News & Events

Dr Stephen Harris, is the botanical advisor on 'Botany for the Artist' book 26/01/2010

Druce Curator of the Oxford University Herbaria, Dr Stephen Harris, is the botanical advisor on 'Botany for the Artist', a book featuring over 350 botanical illustrations by the artist Sarah Simblet. Many of the plants illustrated in the book were based on specimens from either Oxford University Herbaria or the Botanic Garden. An inspirational guide to drawing plants, this book will be published in February 2010.

Rules for biologically inspired adaptive network design 22/01/2010

Rules for biologically inspired adaptive network design: slime molds build networks with comparable efficiency, fault tolerance and cost to rail networks.
Read the full story here: Mould networks match railways.

Insect Pollination POST Briefing Note by Rebecca Ross 19/01/2010

Rebecca Ross, a DPhil student in Plant Sciences, has recently published a science policy briefing note on Insect Pollination. This was written during her three-month Fellowship at the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, sponsored by the British Ecological Society. The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) provides independent, balanced and topical analysis of public policy issues related to science and technology to inform MPs and Lords. Recent briefing notes have covered topics as broad as: Diagnosing Dementia, Climate Change Engagement and Behaviour, and Technology for the Olympics.

Insect pollination is a highly topical and relevant issue as many plants, including crops, depend on insects to transfer pollen between flowers. Maintaining enough insect pollinators is therefore vital for biodiversity and a diverse food supply. Declines in pollinators, particularly in Europe and the USA, have provoked claims of a global pollination crisis. The POSTnote examines the risks of pollinator decline for the UK and explores strategies to provide stable pollination services into the future.
A seminar was held to launch the Insect Pollination note in Parliament on January 20th 2010.

The POSTnote can be downloaded from the POST website here:
Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, 2010 Publications.

Nick Brown has been awarded two new grants from the Woodland Trust 21/01/2009

Nick Brown has secured two grants from the Woodland Trust;

 i) to examine the restoration of planted ancient woodland sites

 ii) quantifying trends in UK forest cover.

Jane Langdale Awarded ERC Advanced Grant 18/11/2008

The ERC Scientific Council announces the results of the first ERC Advanced Grants competition, which has just been successfully concluded. The prestigious ERC advanced Grant, of up to € 3.5 million for 5 years, is targeted at outstanding, established research leaders, who will perform their research in any EU member state or associated country. The Scientific Council expects that at least 275 grants will be awarded in this call, with a total budget of €542 million.

Project Title - Evolution of Development In Plants

Abstract - Different morphologies evolve in different organisms in response to changing environments. As land plants evolved, developmental mechanisms were either generated de novo, or were recruited from existing toolkits and adapted to facilitate changes in form. Some of these changes occurred once, others on multiple occasions, and others were gained and then subsequently lost in a subset of lineages. Why have certain forms survived and others not? Why does a fern look different from a flowering plant, and why should developmental biologists care? By determining how many different ways there are to generate a particular morphology, we gain an understanding of whether a particular transition is constrained. This basic information allows an assessment of the extent to which genetic variation can modify developmental mechanisms and an indication of the degree of developmental plasticity that is possible and/or tolerated both within and between species. This proposal aims to characterize the developmental mechanisms that underpin the diverse shoot forms seen in extant plant species. The main goal is to compare developmental mechanisms that operate in vegetative shoots of bryophytes, lycophytes, ferns and angiosperms, with a view to understanding the constraints that limit morphological variation. Specifically, we will investigate the developmental basis of three major innovations that altered the morphology of vegetative shoots during land plant evolution: 1) formation of a multi-cellular embryo; 2) organization of apical growth centres and 3) patterning of leaves in distinct spatial arrangements along the shoot. To facilitate progress we also aim to develop transgenic methods, create mutant populations and generate digital transcriptomes for ‘model’ species at key phylogenetic nodes. The proposed work will generate scenarios to explain how land plant form evolved and perhaps more importantly, how it could change in the future.

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$9.7m grant awarded to Nick Harberd and collaborators 17/04/2008

Nick and his collaborators have been funded by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)for a five year programme to develop wheat varieties that are tolerant of salinity and other stresses. The project will use the latest sequencing technologies and will be based on a genomic comparison of wild and domestic wheat varieties.
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Latest publications by members of the Department 09/11/2007

Stephen R. Giddens, Robert W. Jackson, Christina D. Moon, Michael A. Jacobs, Xue-Xian Zhang, Stefanie M. Gehrig, and Paul B. Rainey Mutational activation of niche-specific genes provides insight into regulatory networks and bacterial function in a complex environment PNAS published November 7, 2007, 10.1073/pnas.0706739104
see PNAS website

James W.A. Graham, Thomas C.R. Williams, Megan Morgan, Alisdair R. Fernie, R. George Ratcliffe, and Lee J. Sweetlove.
Glycolytic Enzymes Associate Dynamically with Mitochondria in Response to Respiratory Demand and Support Substrate Channeling. PLANT CELL published November 2, 2007, 10.1105/tpc.107.053413
see PLANT CELL website

Research by Graham Muir and Dmitry Filatov highlighted in the current issue of Genetics 31/10/2007



see Genetics website

The paper reports the putative spread of an advantageous allele across the range of two hybridizing plant species. Such sharing of adaptive mutations by several species may be an important mechanism of adaptation in plants.
The results also illustrate that recovery of population structure after the sweep occurs quickly at the local scale, but much more slowly at the continental scale, resulting in a counter-intuitive pattern of high population structuring at the level of demes and very little structure at higher population/species levels.
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Research done in 3rd year undergraduate class run by Nick Brown, Sarah Watkinson, David Bass and Alexis Howe published in Proc R 22/10/2007

Data collected during a 3rd year Plant Biology practical class formed the basis of the paper:

David Bass, Alexis Howe, Nick Brown, Hannah Barton, Maria Demidova, Harlan Michelle, Lily Li, Holly Sanders, Sarah C. Watkinson, Simon Willcock and Thomas A. Richards (2007) Yeast forms dominate fungal diversity in the deep oceans. Proceedings of the Royal Society Series B. doi:10.1098/rspb.2007.1067

To see the paper click here

Research from the Gurr lab featured on the front cover of Plant Cell 08/10/2007

The paper by Pari Skamnioti and Sarah Gurr demonstrates that cutinase is involved during penetration of host plant cells by the rice blast fungus, Magnaporthe grisea. Using a cutinase mutant they are able to show that cutinase is required for surface sensing leading to correct germling differentiation, penetration, and full virulence in this model fungus.

