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Professor Richard Waites
Director for Students

Profile

Biography

 

Career

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  

Research

Overview

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.

Projects

  • A computational approach to identify meristematic genes that affect leaf shape (Funding body: White Rose)

Research group(s)

StatusNameProject
Research Student Vera Matser A computational approach to identify meristematic genes that affect leaf shape

Dr Richard Waites

Contact details

Professor Richard Waites
Department of Biology (Area 11)
University of York
Heslington
York
YO10 5DD

Tel: 01904 328684

http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~rw18/