Bending Lab
|
|
Gary Bending - Principal InvestigatorProfessor Gary Bending is an environmental scientist whose research focuses on the structure and ecosystem functions of microbial communities. He completed his BSc in Biological Sciences at Exeter University and his PhD on mycorrhizal ecology at Sheffield University. He was a research group leader at Horticulture Research International and successor organisations at Wellesbourne, before moving to the School of Life Sciences (SLS) at Warwick University in 2010.Within SLS he is joint lead of the SLS Environment Theme, and Chairs the Athena Swann Committee. He is a member of the NERC Peer Review College, and between 2013 and 2019 a member of the UK Government Expert Committee on Pesticides.
Email: gary dot bending at warwick dot ac dot uk | Google Scholar | Twitter |
|
|
Sally Hilton - PostdocMy research interests are in the area of molecular microbiology; using molecular biology tools to obtain a greater understanding of microbes. This includes studying microbial communities, host-pathogen interactions, DNA replication and gene function and expression. My research has focused on crop protection including insect pathology, plants (in particular oilseed rape) and soil. I am currently working on a BBSRC/NERC SARISA grant ‘Roots of decline? Assembly and Function of the Rhizosphere Microbiome in Relation to Yield Decline’. In this project we will use advanced sequencing methods to derive new understandings of the factors which shape the composition of the rhizosphere microbial community (microbiome) and its consequences for crop growth.
Email: s dot hilton dot 1 at warwick dot ac dot uk | Google Scholar | LinkedIn |
 |
Emma Picot - PostdocI joined Gary’s group in 2016 to work on a short project looking for links between the Arabidopsis circadian clock and the rhizosphere microbiome. My current work is part of the Roots of Decline project, looking at the composition of the microbiome in soil and the rhizosphere of oilseed rape. I focus on the bioinformatic analysis of next gen sequencing data.
Email: e dot picot at warwick dot ac dot uk | Google Scholar | LinkedIn |
 |
Jess Palmer - PhD student (Main supervisor Dr Hendrik Schäfer)I am a final year PhD student funded by NERC CENTA and my project investigates the degradation of atmospheric pollutants by phyllosphere microbiota. While it is known that trees improve the quality of air, especially in urban environments, the role microorganisms play in the detoxification and degradation of air pollutants is less well known. Therefore, my research aims to broaden this knowledge by investigating the capability of tree phyllosphere microbiota to degrade two atmospheric pollutants: para-nitrophenol and carbon monoxide, and to compare the pollutant-degrading potential of tree leaf microbial communities found in urban vs rural environments.
Email: jessica dot palmer at warwick dot ac dot uk |
|
|
Chris O'Grady - PhD studentI am currently a final year PhD student as part of the MIBTP doctoral training programme. The aim of my research is to understand the temporal and spatial dynamics of microbial communities found at the soil surface, which have been shown to perform distinct ecosystem functions in arid regions. In my project, I have used next-generation sequencing methods to understand biological fluxes, as well as x-ray CT scanning to explore physical changes that occur at the soil surface. Results from my project will hopefully give an insight to how soil surface microbial communities may influence ecosystem functions in agriculture.
Email: c dot o-grady at warwick dot ac dot uk | LinkedIn |
|
|
Nastasia Baudin - PhD studentI am currently a final year PhD student, and my project is funded by a CASE studentship in collaboration with Syngenta. My project is on the degradation of pesticides in Brazilian soils. Brazilian soils are weathered soils with a low pH and organic matter content, and atypical mineralogy which can influence pesticides bioavailability and microbial community structure. My project aims are to determine the significant differences in terms of physico-chemical and biological properties between Brazilian soil and temperate soil, and how these differences impact pesticides mobility and degradation. I used next-generation amplicon sequencing and metabolomic methods to investigate biological properties.