To see the paper and the cover image see www.plantcell.org
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New book on the Flora Graeca by Stephen Harris 08/10/2007



The Book is called The Magnificent Flora Graeca.
Publisher: Bodleian Library.
ISBN: 1 85124 306 2
Price: £35

The Flora Graeca is one of the most extraordinary botanical publications of all time. The spectacular quality of the botanical illustrations, the size of the publication (10 double folio volumes), its cost on publication (over GBP 620 in 1830) and the lengths to which people went to see it all added to the Flora's reputation.

Indeed, there were so few copies of the first printing - just twenty five - that some people were skeptical that the book existed! This book summarizes the story of the Flora Graeca enterprise, profiling the leading characters, John Sibthorp and his celebrated illustrator Ferdinand Bauer, and charting their eastern Mediterranean adventures; the scientific and artistic aspects of the publication and its printing history.

It also looks at the horticultural legacy of Sibthorp's voyages and the plants he brought back to England, such as Crocus flavus ssp. flavus collected in Turkey, now popular in its own right as one of the parents of a popular garden hybrid, 'Golden Yellow', and Cyclamen persicum collected in Cyprus, now one of the most widely grown autumn-flowering species and the parent of many of the garden cyclamens. Heavily illustrated, the book brings together images of Sibthorp's specimens (looking remarkably fresh after 180 years) and illustrations from the original watercolours and the engravings preserved in Oxford.

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Research from Colin Hughes, Denis Filer & Stephen Harris published in PNAS 29/08/2007

A botanical and genetic survey of the Mexican tree Leucaena has provided evidence for the importance of 'accidental hybrids' in crop domestication.

More details can be found in a University press release click here
And at PNAS click here

 

Research from the McWatters lab featured on the front cover of Plant Physiology 30/04/2007

Harriet McWatters is first author on a collaborative paper with groups from the Max-Planck institute for Plant Breeding, Koeln, The University of Liverpool, the University of Madison-Wisconsin, The Biological Research Centre of the Hungarian Academy of Science and the University of Edinburgh. The paper concerns the plant circadian clock and demonstrates that the ELF4 locus is required for entrainment of the clock to an environmental cycle and the maintenance of rhythm sustainability under constant conditions.

To see the paper see www.plantphysiol.org
To see the cover image click here

The Story of the Apple by Barrie Juniper & David Mabberley (Timberland Press) out now. 19/12/2006

This book brings together years of field-, laboratory- and archival-research to reveal the fascinating story of the origin of the cultivated apple.

More details can be found at
http://www.timberpress.com/authors/id.cfm/1275

Work from Sweetlove lab published in PNAS 07/12/2006

The Sweetlove lab have established a physiological role for the Arabidopsis mitochondrial uncoupling protein. The catalytic function of uncoupling proteins has been previously established - they reside in the inner mitochondrial membrane and transport protons, dissipating the proton gradient across this membrane. However, until now, the physiological role of this uncoupling of mitochondria was not understood. Using a knockout mutant of AtUCP1, Sweetlove et al. were able to demonstrate that uncoupling protein is required in leaves to maintain a high flux through the photorespiratory pathway. Knockout of UCP1 reduces photorespiration leading to a decreased photosynthetic assimilation rate and a decrease in growth.

This paper can be viewed on the 'Early Edition' section (5 December 2006) of the PNAS website
http://www.pnas.org/papbyrecent.shtml

Genes in the sex cells of plants are marked to switch on or off before fertilisation 20/07/2006

http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/po/060717.shtml

Three publications by groups in the department in Nature Genetics and PNAS 06/07/2006

Research from this department has recently been published in three high profile papers.

Angela Hay and Miltos Tsiantis have published a paper in Nature
Genetics outlining the role of the KNOX transcription factor in the development of
dissected leaf forms.
For more information see the following links:
http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/po/060703b.shtml
http://www.nature.com/ng/index.html

Research by Jose Gutierrez-Marcos, Liliana Costa and Mauro Dal
Pra in Hugh Dickinson's group has been published, also in Nature
Genetics and details imprinting of maternally expressed alleles in seed embryo
and endosperm by differential methylation.
Read the paper in full at http://www.nature.com/ng/index.html
See also http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/po/060717.shtml

Finally, a study by Colin Hughes and Ruth Eastwood has been
published in PNAS and describes the evolution of lupins in the Andes.
Remarkably since colonisation of the Andean mountain habitats 1.5 million years
ago one Lupinus species has since diversified in 81 different species, making it
the fastest evolving plant group discovered so far.
More information can be found at:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v442/n7098/full/442004a.html
http://www.pnas.org/

Research by Tsiantis group on the molecular basis of leaf development published in Nature 17/10/2005

Nature 437, 1022-1026 (13 October 2005)
SERRATE coordinates shoot meristem function and leaf axial patterning in Arabidopsis

Stephen P. Grigg, Claudia Canales, Angela Hay and Miltos Tsiantis

Abstract

Leaves of flowering plants are determinate organs produced by pluripotent structures termed shoot apical meristems. Once specified, leaves differentiate an adaxial (upper) side specialized for light capture, and an abaxial (lower) side specialized for gas exchange. A functional relationship between meristem activity and the differentiation of adaxial leaf fate has been recognized for over fifty years, but the molecular basis of this interaction is unclear. In Arabidopsis thaliana, activity of the class I KNOX (KNOTTED1-like homeobox) genes SHOOTMERISTEMLESS (STM) and BREVIPEDICELLUS (BP) is required for meristem function but excluded from leaves, whereas members of the HD-Zip III (class III homeodomain leucine zipper) protein family function to promote both meristem activity and adaxial leaf fate. Here we show that the zinc-finger protein SERRATE acts in a microRNA (miRNA) gene-silencing pathway to regulate expression of the HD-Zip III gene PHABULOSA (PHB) while also limiting the competence of shoot tissue to respond to KNOX expression. Thus, SERRATE acts to coordinately regulate meristem activity and leaf axial patterning.

Prof Sarah Gurr awarded £232k by the Leverhulme trust to investigate the use of fungal laccases as electrocatalysts 23/09/2005

Professor Sarah Gurr, in collaboration with Professor Fraser Armstrong, Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford has been awarded a grant by the Leverhulme trust to investigate the use of fungal laccases as electrocatalysts. Laccases are blue copper oxidases that occur widely in nature and catalyse the oxidation of aromatic compounds by molecular oxygen. This interdisciplinary project combines fungal gene modification with enzyme electrochemistry in pursuit of a laccase which serves as the cathododic catalyst in a biofuel cell.

Nick Brown awarded a major grant by the UK Darwin Initiative 09/05/2005

In collaboration with colleagues at the University of West Indies, Nick Brown has been awarded a grant of £265k by the UK Darwin Initiative to establish a biodiversity monitoring system for Trinidad and Tobago. click here for press release

Department's research highlighted in the Oxford Science Blog 18/01/2010

Feeding the futureGuest: Penny Sarchet | 06 Jan 10 | 0 comments

At the current growth rate the global population is predicted to reach 10 billion by 2050. To feed this many people, food production worldwide will need to double during a period when climate change will worsen, fossil fuels will dwindle, and water availability will become unpredictable.

