Projects for October 2026 entry are open for applications. For details on the application process, please visit the 'How to apply' page.
Like animals, plants get sick, but they have an immune system to fight back against infection. Plant diseases are a threat to food production and a constraint on achieving food security against the background of a changing climate and the need to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.
The fossil record demonstrates that filamentous microbes invaded ancient plant cells with intracellular hyphal structures over 450 million years ago.
Are you passionate about plant biology, endosymbiosis, system biology or bioengineering? Join a cutting-edge research project exploring how plants communicate with beneficial soil microbes to enhance nutrient uptake and resilience.
Nitrogen (N) acquisition is fundamental for plant growth. However, N is poorly available in soils, leading to extensive and costly chemical fertiliser applications.
Plant cells are connected to their neighbours via ‘tubes’ called plasmodesmata, creating an interconnected cytoplasm that joins cells within and between tissues and organs.
Bacteria commonly exchange genetic information (DNA) in a process called horizontal gene transfer as they evolve and adapt to changes in their local environment.
Conjugative plasmids play a crucial role in bacterial evolution as drivers of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) and as a source of new genetic information.
Wheat rusts are a continual global threat to wheat production, with the potential to cause total crop loss in untreated susceptible varieties.
Many animals rely on beneficial microbes for nutrition, defence, or reproduction. In this project, the student will explore an exciting new dimension of these relationships: how microbes influence animal behaviour.
Wheat rusts are known as the “polio of agriculture” due to the threat they pose to wheat production worldwide.
Join us in exploring the hidden functions of ancient immune proteins in bacteria.
Wheat provides 20% of the calories and protein consumed by humans. The world population will reach 9 billion by 2050, which requires food production to more than double.