IN INOCULANTS Nodulaid - 17th International Nitrogen Fixation ...

KeYNoTe SPeAKeRS
Allan Downie
After completing a PhD, post-doc and a fellowship in microbial bioenergetics, I moved from Canberra
to the John Innes (Norwich) in 1981 and started working on Rhizobium-legume interactions. My work
on identifying various nodulation genes included the characterisation of a secreted nodulation protein
that forms cation-selective ion channels. This led me to analyse Ca++ changes in legume root hairs in
response to Nod factors in WT and nodulation-defective mutants, leading to a proposed Nod-factor
activated signalling pathway. More recently I have been trying to understand how Nod-factor-induced
Ca++ signalling might be coupled to initiation of rhizobial infection of root hairs.
Ken Giller
Ken Giller is Professor Plant Production Systems at Wageningen University. He leads a group of scientists
with profound experience in systems analysis and simulation modelling scenarios of change. Ken’s
research has focused on nitrogen fixation in tropical legumes and he is author of the standard text
“Nitrogen Fixation in Tropical Cropping Systems” published in second edition in 2001. He has 5 books,
>200 papers in peer-reviewed, international journals (H factor=37) and >100 book chapters. He leads
a US$19.2M project “N2Africa – Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa
(www.N2Africa.org)” across 8 countries in Africa funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Giles Oldroyd
Western agricultural systems are reliant on the application of inorganic nitrogen fertilisers that greatly
enhance yield. However, production and application of nitrogen fertilisers account for a significant
proportion of fossil fuel usage in food production and the major global source of nitrous oxide emissions,
a very potent greenhouse gas. Prof Giles Oldroyd studies the mechanisms by which some species of
plants are capable of forming beneficial interactions with nitrogen fixing bacteria, that provide a natural
source of nitrogen for plant growth. A long term aim of this research is to reduce agricultural reliance on
nitrogen fertilisers. Giles completed his PhD in 1998 at the University of California, Berkeley, studying
plant/pathogen interactions and then moved to Stanford University to complete a postdoc on legume/
rhizobial interactions in the laboratory of Prof. Sharon Long. He has been an independent researcher
at the John Innes Centre since 2002. From 2002 to 2007 he held a BBSRC David Philips Fellowship and
since 2007 has been a tenured member of the JIC faculty. In 2008 he was made the head of the Institute
Strategic Programme Grant “Plant sensing and responding to the Environment” and between 2010-2011
he was the Deputy Director of the John Innes Centre. He has been recognised by a number of awards
for his research: EMBO young investigator; European Research Council young investigator; Society of
Experimental Biology Presidents medal; Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit award and the BBSRC
David Phillips Fellowship.
Phil Poole
Phil Poole is originally from Perth but slipped up while on the typical Aussie European tour of Europe
by staying to do post doctoral work in the biochemistry department at Oxford. From there he moved
to Reading and then to the John Innes Centre in 2007. Phil works on the physiology and genetics of root
nodule and rhizosphere/soil bacteria. He is particularly interested in:
1) The regulation of nutrient exchange between Rhizobium and their host legumes
2) Development and differentiation of the legume bacteroids
3) The molecular basis of competitive success of bacteria in the plant rhizosphere
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