Supervisors: Professor Martin Cann and Dr Tim Blower

I completed my undergraduate study at Durham university where I did an integrated masters in natural sciences. Under the natural sciences classification my degree was joint honours in chemistry and biosciences. While I found having the chemistry background incredibly valuable my main research interests were in cell signalling and plant biology. My masters research project aligned with both of these fields as I was investigating the effects of varying inorganic carbon levels on the energy transfer processes in the major light harvesting complexes of higher plants.

Project Title: Investigating the potential signalling role of the carbamylation post translational modification in higher plants

My project is focused on the carbamylation post translational modification and its potential role as a signalling mechanism for plants to respond to changing levels of inorganic carbon. This post translational modification remains poorly studied so whether it represents a widespread signalling mechanism is yet unclear. One of the major targets will be the identification of novel carbon dioxide binding proteins and investigating their effects on cellular function. The CASE partner for this project is KWS and they are interested in whether such carbon dioxide proteins may influence yield in certain crop species.