Up-coming
Past events
Australian Nitrogen Fixation Conference, Fremantle, Western Australia, 6th-9th Dec 2022
Phil gave a talk
Hayley gave a talk
Clare gave a talk
Tom gave a talk and won the prize for the best student talk.
Raphael gave a talk
Tim gave a talk
Alison gave a poster
Bergthor gave a poster and won best student poster
OxBacNet, 2nd Nov 2022
This meeting was held in Dept. of Biology (SPR) Raphael gave a talk entitled ‘Polyamines are crucial for maintaining nitrogen-fixing bacteroids‘
Ohio State University, Student seminar, 2nd Nov 2022
Phil gave an online talk entitled ‘Life-cycle transitions of rhizobia from bacteria to nitrogen-fixing symbionts‘
Molecular Plant Biology Seminar Series, Dept. of Biology, Oxford, 26th Oct 2022
Phil gave a talk entitled ‘Rhizobium-Legume Symbiosis‘
Autumn Science Lectures, Oxford Botanic Garden and Arboretum, 20th Oct 2022
Phil gave an online talk entitled ‘Climate breakdown and agriculture; can we square the circle?‘
Visiting workers to the Poole Lab
We are delighted to welcome from Spain, Sandra Gusi Martinez from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid on the Erasmus+ programme from 9th July-9th September 2022 and Maria Palomero Gómez from University of Zaragoza from 30th June-15th August 2022. Both students will be working with Carmen during their time in Oxford.
Working with Isidro over the summer are two other visitors from Spain, Carlos Galindo Lalana (University of Zaragoza, 15th June-27th July 2022) and Clara Lozano Lipez (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 1st Sept-10th Oct 2022).
Department of Biology 2022
On 1st August 2022 the Department of Plant Sciences and the Department of Zoology officially merged into the Department of Biology.
OxBacNet, 18th May 2022
This meeting was held in Dept. of Plant Sciences (Hooray! It was great to see everyone again!)
ENSA meeting, Freiburg, Germany, April 2022
Hayley and Rapahael attended this meeting.
Society of General Microbiology, Annual Meeting, Belfast 4th-7th April 2022
Phil gave a talk entitled ‘Engineering control of the plant microbiota’
Spain-UK Plant Biotechnology Forum, 22nd-23rd Feb 2022
Carmen gave a talk entitled ‘Shaping microbial physiology through carbon and nitrogen metabolism.’
Javi, on an internship with the Embassy of Spain Office for Cultural and Scientific Affairs, chaired a session, acted as moderator and was involved in organising this online conference.
Plant Genomes, Systems Biology and Engineering, Cold Spring Harbor, 1st-3rd Dec 2021
Phil gave a talk at this conference which was (sadly) held on-line.
OxBacNet, 3rd Nov 2021 (by Zoom)
Raphael gave a presentation entitled ‘Polyamine-mediated acid tolerance is critical for bacteroid functioning.’
OxBacNet, 19th May 2021 (by Zoom)
Carolin gave a presentation entitled ‘Metabolic control of nitrogen fixation in the rhizobium-legume symbioses‘
YES 2020, final held April 2021
Congratulations to Clare and her team mates in CyanoCycle, winners of EnviroYES.
The team’s imaginary business idea being to grow cyanobacteria in wastewater treatment plants, reducing the carbon output of water treatment and providing a raw material to make environmentally friendly fertiliser.
5th Annual Missouri University Plant Research Symposium (part of Corteva Plant Science Symposiums), 4th -5th March 2021.
Phil gave a talk entitled ‘Improving legume symbiosis or engineering cereals’ in this virtual symposium: The Next Green Revolution: Challenges and Strategies towards a Sustainable Agriculture.
OxBacNet, 11th Feb. 2021 (by Zoom)
Laura gave a presentation entitled ‘Where should I invest my resources? How host plants regulate interactions with bacterial symbionts‘
Complex Networks 2020 (Online conference), Madrid, Dec. 2020
Javi gave a talk entitled ‘Signed distance correlation to generate weighted and thresholded gene coexpression networks‘ by Javier Pardo-Diaz, Philip Poole, Mariano Beguerisse-Díaz, Charlotte Deane and Gesine Reinert.
Nature webcast, Beatriz Jorrin, 14th Oct. 2020
Probing root associated microbiome assembly with fluorescently labelled synthetic communities
Plant Microbe Interactions Series-Part 1, Society for Applied Microbiology, Oct. 7th 2020
Phil gave a talk at this virtual symposium entitled ‘Rhizobium from rhizosphere to root nodule’.
28th Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology, International Society for Computational Biology 2020 (online conference), 13th-16th July 2020
Javi presented a poster entitled ‘Robust gene coexpression networks using signed distance correlation’.
Microbiology Society 75th Anniversary publication, A Sustainable Future, June 2020
Congratulations to Carolin for her contribution entitled Fixing the Problem of Nitrogen Limitation in Agriculture.
This draws on her work in the Lab and during her internship at Sound Agriculture in California.
OxBacNet, 22nd May 2020
This meeting was cancelled due to COVID-19.
Reach Nano-talks, Sustainability and Microbes, April 2020
Biological Nitrogen Fixation for Food Security by Carolin Schulte. Presented on-line.
Microbiome Capability Workshop Agenda, Birmingham, March 2020
Phil and Andrzej attended this one-day meeting.
OxBacNet, 12th Feb. 2020
Andrzej gave a presentation entitled ‘A holistic approach to the plant microbiome’
Spreading the word….science is fun and interesting! #WomenInScience Day, 11th Feb 2020
Carmen gave a Skype presentation to school students from IES Reyes Católicos, Málaga on 13th Feb 2020, an initiative organised by 11defebrero.org
#WomenInScience Day, 11th Feb 2020
Celebrating all the women and girls in the Lab. for International Women in Science day!
Gordon Research Conference: Sensory Transduction in Microorganisms 2020, Molecular Control of Signal Sensing, Processing and Response, Ventura, California, USA. 12th-17th Jan 2020.
Sam will attend this conference and present work entitled ‘Strategically navigating through the soil: the integrated sensory systems of the legume symbiont Rhizobium leguminosarum‘
XXVII Workshop Advances in Molecular Biology by Young Researchers Abroad, Centro National de Biotechnologica, Madrid, Spain, 19th Dec 2019
Bea gave a talk entitled ‘ Differential Fluorescent Markers to map Synthetic Communities on Plant Roots’
The Cellular World, Museum of Natural History, University of Oxford, 4th Dec 2019
Carmen gave a talk entitled ‘Bacteria and the Future of Food‘ to A-level biology students.
Counsellor for Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and the Environment from the Embassy of Spain visits Dept. of Plant Sciences, 28th Nov. 2019
In her role as vice-chair of (Society of Spanish Researchers in UK) SRUK, Carmen spoke to the Counsellor from the Embassy of Spain and her team on a visit to Oxford.
Sir Walter Murdoch Adjunct Professorial Scheme, 2019-21
Phil has been awarded a grant from this scheme which enables him to visit Murdoch University in Perth, WA to build collaborations and assist in their research programme. Phil visited Centre of Rhizobium Studies (CRS) at Murdoch University in Nov 2019.
Congratulations to Carmen who begins a Leverhulme Research Project, 1st Nov. 2019
Imaging bacterial chemotaxis to roots: role of the global regulator PTSNtr
21st International Congress on Nitrogen Fixation, 10th -15th Oct. 2019, Wuhan, China
Phil gave a talk at this meeting. While in China, Phil also visited Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology (CEPAMS) and gave a talk.
Congratulations to Tim who starts an 1851 Fellowship, 1st Oct. 2019
Further details of Tim and his research can be found here.
Visitors Autumn 2019- Spring/Summer 2020
We welcomed the following scientists to the Poole Lab.
- Anna Martyn (Universität zu Köln, Germany) for 6 mths from 1st Sept. to carry out a project for her Masters thesis.
- Naoki Yanagisawa (Nagoya University, Japan) from 1st Oct. until Jun. 2020 bringing his expertise in microfluidics.
- Theresa Ernst (Germany) for an internship from 25th Nov. 2019 until 21st Feb. 2020 before she starts her PhD in Germany.
Poole Lab DPhil student internships 2019:
- Laura did an internship as a Biostatistician for Costello Medical in Cambridge UK for 12 weeks from 1st July 2019.
- Carolin did an internship at Sound Agriculture in Emeryville, California. July- Sept 2019
Brandon did an internship during July- Sept 2019 at Legume Technology who are the industrial partner in his CASE studentship.
Mini-symposium on chemical signalling in the rhizosphere, 16th-19th Sept. 2019 Cumbria, UK
Phil gave a talk: ‘Engineering new rhizosphere signalling networks’. Tim gave a talk too.
Carmen’s research featured in La Revisita, Summer 2019
Read Carmen’s article: Life underground: The basis and future of agriculture
Visitors Summer 2019
This summer, IUNFC student Anirban Basu from University of Hyderabad, India will be visiting IUNFC Labs in the UK. 16th-30th June and 1st-31st Aug. 2019 he will be in Oxford working with Bea.
- 17th June-30 July 2019 post-doc Suyu Jiang is visiting from Jeremy Murray’s Lab in Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology in Shanghai, China as part of the recently founded CAS-JIC Centre of Excellence for Plant and Microbial Science. She will be performing RNASeq experiments with Vinoy.
- Michael Culbert, an Oxford undergraduate is doing a summer internship with Raphael.
- Sixth-former Lydia is spending a week with the Poole Group to see what it is like working in a research lab
Marcela’s graduation! July 2019
XVII National Meeting of the Spanish Society of Nitrogen Fixation, Madrid, Spain, July 2019
Carmen gave a talk entitled ‘Control of bacterial nitrogen and carbon metabolism by a PTSNtr regulated switch‘
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU), Munich, Germany, July 2019
Phil presented a keynote lecture at a Plant Microbiome Workshop.
Congratulations to Carmen!
Carmen is joining Kellogg College in Michaelmas 2019 as a Research Member of Common Room. See here.
XVII Symposium of Mexican Studies and Students in the UK, University of Cambridge, 26-28th June 2019
Marcela gave a talk entitled ‘ Rhizobial competition: getting to the root of the problem’
Research seminar at Rothamsted, 17th June 2019
Phil gave a research seminar at Rothamsted.
Visitors Spring 2019
- 6th-28th May 2019 Talitha Rogers from Centre for Rhizobium Studies, Murdoch University, Australia, to work with Vinoy performing RNASeq experiments.
- 15th April-12th June 2019 – IUNFC student Prachi Singh from NBAIM, Mau, India working to examine pigeonpea-nodulating rhizobia and learning new molecular techniques with Bea.
OxBacNet, 22nd May 2019
Meeting held in Dept. of Plant Sciences, 2pm
Poole Lab DPhil student internships 2019:
- Paul spent 3 mths from 4th Feb 2019 with WHO in Geneva, Switzerland.
- Hayley will be spending a total of 3 mths at the Natural History Museum, Oxford during the course of 2019.
Symbiosis Day at the Natural History Museum, Oxord, 11th April 2019
Brandon and Carolin ready to talk to the public about the science of symbiosis. Marcela’s 3D printed bacteroids are amazing!
Talks at Natural History Museum, Oxford, 6th April 2019
Sam gave a talk at this event on his research.
Congratulations to Laura on winning the runner’s-up poster prize at the BioSciences DTP Annual Symposium, April 2019
OxBacNet, 6th Feb 2019
Meeting held in Dept. of Plant Sciences, 2pm
Closing Ceremony of the programme UAM/SRUK 2018, Madrid, Spain 1st Feb 2019
Carmen supervised Alicia over summer 2018 in Oxford and their research was selected for a talk at the closing ceremony. Congratulations to them both!
(image of Alicia and Carmen from SRUK/CERU)
The program was organised by the UAM (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid), with students that came from diverse Science degrees, and the SRUK (society of Spanish Researchers in the UK), offering the host groups: https://sruk.org.uk/uam-sruk-summer-studentships/
NIAB-EMR seminar series, 29th Jan 2019
Phil gave a seminar entitled: ‘Root colonisation and the role of the microbiome’.
Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, Cologne, Germany 17th Dec 2018
Phil gave a seminar: ‘Mapping the interaction of rhizobia with roots and their associated life-style changes’.
Three out of three…. Congratulations to Kyle, the third of the Poole Lab students to have a successful DPhil viva this autumn!
Bacterial World, Natural History Museum, Oxford, 4th Dec 2018
Phil gave a talk: ‘Bacteria and the future of food’.
Winchester College, 27th Nov 2018
Phil gave a talk to A level students: ‘Nitrogen and humanity; a perpetual crisis’.
IUNFC Annual Meeting held at NBAIM, Mau, India, 13-14th Nov 2018
Phil, Alison, Andrzej, Vinoy and Bea travelled to this meeting, along with IUNFC colleagues from other UK Labs.
They also paid a visit to Dr Maitrayee DasGupta’s Lab at the University of Calcutta, Kolkata.
Botanic Gardens Seminar Series, 1st Nov 2018
Phil gave a talk in the autumn seminar series: ‘The plant microbiome, the dark and dirty secrets of plant growth’
OxBacNet Oct 2018 – Termly meeting of Oxford’s bacteriologists held in Dept. of Plant Sciences.
For speakers and schedule see here.
Well done Rachel! Another successful viva from the Poole Lab DPhil students, Oct 2018
Wonderful cake too – ordered by Nick (on an internship in Thailand)
Congratulations to Marcela! DPhil viva accomplished in style! Oct 2018
Poole Lab DPhil student internships 2018:
- Jack has spent two months during 2018 at Panacea Innovation.
- Sam spent from 10th Sept to 30th Nov 2018 at Zooniverse, Oxford.
- Nick was an UNESCO Natural Science Office in Bangkok, Thailand from 21st Sept to 23rd Dec 2018.
The Microbiome: human medicine and agriculture in a bacterial world, Royal Society, 5th Oct 2018
Phil took part in this one-day meeting.
COSNET Conference 2018, Sept 26th-28th 2018, Warsaw, Poland
Javi presented a poster ‘Gene Coexpression Network for the study of Rhizobium leguminosarum‘
13th ENFC, 18-21 Aug 2018, Stockholm, Sweden
Phil gave a talk: ‘ Dissection of Bacteroid Metabolism’.
Marcela gave a talk: ‘High-throughput identification of competitive and effective rhizobial strains’.
Andrzej gave a talk: ‘Absolute quantification of of microbiota abundance in environmental samples’.
Carmen presented a poster: ‘Phosphorylation of the phosphotransferase system (PTS) balances the nitrogen and carbon metabolism in Rhizobium leguminosarum’. WINNER OF THE POSTER PRIZE!
Rachel presented a poster: ‘Whole genome-scale characterization of the fitness determinants in Rhizobium-legume symbioses’.
Vinoy presented a poster: ‘A novel pea-root derived glycoprotein governs rhizobial attachment to root elongation zone’.
ENFC Satellite Meetings: 1.Microbiome Satellite Meeting, 17th Aug 2018
Phil, Vinoy, Marcela and Rachel presented talks.
2. Molecular aspects of regulation and metabolism in nitrogen fixation, 18th Aug 2018
Carmen gave a talk: ‘Regulation of carbon and nitrogen metabolism in Rhizobium leguminosarum’.
Nitrogen Network Meeting, July 2018
A one-day meeting organised by the Poole Lab was held in Oxford. Keynote speaker Luis Rubio (UPM). For more details
Gatsby Plant Science Summer School, Hawkshill, York, 2nd-4th July 2018
Phil will speak and take part in this summer school for undergraduates interested in studying plant sciences. He gave a talk: ‘The sticky business of microbes and plant roots’.
Departmental summer BBQ, June 2018
Congratulations to Vinoy who has been selected as an MPLS BAME – Beyond Boundaries Project role model
This science-inspired art initiative will see secondary school students interpreting a research project in a piece of art work – drawing, painting or even sculpture. We are looking forward to seeing the outcomes.
Update (Dec 2018): Winner in Year 7 Individual category – Matilda Percy-Bowersox from Oxford Spires Academy with her artwork Bacteria based on research by Vinoy Ramachandran.
KEYS conference, Amsterdam, 13th-15th June 2018
Phil gave a talk: ‘Imaging plant-microbe interactions: the root microbiome and colonisation’.
OxBacNet May 2018 – Termly meeting of Oxford’s bacteriologists held in Dept. of Plant Sciences
For speakers and schedule see here.
Lecture at Cirencester Science and Technology Society, Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester, 9th May 2018, 7.30pm
Phil will give a lecture entitled ‘Nitrogen and humanity – a permanent crisis‘
Lab Retreat March 2018
Spring 2018 – Welcome to new staff and visitors!
Tim Haskett joins the SynSym project from March 2018.
IUNFC students Chalasani Danteswari from University of Hyderabad and Nagvanti Atoliya from the India Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal are visiting the Poole Lab and working with Bea, April-June 2018 to examine pigeonpea-nodulating rhizobia.
Biosciences DTP student Riccardo Soldan is working in the Poole Lab for his rotation project, April-July 2018. He is studying the microbiomes of Arabidopsis.
Undergraduates Pandora Dewan, Clare Cocker and Oliver Taylor are working with Laura, Carmen and Vinoy, respectively, for their second-year research projects.
Anna Martyn from Universität zu Köln is spending 6 mths working with Andrzej on plant microbiomes. Beatrice Senatori from the University of Florence is spending 6 mths working with Vinoy on bacterial attachment to plant roots.
Zoological Society of London, Huxley Lecture Theatre, Main Meeting Rooms, ZSL London Zoo, 13th March 2018, 6pm
Phil will give a talk in the event Ecosystems under the microscope: why microbes matter for conservation.
Super Science Saturday, Oxford Natural History Museum, Parks Road, Oxford, 10th March 2018
Sam and Hayley will take part in this exciting activity by sharing the joy of unearthing nitrogen-fixing nodules from legume roots.
SRUK-Oxford on Thursday 1st March 2018
Beatriz will give a talk on science from her perspective.
Thatcher Development Programme’s Foundation Day Panel Discussion, ‘Climate Change: Approaches and Innovations for the Future’ Tuesday 27th February, Somerville College, Oxford
Phil took part in this discussion on Climate Change before the Foundation Day Dinner at Somerville College, Oxford.
