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The Fantastic Four?

October has been busy in the Crop and Soil Systems group with four new PhD candidates starting on a range of projects. This is the second intake of new PhD students this year, with more to follow. In the meantime though we felt it would be nice to introduce them to SAC in their own words.


Maria Borlinghaus, from Germany, joined the UK Biochar Research Center as a technical research assistant in December last year working on rapid screening assays that test the stability, priming effect and the agronomic benefit of different biochar (essentially charcoals that may have a role in carbon sequestration) products in soil. Maria studied Geoecology at the University of Bayreuth with a focus on Soil Science and Agronomy. For her MSc thesis she looked at the changes in soil microbial community after manure and biochar applications to soil using 13C - labelling and compound-specific isotope analysis. For her PhD she will be investigating the physical, chemical and biological impact of biochar products in arable soil. Her specific research questions will address the influence of biochar on biota in soil and the phyllosphere as well as root-pathogens and plant-pesticide interactions. (Why can’t all science be that simple. Ed)

Greek student Nickolas Angelopoulos graduated from the Agricultural University of Athens with a BSc and MSc in Management of natural resources and agricultural engineering. He completed an University of Edinburgh MSc in Environmental Protection and management, run by SAC. His PhD  is titled “Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Legume Based Systems” and is part of an international research project in the EU Framework Programme 7 known as Legume Futures. The aim of the project is to develop and assess legume-supported cropping systems that raise the economic and environmental performance of European agriculture.

Maciej Kaczmarek recently joined Crop and Soil Systems Group at SAC having completed his MRes in Crops and Environmental Science at SCRI and University of Dundee. His BASF funded PhD is working with Ramularia collo-cygni, supervised by Dr Neil Havis and Dr James Fountaine at SAC and Professor Nick Read at the University of Edinburgh. In some European countries R. collo-cygni has become a major pathogen of barley. Recent development of fungicide resistance observed in R. collo-cygni populations suggests that there is an undiscovered sexual stage of the fungus which is driving the rapid evolution of the pathogen. Maciej aims to enhance our understanding of R. collo-cygni biology and life cycle. He strongly believes that his results will underpin the development of the effective and durable crop protection strategy and future Ramularia leaf spot management. 

Twenty three years old Marta Piotrowska from Poland studied biotechnology at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan and graduated this year. Her adventure with SAC began on the 1st of October and will last for another three years. She is working on PhD project funded by SAC Trust fund and Syngenta Crop Protection on “Characterisation of mutations in succinate dehydrogenase gene for potential fungicide resistance in Ramularia collo-cygani.” Ramularia is thought to be a high risk pathogen that develops fungicide resistance rapidly. Marta will look for possible mutations in the Sdh gene, which might be responsible for the resistance to SDHI (succinate dehydrogenase inhibitors) and to produce effective assays for monitoring genetic changes that correlate with fungicide resistance thus allowing prediction of Ramularia resistance occurrence and providing strategies to slow it down.

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