Recent Activity
Plant and Agricultural Sciences Fellowships at Bristol
Helen Harper
The Bristol Centre for Agricultural Innovation (BCAI) is offering an additional £50,000 to boost project funding for three individuals that are awarded mid-career Independent Research Fellowships at Bristol (such as BBSRC Discovery Fellowships & David Phillips Fellowships, Royal Society University Research Fellowships or UKRI Future Leader Fellowships). Those applying for earlier-career fellowships are eligible for an additional £5,000 of research funding, from BCAI, following a successful fellowship award. Proposed research must fall within the remit of BCAI to be eligible for this additional funding (http://www.bristol.ac.uk/biology/bcai/).
At Bristol, we benefit from excellent facilities and host a vibrant group of plant and agricultural scientists. Further information about plant and agricultural research at Bristol can be found at http://www.bristol.ac.uk/biology/research/plant/ and information on current fellows and the support we offer: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/biology/research/opportunities/fellowships.html
To be considered for BCAI and departmental support, prospective fellowship candidates are required to submit an expression of interest to helen.harper@bristol.ac.uk by 17th September 2019. Your application should consist of your CV, a covering letter (indicating which fellowship you wish to apply for and confirmation that you are eligible) and a research plan (up to 2 pages). We will select and invite candidates with potential to visit the department in October/November. Please contact Dr Helen Harper for any informal enquiries. We look forward to hearing from you.
BCAI undergraduate summer student 2018
Helen Harper
Fiona Belbin and Dr Helen Harper were awarded funds to employ a University of Bristol undergraduate student to conduct a 10-week summer placement in the labs in life sciences and in collaboration with Bristol vertical farming company LettUs Grow. Biology undergraduate Jess Bowers-Martin conducted research into the effects of photoperiod length upon growth, circadian rhythms and photosynthetic efficiency of lettuce in a vertical farming context. “The opportunity to conduct independent research with the support of experts in the field has been invaluable to me, I have learnt so much during the course of the placement. I have particularly enjoyed researching the applications of vertical farming for addressing food security concerns and having the opportunity to plan my own research. Working with LettUs Grow and witnessing their passion has inspired me to pursue postgraduate study of plant science.” – Jess "The undergraduate project and associated support from the university has been hugely helpful. The hard work done by Jess has allowed us to accelerate our research program and she has been a fantastic colleague over the last few months. We are very excited to continue to build a relationship with Antony Dodd's lab and the University in the future."– Billy Rodgers, plant research at LettUs Grow. Jess has been supervised by Fiona Belbin, Dr Antony Dodd and Dr Helen Harper. This work was supported by the Bristol Centre for Agricultural Innovation and LettUs Grow.
Signal transduction and circadian regulation under natural conditions
Dora Cano-Ramirez and Dr Antony Dodd
BCAI have supported me to travel to the laboratory of collaborator Prof. Hiroshi Kudoh at the Center for Ecological Research in Kyoto University to perform deep analysis of a cell signalling pathway under natural conditions. The reason why we conducted this work was to gain new insights into how a signalling pathway that we identified in the laboratory functions under natural conditions. This is important to begin to translate processes studied in the laboratory that underpin plant survival into an agricultural context, to identify new candidate mechanisms for enhancing crop production.
Gene Editing Workshop
Beth Eldridge and Ashley Pridgeon
Over the 26-27th March, researchers from around the globe gathered at the University of Bristol for the GARNet Plant Gene Editing workshop, sponsored by BCAI and the New Phytologist Trust. At this workshop, attendees eagerly discussed topics relating to gene editing; these discussions not only encompassed the nitty-gritty details of how to edit stubborn plants (monocots and dicots alike!) but also novel uses of genetically-modified plants and the policies concerning their regulation. Alongside these discussions, researchers got the opportunity to view an array of scientific posters that sparked fruitful conversations.
Read the full article here.