2nd Plant Microbiome Symposium, Barbizon Palace Hotel, Amsterdam, the Netherlands 19th-21st Feb 2018
Phil, Jack and Andrzej attended this meeting.
- Andrzej’s poster was entitled “The plant microbiome is dependent on soil type, soil fraction and the common symbiotic pathway“
Interactive Q&A session with school students in Spain, Feb 2018
Carmen, direct from her bench in Oxford via Skype, spent a happy hour answering questions from 16-17 year olds in IES Santo Reino, Spain. This session followed her presentation on following her talk about Nitrogen-fixing Bacteria and was to promote interest in science, research and Women in Science.
Department of Biology, University of York on 13th February 2018
Phil gave a seminar entitled ‘Metabolic transitions of rhizobia and application to engineering N2-fixation in cereals‘ in the Plant Biology seminar series.
Poole Lab Christmas Meal – Dec 2017
Joint Meeting of NUCLEUS and UBNFC VJCs, Florianapolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil 22nd Nov 2017
As part of UBNFC, Phil attended this meeting.
UBNFC Annual Meeting, Florianapolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil 23-24th Nov 2017
Phil and Marta attended this annual meeting.
Congratulations to Josh on submitting his DPhil thesis! Sept. 2017
20th International Congress on Nitrogen Fixation (ICNF), Granada, Spain 3rd-7th Sept. 2017
Annet gave a talk entitled ‘Computing plants: how pea plants allocate resources among multiple rhizobial strains’
Carmen gave a talk entitled ‘Regulatory cross-talk by the phosphotransferase systems in R. leguminosarum’
Marcela gave a talk entitled ‘High-throughput tool to identify competitive rhizobial strains’
Phil gave a keynote lecture entitled ‘What makes a bacteroid?’
Andrzej, Barney, Bea, Hayley, Jack, Josh, Kyle, Nick, Paul, Rachel and Vinoy had posters (see here for details).
VI Annual Meeting of the Plant Genetic and Biotechnology Network, Italy 20th-23rd June 2017
Phil gave a talk entitled ‘Root microbiota in plant productivity’ at this graduate school.
Imperial College London, Silwood Park, 22nd June 2017
In the Ecology and Evolution Seminar Series, Bea gave a seminar entitled ‘From population genomics to synthetic communities in the Rhizobium – Legume system’
Visitors Spring-Summer 2017
We welcome Eloïne Bestion (Élève Ingénieure Agronome) from ENSAT (Ecole Nationale Superieure Agronomique de Toulouse), France for a placement from June until the end of August 2017. Eloïne will be working on analysis of microbiomes from the rhizosphere.
As part of the IUNFC exchange programme, PhD student Sohini Guha from the University of Calcutta will be working in the Poole Lab from April-Aug 2017.
From April 2017 the Poole Lab is hosting Paul Rutten from the Interdisciplinary Bioscience Doctoral Training Partnership for his rotation project.
Undergraduates Thomas Lewin, Ben Foster and Yann Newby will be doing their six-week projects in the Poole Lab starting in May 2017.
Poole Lab Dinner, Somerville College 15th June 2017
Great to see everyone dressed up for dinner!
ASM Microbe 2017, New Orleans, USA, June 2017
Phil gave a talk entitled ‘ Role of Root Microbiota in Plant Productivity‘ in the session Microbes and Plants: From Leaf to Root.
The Queen’s College Symposium, June 2017
Carmen gave a talk entitled ‘Life underground: The basis and future of agriculture’
University of Middlesex, Environmental Sciences Lecture Series, April 2017.
Barney gave a talk entitled ‘Engineering trans-kingdom signalling to govern traits in the plant rhizosphere’
Experimental Plant Sciences (EPS) Meeting, Lunteren, The Netherlands, April 2017
Phil was a speaker at this Graduate School EPS Training Programme event.
Congratulations to Jack who has been accepted onto NERC Valuing Nature Business Impact School 6th-9th March 2017 in London.
II Semana Bioengenharia, Instuto Superior Técnico, Lison, Portugal, 7th March 2017
Phil gave a seminar entitled ‘How plants select the rhizosphere microbiome and, in turn, how microbes alter plant growth’
UN International Day of Women and Girls in Science, 11th Feb 2017
Rhizosphere Lab scientists include women from all over the world (below), who are proud to support and celebrate UN International Day of Women and Girls in Science, 2017.
L to R: Marcela (Mexico), Carmen (Spain), Rachel (UK), Lily (China), Hayley (UK), Alison (UK), Laura (UK), Rona (UK) and Bea (Spain).
Congratulations to Barney who has recently been made a JRF at Wolfson College.
Crop Systems Engineering Seminar Series, University of Southampton, 10th Feb 2017
Phil gave a seminar entitled ‘Root colonisation and engineering selection of microbes’.
Oxford University Botanic Garden – Out of Hours Plant Science Masterclass Series. March and April 2017 at the Museum of Natural History
Josh and Nick are involved in running this masterclass for young talented biologists, encouraging them to think of plant science as an important and interesting area, and one that would allow them to tackle global challenges in the future.
Contribution to UK Parliament, Jan 2017 
Izzy’s My Science Inquiry to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee proposing an inquiry into how the UK can utilise biological solutions to the global nitrogen crisis was selected for publication.
On 24th Jan 2017 Phil did a FacebookLIVE event via OxfordSparks – catch up with Phil’s talk:
Global Pulse Day, 19th Jan 2017
The bring-and-share Pulse Lunch was enjoyed by members of the Plant Science Dept.
Delicious tastes on offer ranged from curries, dips and salads to black bean chocolate muffins and chickpea blondies.
Rothamsted Open Innovation Forum, 18th-20th Jan 2017
Jack and Nick attended this inspiring event.
Back2Roots 1st Annual Meeting, Wageningen, Holland, 12th-13th Jan 2017
Phil will give a talk at the Back2Roots 1st Annual Meeting in Wageningen.
Congratulations to Izzy who had her PhD viva on 5th Jan 2017 – well done Dr Webb!
Visitors – Winter/Spring 2017
From January the Poole Lab is delighted to be hosting Sam Aroney and Hayley Knights on a 12 week rotation in the first year of their DPhil studies. In addition, Rona Costello and Laura Clark will be working with Dr Lindsay Turnbull on rotation projects joint with the Poole Lab.
Sam, Hayley, Rona and Laura are students on the Interdisciplinary Bioscience Doctoral Training Partnership and will be working on aspects of nitrogen fixation.
Innovative Crop Protection for the 21st Century Food Security, 13th-14th Dec. 2016, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
Phil and Andrzej attended this conference. Phil gave a talk entitled ‘Root colonisation and community selection’.
Launch of the India UK Nitrogen Fixation Centre (IUNFC), 6-7th Oct. 2016 in Bhopal, India. Phil, Vinoy, Andrzej, Bea and Alison travelled to India for the launch and IUNFC project planning meeting.
XXth Symposium Plant Biology, 27th-28th Sept. 2016 Botanical Institute, University of Cologne, Germany.
Phil will give a talk entitled ‘Plant control of the rhizosphere microbiome’
Rachel has written an article ‘ A problem for the 21st Century: tackling the Nitrogen Crisis‘ published in this term’s Phenotype.
Inaugural Poole Lab retreat, Sept. 2016
We spent two nights in rural Wiltshire which provided an opportunity for presentations, in-depth project discussions, walking, eating and other activities. We returned focused on our projects and refreshed!
ENFC-2016 25th-28th Aug. 2016, Budapest, Hungary. Several members of the group attended this conference to give talks and present posters.
- Barney gave a talk: ‘Discovery of a novel rhizopine synthesis pathway paves the way for synthetic symbioses and nitrogen fixing cereal crops’
- Marcela had a short oral presentation and poster: ‘Rhizobial competition: getting to the root of the problem’
- Carmen had a short oral presentation and poster: ‘Regulation of bacterial metabolism by the phosphotransferase system (PTSNtr)’
- Rachel had a short oral presentation and poster: ‘Insertion Sequencing in Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. viciae 3841′
- Annet had a short oral presentation and poster: ‘Policing the gate: can pea plants stop rhizobial cheats from entering?’
- Izzy had a poster: ‘Using Raman microscopy to investigate nitrogen fixation mutants of Rhizobium leguminosarum‘
- Alison had a poster: ‘Comparison of Rhizobium leguminosarum determinate and indeterminate nodules on legumes by RNA-Seq analysis’
EMBO conference: The nitrogen nutrition of plants, 22nd-26th August, Montpellier, France.
Phil gave a talk in PlaNNet coordination Network session sponsored by NSF.
Visitors – Spring/Summer 2016
From April, the Poole Lab was delighted to host Jack Parsons on a 12 week rotation in the first year of his DPhil. Jack is a student on the Interdisciplinary Bioscience Doctoral Training Partnership.
During Trinity term 2016 we welcomed undergraduates doing their projects in the Poole Lab; Freya Easton and Sophie Richards worked with Vinoy, Beatrice Egid worked with Carmen. Megan Griffiths and Connor Hope worked with Annet and Marcela.
Society for Applied Microbiology, Summer Conference 2016 – Microbial interactions in the environment, 2nd-4th July 2016, Edinburgh.
Andrzej gave a talk entitled ‘Rhizosphere microbiology and plant health’.
Growing Plants on Mars, Sat 25th June 2016, Oxford Town Hall.
Kyle gave a presentation describing the science behind growing plants in space. Read more…
Martian Crops by Kyle Grant, BANG! Trinity 2016
The red planet goes green. Growing plants in space. Read about the advances being made by NASA and Kyle’s contribution.
Lab formal dinner at Balliol College, Mon 23rd May 2016.
Fascination of Plants Day, Harcourt Arboretum, Oxfordshire, May 14th 2016. Build your own terrarium and other activities in beautiful surroundings. As part of the Dept. of Plant Sciences team, Kyle, Izzy and Francesco were on hand to help the visitors and answer any questions.
Visit to a London Primary School, April 2016
Izzy visited Griffin Primary School in Wandsworth to help out with a Year 1 field trip to Larkhall Park.
UK PlantSci 2016, John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK 11-12th April 2016
Phil presented the keynote lecture entitled ‘ The plant microbiome and the importance of the rhizosphere to plant growth and resilience’.
Innovation Match MX 2015-2016, First International Forum of Mexican Talent, Guadalajara, Mexico, 6th-8th April 2016
Congratulations to Marcela who has been selected to give a talk ‘Beating rhizobial ineffectiveness’.
Visitors – Winter/Spring 2016
From January the Poole Lab is delighted to be hosting Nick Crang on a 12 week rotation in the first year of his DPhil. Nick is a student on the Interdisciplinary Bioscience Doctoral Training Partnership and will be working on oxygen regulation of nitrogen fixation.
OxFEST Annual Conference., Oxford, 5th March 2016
Khushboo presented a poster ‘Metabolic Flux analysis of nitrogen-fixing bacteria’
1st Plant Microbiome Symposium, Jaguariuna, Brazil, 22nd-24th February 2016
Phil gave a talk entitled ‘Stability and succession of the rhizosphere microbiota depends on plant type and soil composition’.
Andrzej gave a talk entitled ‘Wheat Progenitors’ Microbiome’
Sherborne Science Cafe, Dorset, 7.30pm, 27th January 2016
Phil gave a talk ‘Something in the air’.
Funding announcements
We are delighted to announce that our proposal for the India-UK Nitrogen Fixation Centre (IUNFC) has been funded as part of 10M UK-India Virtual Joint Centres in Agricultural Nitrogen. Funded through partnership of BBSRC with the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Department of Biotechnology India (DBT), this is one of four VJCs funded by this initiative. Their aim is to develop centres performing innovative research and delivering training, through collaboration between UK and Indian scientists.
From announcement of the award on the BBSRC website:
India-UK Nitrogen Fixation Centre (IUNFC) – Professor Philip Poole, University of Oxford working with Dr D.L.N Rao, ICAR Indian Institute of Soil Science and researchers at the John Innes Centre, University of Baroda, University of Calcutta, University of Hyderabad, ICAR India Agricultural Research Institute and The Energy and Resources Institute, New Delhi.
This Virtual Joint Centre aims to tackle problems of food security, environmental and economic challenges of crop production and soil improvement in India through world class fundamental and applied research on biological nitrogen fixation (BNF). In the short/medium term, this knowledge will lead to changes in agricultural practices in India, bringing economic, environmental and social benefits. In the longer term, it will provide a platform to engineer nitrogen fixation in cereal crops.
Congratulations !
Congratulations to Annet Westhoek who won Oxford’s DTP Graduate Prize in Nov 2015 for her work in the past year. Well done!
Research scientist stars in TV documentary, Nov 2015
MADRILEÑOS POR EL MUNDO is an award-winning television program on Telemadrid (Madrid’s public official TV network) broadcast since 2007. The show is one of the Network’s most watched programmes.
MXM’s reporter and cameraman travel all around the world visiting and interviewing people from Madrid who live abroad. While learning more about their lives and their experiences they also report on each city’s main tourist attractions. A programme made in Oct 2015 features Carmen and her life here in Oxford, including the Plant Sciences Dept., the Herbarium and other tourist attractions. See the trailer for the programme which will be broadcast on 24th Nov. 2015. Check out the MXM website for further details.
The Gairdner Foundation & University of Calgary Symposium on the Microbiome, University of Calgary – Cumming School of Medicine, Canada, 10th November 2015
Phil’s seminar is entitled ‘Plant selection of the rhizosphere microbiome’.
At the end of October we were sorry to say good-bye to visitor Ben Perry from University of Regina, Canada. Before he left, the Poole Lab went for a formal dinner at Balliol College.
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Oct 2015
Phil visited Jean-Michel Ané in Madison and gave a seminar entitled ‘Differentiation of rhizobia into nitrogen-fixing bacteroids’ in the Division of Bacteriology, Distinguished Lectures in Microbiology series on 15th Oct 2015.
Seminars in Frontiers on Genomics, Centro de Ciencias Genomicas (CCG) of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México), Mexico, 13th Oct 2015
Phil gave a talk entitled ‘Transition of Rhizobium from free-living organism to ammoniaplast’. While the talk was given at UNAM Campus in Cuernavaca, it was broadcast live to participating institutions around Mexico.
During Phil’s visit to CCG he spent a day with undergraduates on the Program in Genomic Sciences giving two additional seminars and holding one-to-one discussions with students.
ICNF 2015, Asilomar, California, USA, 4th-9th October 2015
Phil gave a talk entitled ‘Energisation and redox balance in nitrogen-fixing bacteroids’.
Izzy presented a poster; ‘Understanding the role of FixABCX in symbiotic nitrogen fixation’.
Tackling the nitrogen crisis; what are the solutions? Oxford Martin School, Oxford, 18th Sept 2015
Phil and Alison organised this symposium to discuss biological nitrogen fixation together with the broader problems of nitrogen in the environment, agricultural policy, food consumption and social issues, in the context of finding solutions.
American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB), Plant Biology 2015, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, 26th-30th July 2015
Phil gave a talk entitled ‘Plant Control of the Microbiome’ in the session; Interactions in the Rhizosphere and the Root Microbiome.
Ratan Tata visits Poole Lab, 24th June 2015
Photos courtesy of OICSD
Vinoy was delighted to be able to show Ratan Tata around the Poole Lab and to tell him about our latest research. Mr Tata was visiting Oxford as a guest of Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development (OICSD) and Somerville College.
Rhizosphere4, Maastricht, The Netherlands, 21st-25th June 2015
Andrzej gave a talk entitled ‘High-throughput detection of plant pathogens using next generation sequencing’. Posters were presented by Josh (‘Dissecting root secretion using novel lux biosensors’), Vinoy (‘EcfE, a master regulator of pea root attachment and colonization of Rhizobium leguminosarum bv viciae 3841′) and Annet (‘Modelling resource allocation in the legume – rhizobium symbiosis’).
Bath Science Café, Raven Pub, Bath, 8th June 2015
Phil gave a presentation; ‘Something in the air; the nitrogen crisis’. For more details see http://bathsciencecafe.org/
Canadian Society of Microbiologists (CSM) 65th Annual Conference, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, 15th-18th June 2015
Phil gave a talk at this meeting in the session; The Rhizosphere Microbiome of Agricultural Crops.
Norwich Research Park DTP Summer Conference, Assembly Rooms, Norwich, 18th June 2015
Izzy presented a poster on her research; ‘Understanding the role of FixABCX in symbiotic nitrogen fixation’. As a member of an invited panel she also took part in a discussion about her 3 month-long internship, undertaken as part of her PhD studentship.
Fascination of Plants Day, University of Oxford, Harcourt Arboretum, 16th May 2015
Barney, Francesco, Izzy and Khushboo hosted a great stand showing visitors Amazing Adaptations as part of Fascination of Plants, UK. The event was featured in the Oxford Times – the quote about plants and bacteria must have been referring to the Poole Lab display!
Future of Food, Food Security Forum, Annual Conference 2015, Oxford, 2nd May 2015
At the conference ‘Culture, Food, & the Environment: New Perspectives on Food Sovereignty and Security‘ Marcela presented a poster entitled ‘Beating rhizobial ineffectiveness’.
The Society for General Microbiology Annual Conference 2015; The Microbiome, Birmingham, 30th March-2nd April 2015
Phil gave a talk entitled ‘Comparative metatranscriptomics reveals kingdom level changes in the rhizosphere microbiome of plants’.
Bacterial Electron Transfer Processes and their Regulation, Vimeiro, Portugal, 15th-18th March 2015
Izzy received a FEMS travel grant to attend the conference, Bacterial Electron Transfer Processes and their Regulation and gave an oral presentation of her work.
Wow!How? Family Science Fair, 14th March 2015
Annet participated in Wow!How? held at the Museum of Natural History and the Pitt Rivers museum and featuring over 30 hands-on activities to explore. This free fun day is part of Oxfordshire Science Festival.
Microbiomes and Metagenomics, The Shard, 
London, 3rd-4th March 2015
At this meeting organised by ComMet, Phil gave the keynote lecture ‘Control of the plant microbiome’.
Outreach at Somerville College, 21st February 2015
Barney, Carmen and Phil were involved in an outreach activity to local prospective biology/biochemistry undergraduates. The school pupils heard about nitrogen fixation and considered ways to engineer improvements to the process.