In addition, if we are to protect what biodiversity we can, this doubling of agricultural output must take place using the same amount of farmland, without impacting upon remaining natural habitats.

To tackle this problem, scientists in Oxford University’s Department of Plant Sciences are aiming to develop high-yield crop strains which will be better adapted to this climate-altered, resource-poor agricultural landscape of the near future.

Boosting rice crops
Professor Jane Langdale, Head of the Department of Plant Sciences, is engaged in the ‘C4 Rice’ project, an international effort funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation [more here]. 700 million people in Asia currently depend on rice for the bulk of their calorific intake and it is predicted that during the next 40 years, rice production needs to increase by 50 per cent in order to feed the growing Asian population, whilst adapting to adverse changes in climate and water availability.

Photosynthesis converts carbon dioxide and the energy from sunlight into chemical energy and takes place in cell organelles called chloroplasts. The chemical energy produced in these chloroplasts is then used by plants to live, grow, and in the case of crops, produce grain.

Conventional rice varieties use a standard photosynthesis pathway known as ‘C3’, but under certain conditions, such as warmer temperatures, this pathway is inefficient. A number of plants, including maize, have evolved an extra photosynthesis pathway, called ‘C4’, to solve this problem. The C4 photosynthesis pathway can increase efficiency by 50 per cent and iintroducing it into rice could provide the answer to Asia’s impending food problem.

The C4 Rice project is often quoted as being ‘highly ambitious’. In order to work, large changes need to be made to both the anatomy of rice leaves and the chemical reactions that take place inside them. However, there is encouraging evidence that it could be done.

Jane’s work on the GLK genes suggests that they may play a role in regulating whether a plant’s chloroplasts use C3 or C4 photosynthesis. Ongoing work in her laboratory seeks to put GLK genes from maize, a naturally C4 crop, into rice plants. Her work on chloroplasts began due to an interest in the genetic control of development in plants, rather than a specific aim to put C4 photosynthesis into other plant species. Whilst developing new C4 crops had always seemed like an interesting idea, she never thought it would be realistic.

20 years of chloroplast research later, Jane was ready to move into new research areas. It was at this point, in 2006, that the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) invited Jane to a C4 Rice Consortium workshop. Originally reluctant to go, she was persuaded to attend by Julian Hibberd from the University of Cambridge, and found herself getting excited by the proposed project. She is now 5 months into a 3 year “proof of concept” project involved in testing the feasibility of C4 Rice, a necessary step called for by a paper inCurrent Opinions in Plant Biology written with Julian and John Sheehy from IRRI last year.

Using less fertiliser
As well as facing climate change, 21st century agriculture will also have to cope with the decline in fossil fuels. The work of Oxford’s new Sherardian Professor of Botany, Liam Dolan, aims to produce crops which grow healthily without excessive phosphate-rich fertiliser application.

Phosphate is required by all living organisms to build cellular components and the low availability of phosphate in natural environments can severely limit plant growth. The soil of all of sub-Saharan Africa and one third of China is deficient in this crucial nutrient. The application of artificial fertilisers all over the world has so far dealt with this problem and contributed to the increase in productivity seen in the Green Revolution of the 20th Century.

Phosphate is extracted from mines, mainly in Morocco, the USA, China, the Former Soviet Union and South Africa, with 80 per cent of the phosphate produced being put into fertilisers. The extraction and transport of phosphate for agricultural use constitutes a considerable annual cost and carries a large carbon footprint. Furthermore, like oil, phosphate reserves are finite, and some predictions claim that phosphate mines could be exhausted within the next 30 years.

Liam’s work aims to develop crops which are better adapted to scavenge their own phosphate from the soil, making them less dependent on artificial fertilisers.

Plants can naturally extract their own phosphate from the soil using root hairs, single-cell structures which grow along roots. Liam’s research group have discovered a family of genes which control root hair growth and they are working to modulate the expression of these genes in crop plants. Their aim is to increase the number of root hairs a plant produces in response to naturally occurring phosphate in the soil. They have developed transgenic wheat and rice varieties capable of producing longer root hairs and are now moving on to field experiments to test the yield of these plants in the absence of commercial fertiliser.

Unlike Jane Langdale’s chloroplast work, this has always been the aim for Liam. He jokes that his team are now finally at the stage he had hoped to be at by the end of his PhD, explaining that this has been a very large project, starting from scratch and requiring the discovery of all the necessary genes involved.

Planning for 21st Century
In light of the global food security crisis we will soon be facing, the University’s Department of Plant Sciences will next year be launching a 21st Century Cropsresearch initiative. This initiative seeks to found an Oxford Professorship in Crop Science and to encourage translational research, so that discoveries made about plant metabolism, growth and development can be transferred to agriculturally valuable crop plants.

However, both Jane and Liam believe that whilst plant science has a lot to offer in solving the food security challenge, the role of governments and funding bodies is crucial, a point that was emphasised at the 'Food Security in the 21st Century' Symposium hosted by the Department’s graduate students last October.

Due to the unequal distribution of global wealth, the countries facing the most immediate problems do not have the funds to overcome them. Jane argues that to tackle food security there must be sustained funding and input from wealthy countries in order to bring about developing nation benefits. Liam points out that every day the same number of people die from malnutrition as from cancer, reflecting the bias of interest in developed countries. However, whilst scientific research alone cannot solve the issue of food security in the face of global politics, it is, says Jane, a very exciting time to be a plant scientist.

Penny Sarchet is based at Oxford University's Department of Plant Sciences

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Oxford Forester Will Hawthorne advises the Ghost Forest project, currently on display in London’s Trafalgar Square 23/11/2009

William Hawthorne got a big mention in relation to the Ghost Forest installation in Trafalgar Square:
"A lot of people at the university really bought into the project, like this wonderful guy at Plant Sciences, William Hawthorne. He happens to be a world expert on Ghana’s rainforests."

The Oxford Times article is at:
Wooden_ghosts_sent_to_haunt_us

The Oxford University Blog also mentions William and this art project:
http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/news_stories/2009/091119_1.html

Plant named in recognition of Dr Caroline Pannell 19/10/2009

A rare tropical rain forest tree has been discovered by an American botanist working in Papua New Guinea. Wayne Takeuchi found the plant in a remote mountainous area of the country and has called it Aglaia pannelliana, in recognition of the scientific contributions of Caroline M. Pannell. Dr Pannell is the authority on Aglaia, the largest genus in the mahogany family. The Department is pleased to congratulate Caroline.

