Projects per year
Personal profile
Research interests
I have spent many years researching development and differentiation - how molecules and cells become organised, especially during root development in Arabidopsis seedlings. Topics have included the role of auxin in plant cell growth, and the subcellular networks that drive tip growth in root hair cells. For more on these topics please visit our wiki. We are now applying our knowledge of plant roots to discover how roots prevent soil erosion, bearing in mind that human activity has already eroded a quarter of the vegetated land on Earth. We are also discovering how patterns of molecules and cells might be controlled. As a member of BrisSynBio and Bristol Director of the SynBio CDT I am also involved in research aimed at making the engineering of plants and cell populations more reliable.
Lay summary of research interests
We know that life is the product of complicated physical and chemical interactions between molecules, but how do these produce growth, and how is this growth controlled so that it happens at precisely the right times and in the right places? We are working to answer these questions using plants and microbes because it is easier, technically and ethically, to do powerful, informative experiments with these organisms than with animals. We often identify new molecules that are important for growth in many organisms. We are also finding out how interactions between molecules control growth. Most recently we have receved funding from the Leverhulme Trust to investigate how plant roots prevent soil erosion. This is potentially very important as we have already eroded at least a quarter of the vegetated land on earth. Our results are potentially relevant to a wide range of applications from agriculture to human health and we are exploring potential agricultural applications.
iGEM
I co-founded the University of Bristol iGEM team with Mario Di Bernardo. Each spring a joint undergraduate and postgraduate Synthetic Biology workshop is held in preparation for iGEM. The team then works through the summer on a competition entry for the international Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). So far we have been very successful, winning the Best Model prize in 2008 and 2009, gold medals in 2009 and 2010, and winning Best Food or Energy Project and third place overall in 2010. Projects have included engineering bacteria to work as a team Bristol iGEM 2008, Bristol iGEM 2009, and beads containing fluorescent bacteria that are designed to make agriculture less environmentally damaging Bristol iGEM 2010.
Network Evolution
- Interested in how networks evolve?
- Want to understand how the structure of a network affects its function?
- Try our dynamical network simulator at http://www.netevo.org
Structured keywords and research groupings
- Cabot Institute Food Security Research
- Cabot Institute Environmental Change Research
- Cabot Institute Natural Hazards and Disasters Research
- Cabot Institute Water Research
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Network
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Projects
- 6 Finished
REGULATION OF ARABIDOPSIS GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT BY THE S-ACYLTRANSFERASE TIP1
1/01/06 → 1/01/09
Project: Research
Research Output
Designing Minimal Genomes Using Whole-Cell Models
Rees-Garbutt, J., Chalkley, O., Landon, S., Purcell, O., Marucci, L. & Grierson, C., 11 Feb 2020, In : Nature Communications. 11, 12 p., 836 (2020).Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal)
Open Access
File
Micro-scale interactions between root hairs and soil particles control soil erosion
Baets, S. D., Denbigh, T. D. G., Smyth, K. M., Eldridge, B. M., Weldon, L., Higgins, B., Matyjaszkiewicz, A., Meersmans, J., Larson, E. R., Chenchiah, I. V., Liverpool, T. B., Quine, T. A. & Grierson, C. S., 12 Mar 2020, (Accepted/In press) In : Communications Biology. 3, 11 p., 164 (2020).Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal)
Open Access
File
Developing a graduate training program in Synthetic Biology: SynBioCDT
Cazimoglu, I., Darlington, A. P. S., Grigonyte, A., Hoskin, C. E. G., Liu, J., Oppenheimer, R., Siller-Farfán, J. A., Grierson, C. & Papachristodoulou, A., 21 May 2019, In : Synthetic Biology. 4, 1, 8 p., ysz006.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal)
Open Access
File
Datasets
Micro-scale interactions between Arabidopsis root hairs and soil particles control soil erosion
Grierson, C. S. (Contributor), Eldridge, B. M. (Creator), Larson, E. R. (Creator) & Baets, S. D. (Contributor), University of Bristol, 24 Jan 2020
DOI: 10.5523/bris.1vca1omqff8bj2a7rpkbcgxc7y, http://data.bris.ac.uk/data/dataset/1vca1omqff8bj2a7rpkbcgxc7y
Dataset
Data from whole-cell modelling (12-2019)
Marucci, L. (Creator), Grierson, C. S. (Creator), Chalkley, O. (Creator), Rees-Garbutt, J. P. (Creator) & Landon, S. (Creator), University of Bristol, 6 Dec 2019
DOI: 10.5523/bris.1jj0fszzrx9qf2ldcz654qp454, http://data.bris.ac.uk/data/dataset/1jj0fszzrx9qf2ldcz654qp454
Dataset
Activities
- 1 Editorial activity
Current Opinion in Plant Biology (Journal)
Claire S Grierson (Editor)
2010
Activity: Publication peer-review and editorial work types › Editorial activity
Thesis
Plastic Responses of Root System Architecture to Drought and Temperature Stress
Author: Du Plessis, S. J., 12 May 2020Supervisor: Grierson, C. (Supervisor) & Bridle, J. (Supervisor)
Student thesis: Master's Thesis › Master of Science (MSc)
File
Three Studies in Synthetic Biology
Author: Cartlidge, L., 25 Jun 2019Supervisor: Grierson, C. (Supervisor) & Edwards, K. (Supervisor)
Student thesis: Master's Thesis › Master of Science (MSc)
File