Early Career Researcher Workshop on Plant-Microbe Interactions, Bangkok, Thailand, 16th-19th February 2015
Andrzej was selected for this workshop funded under the Researcher Links scheme offered within the Newton Fund, the British Council and the Thailand Research Fund.
Phil visits Murdoch University, Western Australia as Sir Walter Murdoch visiting fellow, December 2014
Phil with Dr Jason Terpolilli, of the Centre for Rhizobium Studies (CRS), Murdoch University.
Lab meal, October 2014
BASF Symposium ‘Unlocking Yield Potential in Soil’, Deidesheim, Germany, 7th-9th October 2014
Andrzej gave a talk at this meeting.
ENFC- 2014, Tenerife, Spain, 7th-10th Sept 2014
Alison, Andrzej, Barney, Carmen, Izzy, Phil & Vinoy attended this conference. See posters presented.
Society for General Microbiology meeting, ‘Emerging Challenges and Opportunities in Soil Microbiology’, Loughborough, 1st-2nd September 2014
Andrzej gave a talk at this meeting.
Discover Plants, Oxford Botanic Gardens, March 2014
Josh was involved in sessions for primary school pupils.
Science week, March 2014
Josh was involved with demonstrations of science at Wow!How? Family Science Fair, 15th March 2014 held at the Museum of Natural History, Oxford.
Department of Biology 2022
On 1st August 2022 the Department of Plant Sciences and the Department of Zoology are merging into the Department of Biology.
18th May 2022
This meeting was held in Dept. of Plant Sciences.
Society of General Microbiology, Annual Meeting, Belfast 4th-7th April 2022
Phil gave a talk entitled ‘Engineering control of the plant microbiota’
Spain-UK Plant Biotechnology Forum, 22nd-23rd Feb 2022
Carmen will give a talk entitled ‘Shaping microbial physiology through carbon and nitrogen metabolism.’
Javi, on an internship with the Embassy of Spain Office for Cultural and Scientific Affairs, is chairing a session, acting as moderator and involved in organising this online conference.
Plant Genomes, Systems Biology and Engineering, Cold Spring Harbor, 1st-3rd Dec 2021
Phil gave a talk at this conference which was (sadly) held on-line.
OxBacNet, 3rd Nov. 2021 (by Zoom)
Raphael gave a presentation entitled ‘Polyamine-mediated acid tolerance is critical for bacteroid functioning.’
OxBacNet, 19th May 2021 (by Zoom)
Carolin gave a presentation entitled ‘Metabolic control of nitrogen fixation in the rhizobium-legume symbioses‘
YES 2020, final held April 2021
Congratulations to Clare and her team mates in CyanoCycle, winners of EnviroYES.
The team’s imaginary business idea being to grow cyanobacteria in wastewater treatment plants, reducing the carbon output of water treatment and providing a raw material to make environmentally friendly fertiliser.
5th Annual Missouri University Plant Research Symposium (part of Corteva Plant Science Symposiums), 4th -5th March 2021.
Phil gave a talk entitled ‘Improving legume symbiosis or engineering cereals’ in this virtual symposium: The Next Green Revolution: Challenges and Strategies towards a Sustainable Agriculture.
OxBacNet, 11th Feb. 2021 (by Zoom)
Laura gave a presentation entitled ‘Where should I invest my resources? How host plants regulate interactions with bacterial symbionts‘
Complex Networks 2020 (Online conference), Madrid, Dec. 2020
Javi gave a talk entitled ‘Signed distance correlation to generate weighted and thresholded gene coexpression networks‘ by Javier Pardo-Diaz, Philip Poole, Mariano Beguerisse-Díaz, Charlotte Deane and Gesine Reinert.
Nature webcast, Beatriz Jorrin, 14th Oct. 2020
Probing root associated microbiome assembly with fluorescently labelled synthetic communities
Plant Microbe Interactions Series-Part 1, Society for Applied Microbiology, Oct. 7th 2020
Phil gave a talk at this virtual symposium entitled ‘Rhizobium from rhizosphere to root nodule’.
28th Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology, International Society for Computational Biology 2020 (online conference), 13th-16th July 2020
Javi presented a poster entitled ‘Robust gene coexpression networks using signed distance correlation’.
Microbiology Society 75th Anniversary publication, A Sustainable Future, June 2020
Congratulations to Carolin for her contribution entitled Fixing the Problem of Nitrogen Limitation in Agriculture.
This draws on her work in the Lab and during her internship at Sound Agriculture in California.
OxBacNet, 22nd May 2020
This meeting was cancelled due to COVID-19.
Reach Nano-talks, Sustainability and Microbes, April 2020
Biological Nitrogen Fixation for Food Security by Carolin Schulte. Presented on-line.
Microbiome Capability Workshop Agenda, Birmingham, March 2020
Phil and Andrzej attended this one-day meeting.
OxBacNet, 12th Feb. 2020
Andrzej gave a presentation entitled ‘A holistic approach to the plant microbiome’
Spreading the word….science is fun and interesting! #WomenInScience Day, 11th Feb 2020
Carmen gave a Skype presentation to school students from IES Reyes Católicos, Málaga on 13th Feb 2020, an initiative organised by 11defebrero.org
#WomenInScience Day, 11th Feb 2020
Celebrating all the women and girls in the Lab. for International Women in Science day!
Gordon Research Conference: Sensory Transduction in Microorganisms 2020, Molecular Control of Signal Sensing, Processing and Response, Ventura, California, USA. 12th-17th Jan 2020.
Sam will attend this conference and present work entitled ‘Strategically navigating through the soil: the integrated sensory systems of the legume symbiont Rhizobium leguminosarum‘
XXVII Workshop Advances in Molecular Biology by Young Researchers Abroad, Centro National de Biotechnologica, Madrid, Spain, 19th Dec 2019
Bea gave a talk entitled ‘ Differential Fluorescent Markers to map Synthetic Communities on Plant Roots’
The Cellular World, Museum of Natural History, University of Oxford, 4th Dec 2019
Carmen gave a talk entitled ‘Bacteria and the Future of Food‘ to A-level biology students.
Counsellor for Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and the Environment from the Embassy of Spain visits Dept. of Plant Sciences, 28th Nov. 2019
In her role as vice-chair of (Society of Spanish Researchers in UK) SRUK, Carmen spoke to the Counsellor from the Embassy of Spain and her team on a visit to Oxford.
Sir Walter Murdoch Adjunct Professorial Scheme, 2019-21
Phil has been awarded a grant from this scheme which enables him to visit Murdoch University in Perth, WA to build collaborations and assist in their research programme. Phil visited Centre of Rhizobium Studies (CRS) at Murdoch University in Nov 2019.
Congratulations to Carmen who begins a Leverhulme Research Project, 1st Nov. 2019
Imaging bacterial chemotaxis to roots: role of the global regulator PTSNtr
21st International Congress on Nitrogen Fixation, 10th -15th Oct. 2019, Wuhan, China
Phil gave a talk at this meeting. While in China, Phil also visited Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology (CEPAMS) and gave a talk.
Congratulations to Tim who starts an 1851 Fellowship, 1st Oct. 2019
Further details of Tim and his research can be found here.
Visitors Autumn 2019- Spring/Summer 2020
We welcomed the following scientists to the Poole Lab.
- Anna Martyn (Universität zu Köln, Germany) for 6 mths from 1st Sept. to carry out a project for her Masters thesis.
- Naoki Yanagisawa (Nagoya University, Japan) from 1st Oct. until Jun. 2020 bringing his expertise in microfluidics.
- Theresa Ernst (Germany) for an internship from 25th Nov. 2019 until 21st Feb. 2020 before she starts her PhD in Germany.
Poole Lab DPhil student internships 2019:
- Laura did an internship as a Biostatistician for Costello Medical in Cambridge UK for 12 weeks from 1st July 2019.
- Carolin did an internship at Sound Agriculture in Emeryville, California. July- Sept 2019
- Brandon did an internship during July- Sept 2019 at Legume Technology who are the industrial partner in his CASE studentship.
Mini-symposium on chemical signalling in the rhizosphere, 16th-19th Sept. 2019 Cumbria, UK
Phil gave a talk: ‘Engineering new rhizosphere signalling networks’. Tim gave a talk too.
Carmen’s research featured in La Revisita, Summer 2019
Read Carmen’s article: Life underground: The basis and future of agriculture
Visitors Summer 2019
- This summer, IUNFC student Anirban Basu from University of Hyderabad, India will be visiting IUNFC Labs in the UK. 16th-30th June and 1st-31st Aug. 2019 he will be in Oxford working with Bea.
- 17th June-30 July 2019 post-doc Suyu Jiang is visiting from Jeremy Murray’s Lab in Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology in Shanghai, China as part of the recently founded CAS-JIC Centre of Excellence for Plant and Microbial Science. She will be performing RNASeq experiments with Vinoy.
- Michael Culbert, an Oxford undergraduate is doing a summer internship with Raphael.
- Sixth-former Lydia is spending a week with the Poole Group to see what it is like working in a research lab
Marcela’s graduation! July 2019
XVII National Meeting of the Spanish Society of Nitrogen Fixation, Madrid, Spain, July 2019
Carmen gave a talk entitled ‘Control of bacterial nitrogen and carbon metabolism by a PTSNtr regulated switch‘
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU), Munich, Germany, July 2019
Phil presented a keynote lecture at a Plant Microbiome Workshop.
Congratulations to Carmen!
Carmen is joining Kellogg College in Michaelmas 2019 as a Research Member of Common Room. See here.
XVII Symposium of Mexican Studies and Students in the UK, University of Cambridge, 26-28th June 2019
Marcela gave a talk entitled ‘ Rhizobial competition: getting to the root of the problem’
Research seminar at Rothamsted, 17th June 2019
Phil gave a research seminar at Rothamsted.
Visitors Spring 2019
- 6th-28th May 2019 Talitha Rogers from Centre for Rhizobium Studies, Murdoch University, Australia, to work with Vinoy performing RNASeq experiments.
- 15th April-12th June 2019 – IUNFC student Prachi Singh from NBAIM, Mau, India working to examine pigeonpea-nodulating rhizobia and learning new molecular techniques with Bea.
OxBacNet, 22nd May 2019
Meeting held in Dept. of Plant Sciences, 2pm
Poole Lab DPhil student internships 2019:
- Paul spent 3 mths from 4th Feb 2019 with WHO in Geneva, Switzerland.
- Hayley will be spending a total of 3 mths at the Natural History Museum, Oxford during the course of 2019.
Symbiosis Day at the Natural History Museum, Oxord, 11th April 2019
Brandon and Carolin ready to talk to the public about the science of symbiosis. Marcela’s 3D printed bacteroids are amazing!
Talks at Natural History Museum, Oxford, 6th April 2019
Sam gave a talk at this event on his research.
Congratulations to Laura on winning the runner’s-up poster prize at the BioSciences DTP Annual Symposium, April 2019
OxBacNet, 6th Feb 2019
Meeting held in Dept. of Plant Sciences, 2pm
Closing Ceremony of the programme UAM/SRUK 2018, Madrid, Spain 1st Feb 2019
Carmen supervised Alicia over summer 2018 in Oxford and their research was selected for a talk at the closing ceremony. Congratulations to them both!
(image of Alicia and Carmen from SRUK/CERU)
The program was organised by the UAM (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid), with students that came from diverse Science degrees, and the SRUK (society of Spanish Researchers in the UK), offering the host groups: https://sruk.org.uk/uam-sruk-summer-studentships/
NIAB-EMR seminar series, 29th Jan 2019
Phil gave a seminar entitled: ‘Root colonisation and the role of the microbiome’.
Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, Cologne, Germany 17th Dec 2018
Phil gave a seminar: ‘Mapping the interaction of rhizobia with roots and their associated life-style changes’.
Three out of three…. Congratulations to Kyle, the third of the Poole Lab students to have a successful DPhil viva this autumn!
Bacterial World, Natural History Museum, Oxford, 4th Dec 2018
Phil gave a talk: ‘Bacteria and the future of food’.
Winchester College, 27th Nov 2018
Phil gave a talk to A level students: ‘Nitrogen and humanity; a perpetual crisis’.
IUNFC Annual Meeting held at NBAIM, Mau, India, 13-14th Nov 2018
Phil, Alison, Andrzej, Vinoy and Bea travelled to this meeting, along with IUNFC colleagues from other UK Labs.
They also paid a visit to Dr Maitrayee DasGupta’s Lab at the University of Calcutta, Kolkata.
Botanic Gardens Seminar Series, 1st Nov 2018
Phil gave a talk in the autumn seminar series: ‘The plant microbiome, the dark and dirty secrets of plant growth’
OxBacNet Oct 2018 – Termly meeting of Oxford’s bacteriologists held in Dept. of Plant Sciences.
For speakers and schedule see here.
Well done Rachel! Another successful viva from the Poole Lab DPhil students, Oct 2018
Wonderful cake too – ordered by Nick (on an internship in Thailand)
Congratulations to Marcela! DPhil viva accomplished in style! Oct 2018
Poole Lab DPhil student internships 2018:
- Jack has spent two months during 2018 at Panacea Innovation.
- Sam spent from 10th Sept to 30th Nov 2018 at Zooniverse, Oxford.
- Nick was an UNESCO Natural Science Office in Bangkok, Thailand from 21st Sept to 23rd Dec 2018.
The Microbiome: human medicine and agriculture in a bacterial world, Royal Society, 5th Oct 2018
Phil took part in this one-day meeting.
COSNET Conference 2018, Sept 26th-28th 2018, Warsaw, Poland
Javi presented a poster ‘Gene Coexpression Network for the study of Rhizobium leguminosarum‘
13th ENFC, 18-21 Aug 2018, Stockholm, Sweden
Phil gave a talk: ‘ Dissection of Bacteroid Metabolism’.
Marcela gave a talk: ‘High-throughput identification of competitive and effective rhizobial strains’.
Andrzej gave a talk: ‘Absolute quantification of of microbiota abundance in environmental samples’.
Carmen presented a poster: ‘Phosphorylation of the phosphotransferase system (PTS) balances the nitrogen and carbon metabolism in Rhizobium leguminosarum’. WINNER OF THE POSTER PRIZE!
Rachel presented a poster: ‘Whole genome-scale characterization of the fitness determinants in Rhizobium-legume symbioses’.
Vinoy presented a poster: ‘A novel pea-root derived glycoprotein governs rhizobial attachment to root elongation zone’.
ENFC Satellite Meetings: 1.Microbiome Satellite Meeting, 17th Aug 2018
Phil, Vinoy, Marcela and Rachel presented talks.
2. Molecular aspects of regulation and metabolism in nitrogen fixation, 18th Aug 2018
Carmen gave a talk: ‘Regulation of carbon and nitrogen metabolism in Rhizobium leguminosarum’.
Nitrogen Network Meeting, July 2018
A one-day meeting organised by the Poole Lab was held in Oxford. Keynote speaker Luis Rubio (UPM). For more details
Gatsby Plant Science Summer School, Hawkshill, York, 2nd-4th July 2018
Phil will speak and take part in this summer school for undergraduates interested in studying plant sciences. He gave a talk: ‘The sticky business of microbes and plant roots’.
Departmental summer BBQ, June 2018
Congratulations to Vinoy who has been selected as an MPLS BAME – Beyond Boundaries Project role model
This science-inspired art initiative will see secondary school students interpreting a research project in a piece of art work – drawing, painting or even sculpture. We are looking forward to seeing the outcomes.
Update (Dec 2018): Winner in Year 7 Individual category – Matilda Percy-Bowersox from Oxford Spires Academy with her artwork Bacteria based on research by Vinoy Ramachandran.
KEYS conference, Amsterdam, 13th-15th June 2018
Phil gave a talk: ‘Imaging plant-microbe interactions: the root microbiome and colonisation’.
OxBacNet May 2018 – Termly meeting of Oxford’s bacteriologists held in Dept. of Plant Sciences
For speakers and schedule see here.
Lecture at Cirencester Science and Technology Society, Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester, 9th May 2018, 7.30pm
Phil will give a lecture entitled ‘Nitrogen and humanity – a permanent crisis‘
Lab Retreat March 2018
Spring 2018 – Welcome to new staff and visitors!
Tim Haskett joins the SynSym project from March 2018.
IUNFC students Chalasani Danteswari from University of Hyderabad and Nagvanti Atoliya from the India Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal are visiting the Poole Lab and working with Bea, April-June 2018 to examine pigeonpea-nodulating rhizobia.
Biosciences DTP student Riccardo Soldan is working in the Poole Lab for his rotation project, April-July 2018. He is studying the microbiomes of Arabidopsis.
Undergraduates Pandora Dewan, Clare Cocker and Oliver Taylor are working with Laura, Carmen and Vinoy, respectively, for their second-year research projects.
Anna Martyn from Universität zu Köln is spending 6 mths working with Andrzej on plant microbiomes. Beatrice Senatori from the University of Florence is spending 6 mths working with Vinoy on bacterial attachment to plant roots.
Zoological Society of London, Huxley Lecture Theatre, Main Meeting Rooms, ZSL London Zoo, 13th March 2018, 6pm
Phil will give a talk in the event Ecosystems under the microscope: why microbes matter for conservation.
Super Science Saturday, Oxford Natural History Museum, Parks Road, Oxford, 10th March 2018
Sam and Hayley will take part in this exciting activity by sharing the joy of unearthing nitrogen-fixing nodules from legume roots.
SRUK-Oxford on Thursday 1st March 2018
Beatriz will give a talk on science from her perspective.
Thatcher Development Programme’s Foundation Day Panel Discussion, ‘Climate Change: Approaches and Innovations for the Future’ Tuesday 27th February, Somerville College, Oxford
Phil took part in this discussion on Climate Change before the Foundation Day Dinner at Somerville College, Oxford.
2nd Plant Microbiome Symposium, Barbizon Palace Hotel, Amsterdam, the Netherlands 19th-21st Feb 2018
Phil, Jack and Andrzej attended this meeting.
- Andrzej’s poster was entitled “The plant microbiome is dependent on soil type, soil fraction and the common symbiotic pathway“
Interactive Q&A session with school students in Spain, Feb 2018
Carmen, direct from her bench in Oxford via Skype, spent a happy hour answering questions from 16-17 year olds in IES Santo Reino, Spain. This session followed her presentation on following her talk about Nitrogen-fixing Bacteria and was to promote interest in science, research and Women in Science.