PI | Title | Date Requested | Amount |
---|---|---|---|
Lucia Primavesi | Equipment matters - the key to a good experiment | July 2019 | £2556 |
Lucia Primavesi | Getting the most out of chlorophyll | July 2019 | £1989.21 |
Guilda Varliero | Exploring new sequencing technology for agricultural research | July 2019 | £24,974 |
Jane Memmott | Pollination in Nepal in a changing climate | July 2019 | |
Keith Edwards / Gary Barker / Helen Harper | Assessing the diversity of UK apples with the Bristol set of single nucleotide Polymorphic markers | April 2019 | £14,660 |
Ulrike Bauer / Helen Harper | Interdisciplinary Plant Wax Research Workshop | April 2019 | £1486.80 |
Jill Harrison / Ken Birnbaum | FASEB Mechanisms in Pplant development meeting 2019 | April 2019 | £2560 |
Jill Harrison / Keith Edwards / Sophie Carpenter | Intercepting CLAVATA function to engineer larger ears in wheat | April 2019 | £19,926.92 |
Rox Middleton | Why are blueberries blue? | April 2019 | £17,165 |
Dr Helen Harper | Raising the profile of BCAI: annual budget for publicity material and workshops | Januray 2019 | £5,000 |
Mr Tom Swift | The optimisation and field trials of carbon dots to enhance yields for a diverse range of crop in partnership with Beanstalk Agritech | January 2019 | £23,411 |
Dr Lucia Primavesi | Updating and streamlining small autoclave equipment in Plant Sciences | January 2019 | £3,417.99 |
Dr Sally Hobson / Miss Maggie Gamble | Replacement of Validated Waste Autoclave | January 2019 | £15,546.60 |
Dr Lucia Primavesi | Updating and streamlining DNA electrophoresis equipment in Plant Sciences | October 2018 | £1,881 |
Professor Innes Cuthill | The role of gloss in plant-pollinator signalling | October 2018 | £18,224 |
Dr Sally Hobson | Replacement 40 x objective for confocal microscope | October 2018 | £5,398.80 |
Dr Lucia Primavesi | Provision of specialist training to support and enhance the use of Wolfson Photosynthesis Suite | October 2018 | £1,100 |
Dr Imogen Sparkes | Plant organellar 'roadmap' tool | October 2018 | £66,434 |
Dr Jill Harrison | Fundamental requirements for branching in plants | October 2018 | £46,248 |
Dr Heather Whitney | Bee Friendly Photonics | June 2018 | £44,913 |
Professor Kerry Franklin | Controlling plant architecture in canopy shade | June 2018 | £14,212 |
Dr Antony Dodd | Manipulating of chloroplast transcriptions to enhance horticulture | June 2018 | £46,633 |
Professor Keith Edwards | Understanding & archiving the genetic diversity of long ashton research station cider apples | June 2018 | £11,338 |
Dr Tom Oliver | Understanding the Influence of Carbon Nanoparticles in Enhancing Crop Yield | June 2018 | £25,559 |
Miss Dora Cano-Ramirez | Signal transduction and circadian regulation under natural conditions | April 2018 | £2,500 |
Professor Nicholas Roberts, Dr Lauren Sumner-Rooney | Lights Out: How anthropogenic light pollution affects the migration of crop pests | April 2018 | £38,932.41 |
Dr Andy Bailey | Upgrade to LCMS facilities to support discovery of novel crop protection agents | February 2018 | £19,040 |
Dr Jon Bridle | Roots and shoots: Genetic variation & plasticity in root investment and its consequences for shoot growth along an elevational and soil type gradient | February 2018 | £14,500 |
Professor Jane Memmott | Ecosystem service provision in upland farming systems | February 2018 | £9,860 |
Dr Anthony Dodd, Professor Gary Foster, Professor Keith Edwards |
Bristol Plant Sciences Facilitator - Funding renewal |
February 2018 | £57,025 |
Christos Ioannou |
Automated monitoring of fish from video in aquaculture systems |
February 2018 | £10,011.85 |
Dr Sally Hobson |
Upgrade of PC and software controlling the Life Sciences Confocal Scanning Microscope |
October 2017 | £4,500 |
Professor Keith Edwards | A genome editing facility for the School of Biological Sciences | October 2017 | £93,382 |
Professor Gareth Jones | Effective pollination of farmed tequila plants | October 2017 | £7,000 |
Dr Hannah Rose |
Agricultural production on the Asian steppe: limitations to sustainable intensifi-cation |
October 2017 | £9,025 |
Dr Jill Harrison | Emergency Autoclave bid | April 2017 | £21,740.40 |
Dr Antony Dodd, Dr Heather Whitney and Professor Alistair Hetherington | Emergency repair to the infra-red gas analyser in Wolfson Photosynthesis Suite | April 2017 | £2,700 |
Dr Helen Harper | Plant and Agricultural Sciences Fellowship Day | April 2017 | £4,620 |
Dr Katherine Baldock | Improving lawns and grassland for insect pollinators | April 2017 | £5,570 |
Professor Gary Foster and Dr Andy Bailey | Biocontrol of Armillaria - PhD Studentship with RHS spread over 3 years | April 2017 | £43,251 |
Mr Tom Pitman | Replacement of 2 Purite units in GroDome and OPH greenhouses | April 2017 | £5,540 |
Professor Alistair Hetherington | Mitigating the effects of anthropogenic increases in atmospheric CO2 on wheat grain Fe and Zn by increasing stomatal transpiration | December 2016 | £8,900 |
Dr Heather Whitney | Plant and Crop Phenomics Facility Pilot | December 2016 | £28,051 |
Professor Jane Memmott | Barcoding parasitoids in agricultural grasslands | December 2016 | £9,566 |
Dr Sacha Przewieslik-Allen | Monogram 2017 contribution to Annual Workshop | December 2016 | £5,000 |
Professor Keith Edwards | Creation of a transcription factor library of genome edited wheat plants | December 2016 | £9,750 |
Mr Anthony Crawford and Mr Tom Pitman | Contingency plan in the event of a catastrophic heating failure in the LSB GroDome | December 2016 | £1,500 |
Mr Anthony Crawford | Replacement of -80 freezers for LSB | December 2016 | £8,000 |
Professor Keith Edwards | Equipment that will enhance the Facilities capacity to undertake large genomics-based projects | December 2016 | £10,000 |
Mr Donald Fraser | Innovations in Plant Science to Feed a Changing World | December 2016 | £4,881 |
Dr Katherine Baldock & Dr Gregory Sutton | Understanding the effect of power lines on local plants and pollinators | December 2016 |
£3,833 |
Dr Marian Yallop & Dr Gary Barker | Solutions to Taste and Odour Problems in UK Drinking Waters (STOP) | November 2016 | £10,642 |
Past BCAI Activity
You can find all of the past projects that BCAI have supported here (PDF, 342kB)