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2015 - | Professor | Department of Biology, University of York |
2001 - 2015 | Lecturer | Department of Biology, University of York |
1998 - 2001 | EMBO Fellowship | Institute for Developmental Biology, University of Cologne, Germany |
1995 - 1998 | Post-doc | Institute of Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Edinburgh |
1995 | PhD | University of Edinburgh |
1991 | BSc | University of Leicester |
Our main aim is to investigate how, and why, plants make leaves of different shapes. We have used genetics to identify genes with roles in leaf development, and designed computer software to measure leaf shape and size variation. We are now focussing on the genetic factors that affect shape variation and aim to understand at the genetic level how this is regulated. We have assessed leaf shape variation in plants from, for example, different genetic backgrounds grown in different conditions. We are also interested in how the variation in leaf shape evolved and a further aim is to uncover how the functional significance of leaf shape variation has changed over time.
Discoveries
We discovered that computational methods can be used to rapidly assess variation of leaf shape and size. Using these methods we aim to determine the significance of leaf shape variation in Arabidopsis and a wide variety of other model plant species.
Status | Name | Project |
---|---|---|
Research Student | Vera Matser | A computational approach to identify meristematic genes that affect leaf shape |