Department of Biology, University of York on 13th February 2018
Phil gave a seminar entitled ‘Metabolic transitions of rhizobia and application to engineering N2-fixation in cereals‘ in the Plant Biology seminar series.
Poole Lab Christmas Meal – Dec 2017
Joint Meeting of NUCLEUS and UBNFC VJCs, Florianapolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil 22nd Nov 2017
As part of UBNFC, Phil attended this meeting.
UBNFC Annual Meeting, Florianapolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil 23-24th Nov 2017
Phil and Marta attended this annual meeting.
Congratulations to Josh on submitting his DPhil thesis! Sept. 2017
20th International Congress on Nitrogen Fixation (ICNF), Granada, Spain 3rd-7th Sept. 2017
Annet gave a talk entitled ‘Computing plants: how pea plants allocate resources among multiple rhizobial strains’
Carmen gave a talk entitled ‘Regulatory cross-talk by the phosphotransferase systems in R. leguminosarum’
Marcela gave a talk entitled ‘High-throughput tool to identify competitive rhizobial strains’
Phil gave a keynote lecture entitled ‘What makes a bacteroid?’
Andrzej, Barney, Bea, Hayley, Jack, Josh, Kyle, Nick, Paul, Rachel and Vinoy had posters (see here for details).
VI Annual Meeting of the Plant Genetic and Biotechnology Network, Italy 20th-23rd June 2017
Phil gave a talk entitled ‘Root microbiota in plant productivity’ at this graduate school.
Imperial College London, Silwood Park, 22nd June 2017
In the Ecology and Evolution Seminar Series, Bea gave a seminar entitled ‘From population genomics to synthetic communities in the Rhizobium – Legume system’
Visitors Spring-Summer 2017
We welcome Eloïne Bestion (Élève Ingénieure Agronome) from ENSAT (Ecole Nationale Superieure Agronomique de Toulouse), France for a placement from June until the end of August 2017. Eloïne will be working on analysis of microbiomes from the rhizosphere.
As part of the IUNFC exchange programme, PhD student Sohini Guha from the University of Calcutta will be working in the Poole Lab from April-Aug 2017.
From April 2017 the Poole Lab is hosting Paul Rutten from the Interdisciplinary Bioscience Doctoral Training Partnership for his rotation project.
Undergraduates Thomas Lewin, Ben Foster and Yann Newby will be doing their six-week projects in the Poole Lab starting in May 2017.
Poole Lab Dinner, Somerville College 15th June 2017
Great to see everyone dressed up for dinner!
ASM Microbe 2017, New Orleans, USA, June 2017
Phil gave a talk entitled ‘ Role of Root Microbiota in Plant Productivity‘ in the session Microbes and Plants: From Leaf to Root.
The Queen’s College Symposium, June 2017
Carmen gave a talk entitled ‘Life underground: The basis and future of agriculture’
University of Middlesex, Environmental Sciences Lecture Series, April 2017.
Barney gave a talk entitled ‘Engineering trans-kingdom signalling to govern traits in the plant rhizosphere’
Experimental Plant Sciences (EPS) Meeting, Lunteren, The Netherlands, April 2017
Phil was a speaker at this Graduate School EPS Training Programme event.
Congratulations to Jack who has been accepted onto NERC Valuing Nature Business Impact School 6th-9th March 2017 in London.
II Semana Bioengenharia, Instuto Superior Técnico, Lison, Portugal, 7th March 2017
Phil gave a seminar entitled ‘How plants select the rhizosphere microbiome and, in turn, how microbes alter plant growth’
UN International Day of Women and Girls in Science, 11th Feb 2017
Rhizosphere Lab scientists include women from all over the world (below), who are proud to support and celebrate UN International Day of Women and Girls in Science, 2017.
L to R: Marcela (Mexico), Carmen (Spain), Rachel (UK), Lily (China), Hayley (UK), Alison (UK), Laura (UK), Rona (UK) and Bea (Spain).
Congratulations to Barney who has recently been made a JRF at Wolfson College.
Crop Systems Engineering Seminar Series, University of Southampton, 10th Feb 2017
Phil gave a seminar entitled ‘Root colonisation and engineering selection of microbes’.
Oxford University Botanic Garden – Out of Hours Plant Science Masterclass Series. March and April 2017 at the Museum of Natural History
Josh and Nick are involved in running this masterclass for young talented biologists, encouraging them to think of plant science as an important and interesting area, and one that would allow them to tackle global challenges in the future.
Contribution to UK Parliament, Jan 2017
Izzy’s My Science Inquiry to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee proposing an inquiry into how the UK can utilise biological solutions to the global nitrogen crisis was selected for publication.
On 24th Jan 2017 Phil did a FacebookLIVE event via OxfordSparks – catch up with Phil’s talk:
Global Pulse Day, 19th Jan 2017
The bring-and-share Pulse Lunch was enjoyed by members of the Plant Science Dept.
Delicious tastes on offer ranged from curries, dips and salads to black bean chocolate muffins and chickpea blondies.
Rothamsted Open Innovation Forum, 18th-20th Jan 2017
Jack and Nick attended this inspiring event.
Back2Roots 1st Annual Meeting, Wageningen, Holland, 12th-13th Jan 2017
Phil will give a talk at the Back2Roots 1st Annual Meeting in Wageningen.
Congratulations to Izzy who had her PhD viva on 5th Jan 2017 – well done Dr Webb!
Visitors – Winter/Spring 2017
From January the Poole Lab is delighted to be hosting Sam Aroney and Hayley Knights on a 12 week rotation in the first year of their DPhil studies. In addition, Rona Costello and Laura Clark will be working with Dr Lindsay Turnbull on rotation projects joint with the Poole Lab.
Sam, Hayley, Rona and Laura are students on the Interdisciplinary Bioscience Doctoral Training Partnership and will be working on aspects of nitrogen fixation.
Innovative Crop Protection for the 21st Century Food Security, 13th-14th Dec. 2016, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
Phil and Andrzej attended this conference. Phil gave a talk entitled ‘Root colonisation and community selection’.
Launch of the India UK Nitrogen Fixation Centre (IUNFC), 6-7th Oct. 2016 in Bhopal, India. Phil, Vinoy, Andrzej, Bea and Alison travelled to India for the launch and IUNFC project planning meeting.
XXth Symposium Plant Biology, 27th-28th Sept. 2016 Botanical Institute, University of Cologne, Germany.
Phil will give a talk entitled ‘Plant control of the rhizosphere microbiome’
Rachel has written an article ‘ A problem for the 21st Century: tackling the Nitrogen Crisis‘ published in this term’s Phenotype.
Inaugural Poole Lab retreat, Sept. 2016
We spent two nights in rural Wiltshire which provided an opportunity for presentations, in-depth project discussions, walking, eating and other activities. We returned focused on our projects and refreshed!
ENFC-2016 25th-28th Aug. 2016, Budapest, Hungary. Several members of the group attended this conference to give talks and present posters.
- Barney gave a talk: ‘Discovery of a novel rhizopine synthesis pathway paves the way for synthetic symbioses and nitrogen fixing cereal crops’
- Marcela had a short oral presentation and poster: ‘Rhizobial competition: getting to the root of the problem’
- Carmen had a short oral presentation and poster: ‘Regulation of bacterial metabolism by the phosphotransferase system (PTSNtr)’
- Rachel had a short oral presentation and poster: ‘Insertion Sequencing in Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. viciae 3841′
- Annet had a short oral presentation and poster: ‘Policing the gate: can pea plants stop rhizobial cheats from entering?’
- Izzy had a poster: ‘Using Raman microscopy to investigate nitrogen fixation mutants of Rhizobium leguminosarum‘
- Alison had a poster: ‘Comparison of Rhizobium leguminosarum determinate and indeterminate nodules on legumes by RNA-Seq analysis’
EMBO conference: The nitrogen nutrition of plants, 22nd-26th August, Montpellier, France.
Phil gave a talk in PlaNNet coordination Network session sponsored by NSF.
Visitors – Spring/Summer 2016
From April, the Poole Lab was delighted to host Jack Parsons on a 12 week rotation in the first year of his DPhil. Jack is a student on the Interdisciplinary Bioscience Doctoral Training Partnership.
During Trinity term 2016 we welcomed undergraduates doing their projects in the Poole Lab; Freya Easton and Sophie Richards worked with Vinoy, Beatrice Egid worked with Carmen. Megan Griffiths and Connor Hope worked with Annet and Marcela.
Society for Applied Microbiology, Summer Conference 2016 – Microbial interactions in the environment, 2nd-4th July 2016, Edinburgh.
Andrzej gave a talk entitled ‘Rhizosphere microbiology and plant health’.
Growing Plants on Mars, Sat 25th June 2016, Oxford Town Hall.
Kyle gave a presentation describing the science behind growing plants in space. Read more…
Martian Crops by Kyle Grant, BANG! Trinity 2016
The red planet goes green. Growing plants in space. Read about the advances being made by NASA and Kyle’s contribution.
Lab formal dinner at Balliol College, Mon 23rd May 2016.
Fascination of Plants Day, Harcourt Arboretum, Oxfordshire, May 14th 2016. Build your own terrarium and other activities in beautiful surroundings. As part of the Dept. of Plant Sciences team, Kyle, Izzy and Francesco were on hand to help the visitors and answer any questions.
Visit to a London Primary School, April 2016
Izzy visited Griffin Primary School in Wandsworth to help out with a Year 1 field trip to Larkhall Park.
UK PlantSci 2016, John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK 11-12th April 2016
Phil presented the keynote lecture entitled ‘ The plant microbiome and the importance of the rhizosphere to plant growth and resilience’.
Innovation Match MX 2015-2016, First International Forum of Mexican Talent, Guadalajara, Mexico, 6th-8th April 2016
Congratulations to Marcela who has been selected to give a talk ‘Beating rhizobial ineffectiveness’.
Visitors – Winter/Spring 2016
From January the Poole Lab is delighted to be hosting Nick Crang on a 12 week rotation in the first year of his DPhil. Nick is a student on the Interdisciplinary Bioscience Doctoral Training Partnership and will be working on oxygen regulation of nitrogen fixation.
OxFEST Annual Conference., Oxford, 5th March 2016
Khushboo presented a poster ‘Metabolic Flux analysis of nitrogen-fixing bacteria’
1st Plant Microbiome Symposium, Jaguariuna, Brazil, 22nd-24th February 2016
Phil gave a talk entitled ‘Stability and succession of the rhizosphere microbiota depends on plant type and soil composition’.
Andrzej gave a talk entitled ‘Wheat Progenitors’ Microbiome’
Sherborne Science Cafe, Dorset, 7.30pm, 27th January 2016
Phil gave a talk ‘Something in the air’.
Funding announcements
We are delighted to announce that our proposal for the India-UK Nitrogen Fixation Centre (IUNFC) has been funded as part of 10M UK-India Virtual Joint Centres in Agricultural Nitrogen. Funded through partnership of BBSRC with the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Department of Biotechnology India (DBT), this is one of four VJCs funded by this initiative. Their aim is to develop centres performing innovative research and delivering training, through collaboration between UK and Indian scientists.
From announcement of the award on the BBSRC website:
India-UK Nitrogen Fixation Centre (IUNFC) – Professor Philip Poole, University of Oxford working with Dr D.L.N Rao, ICAR Indian Institute of Soil Science and researchers at the John Innes Centre, University of Baroda, University of Calcutta, University of Hyderabad, ICAR India Agricultural Research Institute and The Energy and Resources Institute, New Delhi.
This Virtual Joint Centre aims to tackle problems of food security, environmental and economic challenges of crop production and soil improvement in India through world class fundamental and applied research on biological nitrogen fixation (BNF). In the short/medium term, this knowledge will lead to changes in agricultural practices in India, bringing economic, environmental and social benefits. In the longer term, it will provide a platform to engineer nitrogen fixation in cereal crops.
Congratulations !
Congratulations to Annet Westhoek who won Oxford’s DTP Graduate Prize in Nov 2015 for her work in the past year. Well done!
Research scientist stars in TV documentary, Nov 2015
MADRILEÑOS POR EL MUNDO is an award-winning television program on Telemadrid (Madrid’s public official TV network) broadcast since 2007. The show is one of the Network’s most watched programmes.
MXM’s reporter and cameraman travel all around the world visiting and interviewing people from Madrid who live abroad. While learning more about their lives and their experiences they also report on each city’s main tourist attractions. A programme made in Oct 2015 features Carmen and her life here in Oxford, including the Plant Sciences Dept., the Herbarium and other tourist attractions. See the trailer for the programme which will be broadcast on 24th Nov. 2015. Check out the MXM website for further details.
The Gairdner Foundation & University of Calgary Symposium on the Microbiome, University of Calgary – Cumming School of Medicine, Canada, 10th November 2015
Phil’s seminar is entitled ‘Plant selection of the rhizosphere microbiome’.
At the end of October we were sorry to say good-bye to visitor Ben Perry from University of Regina, Canada. Before he left, the Poole Lab went for a formal dinner at Balliol College.
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Oct 2015
Phil visited Jean-Michel Ané in Madison and gave a seminar entitled ‘Differentiation of rhizobia into nitrogen-fixing bacteroids’ in the Division of Bacteriology, Distinguished Lectures in Microbiology series on 15th Oct 2015.
Seminars in Frontiers on Genomics, Centro de Ciencias Genomicas (CCG) of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México), Mexico, 13th Oct 2015
Phil gave a talk entitled ‘Transition of Rhizobium from free-living organism to ammoniaplast’. While the talk was given at UNAM Campus in Cuernavaca, it was broadcast live to participating institutions around Mexico.
During Phil’s visit to CCG he spent a day with undergraduates on the Program in Genomic Sciences giving two additional seminars and holding one-to-one discussions with students.
ICNF 2015, Asilomar, California, USA, 4th-9th October 2015
Phil gave a talk entitled ‘Energisation and redox balance in nitrogen-fixing bacteroids’.
Izzy presented a poster; ‘Understanding the role of FixABCX in symbiotic nitrogen fixation’.
Tackling the nitrogen crisis; what are the solutions? Oxford Martin School, Oxford, 18th Sept 2015
Phil and Alison organised this symposium to discuss biological nitrogen fixation together with the broader problems of nitrogen in the environment, agricultural policy, food consumption and social issues, in the context of finding solutions.
American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB), Plant Biology 2015, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, 26th-30th July 2015
Phil gave a talk entitled ‘Plant Control of the Microbiome’ in the session; Interactions in the Rhizosphere and the Root Microbiome.
Ratan Tata visits Poole Lab, 24th June 2015
Photos courtesy of OICSD
Vinoy was delighted to be able to show Ratan Tata around the Poole Lab and to tell him about our latest research. Mr Tata was visiting Oxford as a guest of Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development (OICSD) and Somerville College.
Rhizosphere4, Maastricht, The Netherlands, 21st-25th June 2015
Andrzej gave a talk entitled ‘High-throughput detection of plant pathogens using next generation sequencing’. Posters were presented by Josh (‘Dissecting root secretion using novel lux biosensors’), Vinoy (‘EcfE, a master regulator of pea root attachment and colonization of Rhizobium leguminosarum bv viciae 3841′) and Annet (‘Modelling resource allocation in the legume – rhizobium symbiosis’).
Bath Science Café, Raven Pub, Bath, 8th June 2015
Phil gave a presentation; ‘Something in the air; the nitrogen crisis’. For more details see http://bathsciencecafe.org/
Canadian Society of Microbiologists (CSM) 65th Annual Conference, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, 15th-18th June 2015
Phil gave a talk at this meeting in the session; The Rhizosphere Microbiome of Agricultural Crops.
Norwich Research Park DTP Summer Conference, Assembly Rooms, Norwich, 18th June 2015
Izzy presented a poster on her research; ‘Understanding the role of FixABCX in symbiotic nitrogen fixation’. As a member of an invited panel she also took part in a discussion about her 3 month-long internship, undertaken as part of her PhD studentship.
Fascination of Plants Day, University of Oxford, Harcourt Arboretum, 16th May 2015
Barney, Francesco, Izzy and Khushboo hosted a great stand showing visitors Amazing Adaptations as part of Fascination of Plants, UK. The event was featured in the Oxford Times – the quote about plants and bacteria must have been referring to the Poole Lab display!
Future of Food, Food Security Forum, Annual Conference 2015, Oxford, 2nd May 2015
At the conference ‘Culture, Food, & the Environment: New Perspectives on Food Sovereignty and Security‘ Marcela presented a poster entitled ‘Beating rhizobial ineffectiveness’.
The Society for General Microbiology Annual Conference 2015; The Microbiome, Birmingham, 30th March-2nd April 2015
Phil gave a talk entitled ‘Comparative metatranscriptomics reveals kingdom level changes in the rhizosphere microbiome of plants’.
Bacterial Electron Transfer Processes and their Regulation, Vimeiro, Portugal, 15th-18th March 2015
Izzy received a FEMS travel grant to attend the conference, Bacterial Electron Transfer Processes and their Regulation and gave an oral presentation of her work.
Wow!How? Family Science Fair, 14th March 2015
Annet participated in Wow!How? held at the Museum of Natural History and the Pitt Rivers museum and featuring over 30 hands-on activities to explore. This free fun day is part of Oxfordshire Science Festival.
Microbiomes and Metagenomics, The Shard, London, 3rd-4th March 2015
At this meeting organised by ComMet, Phil gave the keynote lecture ‘Control of the plant microbiome’.
Outreach at Somerville College, 21st February 2015
Barney, Carmen and Phil were involved in an outreach activity to local prospective biology/biochemistry undergraduates. The school pupils heard about nitrogen fixation and considered ways to engineer improvements to the process.
Early Career Researcher Workshop on Plant-Microbe Interactions, Bangkok, Thailand, 16th-19th February 2015
Andrzej was selected for this workshop funded under the Researcher Links scheme offered within the Newton Fund, the British Council and the Thailand Research Fund.
Phil visits Murdoch University, Western Australia as Sir Walter Murdoch visiting fellow, December 2014
Phil with Dr Jason Terpolilli, of the Centre for Rhizobium Studies (CRS), Murdoch University.
Lab meal, October 2014
BASF Symposium ‘Unlocking Yield Potential in Soil’, Deidesheim, Germany, 7th-9th October 2014
Andrzej gave a talk at this meeting.
