Prof Gail Taylor

Research Group

Head of Plants and Environment Lab

Gail

Following a BSc in Biology (Lancaster) and a PhD - NERC on Leaf Growth and Light at Lancaster, under the supervision of WJ Davies (1986), Gail was appointed in 1990 to a lectureship in Plant Science at the University of Sussex, and became a Senior Lecturer in 1997. She then moved to Southampton and established the Plants and Environment Lab in 1999. She was made reader in 2003 and is currently Professor of Plant Biology.

Post Docs

Dr Donna Clarke

UKERC Bioenergy researcher.

Donna Clarke graduated from Deakin University ( Australia) with a degree in Natural Resource Management in 1999. Following this, she completed a year of research focussed on the effects of landscape fragmentation on bird communities due to agriculture, and obtained a first class honours degree in Applied Science (Deakin University). She recently completed her PhD ( Deakin University) on the effects of powerline corridor management on small mammal communities. Donna then joined The University of Southampton, working on a UKERC project on sustainable energy. She has a keen interest in predicting how land use change may affect diversity, especially wildlife populations, and for some reason, really enjoys statistical modelling.

Dr Patrick Stephenson

TSEC BIOSYS and ENERGYPOPLAR researcher.

Dr Arouna Woukeu

EVOLTREE, computing scientist.

Current PhD Students

Matthew Aylott

In 2005 Matt graduated from the University of Reading with a 2.1 in Rural Environmental Science. Following this he completed an MSc in Environmental Informatics with the University of Leicester, where he developed his interest in environmental modelling and Geographical Information Systems (GIS), gaining a distinction for his efforts. In March 2006 he began his PhD with the Plants and Environment Lab and Forest Research (FR), utilising the latest modelling and GIS techniques to map the spatially productivity of short rotation coppice (SRC) energy crops in the UK.

Matt is interested in utilising bioenergy crops to help combat climate change and, in particular, exploring the links between climate change and the physiological response of the plant.

Gaia Biggi

Gaia graduated from the University of Sussex in 1997 with a degree in Biology with Managements Studies. After working as an intern for the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI) writing articles for their annual public awareness magazine, Geneflow, she successfully completed an MSc in Biodiversity at Plymouth University . Her MSc dissertation on the genetic profiling of the unicellular algae Emiliania huxleyi sparked an interest in molecular genetics. Thus she went on to work as a research technician at the Transcriptomics Unit of Biological Sciences at the University of Bristol , where she gained experience in several molecular genetics techniques, such as cloning, PCR, extraction methods and sequencing.

She is now undertaking a PhD investigating the genetic basis of nutrition in green leafy crops. Gaia is interested in exploring the nutritional properties of vegetables and, in particular, the antioxidant values of different varieties of green and red leafy crops commonly eaten raw. Her research aims include the enhancement of the nutritional values of lettuce (Lactuca sativa) by analysing a cross between a cultivar (cv salinas) and a wild relative (L. serriola) and to assess the relative impact of growth environment compared to that made by specific genotypes. Her methods include a combination of biochemical analyses and molecular genetics to find the genes involved in the plant’s ability to produce different antioxidant phytochemicals .

Jennifer DeWoody

I am interested in understanding the population and evolutionary genetics of plants, in particular to predict how species might react to climate change. I began this work with a Bachelors degree in Biological Science and Conservation Biology from Colorado State University. Following that, I completed a Masters degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Iowa State University, where my thesis focused on the population genetics of a metapopulation of a floodplain plant, Boltonia decurrens . Following my degrees I worked for the National Forest Genetics Lab, part of the US Forest Service, where I had the pleasure of contributing to land management decisions by conducting genetic studies on a number of plant species.

I am currently working towards a PhD with Professor Gail Taylor, studying the evolution of leaf size in Populus nigra (black poplar) as a trait indicative of water use efficiency and drought tolerance. To this end I will be looking at sequence differences between genes involved in cell and leaf development, as well as putatively neutral markers to assess the evolutionary history of the populations. By comparing the historic population dynamics, current environmental conditions, phenotypic differences, and genetic variation, I hope to elucidate the mechanisms underlying leaf traits in this variable and valuable forest species.

Yunan Lin

Yunan graduated with a first class degree in Biotechnology from Nanjing Forestry University in 2007. After finishing her degree, she started her PhD study in The Plant and Environment Laboratory. Her project is in understanding the genetic basis of plant senescence in Populus exposed to elevated [CO2] using microarrays, transgeneic plants and association studies.

