Profile

Bacteria live everywhere, in the air, up your nose, between your toes … and on plants!

Some bacteria are friendly and helpful while others are dangerous and might be out to get you!

By accident, some of these dangerous ones (like E. coli) get onto the plants that we eat (like lettuce) and sometimes we get ill because of this.

I want to find out how these bacteria manage to live on these plants to help stop this happening in the future.

To do this I grow lots of different types of plants in my greenhouse and put genetically modified bacteria onto them and record what happens over time.

Work day always starts with a run, breakfast (most important meal of the day) and a nice cup of tea!

Just like us bacteria need food, shelter and time to grow so every morning I check on my bacteria growing on Petri dishes (they sound almost like pets – well almost). If they are fit and well, I can take use some of these for experiments which I do during the day using a load of space-age machines and high-tech instruments. If I have any plants growing I might have to water them or feed them to make sure they are healthy in case I might need them in the near future.

Quite often I have to put my bacteria into a freezer which goes down to -80C (colder than Antarctica!) so that they go to sleep (just like bears hibernating in the winter). If need be I might take other bacteria out of the freezer and thaw them for use in other experiments.

As I work with how bacteria live on plants I sometimes have to try to see where the bacteria actually are so I often use microscope to look closely at plants leaves (look at the pictures below to see leaf stomata and the veins).

The first is the vein pattern or architecture after I have removed all the other things using various chemicals. Take a look at the veins in your wrist – looks similar doesn’t it?

This one is of the stomata or the small pores essentially for transpiration. Bacteria use these small holes to invade into the plant.

I often teach undergraduate students in classes; showing them how to use equipment or explaining the theory behind their work and that is very rewarding.

Much of science revolves around constantly learning new things and sharing that information with other people so I read a lot and discuss issues with my colleagues, getting help and in turn helping them with their experiments and attempting to solve any day to day problems.