ENFC- 2014, Tenerife, Spain, 7th-10th Sept 2014
Alison, Andrzej, Barney, Carmen, Izzy, Phil & Vinoy attended this conference. See posters presented.
Society for General Microbiology meeting, ‘Emerging Challenges and Opportunities in Soil Microbiology’, Loughborough, 1st-2nd September 2014
Andrzej gave a talk at this meeting.
Discover Plants, Oxford Botanic Gardens, March 2014
Josh was involved in sessions for primary school pupils.
Science week, March 2014
Josh was involved with demonstrations of science at Wow!How? Family Science Fair, 15th March 2014 held at the Museum of Natural History, Oxford.
Visiting workers to the Poole Lab
We are delighted to welcome from Spain, Sandra Gusi Martinez from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid on the Erasmus+ programme from 9th July-9th September 2022 and Maria Palomero Gómez from University of Zaragoza from 30th June-15th August 2022. Both students will be working with Carmen during their time in Oxford.
Working with Isidro over the summer are two other visitors from Spain, Carlos Galindo Lalana (University of Zaragoza, 15th June-27th July 2022) and Clara Lozano Lipez (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 1st Sept-10th Oct 2022).
Department of Biology 2022
On 1st August 2022 the Department of Plant Sciences and the Department of Zoology officially merged into the Department of Biology.
OxBacNet, 18th May 2022
This meeting was held in Dept. of Plant Sciences (Hooray! It was great to see everyone again!)
ENSA meeting, Freiburg, Germany, April 2022
Hayley and Rapahael attended this meeting.
Society of General Microbiology, Annual Meeting, Belfast 4th-7th April 2022
Phil gave a talk entitled ‘Engineering control of the plant microbiota’
Spain-UK Plant Biotechnology Forum, 22nd-23rd Feb 2022
Carmen gave a talk entitled ‘Shaping microbial physiology through carbon and nitrogen metabolism.’
Javi, on an internship with the Embassy of Spain Office for Cultural and Scientific Affairs, chaired a session, acted as moderator and was involved in organising this online conference.
Plant Genomes, Systems Biology and Engineering, Cold Spring Harbor, 1st-3rd Dec 2021
Phil gave a talk at this conference which was (sadly) held on-line.
OxBacNet, 3rd Nov. 2021 (by Zoom)
Raphael gave a presentation entitled ‘Polyamine-mediated acid tolerance is critical for bacteroid functioning.’
OxBacNet, 19th May 2021 (by Zoom)
Carolin gave a presentation entitled ‘Metabolic control of nitrogen fixation in the rhizobium-legume symbioses‘
YES 2020, final held April 2021
Congratulations to Clare and her team mates in CyanoCycle, winners of EnviroYES.
The team’s imaginary business idea being to grow cyanobacteria in wastewater treatment plants, reducing the carbon output of water treatment and providing a raw material to make environmentally friendly fertiliser.
5th Annual Missouri University Plant Research Symposium (part of Corteva Plant Science Symposiums), 4th -5th March 2021.
Phil gave a talk entitled ‘Improving legume symbiosis or engineering cereals’ in this virtual symposium: The Next Green Revolution: Challenges and Strategies towards a Sustainable Agriculture.
OxBacNet, 11th Feb. 2021 (by Zoom)
Laura gave a presentation entitled ‘Where should I invest my resources? How host plants regulate interactions with bacterial symbionts‘
Complex Networks 2020 (Online conference), Madrid, Dec. 2020
Javi gave a talk entitled ‘Signed distance correlation to generate weighted and thresholded gene coexpression networks‘ by Javier Pardo-Diaz, Philip Poole, Mariano Beguerisse-Díaz, Charlotte Deane and Gesine Reinert.
Nature webcast, Beatriz Jorrin, 14th Oct. 2020
Probing root associated microbiome assembly with fluorescently labelled synthetic communities
Plant Microbe Interactions Series-Part 1, Society for Applied Microbiology, Oct. 7th 2020
Phil gave a talk at this virtual symposium entitled ‘Rhizobium from rhizosphere to root nodule’.
28th Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology, International Society for Computational Biology 2020 (online conference), 13th-16th July 2020
Javi presented a poster entitled ‘Robust gene coexpression networks using signed distance correlation’.
Microbiology Society 75th Anniversary publication, A Sustainable Future, June 2020
Congratulations to Carolin for her contribution entitled Fixing the Problem of Nitrogen Limitation in Agriculture.
This draws on her work in the Lab and during her internship at Sound Agriculture in California.
OxBacNet, 22nd May 2020
This meeting was cancelled due to COVID-19.
Reach Nano-talks, Sustainability and Microbes, April 2020
Biological Nitrogen Fixation for Food Security by Carolin Schulte. Presented on-line.
Microbiome Capability Workshop Agenda, Birmingham, March 2020
Phil and Andrzej attended this one-day meeting.
OxBacNet, 12th Feb. 2020
Andrzej gave a presentation entitled ‘A holistic approach to the plant microbiome’
Spreading the word….science is fun and interesting! #WomenInScience Day, 11th Feb 2020
Carmen gave a Skype presentation to school students from IES Reyes Católicos, Málaga on 13th Feb 2020, an initiative organised by 11defebrero.org
#WomenInScience Day, 11th Feb 2020
Celebrating all the women and girls in the Lab. for International Women in Science day!
Gordon Research Conference: Sensory Transduction in Microorganisms 2020, Molecular Control of Signal Sensing, Processing and Response, Ventura, California, USA. 12th-17th Jan 2020.
Sam will attend this conference and present work entitled ‘Strategically navigating through the soil: the integrated sensory systems of the legume symbiont Rhizobium leguminosarum‘
XXVII Workshop Advances in Molecular Biology by Young Researchers Abroad, Centro National de Biotechnologica, Madrid, Spain, 19th Dec 2019
Bea gave a talk entitled ‘ Differential Fluorescent Markers to map Synthetic Communities on Plant Roots’
The Cellular World, Museum of Natural History, University of Oxford, 4th Dec 2019
Carmen gave a talk entitled ‘Bacteria and the Future of Food‘ to A-level biology students.
Counsellor for Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and the Environment from the Embassy of Spain visits Dept. of Plant Sciences, 28th Nov. 2019
In her role as vice-chair of (Society of Spanish Researchers in UK) SRUK, Carmen spoke to the Counsellor from the Embassy of Spain and her team on a visit to Oxford.
Sir Walter Murdoch Adjunct Professorial Scheme, 2019-21
Phil has been awarded a grant from this scheme which enables him to visit Murdoch University in Perth, WA to build collaborations and assist in their research programme. Phil visited Centre of Rhizobium Studies (CRS) at Murdoch University in Nov 2019.
Congratulations to Carmen who begins a Leverhulme Research Project, 1st Nov. 2019
Imaging bacterial chemotaxis to roots: role of the global regulator PTSNtr
21st International Congress on Nitrogen Fixation, 10th -15th Oct. 2019, Wuhan, China
Phil gave a talk at this meeting. While in China, Phil also visited Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology (CEPAMS) and gave a talk.
Congratulations to Tim who starts an 1851 Fellowship, 1st Oct. 2019
Further details of Tim and his research can be found here.
Visitors Autumn 2019- Spring/Summer 2020
We welcomed the following scientists to the Poole Lab.
- Anna Martyn (Universität zu Köln, Germany) for 6 mths from 1st Sept. to carry out a project for her Masters thesis.
- Naoki Yanagisawa (Nagoya University, Japan) from 1st Oct. until Jun. 2020 bringing his expertise in microfluidics.
- Theresa Ernst (Germany) for an internship from 25th Nov. 2019 until 21st Feb. 2020 before she starts her PhD in Germany.
Poole Lab DPhil student internships 2019:
- Laura did an internship as a Biostatistician for Costello Medical in Cambridge UK for 12 weeks from 1st July 2019.
- Carolin did an internship at Sound Agriculture in Emeryville, California. July- Sept 2019
- Brandon did an internship during July- Sept 2019 at Legume Technology who are the industrial partner in his CASE studentship.
Mini-symposium on chemical signalling in the rhizosphere, 16th-19th Sept. 2019 Cumbria, UK
Phil gave a talk: ‘Engineering new rhizosphere signalling networks’. Tim gave a talk too.
Carmen’s research featured in La Revisita, Summer 2019
Read Carmen’s article: Life underground: The basis and future of agriculture
Visitors Summer 2019
- This summer, IUNFC student Anirban Basu from University of Hyderabad, India will be visiting IUNFC Labs in the UK. 16th-30th June and 1st-31st Aug. 2019 he will be in Oxford working with Bea.
- 17th June-30 July 2019 post-doc Suyu Jiang is visiting from Jeremy Murray’s Lab in Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology in Shanghai, China as part of the recently founded CAS-JIC Centre of Excellence for Plant and Microbial Science. She will be performing RNASeq experiments with Vinoy.
- Michael Culbert, an Oxford undergraduate is doing a summer internship with Raphael.
- Sixth-former Lydia is spending a week with the Poole Group to see what it is like working in a research lab
Marcela’s graduation! July 2019
XVII National Meeting of the Spanish Society of Nitrogen Fixation, Madrid, Spain, July 2019
Carmen gave a talk entitled ‘Control of bacterial nitrogen and carbon metabolism by a PTSNtr regulated switch‘
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU), Munich, Germany, July 2019
Phil presented a keynote lecture at a Plant Microbiome Workshop.
Congratulations to Carmen!
Carmen is joining Kellogg College in Michaelmas 2019 as a Research Member of Common Room. See here.
XVII Symposium of Mexican Studies and Students in the UK, University of Cambridge, 26-28th June 2019
Marcela gave a talk entitled ‘ Rhizobial competition: getting to the root of the problem’
Research seminar at Rothamsted, 17th June 2019
Phil gave a research seminar at Rothamsted.
Visitors Spring 2019
- 6th-28th May 2019 Talitha Rogers from Centre for Rhizobium Studies, Murdoch University, Australia, to work with Vinoy performing RNASeq experiments.
- 15th April-12th June 2019 – IUNFC student Prachi Singh from NBAIM, Mau, India working to examine pigeonpea-nodulating rhizobia and learning new molecular techniques with Bea.
OxBacNet, 22nd May 2019
Meeting held in Dept. of Plant Sciences, 2pm
Poole Lab DPhil student internships 2019:
- Paul spent 3 mths from 4th Feb 2019 with WHO in Geneva, Switzerland.
- Hayley will be spending a total of 3 mths at the Natural History Museum, Oxford during the course of 2019.
Symbiosis Day at the Natural History Museum, Oxord, 11th April 2019
Brandon and Carolin ready to talk to the public about the science of symbiosis. Marcela’s 3D printed bacteroids are amazing!
Talks at Natural History Museum, Oxford, 6th April 2019
Sam gave a talk at this event on his research.
Congratulations to Laura on winning the runner’s-up poster prize at the BioSciences DTP Annual Symposium, April 2019
OxBacNet, 6th Feb 2019
Meeting held in Dept. of Plant Sciences, 2pm
Closing Ceremony of the programme UAM/SRUK 2018, Madrid, Spain 1st Feb 2019
Carmen supervised Alicia over summer 2018 in Oxford and their research was selected for a talk at the closing ceremony. Congratulations to them both!
(image of Alicia and Carmen from SRUK/CERU)
The program was organised by the UAM (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid), with students that came from diverse Science degrees, and the SRUK (society of Spanish Researchers in the UK), offering the host groups: https://sruk.org.uk/uam-sruk-summer-studentships/
NIAB-EMR seminar series, 29th Jan 2019
Phil gave a seminar entitled: ‘Root colonisation and the role of the microbiome’.
Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, Cologne, Germany 17th Dec 2018
Phil gave a seminar: ‘Mapping the interaction of rhizobia with roots and their associated life-style changes’.
Three out of three…. Congratulations to Kyle, the third of the Poole Lab students to have a successful DPhil viva this autumn!
Bacterial World, Natural History Museum, Oxford, 4th Dec 2018
Phil gave a talk: ‘Bacteria and the future of food’.
Winchester College, 27th Nov 2018
Phil gave a talk to A level students: ‘Nitrogen and humanity; a perpetual crisis’.
IUNFC Annual Meeting held at NBAIM, Mau, India, 13-14th Nov 2018
Phil, Alison, Andrzej, Vinoy and Bea travelled to this meeting, along with IUNFC colleagues from other UK Labs.
They also paid a visit to Dr Maitrayee DasGupta’s Lab at the University of Calcutta, Kolkata.
Botanic Gardens Seminar Series, 1st Nov 2018
Phil gave a talk in the autumn seminar series: ‘The plant microbiome, the dark and dirty secrets of plant growth’
OxBacNet Oct 2018 – Termly meeting of Oxford’s bacteriologists held in Dept. of Plant Sciences.
For speakers and schedule see here.
Well done Rachel! Another successful viva from the Poole Lab DPhil students, Oct 2018
Wonderful cake too – ordered by Nick (on an internship in Thailand)
Congratulations to Marcela! DPhil viva accomplished in style! Oct 2018
Poole Lab DPhil student internships 2018:
- Jack has spent two months during 2018 at Panacea Innovation.
- Sam spent from 10th Sept to 30th Nov 2018 at Zooniverse, Oxford.
- Nick was an UNESCO Natural Science Office in Bangkok, Thailand from 21st Sept to 23rd Dec 2018.
The Microbiome: human medicine and agriculture in a bacterial world, Royal Society, 5th Oct 2018
Phil took part in this one-day meeting.
COSNET Conference 2018, Sept 26th-28th 2018, Warsaw, Poland
Javi presented a poster ‘Gene Coexpression Network for the study of Rhizobium leguminosarum‘
13th ENFC, 18-21 Aug 2018, Stockholm, Sweden
Phil gave a talk: ‘ Dissection of Bacteroid Metabolism’.
Marcela gave a talk: ‘High-throughput identification of competitive and effective rhizobial strains’.
Andrzej gave a talk: ‘Absolute quantification of of microbiota abundance in environmental samples’.
Carmen presented a poster: ‘Phosphorylation of the phosphotransferase system (PTS) balances the nitrogen and carbon metabolism in Rhizobium leguminosarum’. WINNER OF THE POSTER PRIZE!
Rachel presented a poster: ‘Whole genome-scale characterization of the fitness determinants in Rhizobium-legume symbioses’.
Vinoy presented a poster: ‘A novel pea-root derived glycoprotein governs rhizobial attachment to root elongation zone’.
ENFC Satellite Meetings: 1.Microbiome Satellite Meeting, 17th Aug 2018
Phil, Vinoy, Marcela and Rachel presented talks.
2. Molecular aspects of regulation and metabolism in nitrogen fixation, 18th Aug 2018
Carmen gave a talk: ‘Regulation of carbon and nitrogen metabolism in Rhizobium leguminosarum’.
Nitrogen Network Meeting, July 2018
A one-day meeting organised by the Poole Lab was held in Oxford. Keynote speaker Luis Rubio (UPM). For more details
Gatsby Plant Science Summer School, Hawkshill, York, 2nd-4th July 2018
Phil will speak and take part in this summer school for undergraduates interested in studying plant sciences. He gave a talk: ‘The sticky business of microbes and plant roots’.
Departmental summer BBQ, June 2018
Congratulations to Vinoy who has been selected as an MPLS BAME – Beyond Boundaries Project role model
This science-inspired art initiative will see secondary school students interpreting a research project in a piece of art work – drawing, painting or even sculpture. We are looking forward to seeing the outcomes.
Update (Dec 2018): Winner in Year 7 Individual category – Matilda Percy-Bowersox from Oxford Spires Academy with her artwork Bacteria based on research by Vinoy Ramachandran.
KEYS conference, Amsterdam, 13th-15th June 2018
Phil gave a talk: ‘Imaging plant-microbe interactions: the root microbiome and colonisation’.
OxBacNet May 2018 – Termly meeting of Oxford’s bacteriologists held in Dept. of Plant Sciences
For speakers and schedule see here.
Lecture at Cirencester Science and Technology Society, Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester, 9th May 2018, 7.30pm
Phil will give a lecture entitled ‘Nitrogen and humanity – a permanent crisis‘
Lab Retreat March 2018
Spring 2018 – Welcome to new staff and visitors!
Tim Haskett joins the SynSym project from March 2018.
IUNFC students Chalasani Danteswari from University of Hyderabad and Nagvanti Atoliya from the India Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal are visiting the Poole Lab and working with Bea, April-June 2018 to examine pigeonpea-nodulating rhizobia.
Biosciences DTP student Riccardo Soldan is working in the Poole Lab for his rotation project, April-July 2018. He is studying the microbiomes of Arabidopsis.
Undergraduates Pandora Dewan, Clare Cocker and Oliver Taylor are working with Laura, Carmen and Vinoy, respectively, for their second-year research projects.
Anna Martyn from Universität zu Köln is spending 6 mths working with Andrzej on plant microbiomes. Beatrice Senatori from the University of Florence is spending 6 mths working with Vinoy on bacterial attachment to plant roots.
Zoological Society of London, Huxley Lecture Theatre, Main Meeting Rooms, ZSL London Zoo, 13th March 2018, 6pm
Phil will give a talk in the event Ecosystems under the microscope: why microbes matter for conservation.
Super Science Saturday, Oxford Natural History Museum, Parks Road, Oxford, 10th March 2018
Sam and Hayley will take part in this exciting activity by sharing the joy of unearthing nitrogen-fixing nodules from legume roots.
SRUK-Oxford on Thursday 1st March 2018
Beatriz will give a talk on science from her perspective.
Thatcher Development Programme’s Foundation Day Panel Discussion, ‘Climate Change: Approaches and Innovations for the Future’ Tuesday 27th February, Somerville College, Oxford
Phil took part in this discussion on Climate Change before the Foundation Day Dinner at Somerville College, Oxford.
2nd Plant Microbiome Symposium, Barbizon Palace Hotel, Amsterdam, the Netherlands 19th-21st Feb 2018
Phil, Jack and Andrzej attended this meeting.
- Andrzej’s poster was entitled “The plant microbiome is dependent on soil type, soil fraction and the common symbiotic pathway“
Interactive Q&A session with school students in Spain, Feb 2018
Carmen, direct from her bench in Oxford via Skype, spent a happy hour answering questions from 16-17 year olds in IES Santo Reino, Spain. This session followed her presentation on following her talk about Nitrogen-fixing Bacteria and was to promote interest in science, research and Women in Science.
