Job Title
Professor
Department
Life Sciences
Phone
024 7657 5268
Research Interests
We are interested in how an organism interacts with its environment. The mechanisms that facilitate this interaction are particularly important for plants since they are sessile yet still cope with environmental extremes.
Our work investigates the evolution of cell types in determining plant plasticity. This includes using systems analysis to understand the nitrogen-fixing symbiosis of nodulation, with the long-term aim of transferring it from legumes to staple crop species.
We use Fluorescence-Activated Cell Sorting (FACS) in combination with genomics and gene network inference to analyse the specific root cell types involved in symbiosis and environmental responses. We will use this information to identify how synthetic biology could be used to rewire plant responses to develop crops that can adapt to a changing climate.
Biography
Professor, Aug 2021 to present.
Reader, July 2019 to July 2021.
Associate Professor, July 2014 to June 2019.
Assistant Professor, Systems biology of nitrogen-regulated development, School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, 2009 to June 2014.
EMBO post-doctoral fellow, Integrating nitrogen-regulatory networks and development, New York University 2004-2008.
PhD, Cell layer specification during Arabidopsis embryogenesis, University of Edinburgh, 2004,
BSc Hons, Plant Science, University of Edinburgh 2001,
Membership of societies: The Society for Experimental Biology, The Genetics Society, UK
- 'Richmond, Bethany L., 'Coelho, Chloe L., 'Wilkinson, Helen, 'McKenna, Joseph F., 'Ratchinski, P?lagie, 'Schwarze, Maximillian, 'Frost, Matthew, 'Lagunas, Beatriz, 'Gifford, Miriam L., 2022. 'Elucidating connections between the strigolactone biosynthesis pathway, flavonoid production and root system architecture in Arabidopsis thaliana. Physiologia Plantarum, 174 (2)
- 'Achom, Mingkee, 'Roy, Proyash, 'Lagunas, Beatriz, 'Picot, Emma, 'Richards, L., 'Bonyadi-Pour, Roxanna, 'Pardal , Alonso Javier, 'Baxter, Laura, 'Richmond, Bethany L., 'Aschauer, N., 'Fletcher, E., 'Rowson, M., 'Blackwell, J., 'Rich-Griffin, C., 'Mysore, K. S., 'Wen, J., 'Ott, Sascha, 'Carr?, Isabelle A., 'Gifford, Miriam L., 2022. 'Plant circadian clock control of Medicago truncatula nodulation via regulation of Nodule Cysteine-Rich peptides. Journal of Experimental Botany, 73 (5), pp. 2142-2156
- Martínez-Andújar, Cristina, Martínez-Pérez, Ascensión, Albacete, Alfonso, Martínez-Melgarejo, Purificación A., Dodd, Ian C., Thompson, Andrew J., Mohareb, Fady, Estelles-Lopez, Lucia, Kevei, Zoltan, Ferrández-Ayela, Almudena, Pérez-Pérez, José Manuel, Gifford, Miriam L., Pérez-Alfocea, Francisco, 2021. Overproduction of ABA in rootstocks alleviates salinity stress in tomato shoots. Plant, Cell & Environment, 44 (9), pp. 2966-2986
- Baxter, Laura, Roy, Proyash, Picot, Emma, Watts, Jess, Jones, Alexandra M., Wilkinson, Helen, Schäfer, Patrick, Gifford, Miriam L., Lagunas, Beatriz, 2021. Comparative genomics across three ensifer species using a new complete genome sequence of the Medicago symbiont Sinorhizobium (Ensifer) meliloti WSM1022. Microorganisms, 9 (12)
- Roy, Proyash, Achom, Mingkee, Wilkinson, Helen, Lagunas, Beatriz, Gifford, Miriam L., 2020. Symbiotic outcome modified by the diversification from 7 to over 700 nodule specific cysteine rich peptides. Genes, 11 (4)
- Carroll, Daire, Holden, Nicola, Gifford, Miriam L., Dupuy, Lionel X., 2020. Framework for quantification of the dynamics of root colonization by pseudomonas fluorescens isolate SBW25. Frontiers in Microbiology, 11
- Walker, Liam, Lagunas, Beatriz, Gifford, Miriam L., 2020. Determinants of host range specificity in Legume-Rhizobia symbiosis. Frontiers in Microbiology, 11
