Context: In both plants and animals, organ loss has occurred frequently during evolution. There are several examples in animal systems, such as the loss of limbs in snakes and vision in cavefish, where the molecular mechanisms underpinning organ loss are well understood. Despite the process being common in plants, we lack a molecular understanding of the underpinning processes. Duckweeds are the ideal plant system to investigate the molecular mechanisms underpinning organ loss and uncover how downstream gene regulatory networks atrophy. Duckweed is a monocot that has returned to the aquatic environment. In doing so it has undergone phenomenal anatomical simplification in both shoot and root systems. Duckweeds are reduced to a single frond with individual genera being either rooted or rootless. Within the root-bearing genera, all species have lost pericycle cells meaning that roots cannot branch and all duckweed species have lost the ability to form root hairs. Quite simply, we do not know of a single family of plants or animals that has undergone a comparable degree of structural reduction. Advances in genomics and duckweed transformation place duckweeds as ideal models with which to study organ loss and templates in which gene regulatory networks that have been dormant for millions of years can be revived. Understanding the molecular mechanisms governing the evolution and loss of organs informs us of the rules controlling radical changes in body plans and reverse engineer how complex networks arise. In this project, the student will investigate the loss of one trait, root hairs. Why root hairs? The molecular network controlling root hair formation is highly conserved. The same group of transcription factors (RSLs) that regulate root hair formation in flowering plants regulate rhizoid formation in liverworts. Liverwort RSL genes can even complement root hair mutants in Arabidopsis. RSL genes are present in every multicellular plant from liverworts to flowering plants except one key group (the Class II RSLs) are missing from duckweeds. In this project, the student will re-introduce these genes to duckweed to test whether this is sufficient to restore a feature that has been absent from duckweeds for millions of years. Work Plan: The student will firstly investigate components upstream of the Class II RSLs in the greater duckweed Spirodela polyrhiza. This will be done by creating reporters in Spirodela to examine expression patterns and expressing the Spirodela genes in Arabidopsis to test whether they can trans-complement root hair mutants. The student will then create transgenic Spirodela lines in which Class II RSL genes will be expressed. We predict that this will activate a suite of downstream genes that were previously dormant, as many Spirodela genes still contain root hair-specific cis elements within there promoters. The student will combine RNASeq and promoter motif analysis to determine how much of the root hair network is activated, and use confocal/light sheet microscopy to visualise epidermal cells and test for root hairs. Impact: Beyond duckweed, resurrecting ancestral traits has importance in opening new synthetic biology projects and can be used to restore features present in wild relatives but missing from crop plants, such as secondary metabolites with benefits to health.

SRAS (Spatially resolved acoustic spectroscopy) is a non destructive evaluation method that allows engineers to access the crystallographic orientation of crystalline and polycrystalline materials through the assessment of SAW (surface acoustic waves). Currently SRAS is used for the study of microstructures in materials post fabrication. The research project aims to further develop the SRAS technique to enable the active study of materials during fabrication throughout the additive manufacturing production process known as L-PBF(laser powder bed fusion). This will enable the active assessment of the crystallographic structure of components during fabrication through non destructive means. By feeding this information back into 3D printing systems, the project hopes to develop the capabilities in producing 3D printed alloys with specific crystallographic structures.

Metal-catalysed cross-coupling is an essential tool for the construction of C-C bonds that make up the core of all pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals. Whilst there have been huge advances in the field of cross-coupling over the past decades, the vast majority of effort has focussed on catalyst and ligand development; far less attention has been paid to the nature of the coupling partners involved. However, many of the limitations currently associated with cross-coupling arise from the toxicity, instability, poor chemoselectivity or poor availability of the coupling partners. This project will investigate new classes of main group reagents as partners in cross-coupling, with the aim of improving practicality, economy and scope of this most ubiquitous reaction. Area: Novel and efficient chemical synthesis

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

Chronic Hepatitis C virus is a blood-borne infection that can result in development of very serious liver disease. The most severe forms of liver disease can only be treated by liver transplantation. Re-infection of the transplanted liver is often rapid and current treatments are ineffective in this group of patients. Alternative therapies are sought, particularly for this group of patients. Therefore, we will isolate human monoclonal antibodies from individuals who have naturally cleared virus. These antibodies will provide important lead therapies to prevent transplant re-infection and will also provide important information that will help vaccine design. An important aspect of this work will be to study how the virus changes during infection, so that those antibodies that target the widest range of virus strains are identified.