Department of Biology, University of York on 13th February 2018
Phil gave a seminar entitled ‘Metabolic transitions of rhizobia and application to engineering N2-fixation in cereals‘ in the Plant Biology seminar series.
Poole Lab Christmas Meal – Dec 2017
Joint Meeting of NUCLEUS and UBNFC VJCs, Florianapolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil 22nd Nov 2017
As part of UBNFC, Phil attended this meeting.
UBNFC Annual Meeting, Florianapolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil 23-24th Nov 2017
Phil and Marta attended this annual meeting.
Congratulations to Josh on submitting his DPhil thesis! Sept. 2017
20th International Congress on Nitrogen Fixation (ICNF), Granada, Spain 3rd-7th Sept. 2017
Annet gave a talk entitled ‘Computing plants: how pea plants allocate resources among multiple rhizobial strains’
Carmen gave a talk entitled ‘Regulatory cross-talk by the phosphotransferase systems in R. leguminosarum’
Marcela gave a talk entitled ‘High-throughput tool to identify competitive rhizobial strains’
Phil gave a keynote lecture entitled ‘What makes a bacteroid?’
Andrzej, Barney, Bea, Hayley, Jack, Josh, Kyle, Nick, Paul, Rachel and Vinoy had posters (see here for details).
VI Annual Meeting of the Plant Genetic and Biotechnology Network, Italy 20th-23rd June 2017
Phil gave a talk entitled ‘Root microbiota in plant productivity’ at this graduate school.
Imperial College London, Silwood Park, 22nd June 2017
In the Ecology and Evolution Seminar Series, Bea gave a seminar entitled ‘From population genomics to synthetic communities in the Rhizobium – Legume system’
Visitors Spring-Summer 2017
We welcome Eloïne Bestion (Élève Ingénieure Agronome) from ENSAT (Ecole Nationale Superieure Agronomique de Toulouse), France for a placement from June until the end of August 2017. Eloïne will be working on analysis of microbiomes from the rhizosphere.
As part of the IUNFC exchange programme, PhD student Sohini Guha from the University of Calcutta will be working in the Poole Lab from April-Aug 2017.
From April 2017 the Poole Lab is hosting Paul Rutten from the Interdisciplinary Bioscience Doctoral Training Partnership for his rotation project.
Undergraduates Thomas Lewin, Ben Foster and Yann Newby will be doing their six-week projects in the Poole Lab starting in May 2017.
Poole Lab Dinner, Somerville College 15th June 2017
Great to see everyone dressed up for dinner!
ASM Microbe 2017, New Orleans, USA, June 2017
Phil gave a talk entitled ‘ Role of Root Microbiota in Plant Productivity‘ in the session Microbes and Plants: From Leaf to Root.
The Queen’s College Symposium, June 2017
Carmen gave a talk entitled ‘Life underground: The basis and future of agriculture’
University of Middlesex, Environmental Sciences Lecture Series, April 2017.
Barney gave a talk entitled ‘Engineering trans-kingdom signalling to govern traits in the plant rhizosphere’
Experimental Plant Sciences (EPS) Meeting, Lunteren, The Netherlands, April 2017
Phil was a speaker at this Graduate School EPS Training Programme event.
Congratulations to Jack who has been accepted onto NERC Valuing Nature Business Impact School 6th-9th March 2017 in London.
II Semana Bioengenharia, Instuto Superior Técnico, Lison, Portugal, 7th March 2017
Phil gave a seminar entitled ‘How plants select the rhizosphere microbiome and, in turn, how microbes alter plant growth’
UN International Day of Women and Girls in Science, 11th Feb 2017
Rhizosphere Lab scientists include women from all over the world (below), who are proud to support and celebrate UN International Day of Women and Girls in Science, 2017.
L to R: Marcela (Mexico), Carmen (Spain), Rachel (UK), Lily (China), Hayley (UK), Alison (UK), Laura (UK), Rona (UK) and Bea (Spain).
Congratulations to Barney who has recently been made a JRF at Wolfson College.
Crop Systems Engineering Seminar Series, University of Southampton, 10th Feb 2017
Phil gave a seminar entitled ‘Root colonisation and engineering selection of microbes’.
Oxford University Botanic Garden – Out of Hours Plant Science Masterclass Series. March and April 2017 at the Museum of Natural History
Josh and Nick are involved in running this masterclass for young talented biologists, encouraging them to think of plant science as an important and interesting area, and one that would allow them to tackle global challenges in the future.
Contribution to UK Parliament, Jan 2017
Izzy’s My Science Inquiry to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee proposing an inquiry into how the UK can utilise biological solutions to the global nitrogen crisis was selected for publication.
On 24th Jan 2017 Phil did a FacebookLIVE event via OxfordSparks – catch up with Phil’s talk:
Global Pulse Day, 19th Jan 2017
The bring-and-share Pulse Lunch was enjoyed by members of the Plant Science Dept.
Delicious tastes on offer ranged from curries, dips and salads to black bean chocolate muffins and chickpea blondies.
Rothamsted Open Innovation Forum, 18th-20th Jan 2017
Jack and Nick attended this inspiring event.
Back2Roots 1st Annual Meeting, Wageningen, Holland, 12th-13th Jan 2017
Phil will give a talk at the Back2Roots 1st Annual Meeting in Wageningen.
Congratulations to Izzy who had her PhD viva on 5th Jan 2017 – well done Dr Webb!
Visitors – Winter/Spring 2017
From January the Poole Lab is delighted to be hosting Sam Aroney and Hayley Knights on a 12 week rotation in the first year of their DPhil studies. In addition, Rona Costello and Laura Clark will be working with Dr Lindsay Turnbull on rotation projects joint with the Poole Lab.
Sam, Hayley, Rona and Laura are students on the Interdisciplinary Bioscience Doctoral Training Partnership and will be working on aspects of nitrogen fixation.
Innovative Crop Protection for the 21st Century Food Security, 13th-14th Dec. 2016, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
Phil and Andrzej attended this conference. Phil gave a talk entitled ‘Root colonisation and community selection’.
Launch of the India UK Nitrogen Fixation Centre (IUNFC), 6-7th Oct. 2016 in Bhopal, India. Phil, Vinoy, Andrzej, Bea and Alison travelled to India for the launch and IUNFC project planning meeting.
XXth Symposium Plant Biology, 27th-28th Sept. 2016 Botanical Institute, University of Cologne, Germany.
Phil will give a talk entitled ‘Plant control of the rhizosphere microbiome’
Rachel has written an article ‘ A problem for the 21st Century: tackling the Nitrogen Crisis‘ published in this term’s Phenotype.
Inaugural Poole Lab retreat, Sept. 2016
We spent two nights in rural Wiltshire which provided an opportunity for presentations, in-depth project discussions, walking, eating and other activities. We returned focused on our projects and refreshed!
ENFC-2016 25th-28th Aug. 2016, Budapest, Hungary. Several members of the group attended this conference to give talks and present posters.
- Barney gave a talk: ‘Discovery of a novel rhizopine synthesis pathway paves the way for synthetic symbioses and nitrogen fixing cereal crops’
- Marcela had a short oral presentation and poster: ‘Rhizobial competition: getting to the root of the problem’
- Carmen had a short oral presentation and poster: ‘Regulation of bacterial metabolism by the phosphotransferase system (PTSNtr)’
- Rachel had a short oral presentation and poster: ‘Insertion Sequencing in Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. viciae 3841′
- Annet had a short oral presentation and poster: ‘Policing the gate: can pea plants stop rhizobial cheats from entering?’
- Izzy had a poster: ‘Using Raman microscopy to investigate nitrogen fixation mutants of Rhizobium leguminosarum‘
- Alison had a poster: ‘Comparison of Rhizobium leguminosarum determinate and indeterminate nodules on legumes by RNA-Seq analysis’
EMBO conference: The nitrogen nutrition of plants, 22nd-26th August, Montpellier, France.
Phil gave a talk in PlaNNet coordination Network session sponsored by NSF.
Visitors – Spring/Summer 2016
From April, the Poole Lab was delighted to host Jack Parsons on a 12 week rotation in the first year of his DPhil. Jack is a student on the Interdisciplinary Bioscience Doctoral Training Partnership.
During Trinity term 2016 we welcomed undergraduates doing their projects in the Poole Lab; Freya Easton and Sophie Richards worked with Vinoy, Beatrice Egid worked with Carmen. Megan Griffiths and Connor Hope worked with Annet and Marcela.
Society for Applied Microbiology, Summer Conference 2016 – Microbial interactions in the environment, 2nd-4th July 2016, Edinburgh.
Andrzej gave a talk entitled ‘Rhizosphere microbiology and plant health’.
Growing Plants on Mars, Sat 25th June 2016, Oxford Town Hall.
Kyle gave a presentation describing the science behind growing plants in space. Read more…
Martian Crops by Kyle Grant, BANG! Trinity 2016
The red planet goes green. Growing plants in space. Read about the advances being made by NASA and Kyle’s contribution.
Lab formal dinner at Balliol College, Mon 23rd May 2016.
Fascination of Plants Day, Harcourt Arboretum, Oxfordshire, May 14th 2016. Build your own terrarium and other activities in beautiful surroundings. As part of the Dept. of Plant Sciences team, Kyle, Izzy and Francesco were on hand to help the visitors and answer any questions.
Visit to a London Primary School, April 2016
Izzy visited Griffin Primary School in Wandsworth to help out with a Year 1 field trip to Larkhall Park.
UK PlantSci 2016, John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK 11-12th April 2016
Phil presented the keynote lecture entitled ‘ The plant microbiome and the importance of the rhizosphere to plant growth and resilience’.
Innovation Match MX 2015-2016, First International Forum of Mexican Talent, Guadalajara, Mexico, 6th-8th April 2016
Congratulations to Marcela who has been selected to give a talk ‘Beating rhizobial ineffectiveness’.
Visitors – Winter/Spring 2016
From January the Poole Lab is delighted to be hosting Nick Crang on a 12 week rotation in the first year of his DPhil. Nick is a student on the Interdisciplinary Bioscience Doctoral Training Partnership and will be working on oxygen regulation of nitrogen fixation.
OxFEST Annual Conference., Oxford, 5th March 2016
Khushboo presented a poster ‘Metabolic Flux analysis of nitrogen-fixing bacteria’
1st Plant Microbiome Symposium, Jaguariuna, Brazil, 22nd-24th February 2016
Phil gave a talk entitled ‘Stability and succession of the rhizosphere microbiota depends on plant type and soil composition’.
Andrzej gave a talk entitled ‘Wheat Progenitors’ Microbiome’
Sherborne Science Cafe, Dorset, 7.30pm, 27th January 2016
Phil gave a talk ‘Something in the air’.
Funding announcements
We are delighted to announce that our proposal for the India-UK Nitrogen Fixation Centre (IUNFC) has been funded as part of 10M UK-India Virtual Joint Centres in Agricultural Nitrogen. Funded through partnership of BBSRC with the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Department of Biotechnology India (DBT), this is one of four VJCs funded by this initiative. Their aim is to develop centres performing innovative research and delivering training, through collaboration between UK and Indian scientists.
From announcement of the award on the BBSRC website:
India-UK Nitrogen Fixation Centre (IUNFC) – Professor Philip Poole, University of Oxford working with Dr D.L.N Rao, ICAR Indian Institute of Soil Science and researchers at the John Innes Centre, University of Baroda, University of Calcutta, University of Hyderabad, ICAR India Agricultural Research Institute and The Energy and Resources Institute, New Delhi.
This Virtual Joint Centre aims to tackle problems of food security, environmental and economic challenges of crop production and soil improvement in India through world class fundamental and applied research on biological nitrogen fixation (BNF). In the short/medium term, this knowledge will lead to changes in agricultural practices in India, bringing economic, environmental and social benefits. In the longer term, it will provide a platform to engineer nitrogen fixation in cereal crops.
Congratulations !
Congratulations to Annet Westhoek who won Oxford’s DTP Graduate Prize in Nov 2015 for her work in the past year. Well done!
Research scientist stars in TV documentary, Nov 2015
MADRILEÑOS POR EL MUNDO is an award-winning television program on Telemadrid (Madrid’s public official TV network) broadcast since 2007. The show is one of the Network’s most watched programmes.
MXM’s reporter and cameraman travel all around the world visiting and interviewing people from Madrid who live abroad. While learning more about their lives and their experiences they also report on each city’s main tourist attractions. A programme made in Oct 2015 features Carmen and her life here in Oxford, including the Plant Sciences Dept., the Herbarium and other tourist attractions. See the trailer for the programme which will be broadcast on 24th Nov. 2015. Check out the MXM website for further details.
The Gairdner Foundation & University of Calgary Symposium on the Microbiome, University of Calgary – Cumming School of Medicine, Canada, 10th November 2015
Phil’s seminar is entitled ‘Plant selection of the rhizosphere microbiome’.
At the end of October we were sorry to say good-bye to visitor Ben Perry from University of Regina, Canada. Before he left, the Poole Lab went for a formal dinner at Balliol College.
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Oct 2015
Phil visited Jean-Michel Ané in Madison and gave a seminar entitled ‘Differentiation of rhizobia into nitrogen-fixing bacteroids’ in the Division of Bacteriology, Distinguished Lectures in Microbiology series on 15th Oct 2015.
Seminars in Frontiers on Genomics, Centro de Ciencias Genomicas (CCG) of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México), Mexico, 13th Oct 2015
Phil gave a talk entitled ‘Transition of Rhizobium from free-living organism to ammoniaplast’. While the talk was given at UNAM Campus in Cuernavaca, it was broadcast live to participating institutions around Mexico.
During Phil’s visit to CCG he spent a day with undergraduates on the Program in Genomic Sciences giving two additional seminars and holding one-to-one discussions with students.
ICNF 2015, Asilomar, California, USA, 4th-9th October 2015
Phil gave a talk entitled ‘Energisation and redox balance in nitrogen-fixing bacteroids’.
Izzy presented a poster; ‘Understanding the role of FixABCX in symbiotic nitrogen fixation’.
Tackling the nitrogen crisis; what are the solutions? Oxford Martin School, Oxford, 18th Sept 2015
Phil and Alison organised this symposium to discuss biological nitrogen fixation together with the broader problems of nitrogen in the environment, agricultural policy, food consumption and social issues, in the context of finding solutions.
American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB), Plant Biology 2015, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, 26th-30th July 2015
Phil gave a talk entitled ‘Plant Control of the Microbiome’ in the session; Interactions in the Rhizosphere and the Root Microbiome.
Ratan Tata visits Poole Lab, 24th June 2015
Photos courtesy of OICSD
Vinoy was delighted to be able to show Ratan Tata around the Poole Lab and to tell him about our latest research. Mr Tata was visiting Oxford as a guest of Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development (OICSD) and Somerville College.
Rhizosphere4, Maastricht, The Netherlands, 21st-25th June 2015
Andrzej gave a talk entitled ‘High-throughput detection of plant pathogens using next generation sequencing’. Posters were presented by Josh (‘Dissecting root secretion using novel lux biosensors’), Vinoy (‘EcfE, a master regulator of pea root attachment and colonization of Rhizobium leguminosarum bv viciae 3841′) and Annet (‘Modelling resource allocation in the legume – rhizobium symbiosis’).
Bath Science Café, Raven Pub, Bath, 8th June 2015
Phil gave a presentation; ‘Something in the air; the nitrogen crisis’. For more details see http://bathsciencecafe.org/
Canadian Society of Microbiologists (CSM) 65th Annual Conference, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, 15th-18th June 2015
Phil gave a talk at this meeting in the session; The Rhizosphere Microbiome of Agricultural Crops.
Norwich Research Park DTP Summer Conference, Assembly Rooms, Norwich, 18th June 2015
Izzy presented a poster on her research; ‘Understanding the role of FixABCX in symbiotic nitrogen fixation’. As a member of an invited panel she also took part in a discussion about her 3 month-long internship, undertaken as part of her PhD studentship.
Fascination of Plants Day, University of Oxford, Harcourt Arboretum, 16th May 2015
Barney, Francesco, Izzy and Khushboo hosted a great stand showing visitors Amazing Adaptations as part of Fascination of Plants, UK. The event was featured in the Oxford Times – the quote about plants and bacteria must have been referring to the Poole Lab display!
Future of Food, Food Security Forum, Annual Conference 2015, Oxford, 2nd May 2015
At the conference ‘Culture, Food, & the Environment: New Perspectives on Food Sovereignty and Security‘ Marcela presented a poster entitled ‘Beating rhizobial ineffectiveness’.
The Society for General Microbiology Annual Conference 2015; The Microbiome, Birmingham, 30th March-2nd April 2015
Phil gave a talk entitled ‘Comparative metatranscriptomics reveals kingdom level changes in the rhizosphere microbiome of plants’.
Bacterial Electron Transfer Processes and their Regulation, Vimeiro, Portugal, 15th-18th March 2015
Izzy received a FEMS travel grant to attend the conference, Bacterial Electron Transfer Processes and their Regulation and gave an oral presentation of her work.
Wow!How? Family Science Fair, 14th March 2015
Annet participated in Wow!How? held at the Museum of Natural History and the Pitt Rivers museum and featuring over 30 hands-on activities to explore. This free fun day is part of Oxfordshire Science Festival.
Microbiomes and Metagenomics, The Shard, London, 3rd-4th March 2015
At this meeting organised by ComMet, Phil gave the keynote lecture ‘Control of the plant microbiome’.
Outreach at Somerville College, 21st February 2015
Barney, Carmen and Phil were involved in an outreach activity to local prospective biology/biochemistry undergraduates. The school pupils heard about nitrogen fixation and considered ways to engineer improvements to the process.
Early Career Researcher Workshop on Plant-Microbe Interactions, Bangkok, Thailand, 16th-19th February 2015
Andrzej was selected for this workshop funded under the Researcher Links scheme offered within the Newton Fund, the British Council and the Thailand Research Fund.
Phil visits Murdoch University, Western Australia as Sir Walter Murdoch visiting fellow, December 2014
Phil with Dr Jason Terpolilli, of the Centre for Rhizobium Studies (CRS), Murdoch University.
Lab meal, October 2014
BASF Symposium ‘Unlocking Yield Potential in Soil’, Deidesheim, Germany, 7th-9th October 2014
Andrzej gave a talk at this meeting.
