The Harper Lab works on new ways to interrogate genetic data in order to understand traits of importance for the environment, food security and agricultural sustainability. 

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 the basis for variation in some of these traits in diverse landrace wheats.

Ash dieback disease, caused by a fungal pathogen, is killing many of our ash trees. We are using transcriptomics to understand why a small proportion of trees appear to be able to tolerate the fungus better than others.