People
Martina Klejchova
Daphne Jackson Research Fellow
Mr. William Carroll
PhD Student, is pursuing the structure of K+ channels associated with channel clustering and gating
Research
Ion channel structure and function
Ion channel structure and function is at the centre of much of what we do. Current research focuses on how outward-rectifying K+ channels of plants respond to K+ outside, even though K+ carrying channel current comes from inside the cell. Our recent discovery of a key domain determining the clustering of the GORK channel (Eisenach et al 2014 Plant J 78,203; Horaruang et al 2022 Nature Plants 8,1262; Blatt & Alvim 2022 Nature Plants 8,1216) has yielded important clues to how clustering and gating are interconnected. We are collaborating with structural biologists in current research to uncover the detail behind these mechanisms.
Key structural features of plant K+ channel subunits
Guard cell membrane transport
Guard cell membrane transport is a major driver of stomatal movements and determines the responsiveness of stomata to environmental change. We continue to develop and make use of the OnGuard platform to understand how ion transport is coordinated in order to maximise stomatal responsiveness in C3, C4 and CAM plants. Recent work with OnGuard uncovered a ‘carbon memory’ in responsiveness (Jezek et al 2021 Nature Plants 7,1301) and has helped guide successful efforts to enhance stomatal responsiveness by accelerating K+ flux through engineering K+ channel gating (Horaruang et al 2022 Nature Plants 8,1262). We are combining structural information about guard cell ion channels to further enhance stomatal responsiveness and are looking to translate our findings to crops
Engineering GORK channel gating enhances plant growth
and water use efficiency in a variable environment (from Horaruang et al 2022)
Vesicle traffic
Vesicle traffic underpins plant membrane transport by regulating the populations of ion channels and pumps that are available at the membrane. We have found that several trafficking proteins also bind directly with ion channels for mutual co-regulation (Honsbein et al 2009 Plant Cell 21,2859; Grefen et al 2015 Nature Plants 1,15108; Waghmare et al 2019 Plant Physiol 181,1096). These findings are only a first glimpse of a far more extensive network that we now pursue, to understand how traffic and transport are coordinated, whether for cell growth or for stomatal movements.
Cover image from Grefen et al (2015)
Funders
Resources
We offer material resources of broad interest to the scientific community, including vectors and markers for plant and yeast transformation, as well as specialist seed lines. A small fee will be charged for markers and seeds to cover handling and postage. Contact us or see here for more information.
Sequence information is provided in genebank (*.gb) files; you can either open them directly with DNA software (VectorNTI, clc workbench, editseq) or simply use a text editor tool.
Software
We continue to address specialist needs with the development of industrially robust software packages for electrophysiology, imaging, biometrics and systems biology. All our software is available to the academic community free of charge, and can be downloaded by following the relevant links on this page.
Alumni
Christin Alderhold ne Sturm (research technician 2013-2014) returned to Germany in 2016 with her partner and beautiful newborn son.
Dr. Fiona Armstrong (Gatsby Foundation Student, 1991-5) works as a senior coordinator for the UK Research Councils.
Mr. Robert Bayne (ASPB Undergraduate Research Fellow, 2012) is pursuing a career in medical research.
Dr. Matthias Bernstein (DFG Postdoctoral Fellow, 1991-2) is a computing and systems development specialist outside Martinsried, Germany.
Dr. Jane Brearley (SERC-CASE Student, 1994-7) is a public relations and communications consultant in London servicing science and medicine.
Dr. Adrian Butt (AFRC Postdoctoral Associate, 1992-5) moved to a UK government advisory post and now works as the ACRE Secretariat for DEFRA in London.
Dr. Prisca Campanoni (BBSRC Postdoctoral Associate, 2005-2007) now runs a research division for Philip Morris International in Neuchatel, Switzerland.
Dr. Zhonghua Chen (BBSRC Postdoctoral Associate, 2008-2011) left in 2011 to take up a lectureship and now holds posts at the University of Western Sydney, Australia, and at Zheizhang University, Hangzhou.
Dr. Gian-Pietro DiSanSebastiano (BBSRC Postdoctoral Associate, 1999-2001) left to take up a lectureship in cell biology, which he currently holds at the University of Lecce, Italy.
Ms. Karen Deachon (BBSRC-funded Ph.D. student, 2004-2007) left science and moved to Australia with partner.
Dr. Cornelia Eisenach (University and Plant Bioscience Postgraduate Student, 2008-2011; BBSRC-funded Postdoctoral Associate, 2011-12) now holds a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and works part-time as a freelance writer for a major newspaper consortium.
Dr. Charlie Garcia-Mata (Antochas Postgraduate Student, 2002-2003 and BBSRC Postdoctoral Associate, 2006-2008) now holds a permanent research post at the University of Mar del Plata, Argentina.
Dr. Robert Gay (BBSRC Student, 1999-2004) left science to study philosophy and theology at the University of Oxford. He took up orders with the Dominicans in 2008.
Dr. Danny Geelen (HFSP and EU Research Associate, 1997-9) moved to the University of Ghent, Belgium and now holds a permanent post at the VIB.
Dr. Vijay Gutla (BBSRC-funded Research Associate, 2011-2012) returned to India where he is a senior executive in a start-up biotech company.
Dr. Bernadette Gehl (Leverhulme-funded Ph.D. student, 2005-2008) took up a postdoctoral research post at Rice University (USA) and moved to a senior postdoctoral position at Oxford University in the Plant Sciences Department in 2011.
Dr. Alexander Grabov (BBSRC Senior Research Associate, 1994-8) was a Senior Lecturer in Plant Physiology at Imperial College until 2011. He retired and now runs a business in Chamonix, France.
