I completed my undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences at the University of Oxford. During my undergraduate, I worked in the lab of Liam Dolan on the role of miRNAs in the development of the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha.
In 2019, I joined the lab of Ottoline Leyser to undertake my PhD on the regulation of shoot branching in Arabidopsis thaliana. In my PhD, I investigate how multiple regulatory signals, including the plant hormones auxin and strigolactone, are integrated to determine the activity and growth dynamics of axillary buds. In addition, I combine experiments and mathematical modelling to understand the dynamics of competition between axillary buds.
Research Interests
Plant shoot architecture is continually modulated during growth, giving plants a huge degree of phenotypic plasticity and enabling them to adapt to changing environmental conditions. This is very advantageous given their sessile nature. A key determinant of shoot architecture is the activity of axillary buds, which have the same developmental potential as the main stem, but the outgrowth of which can be suppressed through a phenomenon known as apical dominance. The decision of a bud to grow out requires the integration of local and systemic signals, making it an example of decentralised decision making.