- Lagunas, Beatriz, Dodd, Ian C., Gifford, Miriam L., 2019. A ?nodemap' to sustainable maize roots : linking nitrogen and water uptake improvements. Journal of Experimental Botany, 70 (19), pp. 5036-5039
- Lagunas, Beatriz, Achom, Mingkee, Bonyadi-Pour, Roxanna, Pardal , Alonso Javier, Richmond, Bethany L., Sergaki, Chrysi, Vázquez, Saúl, Schäfer, Patrick, Ott, Sascha, Hammond, John, Gifford, Miriam L., 2019. Regulation of resource partitioning coordinates nitrogen and rhizobia responses and autoregulation of nodulation in the legume Medicago truncatula. Molecular Plant, 12 (6), pp. 833-846
- Sergaki, Chrysi, Lagunas, Beatriz, Lidbury, Ian, Gifford, Miriam L., Schäfer, Patrick, 2018. Challenges and approaches in microbiome research : from fundamental to applied. Frontiers in Plant Science, 9
- Walker, Liam, Boddington, Clare, Jenkins, Dafyd J., Wang, Ying, Gronlund, Jesper T., Hulsmans, J., Kumar, Sanjeev, Patel, Dhaval, Moore, Jonathan D., Carter, Anthony, Samavedam, Siva, Bonomo, Giovanni, Hersh, David S., Coruzzi, Gloria?, Burroughs, Nigel John, Gifford, Miriam L., 2017. Changes in gene expression in space and time orchestrate environmentally mediated shaping of root architecture. The Plant Cell, 29 (10), pp. 2393-2412
- Ferrández-Ayela, Almudena, Sánchez-García, Ana Belén, Martinez-Andejar, Cristina, Kevei, Zoltan, Gifford, Miriam L., Thompson, Andrew J., Pérez-Alfocea, Francisco, Pérez-Pérez, José Manuel, 2016. Identification of novel stress-responsive biomarkers from gene expression datasets in tomato roots. Functional Plant Biology, 43 (8), pp. 783-796
- Ferrández-Ayela, Almudena, Sánchez-García, Ana Belén, Martínez-Andújar, Cristina, Gifford, Miriam L., Thompson, Andrew J., Pérez-Alfocea, Francisco, Pérez-Pérez, José Manuel, 2016. Identification of novel stress-responsive biomarkers from gene expression datasets in tomato roots. Functional Plant Biology, 43 (8), pp. 783-796
- Reitz, M. U., Gifford, Miriam L., Schäfer, Patrick, 2015. Hormone activities and the cell cycle machinery in immunity-triggered growth inhibition. Journal of Experimental Botany, 66 (8), pp. 2187-2197
- Lagunas, B., Schäfer, Patrick, Gifford, Miriam L., 2015. Housing helpful invaders : the evolutionary and molecular architecture underlying plant root-mutualist microbe interactions. Journal of Experimental Botany, 66 (8), pp. 2177-2186
- Coker, Timothy L. R., Cevik, Volkan, Beynon, Jim, Gifford, Miriam L., 2015. Spatial dissection of the Arabidopsis thaliana transcriptional response to downy mildew using fluorescence activated cell sorting. Frontiers in plant science, 6, pp. 1-13
- Vernié, Tatiana, Kim, Jiyoung, Frances, Lisa, Ding, Yiliang, Sun, Jongho, Guan, Dian, Niebel, Andreas, Gifford, Miriam L., de Carvalho-Niebel, Fernanda, Oldroyd, Giles E. D., 2015. The NIN transcription factor coordinates diverse nodulation programmes in different tissues of the root. The Plant Cell, 27 (12), pp. 3410-3424
- Wang, Ying, Penfold, Christopher A., Hodgson, D. A., Gifford, Miriam L., Burroughs, Nigel John, 2014. Correcting for link loss in causal network inference caused by regulator interference. Bioinformatics, 30 (19), pp. 2779-2786
- Gifford, Miriam L., Banta, Joshua A., Katari, Manpreet S., Hulsmans, Jo, Chen, Lisa, Ristova, Daniela, Tranchina, Daniel, Purugganan, Michael D., Coruzzi, Gloria, Birnbaum, Kenneth D., Rosas, Ulises, Cibrian-Jaramillo, Angelica, 2013. Plasticity regulators modulate specific root traits in discrete nitrogen environments. PLoS Genetics, 9 (9)
- Carter, Anthony D., Bonyadi, Roxanna, Gifford, Miriam L., 2013. The use of fluorescence-activated cell sorting in studying plant development and environmental responses. The International Journal of Developmental Biology, 57, pp. 545-552