This material for the website of the Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, first appeared in an article titled 'Occurrence records in Papuasian Aglaia (Meliaceae): A. pannelliana and A. puberulantherafrom the southern karst of Papua New Guinea', in Harvard Papers in Botany 14(1), 2009, pages 31-38, and is reprinted here with permission of the editors of Harvard Papers in Botany.

Partnership funds research into biodiversity 02/09/2009

The Department of Plant Sciences has joined forces with IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group), the world’s largest hotel company, to accelerate vital and innovative research into conservation. IHG have pledged up to $1 million to fund research into biodiversity which will help to pinpoint and publicise areas of the planet - small in some cases - that have the greatest concentration of rare and threatened plants, any of which could be useful to all of us one day. Full details of the partnership between IHG and the Department of Plant Sciences can be found here:
$1m to improve 'hotspot' conservation

Nick Brown took part in Home Planet on BBC Radio 4 14/08/2009

On Tuesday 11th August Nick took part in Home Planet BBC Radio 4. He dealt with listeners' questions on environmental issues. You can hear the programme on the BBC iPlayer

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00lydx5

3 Month BES Fellowship for Becky Ross 26/05/2009

Congratulations to Becky Ross, who has been offered a three-month Fellowship, sponsored by the British Ecological Society (BES), at the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST). The BES fellowship funds a PhD student to spend a three-month period working at Westminster on the production of a POSTnote. POSTnotes are briefing documents for Parliament on scientific issues; current POSTnotes include a range of topics which are of interest to plant scientists, such as REDD, Biodiversity and Climate Change, and UK Crop Protection. The BES fellowship is open to all UK PhD students working on ecologically-related subjects. To win the fellowship, Becky wrote an example POSTnote on the topic "The Pollinator Problem: looking beyond honeybees" and was subsequently interviewed by a panel of POST and BES employees. During her Fellowship, she will choose a topic for a POSTnote, defend her choice to the POST Board, research the topic through academic and government channels, and write the POSTnote. This will be published by POST and made available to Parliament and to the wider world.

Nick Harberd elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society 15/05/2009

We are delighted to announce that Nick Harberd, Sibthorpian Professor of Plant Science, has been elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society in recognition of his contribution to plant science. Nick moved to Oxford from the John Innes Centre, Norwich, in 2007. His major discoveries have revealed how hormones control the growth of plants. Nick is also author of the bestselling book "Seed to Seed: The Secret Life of Plants".

Nick Brown took part in Home Planet on BBC Radio 4 22/01/2009

On Tuesday 20th January Nick took part in Home Planet BBC Radio 4. He dealt with listeners' questions on environmental issues.  You can hear the programme on the BBC iPlayer

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00grgkg/home_planet_20_01_2009/

 

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Researchers to grow rice 21/01/2009

A team from the Department of Plant Sciences is taking part in an $11m grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The initiative is being led by the International Rice Research Institute and the Oxford team will focus on the role specific genes play in determining the structure of plants such as maize that enable them to harness solar energy efficiently.

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Departmental contribution to new exciting study on evolution of leaf shape 09/01/2009

Work from our Department features in a recent “Science” paper demonstrating that CUP SHAPED COTYLEDON transcriptional regulators are necessary to direct compound leaf formation in diverse plant species ranging from the basal eudicot Columbine to pea, tomato and mustards (http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/322/5909/1835). Compound leaf morphology was independently derived in these lineages, therefore this comparative investigation is a striking example of the repeated evolutionary deployment of a key developmental regulator in sculpting diverse organ shapes.  The study makes heavy use of the Arabidopsis thaliana relative, Cardamine hirsuta, which is a novel model system developed by Miltos Tsiantis and Angela Hay who collaborated on this study with P.Laufs in Versaille who lead the study.

                                                              

The story is also featured in a news article in  “Nature”

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RAE success 18/12/2008

The Department is pleased to announce the results of the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise. Based on three criteria (percentage 4*, GPA and 'rank of ranks') we have been ranked 4th out of 52 Biological Sciences Research Institutions in the UK.
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Mr MHR Soper, OBE, University Lecturer in Agricultural Science and Student of Christ Church 26/11/2008

Mike Soper was a long-serving University Lecturer in the former Department of Agricultural Science: he was also in charge of the University Farm at Wytham and for 31 years Secretary of the Oxford Farming Conference. Mike retired in the late 1970s and died on 26 October 2008 at the age of 95. At Mike's suggestion and by way of a retirement present the Mike Soper Bursary Fund was set up and each year this fund provides travel bursaries to students studying biological sciences at Oxford University to enable them to pursue their studies outside Oxford.

A memorial service for Mike will be held at 12 noon on Thursday 4 December at St Mary's Church, Wallingford (OX10 0DX). Mike's family have very generously decided that the proceeds of the collection made during the service will be donated to the Mike Soper Bursary Fund.

Nick Brown appears on the BBC Radio 4 programme, Home Planet 18/08/2008

Nick Brown appeared as a panelist on a recent edition on the BBC Radio 4 programme, Home Planet that discussed Britain's birdlife and the forest and woodland habitats that supports it.

To hear the programme click here

Department launches major new fundraising campaign - 'Plants for the 21st Century' 17/06/2008

Visit our Fundraising pages for more information.

Nick Brown on BBC Radio 4's Home Planet programme 20/02/2008

To listen again to the programme (originally broadcast on the 19th of February) click here

Dr Nick Brown is a panellist on Radio 4's Home Planet. TODAY at 15:00 19/02/2008


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Miltos Tsiantis Elected to the GARNet committee 29/01/2007

Miltos has been elected to the GARNet committee along with Jim Beynon (Warwick HRI) and Philip White (SCRI)
For more details of GARNet remit and activities, see http://garnet.arabidopsis.info/

The fungus Serpula lacrymans, cause of dry rot in buildings, will be sequenced by the USA Department of Environment Joint Genome 29/11/2006

3 & 4 year BBSRC-funded D.Phil. studentships available for 2007 15/11/2006

We currently have a number of 3 or 4 year BBSRC studentships available for 2007. BBSRC provide full fees and maintenance to UK Nationals, fees only to EU citizens but does not fund non-EU citizens. Eligibility for BBSRC funding can be found at www.bbsrc.ac.uk/funding/training/eligibility.pdf.


Throughout the year we will know of other guaranteed funding and will advertise this as it becomes available. Available funding and studentships will be offered to suitable and eligible candidates on a first come first served basis.