Dr. Christopher Grefen (BBSRC Postdoctoral Fellow, 2008-2013) moved in 2013 to Tuebingen, Germany, to take up a prestigious Emmy Noether Fellowship and start his own research group.
Dr. David Hamilton (Gatsby Foundation Student, 1996-9) left science for a career in computing. He currently works in Edinburgh.
Dr. Teresa Hernandez (Glasgow University Fellow, 2003-4) returned to Mexico where she now heads a lab and CONECYT research institute.
Dr. Ulrike Homann (AFRC Postdoctoral Associate, 1994) moved to a senior research fellowship at the University of Darmstadt and now holds a senior management post at the University.
Dr. Wijitra Horaruang (Thai National PhD Studentship, 2014-2019) completed her PhD and now holds a Lectureship at Kasetsart University, Thailand.
Dr. Annegret Honsbein (University Postgraduate Student, part-time, 2005-2010) completed work at Glasgow and moved in 2014 to a postdoctoral research fellowship in synthetic biology at the University of Edinburgh.
Dr. Marcel A.K. Jansen (SERC Postdoctoral Associate, 1993-5) left on a Dutch Royal Society Fellowship and now holds a Lectureship in Plant Ecophysiology at the University of Cork.
Dr. Mareike Jezek (BBSRC Postdoctoral Associate, 2016-2020) now works at Lancaster University as an Editor for the Journal of Experimental Botany.
Dr. Ingela Johansson (BBSRC Postdoctoral Associate, 2001-5) returned to Sweden and is working in the health services.
Dr. Joanna Kargul (BBSRC Postdoctoral Associate, 1998-2000) is now a professor at the University of Warsaw.
Dr. Rucha Karnik (BBSRC Postdoctoral Associate, 2011-16) was awarded a Royal Society University Research Fellowship and now runs her own research laboratory here in Glasgow.
Dr. Barbara Köhler (BBSRC Postdoctoral Associate, 1999-2000) continued in research at the University of Potsdam and moved to Munich with her partner in 2009.
Dr. Emily Larson (BBSRC Postdoctoral Associate 2013-2019) moved to the University of Bristol to work with Prof. Claire Grierson.
Dr. Barbara Leyman (Gatsby Foundation Student, 1994-7 and BBSRC Postdoctoral Associate, 1997-2000) moved to a research post at the University of Leuven, Belgium, before working as a senior consultant and IPR coordinator in the ‘Plant Biotech Valley’ of Ghent. She now lives in San Francisco where she liases between Stanford University and industry.
Dr. Edita Lileikyte (University Postgraduate student, part-time, 2017-24) completed her PhD and moved to a postdoctoral position at the University of Brno, Czech Republic
Dr. Laurence Maurousset (AFRC Postdoctoral Associate, 1991-2) returned to Poitiers where she now holds a CNRS post at the University.
Prof. Andrew A. Meharg FRSE (AFRC Postdoctoral Associate, 1992-3) continues to pursue his interests in heavy metal toxicity in plants. He held the Professorship of Biogeochemistry at the University of Aberdeen and moved to the University of Belfast in 2013.
Dr. Carla Minguet-Parramona (Barcelona-Glasgow EU Postgraduate Student, 2011-14; BBSRC postdoctoral associate, 2014-15) returned to Catalonia in 2015 and now works in the biotech industry, based in San Francisco.
Dr. Gerhard Obermeyer (DFG Postdoctoral Fellow, 1991-2) moved to Salzburg where he Habilitated and now holds a Professorship at the University of Salzburg.
Dr. Manuel Paneque (Bower and BBSRC Postdoctoral Associate, 2002-2005) moved to Chile where he now holds a Professorship at the University of Chile.
Dr. Maria Papanatsiou completed her PhD with Profs. Anna Amtmann and Mike Blatt, and now works as a senior postdoctoral associate at Glasgow.
Dr. Réjane Pratelli (BBSRC Postdoctoral Associate, 2001-4) moved to Stanford University and, in 2009, to Virginia with her partner.
Dr. F. Javier Quintero (HFSP and ESFP Research Fellow, 1996-8) holds a permanent research post at the University of Seville.
Dr. M. Rob. G. Roelfsema (EU Postdoctoral Associate, 1997-8) continues in research at the University of Wurzburg.
Dr. Haitham Sayeed (CARA Senior Fellow, 2016-2018) moved to a research post outside London before returning to Glasgow where he now works in the Engineering Department
Dr. Sergei Sokolovski (BBSRC and Leverhulme Postdoctoral Associate, 2000-2007) worked in Physics and Engineering at the University of Dundee and now holds a senior research fellowship in optoelectronics at the University of Aston in Birmingham.
Dr. Jens-Uwe Sutter (BBSRC Postdoctoral Associate, 2000-2006) continues research in physics and material sciences at Strathclyde University, Glasgow.
Mr. Matthew Tyrrell (University Postgraduate Student, 2001-2005) left science and now lives in Birmingham.
Dr. Paola Vergani (BBSRC Postdoctoral Associate, 1995-9) moved to the Rockefeller University to work on CFTR regulation and is now a Lecturer at University College, London.
Dr. Yizhou Wang (CSC PhD Student and BBSRC Postdoctoral Associate, 2010-2016) moved to the Danforth Center, St. Louis, and now holds a permanent lectureship at Zheizhang University, Hangzhou.
Dr. Oleksandr Zdhanov (LKAS Glasgow Studentship, 2016-2021) now works as a research associate in the Engineering Department of Glasgow University
Dr. Ben Zhang (CSC PhD Student and BBSRC Postdoctoral Associate (2011-2018) moved back to China to take up permanent academic post in the Biology Department of Shanxi University.