024 meetings. We had a fantastic time hosting colleagues from across the UK and around the world in Oxford. Congratulations to Athira for receiving a special commendation for her poster!
May 2024
Congratulations to Morgan for successfully completing her DPhil viva and for successfully completing a fascinating and challenging project. Thank you very much to Estella Luna Diaz and John Mackay for acting as examiners.
January 2024
New publication: Consistent effects of independent domestication events on the plant microbiota: Current Biology (cell.com)
We are excited to report that Riccardo Soldan's doctoral work on the effects of domestication on the microbiota of Phaseolus seeds has been published in Current Biology. Thanks to all of those who contributed to this work, including Marco Fusi, Massimiliano Cardinale, Luis Guillermo Santos, Peter Wenzl, Elena Bitocchi, Maria Isabel Chacon Sanchez, Daniele Daffonchio and former group members Marcel Bach-Pages and Felix Homma.
For more lab news click here.