See Fees and funding for details of scholarship programmes and fees requirements
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Undergraduate teaching in biosciences at Oxford ranked best in UK according to the Guardian University Guide 08/05/2006

http://browse.guardian.co.uk/education?SearchBySubject=false&FirstRow=0&SortOrderDirection=&SortOrderColumn=GuardianTeachingScore&Subject=Biosciences&Tariff=1&Go=Submit

Mhairi Dupre to write a column for Nature 06/02/2006

Mhairi Dupre, a first year PhD student in Jane Langdale's lab has won a prestigious competition run by Nature to publicly reflect on the progress of her PhD. Mhairi is one of four students from around the world who has been awarded the privilege this year. The column she will be writing is the Graduate Journal which appears monthly in Nature, and documents the experiences of graduate students at various stages of their career. The winners will be introduced in the February 9th issue of Nature, with Mhairi’s first article appearing on February the 29th.

The research of Ms Tonya Lander featured in the newsletter of the Genetics society 07/11/2005

Tonya is a DPhil student being supervised by Dr Stephen Harris. To read the article in the Genetics Society newsletter click here

Applications invited for career development fellowship 08/09/2005

New discovery about plant development could lead to increased crop yields 07/09/2005

Research by Miltos Tsiantis' group published in the journal Current Biology has shed new light on the function of KNOX proteins in the hormonal control of meristem activity. Ultimately, this knowledge could be exploited to alter plant growth patterns and could help to increase crop yields in agriculture. For more information see News release

Biology Undergraduate Open Day, Sept 16 07/09/2005

For more information see Biology homepage

The President of Peking University visits the department 09/05/2005

The President of Peking University, Professor Xu Zhihong - a plant scientist by training, visited the Department on the 26th April. He listened to a range of research presentations from members of the Life Sciences Division including two given by members of the Department of Plant Sciences. Sarah Gurr talked about 'Cereal Killers:outwitting plant pathogenic fungi' and Marc Knight gave a talk entitled 'Understanding plant responses to stress'

Philip Stewart presents a novel design for the Periodic Table 15/02/2005

Inspired by a spiral version of the Periodic Table in the Festival of Britain of 1951, Philip Stewart has produced a novel design of the periodic table. He has developed this design into a poster - "The Chemical Galaxy" aimed at schools. The poster was featured in an article by Martin Kemp in Nature (2005) 433: 461.
click here to download poster

Paper by Swidzinski, Leaver & Sweetlove 3rd most accessed paper this month in Phytochemistry 11/02/2005

Swidzinski J, Leaver CJ & Sweetlove (2004) A proteomic analysis of plant programmed cell death. Phytochem 65: 1829

is number 3 in the list of the top 25 most accessed articles this month in Phytochemistry

click here for more information

Chris Leaver elected as Chairman of the Executive Committe of the Biochemical Society 10/02/2005

Having previously served as vice-chairman for the past three years, Chris has now taken on the role of chairman. His election to this post was announced in The Biochemist
(click here to download pdf)

Gail Preston profiled in Royal Society "Excellence in Science" newsletter 16/12/2004

http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/publication.asp?id=2764

Dr L Sweetlove appointed as a University Lecturer in Plant Science 24/11/2004

Lee Sweetlove has been appointed as a University Lecturer in Plant Science at the department and in association with St Cross College. Lee will continue to hold his BBSRC David Phillips fellowship until October 2006.

Applications invited for Glasstone Research Fellowship 22/11/2004

Applications are invited for the Glasstone Postdoctoral Research Fellowship tenable at the University of Oxford, in the fields of Plant Sciences, Chemistry (Inorganic, Organic or Physical), Engineering, Mathematics, Materials Science, and Physics. The fellowships will be tenable for one year with a possibility of renewal for up to two further years. The awards will be available from 1 October 2005 or as soon as possible thereafter. Applicants should have submitted for their doctorate by the time of taking up a fellowship (normally 1 October of the year in which the offer is made). There is no age limit but applicants should not normally have had more than five years of post-doctoral research experience.

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Refurbished Herbarium reopened by Peter Raven 02/11/2004

Re-furbished Fielding-Druce Herbarium opened

Professor Peter Raven, Director of the Missouri Botanical Garden, reopened the Fielding-Druce Herbarium on the 2nd July 2004 following a major refurbishment of the facilities (details at http://herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/fho_refurbishment.htm). The reopening was preceded by a lecture from Prof. Raven, entitled ‘Plant, sustainability, and our common future’, to a capacity audience in the Department of Plant Sciences. Professor Leaver presented Prof. Raven with the second Sibthorp medal. The Sibthorp medal is presented by the Department for excellence in Plant Sciences.

The refurbishment of the Fielding-Druce Herbarium completes a major up-grading of the physical conditions and research facilities funded by a generous grants from HEFCE,
via the Science Research Investment Fund (SRIF), and the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, for which the Department of Plant Sciences are very grateful.

Click here for photographs
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Dr Nick Brown to be next Principal of Linacre College 18/11/2009

Congratulations go to Dr Nick Brown, Lecturer in Forestry in the Plant Sciences Department, who has been elected as the next Principal of Linacre College

Visit www.ox.ac.uk/media/news_stories/2009/091118.html for further details

Liam Dolan and Nicholas Harberd elected members of EMBO 19/10/2009

Liam Dolan, Sherardian Professor of Botany, and Nicholas Harberd, Sibthorpian Professor of Plant Sciences, have been elected to the membership of EMBO, the European Molecular Biology Organisation.

EMBO membership comprises around 1,400 of the world’s foremost molecular biologists from all fields ranging from evolutionary to computational biology, neuroscience and plant biology. Members are elected on the basis of scientific excellence and provide their expertise to the various programmes co-ordinated by EMBO.

Welcome to our new Sheradian Professor of Botany, Professor Liam Dolan 01/10/2009

We are delighted to welcome our new Sheradian Professor of Botany, Professor Liam Dolan. Liam joins us from the John Innes Institute where he has been working on understanding the general principles of cell development and evolution using specialized rooting cells such as rhizoids and root hairs as models. Liam has moved to Oxford with members of his group; full details of his research are available on his webpage.

Liam Dolan has accepted appointment to the Sherardian Professorship of Botany and will join the Department in September 2009. 26/11/2008

Liam Dolan is undoubtedly one of the major contributors to our understanding of how developmental mechanisms operate in plants. His research will complement and enhance current activities in the Department.
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David Mabberley and Paul Kenrick appointed as Visiting Professors 27/10/2008

David Mabberley and Paul Kenrick have been appointed as visiting Professors for three years with effect from 1st of October 2008.

