Dr Robert Jackson  - BSPP Elected Board Member

John Clarkson

Dr Robert W. Jackson. BSc (Hons) Applied Biological Sciences in 1994 and PhD in 1998, UWE, Bristol. Thesis entitled: Plasmids and virulence in Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola.

2006-present     Lecturer in Microbiology, University of Reading
2004-2006         Research Officer, Dept. Biology & Biochemistry, University of Bath
2004                  Post-doctoral Research Associate, UWE, Bristol
2004                  Postdoctoral Research Assistant, Dept. Plant Sciences, University of Oxford
2004                  BSPP Fellow and Honorary appointment to University of Auckland, New Zealand
2001-2003         Post-doctoral Research Assistant, Dept. Plant Sciences, University of Oxford
1998-2000         Post-doctoral Research Associate, UWE, Bristol
1994                  Research assistant, Faculty of Applied Sciences, UWE, Bristol
1993/1994         Research assistant, Long Ashton Research Station, Bristol

My interest in plant pathology was stimulated during my undergraduate placement in David Royle’s group at Long Ashton Research Station, when I studied the progression and spread of Septoria tritici leaf blotch on winter wheat grown under different nitrogen conditions. My current interests focus on bacterial interactions with plants. I did my PhD with Alan Vivian at UWE, Bristol (second supervised by John Mansfield in Wye) studying the role of plasmids in the virulence of Pseudomonas syringae. I spent a further 3 years as a postdoc in Alan’s group to continue the work. Following this, I then moved to Paul Rainey’s lab in Oxford to study Pseudomonas fluorescens bacteria and unravel the role of type III secretion systems in this plant growth promoting bacterium. After two brief spells with Dawn Arnold (bacterial evolution) and Richard Cooper (bacterial polysaccharides), I started my job in Reading. My research group is drawing on my training of molecular genetics, ecology and epidemiology to study bacterial pathogen interaction with plants and potential vectors and shelter species such as insects and nematodes and earthworms. This includes work with Pseudomonas syringae model strains (eg phaseolicola-bean) and the newly emergent Horse Chestnut pathogen, pv. aesculi.