ENFC- 2014, Tenerife, Spain, 7th-10th Sept 2014
Alison, Andrzej, Barney, Carmen, Izzy, Phil & Vinoy attended this conference. See posters presented.
Society for General Microbiology meeting, ‘Emerging Challenges and Opportunities in Soil Microbiology’, Loughborough, 1st-2nd September 2014
Andrzej gave a talk at this meeting.
Discover Plants, Oxford Botanic Gardens, March 2014
Josh was involved in sessions for primary school pupils.
Science week, March 2014
Josh was involved with demonstrations of science at Wow!How? Family Science Fair, 15th March 2014 held at the Museum of Natural History, Oxford.
Department of Biology 2022
On 1st August 2022 the Department of Plant Sciences and the Department of Zoology are merging into the Department of Biology.
18th May 2022
This meeting was held in Dept. of Plant Sciences.
Society of General Microbiology, Annual Meeting, Belfast 4th-7th April 2022
Phil gave a talk entitled ‘Engineering control of the plant microbiota’
Spain-UK Plant Biotechnology Forum, 22nd-23rd Feb 2022
Carmen will give a talk entitled ‘Shaping microbial physiology through carbon and nitrogen metabolism.’
Javi, on an internship with the Embassy of Spain Office for Cultural and Scientific Affairs, is chairing a session, acting as moderator and involved in organising this online conference.
Plant Genomes, Systems Biology and Engineering, Cold Spring Harbor, 1st-3rd Dec 2021
Phil gave a talk at this conference which was (sadly) held on-line.
OxBacNet, 3rd Nov. 2021 (by Zoom)
Raphael gave a presentation entitled ‘Polyamine-mediated acid tolerance is critical for bacteroid functioning.’
OxBacNet, 19th May 2021 (by Zoom)
Carolin gave a presentation entitled ‘Metabolic control of nitrogen fixation in the rhizobium-legume symbioses‘
YES 2020, final held April 2021
Congratulations to Clare and her team mates in CyanoCycle, winners of EnviroYES.
The team’s imaginary business idea being to grow cyanobacteria in wastewater treatment plants, reducing the carbon output of water treatment and providing a raw material to make environmentally friendly fertiliser.
5th Annual Missouri University Plant Research Symposium (part of Corteva Plant Science Symposiums), 4th -5th March 2021.
Phil gave a talk entitled ‘Improving legume symbiosis or engineering cereals’ in this virtual symposium: The Next Green Revolution: Challenges and Strategies towards a Sustainable Agriculture.
OxBacNet, 11th Feb. 2021 (by Zoom)
Laura gave a presentation entitled ‘Where should I invest my resources? How host plants regulate interactions with bacterial symbionts‘
Complex Networks 2020 (Online conference), Madrid, Dec. 2020
Javi gave a talk entitled ‘Signed distance correlation to generate weighted and thresholded gene coexpression networks‘ by Javier Pardo-Diaz, Philip Poole, Mariano Beguerisse-Díaz, Charlotte Deane and Gesine Reinert.
Nature webcast, Beatriz Jorrin, 14th Oct. 2020
Probing root associated microbiome assembly with fluorescently labelled synthetic communities
Plant Microbe Interactions Series-Part 1, Society for Applied Microbiology, Oct. 7th 2020
Phil gave a talk at this virtual symposium entitled ‘Rhizobium from rhizosphere to root nodule’.
28th Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology, International Society for Computational Biology 2020 (online conference), 13th-16th July 2020
Javi presented a poster entitled ‘Robust gene coexpression networks using signed distance correlation’.
Microbiology Society 75th Anniversary publication, A Sustainable Future, June 2020
Congratulations to Carolin for her contribution entitled Fixing the Problem of Nitrogen Limitation in Agriculture.
This draws on her work in the Lab and during her internship at Sound Agriculture in California.
OxBacNet, 22nd May 2020
This meeting was cancelled due to COVID-19.
Reach Nano-talks, Sustainability and Microbes, April 2020
Biological Nitrogen Fixation for Food Security by Carolin Schulte. Presented on-line.
Microbiome Capability Workshop Agenda, Birmingham, March 2020
Phil and Andrzej attended this one-day meeting.
OxBacNet, 12th Feb. 2020
Andrzej gave a presentation entitled ‘A holistic approach to the plant microbiome’
Spreading the word….science is fun and interesting! #WomenInScience Day, 11th Feb 2020
Carmen gave a Skype presentation to school students from IES Reyes Católicos, Málaga on 13th Feb 2020, an initiative organised by 11defebrero.org
#WomenInScience Day, 11th Feb 2020
Celebrating all the women and girls in the Lab. for International Women in Science day!
Gordon Research Conference: Sensory Transduction in Microorganisms 2020, Molecular Control of Signal Sensing, Processing and Response, Ventura, California, USA. 12th-17th Jan 2020.
Sam will attend this conference and present work entitled ‘Strategically navigating through the soil: the integrated sensory systems of the legume symbiont Rhizobium leguminosarum‘
XXVII Workshop Advances in Molecular Biology by Young Researchers Abroad, Centro National de Biotechnologica, Madrid, Spain, 19th Dec 2019
Bea gave a talk entitled ‘ Differential Fluorescent Markers to map Synthetic Communities on Plant Roots’
The Cellular World, Museum of Natural History, University of Oxford, 4th Dec 2019
Carmen gave a talk entitled ‘Bacteria and the Future of Food‘ to A-level biology students.
Counsellor for Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and the Environment from the Embassy of Spain visits Dept. of Plant Sciences, 28th Nov. 2019
In her role as vice-chair of (Society of Spanish Researchers in UK) SRUK, Carmen spoke to the Counsellor from the Embassy of Spain and her team on a visit to Oxford.
Sir Walter Murdoch Adjunct Professorial Scheme, 2019-21
Phil has been awarded a grant from this scheme which enables him to visit Murdoch University in Perth, WA to build collaborations and assist in their research programme. Phil visited Centre of Rhizobium Studies (CRS) at Murdoch University in Nov 2019.
Congratulations to Carmen who begins a Leverhulme Research Project, 1st Nov. 2019
Imaging bacterial chemotaxis to roots: role of the global regulator PTSNtr
21st International Congress on Nitrogen Fixation, 10th -15th Oct. 2019, Wuhan, China
Phil gave a talk at this meeting. While in China, Phil also visited Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology (CEPAMS) and gave a talk.
Congratulations to Tim who starts an 1851 Fellowship, 1st Oct. 2019
Further details of Tim and his research can be found here.
Visitors Autumn 2019- Spring/Summer 2020
We welcomed the following scientists to the Poole Lab.
- Anna Martyn (Universität zu Köln, Germany) for 6 mths from 1st Sept. to carry out a project for her Masters thesis.
- Naoki Yanagisawa (Nagoya University, Japan) from 1st Oct. until Jun. 2020 bringing his expertise in microfluidics.
- Theresa Ernst (Germany) for an internship from 25th Nov. 2019 until 21st Feb. 2020 before she starts her PhD in Germany.
Poole Lab DPhil student internships 2019:
- Laura did an internship as a Biostatistician for Costello Medical in Cambridge UK for 12 weeks from 1st July 2019.
- Carolin did an internship at Sound Agriculture in Emeryville, California. July- Sept 2019
- Brandon did an internship during July- Sept 2019 at Legume Technology who are the industrial partner in his CASE studentship.
Mini-symposium on chemical signalling in the rhizosphere, 16th-19th Sept. 2019 Cumbria, UK
Phil gave a talk: ‘Engineering new rhizosphere signalling networks’. Tim gave a talk too.
Carmen’s research featured in La Revisita, Summer 2019
Read Carmen’s article: Life underground: The basis and future of agriculture
Visitors Summer 2019
- This summer, IUNFC student Anirban Basu from University of Hyderabad, India will be visiting IUNFC Labs in the UK. 16th-30th June and 1st-31st Aug. 2019 he will be in Oxford working with Bea.
- 17th June-30 July 2019 post-doc Suyu Jiang is visiting from Jeremy Murray’s Lab in Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology in Shanghai, China as part of the recently founded CAS-JIC Centre of Excellence for Plant and Microbial Science. She will be performing RNASeq experiments with Vinoy.
- Michael Culbert, an Oxford undergraduate is doing a summer internship with Raphael.
- Sixth-former Lydia is spending a week with the Poole Group to see what it is like working in a research lab
Marcela’s graduation! July 2019
XVII National Meeting of the Spanish Society of Nitrogen Fixation, Madrid, Spain, July 2019
Carmen gave a talk entitled ‘Control of bacterial nitrogen and carbon metabolism by a PTSNtr regulated switch‘
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU), Munich, Germany, July 2019
Phil presented a keynote lecture at a Plant Microbiome Workshop.
Congratulations to Carmen!
Carmen is joining Kellogg College in Michaelmas 2019 as a Research Member of Common Room. See here.
XVII Symposium of Mexican Studies and Students in the UK, University of Cambridge, 26-28th June 2019
Marcela gave a talk entitled ‘ Rhizobial competition: getting to the root of the problem’
Research seminar at Rothamsted, 17th June 2019
Phil gave a research seminar at Rothamsted.
Visitors Spring 2019
- 6th-28th May 2019 Talitha Rogers from Centre for Rhizobium Studies, Murdoch University, Australia, to work with Vinoy performing RNASeq experiments.
- 15th April-12th June 2019 – IUNFC student Prachi Singh from NBAIM, Mau, India working to examine pigeonpea-nodulating rhizobia and learning new molecular techniques with Bea.
OxBacNet, 22nd May 2019
Meeting held in Dept. of Plant Sciences, 2pm
Poole Lab DPhil student internships 2019:
- Paul spent 3 mths from 4th Feb 2019 with WHO in Geneva, Switzerland.
- Hayley will be spending a total of 3 mths at the Natural History Museum, Oxford during the course of 2019.
Symbiosis Day at the Natural History Museum, Oxord, 11th April 2019
Brandon and Carolin ready to talk to the public about the science of symbiosis. Marcela’s 3D printed bacteroids are amazing!
Talks at Natural History Museum, Oxford, 6th April 2019
Sam gave a talk at this event on his research.
Congratulations to Laura on winning the runner’s-up poster prize at the BioSciences DTP Annual Symposium, April 2019
OxBacNet, 6th Feb 2019
Meeting held in Dept. of Plant Sciences, 2pm
Closing Ceremony of the programme UAM/SRUK 2018, Madrid, Spain 1st Feb 2019
Carmen supervised Alicia over summer 2018 in Oxford and their research was selected for a talk at the closing ceremony. Congratulations to them both!
(image of Alicia and Carmen from SRUK/CERU)
The program was organised by the UAM (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid), with students that came from diverse Science degrees, and the SRUK (society of Spanish Researchers in the UK), offering the host groups: https://sruk.org.uk/uam-sruk-summer-studentships/
NIAB-EMR seminar series, 29th Jan 2019
Phil gave a seminar entitled: ‘Root colonisation and the role of the microbiome’.
Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, Cologne, Germany 17th Dec 2018
Phil gave a seminar: ‘Mapping the interaction of rhizobia with roots and their associated life-style changes’.
Three out of three…. Congratulations to Kyle, the third of the Poole Lab students to have a successful DPhil viva this autumn!
Bacterial World, Natural History Museum, Oxford, 4th Dec 2018
Phil gave a talk: ‘Bacteria and the future of food’.
Winchester College, 27th Nov 2018
Phil gave a talk to A level students: ‘Nitrogen and humanity; a perpetual crisis’.
IUNFC Annual Meeting held at NBAIM, Mau, India, 13-14th Nov 2018
Phil, Alison, Andrzej, Vinoy and Bea travelled to this meeting, along with IUNFC colleagues from other UK Labs.
They also paid a visit to Dr Maitrayee DasGupta’s Lab at the University of Calcutta, Kolkata.
Botanic Gardens Seminar Series, 1st Nov 2018
Phil gave a talk in the autumn seminar series: ‘The plant microbiome, the dark and dirty secrets of plant growth’
OxBacNet Oct 2018 – Termly meeting of Oxford’s bacteriologists held in Dept. of Plant Sciences.
For speakers and schedule see here.
Well done Rachel! Another successful viva from the Poole Lab DPhil students, Oct 2018
Wonderful cake too – ordered by Nick (on an internship in Thailand)
Congratulations to Marcela! DPhil viva accomplished in style! Oct 2018
Poole Lab DPhil student internships 2018:
- Jack has spent two months during 2018 at Panacea Innovation.
- Sam spent from 10th Sept to 30th Nov 2018 at Zooniverse, Oxford.
- Nick was an UNESCO Natural Science Office in Bangkok, Thailand from 21st Sept to 23rd Dec 2018.
The Microbiome: human medicine and agriculture in a bacterial world, Royal Society, 5th Oct 2018
Phil took part in this one-day meeting.
COSNET Conference 2018, Sept 26th-28th 2018, Warsaw, Poland
Javi presented a poster ‘Gene Coexpression Network for the study of Rhizobium leguminosarum‘
13th ENFC, 18-21 Aug 2018, Stockholm, Sweden
Phil gave a talk: ‘ Dissection of Bacteroid Metabolism’.
Marcela gave a talk: ‘High-throughput identification of competitive and effective rhizobial strains’.
Andrzej gave a talk: ‘Absolute quantification of of microbiota abundance in environmental samples’.
Carmen presented a poster: ‘Phosphorylation of the phosphotransferase system (PTS) balances the nitrogen and carbon metabolism in Rhizobium leguminosarum’. WINNER OF THE POSTER PRIZE!
Rachel presented a poster: ‘Whole genome-scale characterization of the fitness determinants in Rhizobium-legume symbioses’.
Vinoy presented a poster: ‘A novel pea-root derived glycoprotein governs rhizobial attachment to root elongation zone’.
ENFC Satellite Meetings: 1.Microbiome Satellite Meeting, 17th Aug 2018
Phil, Vinoy, Marcela and Rachel presented talks.
2. Molecular aspects of regulation and metabolism in nitrogen fixation, 18th Aug 2018
Carmen gave a talk: ‘Regulation of carbon and nitrogen metabolism in Rhizobium leguminosarum’.
Nitrogen Network Meeting, July 2018
A one-day meeting organised by the Poole Lab was held in Oxford. Keynote speaker Luis Rubio (UPM). For more details
Gatsby Plant Science Summer School, Hawkshill, York, 2nd-4th July 2018
Phil will speak and take part in this summer school for undergraduates interested in studying plant sciences. He gave a talk: ‘The sticky business of microbes and plant roots’.
Departmental summer BBQ, June 2018
Congratulations to Vinoy who has been selected as an MPLS BAME – Beyond Boundaries Project role model
This science-inspired art initiative will see secondary school students interpreting a research project in a piece of art work – drawing, painting or even sculpture. We are looking forward to seeing the outcomes.
Update (Dec 2018): Winner in Year 7 Individual category – Matilda Percy-Bowersox from Oxford Spires Academy with her artwork Bacteria based on research by Vinoy Ramachandran.
KEYS conference, Amsterdam, 13th-15th June 2018
Phil gave a talk: ‘Imaging plant-microbe interactions: the root microbiome and colonisation’.
OxBacNet May 2018 – Termly meeting of Oxford’s bacteriologists held in Dept. of Plant Sciences
For speakers and schedule see here.
Lecture at Cirencester Science and Technology Society, Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester, 9th May 2018, 7.30pm
Phil will give a lecture entitled ‘Nitrogen and humanity – a permanent crisis‘
Lab Retreat March 2018
Spring 2018 – Welcome to new staff and visitors!
Tim Haskett joins the SynSym project from March 2018.
IUNFC students Chalasani Danteswari from University of Hyderabad and Nagvanti Atoliya from the India Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal are visiting the Poole Lab and working with Bea, April-June 2018 to examine pigeonpea-nodulating rhizobia.
Biosciences DTP student Riccardo Soldan is working in the Poole Lab for his rotation project, April-July 2018. He is studying the microbiomes of Arabidopsis.
Undergraduates Pandora Dewan, Clare Cocker and Oliver Taylor are working with Laura, Carmen and Vinoy, respectively, for their second-year research projects.
Anna Martyn from Universität zu Köln is spending 6 mths working with Andrzej on plant microbiomes. Beatrice Senatori from the University of Florence is spending 6 mths working with Vinoy on bacterial attachment to plant roots.
Zoological Society of London, Huxley Lecture Theatre, Main Meeting Rooms, ZSL London Zoo, 13th March 2018, 6pm
Phil will give a talk in the event Ecosystems under the microscope: why microbes matter for conservation.
Super Science Saturday, Oxford Natural History Museum, Parks Road, Oxford, 10th March 2018
Sam and Hayley will take part in this exciting activity by sharing the joy of unearthing nitrogen-fixing nodules from legume roots.
SRUK-Oxford on Thursday 1st March 2018
Beatriz will give a talk on science from her perspective.
Thatcher Development Programme’s Foundation Day Panel Discussion, ‘Climate Change: Approaches and Innovations for the Future’ Tuesday 27th February, Somerville College, Oxford
Phil took part in this discussion on Climate Change before the Foundation Day Dinner at Somerville College, Oxford.
2nd Plant Microbiome Symposium, Barbizon Palace Hotel, Amsterdam, the Netherlands 19th-21st Feb 2018
Phil, Jack and Andrzej attended this meeting.
- Andrzej’s poster was entitled “The plant microbiome is dependent on soil type, soil fraction and the common symbiotic pathway“
Interactive Q&A session with school students in Spain, Feb 2018
Carmen, direct from her bench in Oxford via Skype, spent a happy hour answering questions from 16-17 year olds in IES Santo Reino, Spain. This session followed her presentation on following her talk about Nitrogen-fixing Bacteria and was to promote interest in science, research and Women in Science.
Department of Biology, University of York on 13th February 2018
Phil gave a seminar entitled ‘Metabolic transitions of rhizobia and application to engineering N2-fixation in cereals‘ in the Plant Biology seminar series.
Poole Lab Christmas Meal – Dec 2017
Joint Meeting of NUCLEUS and UBNFC VJCs, Florianapolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil 22nd Nov 2017
As part of UBNFC, Phil attended this meeting.
UBNFC Annual Meeting, Florianapolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil 23-24th Nov 2017
Phil and Marta attended this annual meeting.
