Past Projects

Resolving soil sourced atmospheric pollution across a land-use continuum

Part of PhD Project.                                                           Supervisors: Dr Ryan Mushinski and Professor Gary Bending

We take a comparative approach investigating land-use type and human influence to elucidate direct and indirect influences on NOy emissions from soils through alterations to abiotic and biotic soil properties.

Is Rhythmic Gene Expression in Rhizobium Controlled by an Endogenous Circadian Clock or is it Driven by Rhythms in the Plant Host?

Master of Biological Sciences Research Project. Supervisors: Professor Miriam Gifford and Professor Isabelle Carre

Golden Gate cloning is used for the development of and assembly of superfolder GFP and NanoLuc reporter constructs of genes expressed in the high efficiency rhizobial strain Sinorhizobium meliloti 1022. These constructs produce detectable fluorescent signals that allow expression of genes to be visualised, both in free-living rhizobia cells and in those living in association with a plant host.  

Blue Planet 'omics

Bachelor of Biological Sciences Research Project. Supervisor: Professor Dave Scanlan

An analysis of ‘omics methods for the study of the impact of changing environmental conditions on the metabolic activity of marine microbes, and therefore their role in biogeochemical cycles (nitrogen, carbon, and sulphur).

Is Ancient DNA Recovery from Sediment Affected by the Sediment Type?

Undergraduate Research Support Scheme Project.

Supervisor: Professor Robin Allaby 

Investigating whether the sediment type affects the recovery of sedaDNA, and whether there is a consistent pattern of DNA preservation across conditions such as sediment type, salinity and depth. Working within the Europe’s Lost Frontiers project