- Rosas, Ulises, Cibrian-Jaramillo, Angelica, Ristova, Daniela, Banta, Joshua A., Gifford, Miriam L., Fan, A. H., Zhou, R. W., Kim, G. J., Krouk, G., Birnbaum, Kenneth D., Purugganan, Michael D., Coruzzi, G. M., 2013. Integration of responses within and across Arabidopsis natural accessions uncovers loci controlling root systems architecture. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 110 (37), pp. 15133-15138
- Grønlund, Jesper T., Eyres, Alison, Kumar, Sanjeev, Buchanan-Wollaston, Vicky, Gifford, Miriam L., 2012. Cell specific analysis of Arabidopsis leaves using fluorescence activated cell sorting. Journal of Visualized Experiments
- Gifford, Miriam L., Dean, A., Gutierrez, R. A., Coruzzi, G. M., Birnbaum, Kenneth D., 2008. Cell-specific nitrogen responses mediate developmental plasticity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol.105 (No.2), pp. 803-808
- Lagunas, Beatriz, Walker, Liam, Hussain, Rana Muhammad Fraz, Hands-Portman, Ian, Woolley-Allen, Kate, Gifford, Miriam L., 2018. Histological profiling over time to optimize root cell type-specific reporter lines for cell sorting. In Ristova D., Barbez E. (ed.), Root Development, New York, NY, Humana Press, pp. 165-175
- Gifford, Miriam L., 2010. The ways of science. Richards, K. (ed.), The new optimists : scientists view tomorrow's world & what it means to us, Linus Publishing
- Carter, A., Gifford, Miriam L., 2010. Understanding how nitrogen regulates developmental mechanisms using systems biology. Water & nitrogen use efficiency in plants and crops, Marston, Lincs, UK, 15-16 Dec 2010, Published in Aspects of Applied Biology, pp. 175-182
- Rogers, Alistair, Dietz, Karl-Josef, Gifford, Miriam L., Lunn, John E., 2021. The importance of independent replication of treatments in plant science. Journal of Experimental Botany, OUP, pp. 5270-5274
| Title | Funder | Award start | Award end |
|---|---|---|---|
| An N-fix in time (Responsive Mode) | BBSRC | 01 Jun 2020 | 30 Nov 2023 |
| A broadly accessible facility microscope to probe nanoscale cellular dynamics by combined live cell super-resolution microscopy and photomanipulation (BBSRC ALERT 2021) | BBSRC | 01 Aug 2022 | 31 Jul 2023 |
| UK-Brazil International Partnering Award: Development of novel strategies to address plant-microbes interactions in planta | BBSRC | 01 Apr 2022 | 31 Mar 2023 |
| Microbial establishment on growing rhizoplanes - WCPRS and James Hutton Studentship for Daire Carroll | James Hutton Institute, The | 02 Oct 2017 | 30 Jun 2021 |
| CoA: Capturing microbial co-symbiosis to sustain plant productivity; linked to Ideate 50031 | UK Research and Innovation | 01 Nov 2020 | 31 Mar 2021 |
| Capturing microbial co-symbiosis to sustain plant productivity | BBSRC | 01 Oct 2016 | 31 May 2020 |
| MLSRF Mohan T Chandrashekarai | Medical and Life Sciences Research Fund | 01 Mar 2018 | 28 Feb 2019 |
| FP7 -ROOTOPOWER: Empowering root-targeted strategies to minimise abiotic stress impacts on horticultural cropsPrevious PI - Dr Andrew Thomson**please note: collaborative project targeted to SMEs** | EU | 01 Jan 2012 | 31 Dec 2015 |
| Dissecting the diverse development programmes in different tissues during the development of a nitrogen fixing nodule | BBSRC | 01 Apr 2012 | 31 Mar 2015 |
| Developing interdisciplinary omics tools for organelle and cell type-specific analysis of Arabidopsis thaliana | New Phytologist Trust | 01 Sep 2014 | 30 Sep 2014 |
| Comparative Cell-specific Profiling to understand the Molecular Basis of Nodulation | BBSRC | 01 Oct 2010 | 30 Sep 2014 |
| WU0128 Crop improvement or resource use efficiency | Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | 01 Oct 2009 | 30 Sep 2012 |
| IF01105 Identifying genes that could improve nitrogen use efficiency | Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | 01 Oct 2009 | 31 Mar 2010 |