Advanced Plant Sciences module (BS42005)

This module will provide you with an in-depth view of fundamental and applied plant science research and how this can be used to improve food, energy and water security as part of efforts to mitigate climate change and population growth. Lecturers will use their own unpublished discoveries, in combination with recent literature, to deliver a wide ranging and cutting-edge research focussed course examining how does basic scientific data informs crop development, agricultural practice and social policy and benefits human health.

Topics covered in this module include:

• plant pathology: understanding plant responses to bacterial, oomycete, fungal, nematode and insect pathogens.
• plant-symbiote interactions: The rhizosphere, the plant microbiome and increased food production
• biochemistry of plant perception – How plants perceive other organisms, regulate their development and respond to the abiotic environment.
• regulation of plant development – Can manipulation of plant architecture and flowering time improve food production?
• identifying plant traits for improved biofuel production – Towards a low carbon plant-based economy.
• next-generation sequencing and genome capture technology – Identifying genes behind novel traits required for agriculture and industry.
• synthetic biology: practice and ethics – Can we make a better plant? If we can, should we?
• plant derived compounds and human health – drug discovery and pharmaceutical production