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We are an active research community of over twenty academics, fellows, early career researchers and students with shared interests in plants and their roles in our everyday lives.

Plants are essential to our ecosystem, providing us with food and feed security as well as many other essential resources such as building materials, fibres and pharmaceuticals. With a growing world population and changing climate, it is increasingly urgent to understand the genes that regulate plant development and determine their architecture, as these are the mechanisms that control their reproduction, how they communicate with their environment and respond to stress.

Aims

We aim to bring together research on plant biology in Cardiff to encompass the whole range of scales from cell division to ecosystems, sharing expertise from emerging molecular, physiological and biochemical techniques to modelling.

We have attracted millions in funding from research councils, industry and charities for research on a range of topics from fundamental cell biology to crop resilience, post-harvest stress and novel approaches for producing high value natural products in sub-Saharan Africa.

Our research is supported by a dedicated Plant Growth Technology Hub and is organised into ten groups led by:

We welcome approaches from potential fellowship candidates and funded PhD students to host their research and expand our essential research on plants.

Research

We carry out research on:

  • developmental regulation of plant meristems using Arabidopsis and modelling growth patterns
  • gene regulation of leaf and flower senescence and stress responses
  • communication between pollen and pistil during plant reproduction
  • how plant lipids are synthesized and factors regulating their formation
  • how plants interact with their environment, with a focus on reproductive fitness
  • changes in gene expression and volatile organic compounds during post-harvest senescence
  • use of aromatic species against insect vectors of human disease
  • understanding how algae can be used to improve nutrition and as biofuels
  • epigenetic regulation of gene expression in development.

Projects

Our projects include:

Schools

School of Biosciences

The School of Biosciences provides a stimulating research and learning environment with impressive modern facilities and high-calibre staff.

Next steps

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Research that matters

Our research makes a difference to people’s lives as we work across disciplines to tackle major challenges facing society, the economy and our environment.

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Postgraduate research

Our research degrees give the opportunity to investigate a specific topic in depth among field-leading researchers.

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Our research impact

Our research case studies highlight some of the areas where we deliver positive research impact.