Adrienne Payne

Adrienne graduated from The University of Southampton in June 2004 with a First Class Honours degree in Biology. She then worked as a Biology Technician at Salisbury College and also taught A-Level Biology.

Before joining the Plants and Environment laboratory Adrienne worked as a research technician at the University of Southampton using various molecular techniques such as PCR, cloning, transformation and DNA extraction.

Adrienne started her PhD in October and is particularly interested in harnessing the genetic diversity of watercress (Rorippa nasturtium-aquaticum) by establishing a collection of wwatercress from around the world. A breeding plan will establish watercress which has improved organoleptic quality, is aesthetically pleasing to the consumer and has enhanced levels of PEITC, which will improve flavour and may help in the prevention of cancer.

PhD project: Harnessing the genetic diversity of watercress (Rorippa nasturtium-aquaticum) for improved anti-cancer, organoleptic and morphological benefits.

Rebecca Rowe

Rebecca joined the group in Feb 2006 after graduating from the Open University with a first in Natural Sciences with Biology and Environmental Sciences. Whilst studying for her degree she worked in a variety of fields including as a research technician in Bristol University Biochemistry Department and as a kennel assistant and trainer at a dog rescue centre. She has a long term interest in wildlife conversation and environmental policy.

Rebecca's interest is in land management for conservation, especially in the agri-enviroment. Her current work focuses on the biodiversity impacts of energy crops, and in particular willow short eotation coppice (SRC). Her methods inculde plant and invertebrate sampling as well as small mammal surveying. In addition to this work Rebecca is also involved through UKREC in an reveiew of life cycle anyalsis (LCAs) of bioenergy and biofuel crops in the UK. This work aims to develop a methodolgy to allow the comparsion of different LCAs on a comparative platform.

PhD project: Enviromental impacts of willow short rotation coppice on biodiversity.

Maud Viger

Maud Viger graduated with a Bachelor (licence) in Life Sciences degree, specialising in general biology from the University of La Rochelle (France) in 2006, including an Erasmus year (exchange) with the National Oceanography Centre, University of Southampton (Academic year 2005-2006).

Maud joined the Plant and Environment Laboratory in 2007 and is currently undertaking a PhD, that involves researching the molecular biology of drought response in a natural population of Populus nigra (black poplar) from Europe, using microarrays, genetical genomics and association studies.

Technicians

Suzanne Milner

Suzanne graduated from the University of Southampton with a 2:1 in 2006. Immediately after graduating she joined the plants and environments lab as a lab technician.

Since joining the team she has worked on various projects including work DNA work on Popular Family 331, various lettuce species and watercress. She has also assisted on many field work projects.

Matthew Nelson

Matt graduated from Manchester University with a BSc (Hons) Biology in summer 2007. During his degree he took a keen interest in plant science in a variety of areas from ecology to population genetics. A final year research project on metal transport in barley cemented an interest in the molecular aspects of plant life as well.

He joined the plants and environment lab in January 2008, carrying out field studies on Poplar biomass. He is now assisting work on evolutionary processes affecting genetic variance in leaf size in Populus nigra, specifically the molecular marker work within this. He is also carrying out SNP discovery and analysis for key yield related genes in Poplar.

Commercial Partnerships

Dr Graham Clarkson (Vitacress)

Graham Graham Clarkson graduated from the University of Wales with a first class degree in Genetics, he also has a MSc (with distinction) in Plant Genetic Manipulation from the University of Nottingham and began his PhD on the processability of baby salad leaves in February 2000. During the past three years Graham has developed assays for leaf processability focusing on leaf physiology, alongside research into plant cell wall properties using a transgenic approach. This work has enabled him to further his knowledge and understanding of molecular biology techniques, develop new skills in plant physiology and allowed him to plan and implement field work in Kenya. Graham is a founding member of the Vitacress Research Unit and is now employed full-time at Vitacress, with full links to the university research group.

Former Post Docs

Anne

Penny

Previous Laboratory Members

KP Beckett
Creana Bosac
Jonathan Bryant
Steve Bunn
Meg Crookshanks
Rachel Ferris
David Frost
Simon Gardner
Nick Herbert
Rebecca Mills
Miriam Nathoo
Sananthanie Ranasinghe
Kathryn Robinson
Silviu Trofimov
James Tucker
Diane Wilkins
Fang Zhang