NIAB regional and on-farm agronomist in the south-east, Keith Truett is a former farm manager with a wide experience of different soil types, crops, large estates and small farm operations, cultivations, operational detail and organisational logistics, in various parts of the country. He is most at home as part of a team helping to contribute towards the future of the countryside and the prosperity of farmers.
Syed has worked in the UK agri-industry for the past ten years as an agronomist and crop researcher.
Amanda is a plant breeder, primarily involved in the apple scion breeding through the Apple Breeding Consortium (ABC) at NIAB . She also has involvement in the apple and pear rootstock breeding, predominantly in the trialling of selections and the development of new breeding methods. Amanda’s research interests include quantitative and molecular genetics and she is currently carrying out a part-time PhD studentship focussed on the genetic control of resistance to the pathogen European apple canker, Neonectria ditissima.
In my PhD, I have worked extensively on root-nodule symbiosis in peanut (Arachis hypogaea) and model legume Medicago truncatula to understand the crosstalk between phytohormonal pathway and symbiosis pathway in the development of nodule meristem through molecular biology and comparative transcriptomics.
Jordan is a senior specialist in fungal biotechnology and microbial genomics at NIAB in Cambridge. His current work utilises functional and comparative genomics of Ascomycota and Basidiomycota species of fungi to facilitate strain optimisation for alternative protein production.
His previous postdoctoral work at the University of Kent with Prof Alessia Buscaino focused on understanding the genetic and genomic alterations underpinning the pathogenicity of the human fungal pathogen Candida albicans.
Timo is working as a principal research scientist at the Genetics, Genomics & Breeding department at East Malling and as an associate professor at the Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Helsinki. His research focuses on the molecular control of reproductive development and environmental adaptation in strawberries using woodland strawberry as a model. His group applies population, quantitative and functional genomic methods to identify key genes and generates transgenic lines to validate gene functions.
Crop improvement, host-pathogen interactions, pathogenomics and the evolution of virulence, downy mildew species
Panacea: Pathogenomics for Enhancing Food Security in Africa; Duration: August 2018-December 2019; Partners: NIAB (lead), National Crop Resources Research Institute, Uganda; Funding: BBSRC-GCRF
(CP184) Downy mildew and Late blight Control: Duration: January 2019-December 2021; Partners: NIAB, JHI (Lead), ADAS, Stockbridge Technology Centre, UoWorcester; Funding: AHDB