David Mabberley is one of the foremost botanists of our time and is the Keeper of the Herbarium of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew.
For more information see http://www.kew.org/collections/herb_staff.html

Paul Kenrick is a distinguished palaeobotanist based at the Natural History Museum.
For more information click here

The University invites applicants for the Sherardian Professorship of Botany 08/10/2007

Sherardian Professorship of Botany
Closing Date: Monday, November 26, 2007

The University of Oxford intends to make an appointment to the Sherardian Professorship of Botany from 1 October 2008 or as soon as practicable thereafter, in anticipation of the retirement of Professor H.G. Dickinson in September 2009. A Professorial Fellowship at Magdalen College is attached to the post.
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Prof Nicholas Harberd appointed Sibthorpian Professor of Plant Science 30/01/2007

The Department is pleased to announce that Professor Nicholas Harberd (currently at the John Innes Centre, Norwich) will be joining the Department as Professor of Plant Sciences and Sibthorpian Professor elect with effect from 1 August 2007. Professor Harberd’s present research interests focus on the genetic regulation of plant growth and development, and his future research plans include the establishment of a combined genetic and genomic approach to comparative studies of the acquisition of growth regulatory and developmental mechanisms during land-plant evolution.

Professor Lorna Casselton appointed as Foreign Secretary of the Royal Society 07/12/2006

The Foreign Secretary (and Vice-President) is one of the senior officers of the Royal Society and Lorna’s duties include overseeing the Society’s international relations programme, in particular its contact with other scientific academies, and its allocation of funding to both international researchers and UK researchers wanting to study abroad.

For more information see http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/page.asp?tip=1&id=5649

Congratulations to Xiaoqi Feng!! 14/07/2009

Congratulations to Xiaoqi Feng, who was presented with the Young Scientist of the Year award at the recent Society for Experimental Biology meeting in Glasgow.

Xiao was awarded the first prize of £600 for her talk in a competition designed to recognise the best young researchers. This award is open to PhD students and those in the first three years of their first postdoctoral position.

Xiao’s talk which won the award was under the title of "Cell lineages determine the fates of germ cells and their tapetal feeder cells in the Arabidopsis anther". In her work with Professor Hugh Dickinson, she discovered that the male reproductive cells and their feeder cells in the plant Arabidopsis each develop from a distinct lineage – just as in animals. This discovery changes our current ideas about plant development, as well as opening up potential new strategies for improving seed production.

SET for Britain - Medal Winner 12/03/2009

Congratulations to Xiaoqi Feng, Biological and Biomedical Sciences winner at the recent SET for Britain event held at the House of Commons on 9th March 2009.The event invited 600 early stage researchers from around the UK to present their work and compete for prizes. Xiaoqi won the Mendel Medal for Excellence in Science.

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Graduate students win the Environment YES competition 15/12/2008

A team of graduate students, four from Plant Sciences Department, have been rewarded for their exceptional entrepreneurial skills by scooping first prize of £1000 in the Environment Young Entrepreneurs Scheme (YES) competition. The Oxford team are Rebecca Ross, Xiaoqi Feng, Christina Vinson, Gillian Petrokofsky and Bartu Ahiska. They beat teams from universities across the UK to the final prize and impressed the judges with their virtual business ‘ProBee’, which they say would offer a solution to the serious problem of colony collapse disorder. The national competition, run by NERC and BBSRC encourages young scientists to develop skills and contacts needed to turn research into commercially viable products and to pitch their ideas to a panel of potential investors.

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Pari Skamnioti awarded a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship 16/06/2008

The research fellowship is for 2 years and provides independent funding for the research fellow.

Dmtry Filatov awarded a grant by the Leverhulme trust 14/01/2008

The Leverhulme Trust awarded a Research Project Grant to Dmitry for a project entitled: Speciation on Mount Etna: a multigenic anaylsis of adaptation in Senecio. Research Project grants are for original and innovative research projects of high quality and potential.

Oxford ragwort (Senecio squalidus) is a recently evolved homoploid hybrid species endemic to Britain. The species is derived from hybrids of two closely related Senecio species growing on Mount Etna in Sicily1,2. Unlike the British endemic, which is now geographically isolated from these taxa, the mechanisms maintaining species differences in the hybrid zone on Mt. Etna are unclear. A cline in gene frequencies is observed between the two species on Mt. Etna which may be caused by diversifying selection (heterozygote disadvantage) or simply recent hybridization. To interpret the cline, we will conduct a multigenic DNA diversity and divergence study of high and low altitude Senecio species from Mt. Etna to estimate the length of time the two species have been hybridizing and when the two species diverged. In addition, the role of gene flow and natural selection in the maintenance of key reproductive traits will be studied by sequencing genes differentially expressed in capitulum (inflorescence) buds and flower buds. Flowering physiology differs between the two Senecio species growing at high and low altitude, and aspects of key reproductive traits are likely to be adaptive responses maintaining these different evolutionary units.

Mary Illes won the PH Greory prize for her presentation at the BSPP Presidential meeting "Attack and Defence in Plant Disea 17/09/2007

For more information click here
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Mary Illes awarded the Hosier scholarship at Linacre college 20/08/2007

For more information about Linacre click here
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Mary Illes selected to give a talk at a University graduate student seminar day 20/08/2007

The Maths, Physical and Life Sciences division of the University recently organised a graduate student seminar day. Students representing all departments in the division submitted abstracts. From about 40 submitted abstracts, 8 students were selected to give seminars. Mary was one of these 8. The abstract of her talk is below

NO Focus: A role for Nitric Oxide in the Cereal Killer Magnaporthe grisea

Mary Frances Illes, Pari Skamnioti and Sarah Jane Gurr
Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3RB, UK.

Cereals are man’s most important food crops, indeed rice forms the staple diet of half the world’s population. Yet 18% of the world’s rice harvest, and 13% of the wheat harvest are lost to disease caused by fungal pathogens, such as the devastating Magnaporthe grisea, the rice blast fungus. To design fungicides that disrupt the fungal lifecycle without compromising plant or consumer health requires a detailed understanding of the biochemical signalling pathways that drive pathogen differentiation and infection of the host.

The free radical nitric oxide (NO) is small and simple, yet it mediates some of the most intricate and significant signalling functions known. In animals, it acts in neurotransmission and regulation of blood pressure, and is induced during the inflammatory response. In plants, NO affects development, can protect against drought and salinity, and may contribute to the induction of an immune response. As yet, little is known about the functions of NO in fungi; this work investigates its roles in M. grisea.

Analysis of the M. grisea genome identified four nitric oxide synthase (NOS) genes with high sequence homology and similar domain structure to animal NOSs. Quantitative real-time RT-PCR traced the expression profiles of these genes over a time-course of development of M. grisea: from germination of the fungal spore and growth of the emerging germ tube to differentiation of the specialized infection cell (the appressorium) and penetration of host leaves. The transcript profile of one gene, NOS3, was upregulated 200-fold at the time of appressorium maturation and penetration, compared with levels seen in the ungerminated spore. Chemical inhibitors of NOS enzymes inhibited the formation of appressoria, signifying a role for NO in their development. However, the small signalling molecule cAMP allowed normal appressoria formation in the presence of NOS inhibitors, suggesting cAMP acts downstream of NO in a signalling pathway. To permit deeper investigation of the importance of NO in M. grisea development, a nos3 knockout mutant was generated. It forms very few appressoria and consequently causes radically fewer disease lesions on leaves. However, exogenous cAMP “rescues” the mutant to normal wild type development. NO therefore appears to be pivotal to pathogenicity in the rice blast fungus, offering us a new insight towards the rational design of fungicides.

