The Harper Lab investigates the genetic factors controlling complex traits in plants. We work on various species, focussing on traits that are important for the protection of the environment, the sustainability of agriculture or food security

Key projects

• Wheat is one of the most important crops in the world, but as the population grows and the climate changes, we will need to develop more resilient, nutrient and water-efficient varieties. We are investigating how plants respond and tolerate abiotic stress utilising diverse landrace wheats, and network approaches to analyse and integrate transcriptome and DNA methylome data.
• Ralstonia solanacearum is a bacterial pathogen of global importance, causing diseases such as bacterial wilt and potato brown rot. This collaborative research investigates sustainable ways to control this pathogen, such as treatment with phages or breeding genetic resistance into crops.
• Ash dieback disease, caused by a fungal pathogen, is killing many of our ash trees. This long-standing project is using transcriptomics to understand why a small proportion of trees appear to be able to tolerate the fungus better than others.