Congratulations to Josh on submitting his DPhil thesis! Sept. 2017
20th International Congress on Nitrogen Fixation (ICNF), Granada, Spain 3rd-7th Sept. 2017
Annet gave a talk entitled ‘Computing plants: how pea plants allocate resources among multiple rhizobial strains’
Carmen gave a talk entitled ‘Regulatory cross-talk by the phosphotransferase systems in R. leguminosarum’
Marcela gave a talk entitled ‘High-throughput tool to identify competitive rhizobial strains’
Phil gave a keynote lecture entitled ‘What makes a bacteroid?’
Andrzej, Barney, Bea, Hayley, Jack, Josh, Kyle, Nick, Paul, Rachel and Vinoy had posters (see here for details).
VI Annual Meeting of the Plant Genetic and Biotechnology Network, Italy 20th-23rd June 2017
Phil gave a talk entitled ‘Root microbiota in plant productivity’ at this graduate school.
Imperial College London, Silwood Park, 22nd June 2017
In the Ecology and Evolution Seminar Series, Bea gave a seminar entitled ‘From population genomics to synthetic communities in the Rhizobium – Legume system’
Visitors Spring-Summer 2017
We welcome Eloïne Bestion (Élève Ingénieure Agronome) from ENSAT (Ecole Nationale Superieure Agronomique de Toulouse), France for a placement from June until the end of August 2017. Eloïne will be working on analysis of microbiomes from the rhizosphere.
As part of the IUNFC exchange programme, PhD student Sohini Guha from the University of Calcutta will be working in the Poole Lab from April-Aug 2017.
From April 2017 the Poole Lab is hosting Paul Rutten from the Interdisciplinary Bioscience Doctoral Training Partnership for his rotation project.
Undergraduates Thomas Lewin, Ben Foster and Yann Newby will be doing their six-week projects in the Poole Lab starting in May 2017.
Poole Lab Dinner, Somerville College 15th June 2017
Great to see everyone dressed up for dinner!
ASM Microbe 2017, New Orleans, USA, June 2017
Phil gave a talk entitled ‘ Role of Root Microbiota in Plant Productivity‘ in the session Microbes and Plants: From Leaf to Root.
The Queen’s College Symposium, June 2017
Carmen gave a talk entitled ‘Life underground: The basis and future of agriculture’
University of Middlesex, Environmental Sciences Lecture Series, April 2017.
Barney gave a talk entitled ‘Engineering trans-kingdom signalling to govern traits in the plant rhizosphere’
Experimental Plant Sciences (EPS) Meeting, Lunteren, The Netherlands, April 2017
Phil was a speaker at this Graduate School EPS Training Programme event.
Congratulations to Jack who has been accepted onto NERC Valuing Nature Business Impact School 6th-9th March 2017 in London.
II Semana Bioengenharia, Instuto Superior Técnico, Lison, Portugal, 7th March 2017
Phil gave a seminar entitled ‘How plants select the rhizosphere microbiome and, in turn, how microbes alter plant growth’
UN International Day of Women and Girls in Science, 11th Feb 2017
Rhizosphere Lab scientists include women from all over the world (below), who are proud to support and celebrate UN International Day of Women and Girls in Science, 2017.
L to R: Marcela (Mexico), Carmen (Spain), Rachel (UK), Lily (China), Hayley (UK), Alison (UK), Laura (UK), Rona (UK) and Bea (Spain).
Congratulations to Barney who has recently been made a JRF at Wolfson College.
Crop Systems Engineering Seminar Series, University of Southampton, 10th Feb 2017
Phil gave a seminar entitled ‘Root colonisation and engineering selection of microbes’.
Oxford University Botanic Garden – Out of Hours Plant Science Masterclass Series. March and April 2017 at the Museum of Natural History
Josh and Nick are involved in running this masterclass for young talented biologists, encouraging them to think of plant science as an important and interesting area, and one that would allow them to tackle global challenges in the future.
Contribution to UK Parliament, Jan 2017
Izzy’s My Science Inquiry to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee proposing an inquiry into how the UK can utilise biological solutions to the global nitrogen crisis was selected for publication.
On 24th Jan 2017 Phil did a FacebookLIVE event via OxfordSparks – catch up with Phil’s talk:
Global Pulse Day, 19th Jan 2017
The bring-and-share Pulse Lunch was enjoyed by members of the Plant Science Dept.
Delicious tastes on offer ranged from curries, dips and salads to black bean chocolate muffins and chickpea blondies.
Rothamsted Open Innovation Forum, 18th-20th Jan 2017
Jack and Nick attended this inspiring event.
Back2Roots 1st Annual Meeting, Wageningen, Holland, 12th-13th Jan 2017
Phil will give a talk at the Back2Roots 1st Annual Meeting in Wageningen.
Congratulations to Izzy who had her PhD viva on 5th Jan 2017 – well done Dr Webb!
Visitors – Winter/Spring 2017
From January the Poole Lab is delighted to be hosting Sam Aroney and Hayley Knights on a 12 week rotation in the first year of their DPhil studies. In addition, Rona Costello and Laura Clark will be working with Dr Lindsay Turnbull on rotation projects joint with the Poole Lab.
Sam, Hayley, Rona and Laura are students on the Interdisciplinary Bioscience Doctoral Training Partnership and will be working on aspects of nitrogen fixation.
Innovative Crop Protection for the 21st Century Food Security, 13th-14th Dec. 2016, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
Phil and Andrzej attended this conference. Phil gave a talk entitled ‘Root colonisation and community selection’.
Launch of the India UK Nitrogen Fixation Centre (IUNFC), 6-7th Oct. 2016 in Bhopal, India. Phil, Vinoy, Andrzej, Bea and Alison travelled to India for the launch and IUNFC project planning meeting.
XXth Symposium Plant Biology, 27th-28th Sept. 2016 Botanical Institute, University of Cologne, Germany.
Phil will give a talk entitled ‘Plant control of the rhizosphere microbiome’
Rachel has written an article ‘ A problem for the 21st Century: tackling the Nitrogen Crisis‘ published in this term’s Phenotype.
Inaugural Poole Lab retreat, Sept. 2016
We spent two nights in rural Wiltshire which provided an opportunity for presentations, in-depth project discussions, walking, eating and other activities. We returned focused on our projects and refreshed!
ENFC-2016 25th-28th Aug. 2016, Budapest, Hungary. Several members of the group attended this conference to give talks and present posters.
- Barney gave a talk: ‘Discovery of a novel rhizopine synthesis pathway paves the way for synthetic symbioses and nitrogen fixing cereal crops’
- Marcela had a short oral presentation and poster: ‘Rhizobial competition: getting to the root of the problem’
- Carmen had a short oral presentation and poster: ‘Regulation of bacterial metabolism by the phosphotransferase system (PTSNtr)’
- Rachel had a short oral presentation and poster: ‘Insertion Sequencing in Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. viciae 3841′
- Annet had a short oral presentation and poster: ‘Policing the gate: can pea plants stop rhizobial cheats from entering?’
- Izzy had a poster: ‘Using Raman microscopy to investigate nitrogen fixation mutants of Rhizobium leguminosarum‘
- Alison had a poster: ‘Comparison of Rhizobium leguminosarum determinate and indeterminate nodules on legumes by RNA-Seq analysis’
EMBO conference: The nitrogen nutrition of plants, 22nd-26th August, Montpellier, France.
Phil gave a talk in PlaNNet coordination Network session sponsored by NSF.
Visitors – Spring/Summer 2016
From April, the Poole Lab was delighted to host Jack Parsons on a 12 week rotation in the first year of his DPhil. Jack is a student on the Interdisciplinary Bioscience Doctoral Training Partnership.
During Trinity term 2016 we welcomed undergraduates doing their projects in the Poole Lab; Freya Easton and Sophie Richards worked with Vinoy, Beatrice Egid worked with Carmen. Megan Griffiths and Connor Hope worked with Annet and Marcela.
Society for Applied Microbiology, Summer Conference 2016 – Microbial interactions in the environment, 2nd-4th July 2016, Edinburgh.
Andrzej gave a talk entitled ‘Rhizosphere microbiology and plant health’.
Growing Plants on Mars, Sat 25th June 2016, Oxford Town Hall.
Kyle gave a presentation describing the science behind growing plants in space. Read more…
Martian Crops by Kyle Grant, BANG! Trinity 2016
The red planet goes green. Growing plants in space. Read about the advances being made by NASA and Kyle’s contribution.
Lab formal dinner at Balliol College, Mon 23rd May 2016.
Fascination of Plants Day, Harcourt Arboretum, Oxfordshire, May 14th 2016. Build your own terrarium and other activities in beautiful surroundings. As part of the Dept. of Plant Sciences team, Kyle, Izzy and Francesco were on hand to help the visitors and answer any questions.
Visit to a London Primary School, April 2016
Izzy visited Griffin Primary School in Wandsworth to help out with a Year 1 field trip to Larkhall Park.
UK PlantSci 2016, John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK 11-12th April 2016
Phil presented the keynote lecture entitled ‘ The plant microbiome and the importance of the rhizosphere to plant growth and resilience’.
Innovation Match MX 2015-2016, First International Forum of Mexican Talent, Guadalajara, Mexico, 6th-8th April 2016
Congratulations to Marcela who has been selected to give a talk ‘Beating rhizobial ineffectiveness’.
Visitors – Winter/Spring 2016
From January the Poole Lab is delighted to be hosting Nick Crang on a 12 week rotation in the first year of his DPhil. Nick is a student on the Interdisciplinary Bioscience Doctoral Training Partnership and will be working on oxygen regulation of nitrogen fixation.
OxFEST Annual Conference., Oxford, 5th March 2016
Khushboo presented a poster ‘Metabolic Flux analysis of nitrogen-fixing bacteria’
1st Plant Microbiome Symposium, Jaguariuna, Brazil, 22nd-24th February 2016
Phil gave a talk entitled ‘Stability and succession of the rhizosphere microbiota depends on plant type and soil composition’.
Andrzej gave a talk entitled ‘Wheat Progenitors’ Microbiome’
Sherborne Science Cafe, Dorset, 7.30pm, 27th January 2016
Phil gave a talk ‘Something in the air’.
Funding announcements
We are delighted to announce that our proposal for the India-UK Nitrogen Fixation Centre (IUNFC) has been funded as part of 10M UK-India Virtual Joint Centres in Agricultural Nitrogen. Funded through partnership of BBSRC with the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Department of Biotechnology India (DBT), this is one of four VJCs funded by this initiative. Their aim is to develop centres performing innovative research and delivering training, through collaboration between UK and Indian scientists.
From announcement of the award on the BBSRC website:
India-UK Nitrogen Fixation Centre (IUNFC) – Professor Philip Poole, University of Oxford working with Dr D.L.N Rao, ICAR Indian Institute of Soil Science and researchers at the John Innes Centre, University of Baroda, University of Calcutta, University of Hyderabad, ICAR India Agricultural Research Institute and The Energy and Resources Institute, New Delhi.
This Virtual Joint Centre aims to tackle problems of food security, environmental and economic challenges of crop production and soil improvement in India through world class fundamental and applied research on biological nitrogen fixation (BNF). In the short/medium term, this knowledge will lead to changes in agricultural practices in India, bringing economic, environmental and social benefits. In the longer term, it will provide a platform to engineer nitrogen fixation in cereal crops.
Congratulations !
Congratulations to Annet Westhoek who won Oxford’s DTP Graduate Prize in Nov 2015 for her work in the past year. Well done!
Research scientist stars in TV documentary, Nov 2015
MADRILEÑOS POR EL MUNDO is an award-winning television program on Telemadrid (Madrid’s public official TV network) broadcast since 2007. The show is one of the Network’s most watched programmes.
MXM’s reporter and cameraman travel all around the world visiting and interviewing people from Madrid who live abroad. While learning more about their lives and their experiences they also report on each city’s main tourist attractions. A programme made in Oct 2015 features Carmen and her life here in Oxford, including the Plant Sciences Dept., the Herbarium and other tourist attractions. See the trailer for the programme which will be broadcast on 24th Nov. 2015. Check out the MXM website for further details.
The Gairdner Foundation & University of Calgary Symposium on the Microbiome, University of Calgary – Cumming School of Medicine, Canada, 10th November 2015
Phil’s seminar is entitled ‘Plant selection of the rhizosphere microbiome’.
At the end of October we were sorry to say good-bye to visitor Ben Perry from University of Regina, Canada. Before he left, the Poole Lab went for a formal dinner at Balliol College.
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Oct 2015
Phil visited Jean-Michel Ané in Madison and gave a seminar entitled ‘Differentiation of rhizobia into nitrogen-fixing bacteroids’ in the Division of Bacteriology, Distinguished Lectures in Microbiology series on 15th Oct 2015.
Seminars in Frontiers on Genomics, Centro de Ciencias Genomicas (CCG) of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México), Mexico, 13th Oct 2015
Phil gave a talk entitled ‘Transition of Rhizobium from free-living organism to ammoniaplast’. While the talk was given at UNAM Campus in Cuernavaca, it was broadcast live to participating institutions around Mexico.
During Phil’s visit to CCG he spent a day with undergraduates on the Program in Genomic Sciences giving two additional seminars and holding one-to-one discussions with students.
ICNF 2015, Asilomar, California, USA, 4th-9th October 2015
Phil gave a talk entitled ‘Energisation and redox balance in nitrogen-fixing bacteroids’.
Izzy presented a poster; ‘Understanding the role of FixABCX in symbiotic nitrogen fixation’.
Tackling the nitrogen crisis; what are the solutions? Oxford Martin School, Oxford, 18th Sept 2015
Phil and Alison organised this symposium to discuss biological nitrogen fixation together with the broader problems of nitrogen in the environment, agricultural policy, food consumption and social issues, in the context of finding solutions.
American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB), Plant Biology 2015, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, 26th-30th July 2015
Phil gave a talk entitled ‘Plant Control of the Microbiome’ in the session; Interactions in the Rhizosphere and the Root Microbiome.
Ratan Tata visits Poole Lab, 24th June 2015
Photos courtesy of OICSD
Vinoy was delighted to be able to show Ratan Tata around the Poole Lab and to tell him about our latest research. Mr Tata was visiting Oxford as a guest of Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development (OICSD) and Somerville College.
Rhizosphere4, Maastricht, The Netherlands, 21st-25th June 2015
Andrzej gave a talk entitled ‘High-throughput detection of plant pathogens using next generation sequencing’. Posters were presented by Josh (‘Dissecting root secretion using novel lux biosensors’), Vinoy (‘EcfE, a master regulator of pea root attachment and colonization of Rhizobium leguminosarum bv viciae 3841′) and Annet (‘Modelling resource allocation in the legume – rhizobium symbiosis’).
Bath Science Café, Raven Pub, Bath, 8th June 2015
Phil gave a presentation; ‘Something in the air; the nitrogen crisis’. For more details see http://bathsciencecafe.org/
Canadian Society of Microbiologists (CSM) 65th Annual Conference, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, 15th-18th June 2015
Phil gave a talk at this meeting in the session; The Rhizosphere Microbiome of Agricultural Crops.
Norwich Research Park DTP Summer Conference, Assembly Rooms, Norwich, 18th June 2015
Izzy presented a poster on her research; ‘Understanding the role of FixABCX in symbiotic nitrogen fixation’. As a member of an invited panel she also took part in a discussion about her 3 month-long internship, undertaken as part of her PhD studentship.
Fascination of Plants Day, University of Oxford, Harcourt Arboretum, 16th May 2015
Barney, Francesco, Izzy and Khushboo hosted a great stand showing visitors Amazing Adaptations as part of Fascination of Plants, UK. The event was featured in the Oxford Times – the quote about plants and bacteria must have been referring to the Poole Lab display!
Future of Food, Food Security Forum, Annual Conference 2015, Oxford, 2nd May 2015
At the conference ‘Culture, Food, & the Environment: New Perspectives on Food Sovereignty and Security‘ Marcela presented a poster entitled ‘Beating rhizobial ineffectiveness’.
The Society for General Microbiology Annual Conference 2015; The Microbiome, Birmingham, 30th March-2nd April 2015
Phil gave a talk entitled ‘Comparative metatranscriptomics reveals kingdom level changes in the rhizosphere microbiome of plants’.
Bacterial Electron Transfer Processes and their Regulation, Vimeiro, Portugal, 15th-18th March 2015
Izzy received a FEMS travel grant to attend the conference, Bacterial Electron Transfer Processes and their Regulation and gave an oral presentation of her work.
Wow!How? Family Science Fair, 14th March 2015
Annet participated in Wow!How? held at the Museum of Natural History and the Pitt Rivers museum and featuring over 30 hands-on activities to explore. This free fun day is part of Oxfordshire Science Festival.
Microbiomes and Metagenomics, The Shard, London, 3rd-4th March 2015
At this meeting organised by ComMet, Phil gave the keynote lecture ‘Control of the plant microbiome’.
Outreach at Somerville College, 21st February 2015
Barney, Carmen and Phil were involved in an outreach activity to local prospective biology/biochemistry undergraduates. The school pupils heard about nitrogen fixation and considered ways to engineer improvements to the process.
Early Career Researcher Workshop on Plant-Microbe Interactions, Bangkok, Thailand, 16th-19th February 2015
Andrzej was selected for this workshop funded under the Researcher Links scheme offered within the Newton Fund, the British Council and the Thailand Research Fund.
Phil visits Murdoch University, Western Australia as Sir Walter Murdoch visiting fellow, December 2014
Phil with Dr Jason Terpolilli, of the Centre for Rhizobium Studies (CRS), Murdoch University.
Lab meal, October 2014
BASF Symposium ‘Unlocking Yield Potential in Soil’, Deidesheim, Germany, 7th-9th October 2014
Andrzej gave a talk at this meeting.
ENFC- 2014, Tenerife, Spain, 7th-10th Sept 2014
Alison, Andrzej, Barney, Carmen, Izzy, Phil & Vinoy attended this conference. See posters presented.
Society for General Microbiology meeting, ‘Emerging Challenges and Opportunities in Soil Microbiology’, Loughborough, 1st-2nd September 2014
Andrzej gave a talk at this meeting.
Discover Plants, Oxford Botanic Gardens, March 2014
Josh was involved in sessions for primary school pupils.
Science week, March 2014
Josh was involved with demonstrations of science at Wow!How? Family Science Fair, 15th March 2014 held at the Museum of Natural History, Oxford.
Rhizosphere 
