The Plant Stress and Disease group has research interests in:

  • Molecular and physiological adaptations to biotic and abiotic stress in plants
  • Plant resistance to parasites and pathogens
  • Signalling mechanisms in plant responses to disease
  • RNA silencing as an antiviral mechanism in plants
Prof John Turner
Jasmonate-mediated adaptation to biotic and abiotic stress
COI1-dependent signalling
RPW8-mediated resistance to powdery mildew
Prof Jonathan Jones
Plant disease resistance
Plant pathogen effectors and their targets
Plant/pathogen coevolution
Dr Charles Brearley
Inositol hexakisphosphate biosynthesis and signalling
Inositol and calcium signalling in Medicago truncatula
Metabolic biochemistry of disease resistance mediated by the resistance genes RPW8.1 & 2
Dr Mark Coleman
Plant disease
Plant disease resistance
Plant resistance to genotoxic stress
Silvia Costa
Root patterning
Role of chromatin organisation in cell fate specification
Cell fate changes and regeneration
Dr Tamas Dalmay
Post-transcriptional gene silencing against viral infections in wild grasses
Characterisation of SDE5, an Arabidopsis preotein required for RNA silencing
Investigating the function of short RNAs in tomato fruit
Dr Ane Sesma
Organ-specificity and fungal pathogenesis
Role of RNA-binding proteins during fungal infection
Molecular mechanisms of surface sensing in the rice blast fungus
Dr Colwyn Thomas
Plant-pathogen interactions
Disease resistance
Resistance gene evolution
Dr Sophien Kamoun
Oomycete genomics
Filamentous pathogen effector function and evolution
Filamentous pathogen effector trafficking
Dr Cyril Zipfel
PAMP perception
PAMP signalling
Bacterial disease resistance
Silke Robatzek
Cell biology and plant immunity
Pathogen-triggered Membrane trafficking
Receptor endocytosis
Mark Banfield
Structure/function studies of pathogen effector proteins
Molecular studies of pathogen/host interactions
Medium-throughput protein production for structural studies