Email: N dot Baudin at warwick dot ac dot uk | LinkedIn |
 |
Amy Newman - PhD studentI started my PhD in 2016, and am funded through NERC’s CENTA (Central England Training Alliance) doctoral training programme. I am investigating the presence and influence of circadian rhythms on plant-microbe interactions in the rhizosphere. The circadian clock is an intracellular timekeeping mechanism that allows organisms to synchronise with daily environmental changes. The effects of the circadian rhythms it generates are well-known in plants, but little is known about its possible impact on root-associated microbiota. I am working to characterise changes throughout the day in the structure and function of the rhizosphere microbiome, and also attempt to begin to understand why we see these. I work with both model and crop plant species using a variety of microbiological and molecular approaches, including amplicon sequencing and developing a novel method to image the rhizosphere using a luminescent model organism.
Email: a dot newman dot 1 at warwick dot ac dot uk | LinkedIn |
 |
Emma Johnstone - PhD studentI am currently a second year PhD student funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) through a Central England NERC Training Alliance doctoral training partnership in the Bending lab group. My project aims to explore the resistance and resilience of microbial communities subjected to extreme weather conditions which include flooding and drought. As climate change predictions indicate extreme weather may increase in the future it is pertinent that we look to understand how current ecosystems will be effected.
Email: e dot johnstone at warwick dot ac dot uk |
 |
Ellis Monaghan - PhD studentI am a member of the MIBTP doctoral training partnership with my PhD focusing on elucidation and utilisation of the root associated microbiome of Brassica napus (Oilseed Rape). During my first year of the programme I undertook a project rotation at the University of Birmingham and a professional internship with the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC).
Email: e dot monaghan dot 1 at warwick dot ac dot uk | LinkedIn |
|
|
Katy Faulkner - PhD studentHello, I’m Katy and I am a NERC CENTA PhD student investigating the resistance and resilience of soil and root microbial communities to climate change, with a focus on extreme weather events such as flooding and drought. Due to anthropogenic climate change, these extreme weather events are expected to increase in frequency and magnitude. The impact of this on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning is largely unknown. I will be running long-term field experiments specifically looking at the changes in bacterial, archaeal and fungal community structure, greenhouse gas feedbacks and enzyme activities in temperate forest soils subjected to various treatments.
Email: katy dot faulkner at warwick dot ac dot uk | LinkedIn |
|
|
Andris Grigorjevs - PhD studentI am a 1st year PhD Student, funded by NERC through CENTA program with industrial CASE studentship co-funded by Syngenta. My project is titled “Degradation of synthetic chemicals in water-sediment systems”. The subject of my research is microbial biodegradation, particularly in the scope of OECD tests for transformation of chemicals in aquatic and sediment systems and the environmental realism of those tests. I will investigate the effect of scale, flow and other variables between normal OECD 308 and 309 type test microcosms and larger experimental systems such as microflumes.
Email: andris dot grigorjevs at warwick dot ac dot uk | LinkedIn |
|
|
Katie Endersby - PhD studentI am a first year BBSRC CASE PhD student, working with AstraZeneca in my project to look at the environmental persistence of chemicals. This project will look at the way temperature affects populations of microbial degraders in aquatic environments, and ways to improve current chemical testing guidelines in a laboratory environment.
Email: K dot Endersby at warwick dot ac dot uk |
|
|
Letizia Pondini - PhD student (main supervisor Dr Hendrik Schäfer)I am a first year PhD student funded by NERC and the Royal Horticultural Society. The focus of my project is on the impact of plants and their associated microbial communities on the capture and degradation of atmospherically derived pollutants. The ability of plants to catch and retain air pollutants can be affected by several factors, including plant functional traits like the micro-structure of the leaf surface, the macro-structure of the canopy and the presence of trichomes. There is evidence that plants and their associated microbial communities are capable of degrading atmospherically derived pollutants, but links between plants, microbial diversity and the fate of pollutants are still poorly characterised. In order to identify the most promising plant species my project will involve high-throughput meta-genomics sequencing techniques.
|
AlumniMatteo Gregori (PhD student, University of Warwick), Chris Hale (Applications Trainer, Illumina), Rebecca Southwell (Metabolism Chemist, Syngenta), Mark Day (Lawyer), Chris Barnes (Postdoctoral Researcher, Natural History Museum of Denmark), Lawrence Davies (Research Support, University of Manchester), Caitlin Burns (Sustainable Development and Circular Economy Specialist, Environmental agency).
|
|
