Profile

We all rely on grasses to live. Most of our main foods are grasses (like wheat, maize, rice, barley and sugar cane) or are fed by grasses (like cows). I study how grasses grow and how this affects the parts that we eat. By understanding how plants grow we can help produce new crops that produce more of what we need under different environmental conditions.

To understand how plants grow I study normal plants and plants which have defects (mutations). These mutants can look very strange, like this mutant which is really short and has twisted leaves.

(A mutant maize plant)

(A normal maize plant)

By understanding what is happening in mutant plants we can better understand what is needed to grow a normal plant, and how we can change it to make it better at growing our food.

I grow lots of plants in the greenhouse and in the summer I grow plants in a field which means I get to spend lots of time outside.

(Growing maize in a field in California) 

        (Growing maize in a greenhouse)

I use many of different methods to study grasses. I use microscopes to look closely at the cells as they grow and divide. I also use molecular biology/ chemistry to study the DNA, RNA and protein in my different plants to see what is going on. I also use transgenic plants, like these plants that have green fluorescent protein in them, to tell me about what is going on inside the plant. I can also use computer models to make virtual plants and test ideas.

 (GFP cells in the female part of the barley flower)

If you would like to find out more about my lab, check out these links:   https://www.ed.ac.uk/profile/dr-annis-richardson

 http://www.theplantshapelab.org

On a “typical day” I get up and I work out. Then I eat breakfast, my favourite is pancakes.

When I get to work I usually go and check my plants in the greenhouse to see if I need to do anything. Then I check my emails and respond to any requests from students or collaborators.

(Growing barley in the greenhouse)

After lunch, I do my experiments. My favourite ones are when I dissect my plants down to the smallest leaves and look at them under the microscope.

(The lab)

Sometimes I give lectures, run lab practical classes or discussion groups with undergraduate students. I enjoy talking with the students, it is great when they are enthusiastic about a topic I am teaching and they understand it better at the end of the class.