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Iris Finkemeier awarded the Horst Wiehe Prize from the German Botanical Society 15/08/2007

The Horst Wiehe prize is awarded to one scientist every other year for an outstanding PhD thesis in the Plant Sciences. More details can be found at the German Botanical Society website
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Pari Skamnioti awarded a Junior Research Fellow at Somerville College 15/08/2007


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Chris Leaver made a Fellow of the American Society of Plant Biologists 15/08/2007

Established in 2007, the Fellow of ASPB award may be granted in recognition of distinguished and long-term contributions to plant biology and service to the Society by current members in areas that include research, education, mentoring, outreach, and professional and public service. Current members of ASPB who have contributed to the Society for at least 10 years are eligible for nomination. Recipients of the Fellow of ASPB honor, which may be granted to no more than 0.2% of the current membership each year, receive a certificate of distinction and a lapel pin.

The 2007 inaugural class of ASPB Fellows are:

Charles Arntzen (1966)
Sarah Assmann (1983)
Neil Baker (1975)
Wendy Boss (1975)
John Boyer (1963)
Winslow Briggs (1955)
Bob Buchanan (1967)
Joe Cherry (1970)
Maarten Chrispeels (1963)
Adrienne Clarke (1981)
Robert Cleland (1959)
Mary Clutter (1956)
Dan Cosgrove (1979)
Deborah Delmer (1967)
Machi Dilworth (1973)
Arthur Galston (1948)
Elisabeth Gantt (1969)
Robert Goldberg (1977)
Mary H. Goldsmith (1958)
Wilhelm Gruissem (1986)
Thomas Guilfoyle (1970)
Roger Hangarter (1979)
Peter Hepler (1976)
Ann Hirsch (1972)
Thomas K. Hodges (1961)
Steven Huber (1975)
Andre Jagendorf (1951)
Russell Jones (1965)
Rich Jorgensen (1995)
Kenneth Keegstra (1977)
Joe Key (1958)
Leon Kochian (1979)
Brian Larkins (1973)
Christopher Leaver (1966)
Sharon Long (1974)
William Lucas (1975)
William Ogren (1964)
Don Ort (1971)
Bernard Phinney (1952)
Ralph Quatrano (1968)
Robert Rabson (1952)
Natasha Raikhel (1986)
Doug Randall (1969)
Clarence ‘Bud’ Ryan (1968)
Thomas Sharkey (1976)
James Siedow (1976)
Christopher R. Somerville (1979)
L Andrew Staehelin (1980)
Heven Sze (1971)
Lincoln Taiz (1972)
Tony Trewavas (1994)
Masamitzu Wada (1986)
Jan Zeevaart (1961)

Miltos Tsiantis has received a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit award 15/08/2007

The Royal Society gives research merit awards to individuals of proven outstanding ability to undertake original independent research. The award provides an enhancement to the holder's salary and, in some cases, research expenses
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George Ratcliffe and Nick Brown have received teaching awards 15/08/2007

The contribution of George Ratcliffe and Nick Brown to undergraduate teaching has been recognised by the University in the form of individual teaching awards. The awards recognise the excellence of their teaching and take the form of a cash prize. George Ratcliffe received an additional cash prize in recognition of his distinguished contribution to teaching throughout his career.

Dr Stephen Grigg awarded second prize in the Genetics Society "Young Geneticist of the Year" competition 13/03/2007

GENETICS SOCIETY PROMEGA YOUNG GENETICIST OF THE YEAR
(PhD Students & Junior Postdocs only)
The award is part of the Annual Spring Meeting with Young Geneticists submitting abstracts for review by the Society. A selection of successful applicants were chosen to present their work as an oral presentation during the parallel sessions of the main Annual Meeting. Oral presentations were judged by the Society plus a Promega representative.

For more information see Genetics Society

Dr Iris Finkemeier has been awarded a Junior Research Fellowship at Christchurch College 13/03/2007

This is a three year stipendary fellowship which Iris will take up in October of this year
For more details click here

Miltos Tsiantis selected as an EMBO young investigator 06/11/2006

Miltos is one of 21 young group lead­ers selected by EMBO to receive the support of its prestigious Young Investigator Programme. Selection is a mark of the highest scientific excellence and the 2006 awardees were handpicked from a pool of over 150 excellent candidates across Europe. EMBO Young Investigators carry an influential recommendation. Selected by EMBO Members for the high standard of their research, they join a network of some of Europe’s best young life scientists.

For more information see www.embo.org/about_embo/press/new_yips06.html

Yuki Yasmura awarded the Linnean Society's Irene Manton Prize 30/01/2006

Yuki Yasumera, a recent DPhil student with Dr JA Langdale, has been awarded the Linnean Society’s Irene Manton Prize for 2006. This prize is awarded annually for the best thesis in botany examined for a doctorate in philosophy in a UK institution. Thesis title: Conserved Regulation of Chloroplast Development in Physcomitrella Patens and Higher Plants

Dr Miltos Tsiantis elected to the Balfour Lectureship of the Genetics Society 18/01/2006

Dr Miltos Tsiantis of the Department of Plant Sciences has been elected to the Balfour Lecturership for the year 2007, by the Genetics Society. The Balfour Lecture, named after the Genetics Society’s first President, is an annual award to mark the contributions to genetics of an outstanding young investigator. Miltos and his research group are investigating the genetic mechanisms controlling development and evolution of seed plant leaves. Miltos will receive the prize and deliver the Balfour lecture in one of the Genetics Society’s meetings 2007, which will be announced in due course.

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Caroline Iddon awarded best poster prize at British Mycological Society meeting 23/09/2005

Caroline Iddon was awarded the prize for best poster at the British Mycological Society meeting: "Exploitation of fungi". Caroline is a D.Phil student with Prof. Sarah Gurr and her poster was entitled " White-rot fungal laccases as oxygen reduction catalysts: Building a biofuel cell".
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Mary Illes awarded the A.J. Hosier Scholarship by Linacre College, University of Oxford 07/09/2005

Mary is just coming to the end of the first year of her PhD investigating the role of nitric oxide and nitric oxide synthases in the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe grisea

Dr Angela Hay has become a Junior Research Fellow of Balliol College Oxford. 07/09/2005

Angela is an independent research fellow who works on comparative leaf development. For more information see Angela Hay

Leverhulme Trust Award 18/07/2005

The Leverhulme Trust is to fund 2 post-doctorate posts to work on "Studying and exploiting laccases as electrocatalysts". This is a joint award between the departments of Inorganic Chemistry and Plant Sciences, and will be coordinated by Fraser Armstrong (IC) and Sarah Gurr (PS).

Award of Brian Styles Memorial Prize to Alex Wortley 16/03/2005

This book prize is awarded “for an outstanding DPhil thesis submitted in the subject area of Tropical or Subtropical Plant Taxonomy”. This year’s prize winner is Alexandra Wortley, whose thesis – Systematics of Thomandersia Baill – her examiners described as one of the best in systematic botany that either of them had seen. Alex is due back from Cambodia and likely to be in Oxford in May, when it is planned she will be formally handed over her prize by Mrs Cynthia Styles.

Irene Manton prize for the best doctorate thesis in botany has been awarded to Dr Alex Wortley 14/02/2005

Congratulations to Dr Alex Wortley who has just been awarded the Irene Manton prize by The Linnean Society of London, for her thesis entitled Systematics of Thomandersia. The Irene Manton Prize is awarded for the best thesis in botany examined for a doctorate of philosophy during a single academic year (September to August). It is open to candidates whose research has been carried out whilst registered at any institution in the United Kingdom. Theses on the full range of plant sciences are eligible.

Miltos Tsiantis awarded President's Medal by SEB 01/11/2004

2004 President's Medal of the Society of Experimental Biology

Dr Miltos Tsiantis has been awarded the 2004 President's Medal of the Society of Experimental Biology. The President's Medals are awarded annually to young scientists of outstanding merit, normally under 35 years of age or within 10 years of obtaining their PhD. This is the second year running that a member of the Department has won this prize, with Dr Lee Sweetlove accepting the award in 2003.
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Hugh Dickinson to present Woolhouse Lecture at annual SEB meeting. 09/03/2009

Hugh Dickinson, Sherardian Professor in the Department will be giving the Woolhouse Lecture on June 29th, at the annual Society for Experimental Biology (SEB) Meeting, this year held in Glasgow. The Woolhouse Lecture commemorates the great contribution to plant biology made by Harold Woolhouse (1932-1996; Director of the John Innes Institute 1980-89), and usually focuses on cell and developmental genetics.

Independent Research Fellow Event 2009 12/02/2009

The Plant Sciences Department will this year host the annual Independent Research Fellow Event on 5th - 6th May 2009.
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Agricultural and Forest Sciences 30 year reunion 26/08/2008

Article from Today – Summer 2008

In September 2007, 30 years after finals, 16 ‘Agrifors’ (Agricultural and Forest Sciences) met at Wytham Village Hall to celebrate this milestone and renew friendships. Nearly half have spent some time abroad, mostly with agricultural research or aid organisations, seven in .

We struck lucky in our choice of degree as well as the friendly and collaborative group taking it that year, and have made the best of our good fortune. An initiative to repay this sprang direct from the reunion: it is to collaborate in a business venture, investing funds together to create profits and share those returns with a rural development charity in . We plan to equip some local schools and small medical centres and if possible, finance and itinerant doctor. Some £38,000 has already been pledged which should generate £23,000 for the charity over three years. Other Agrifor graduates (and other alumni) are warmly invited to join us in this (details from chris.howard@tecres.net). Thirty years after we took full advantage of an education, it is time to spread the benefits further.

Chris Howard (Hertford 1969)

Peter Mitchell (Oriel 1974)

Rosie Plummer, nee James (St Anne’s 1974)

Andy Vinten (St Catherine’s 1974)

Symposium on Basidiomycete Biology and Genomics 26/08/2008

Sarah Watkinson has been invited to convene a symposium on Basidiomycete biology and genomics at the XXV Fungal Genetics Conference, the Asilomar Fungal Genetics meeting, California, March 17-22, 2009.

Nick Harberd and Nick Brown contributing to the Oxford Literary Festival 13/03/2007



OXFORD LITERARY FESTIVAL
www.sundaytimes-oxfordliteraryfestival.co.uk

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NICK BROWN

Four Scientists in Search of an Author

Wednesday 21st March
1.30-4.30 pm • £5.00 (£2.00 concessions)
Science Oxford, 1-5 London Place, Oxford OX4 1BD

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NICHOLAS HARBERD

Seed to Seed: The Secret Life of Plants

Friday 23rd March
6 pm • £7.50
Festival Room 2, Christ Church

Exhibition by Rosemary Wise at Oxford University Museum of Natural History 13/03/2007


Oxford University Museum of Natural History
Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PW

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Rosemary Wise: Botanical Artist
An exhibition of botanical illustrations

4th April - 29th June 2007

See: http://www.oum.ox.ac.uk/visiting/whatson.htm

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One day meeting: "Current problems in comparative development" 05/04/2006

UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD - 21st April 2006

Large Lecture Theatre Department of Plant Sciences

Supported by the generous sponsorship of the Jenkinson Trust

Programme


10.15 - 10.20 Introduction: Miltos Tsiantis

Chair: Peter Holland
10.20 - 10.40 Michalis Averof - IMMB Crete/University of Cambridge
Genetics for all: RNAi and transgenesis for comparative studies in diverse arthropods

10.40 - 10.55 Discussion

10.55 - 11.15 Angela Hay - University of Oxford
Regulatory mechanisms driving evolution of leaf form in seed plants

11.15 Discussion followed by coffee

12.00- 12.20 Nicolas Gompel - University of Cambridge
The regulatory origin of repeated evolution of Drosophila pigmentation patterns


12.20 Discussion followed by free time for interacting with speakers

1.15 Lunch


Chair: Miltos Tsiantis
2.15 - 2.35 Cassandra Extavour - University of Cambridge/Harvard University
Germline-soma differentiation: evolution of germline development across the metazoans

2.35 - 2.50 Discussion

2.50 - 3.10 Sebastian Shimeld - University of Oxford
Urochordate crystallins and the evolution of the vertebrate lens
3.10 - 3.25 Discussion

3.25 General remarks, coffee/tea

Jenkinson Memorial Lecture to be given by Prof. Gerd Jurgens, University of Tubingen on the 21st of February 25/01/2005


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One Day Meeting on Environmental Microbiology 22/11/2004

On Friday, 10 December 2004, the Department of Plant Sciences will be
hosting a one-day meeting on environmental microbiology. This meeting
follows the very successful event held last year in which over 30
researchers from Oxford and further afield presented their work as a
series of 20 min talks. This year the meeting will discuss evolution
and the adaptation of experimental populations of bacteria, genome
annotation and analysis, plant and soil-specific bacterial gene
expression, and bacterial biofilms. Those interested in attending
should contact Dr. Andrew Spiers (andrew.spiers@plants.ox.ac.uk)