Members of James Brown's group
	Lia Arraiano is a senior post-doc who has worked on the genetics of septoria tritici blotch of wheat almost from the very beginning of our research on this disease, since 1996. She is currently working on the LINK project, Improved Resistance to Septoria in Superior Varieties, and is studying the relationship of septoria resistance to yield. Lia is a walking encyclopedia of movies and is from Portugal.
	Nick Bird is a researcher who has worked on several projects at the John Innes Centre since 2000. He has been working in our group since 2007 on the molecular genetics of septoria resistance in wheat. When he's not doing that, he captains the John Innes cricket team.
	James Brown has been a project leader at the John Innes Centre since 1989 and is now associate head of the Disease and Stress Biology Department. His main interests at work are in the science underpinning breeding for disease resistance and in the evolution of pathogens to overcome methods of disease control.
	Laëtitia Chartrain has had two stints working in our lab. From 2000 to 2004, she was a Ph.D. student working on septoria resistance in wheat. Then in 2006, she rejoined our group as our research assistant working on molecular genetics projects. She is currently working on triazole resistance in powdery mildew fungi as well as continuing with research on septoria. Laëtitia is originally from France.
	Lilly Clark is a sixth-form student from Diss High School. She is with us over the summer to gain experience of working in a laboratory. She is working with Jo Collins to investigate the frequency of gene-for-gene virulences in the population of Septoria tritici.
	Joanne Collins is a plant pathologist who has worked with our group since 2000, first as a research technician, then as a Ph.D. student and now as a post-doc. She is doing plant pathology research in our project on septoria resistance and is also working to develop more effective ways of testing barley varieties for resistance to ramularia leaf spot. She publishes under the name of Joanne Makepeace.
	Margaret Corbitt has been the group's plant pathology research assistant since 1999. An important part of her job is keeping our lab, glasshouses and growth rooms in order. She also contributes expertise in pathology to several projects, currently including the genetics of septoria resistance in wheat and the costs of virulence in the wheat yellow rust fungus. Here she's admiring her son's racing car.
	Richard Cuthbert is a visiting student from the University of Manitoba, Canada, who is spending 5 months at JIC during 2008. He is participating in our research on the quantitative genetics of septoria resistance in wheat and its relationship to yield.
	Sam Dobbie has been a Ph.D. student since 2006. He is developing research on the coevolution of host-parasite interactions and is studying how the ecology and epidemiology of disease generate genetic diversity in both plants and pathogens. Sam's model organisms are the coloured dots on his computer screen. He takes a break from virtual reality with conservation work and morris dancing (left).
	Alison Hinchliffe is our laboratory assistant. She assists with the maintenance of our collection of mildew isolates and with looking after plants in the glasshouse.
	Fran Lopez, from Spain, did part of the work for his Ph.D. on fungicide resistance in powdery mildew of cucurbits in our lab. He is currently here for another visit of three months.
	Elizabeth Orton has been a Ph.D. student since 2007 and previously worked as a forest pathologist in the UK and New Zealand. She is investigating the response of wheat to infection by septoria tritici in relation to the genetics of resistance.
	Jenni Rant has been a Ph.D. student since 2004, studying the fitness costs of partial resistance. She is using Pseudomonas on Arabidopsis as a model for crop diseases. The costs of disease resistance seem to be every bit as varied and complex in a small weed as in a commercial crop species. Jenni's Young Farmers Club qualification in chainsaw handling isn't a lot of use in her work on Arabidopsis.
	Gloria Solares Diaz has been a Ph.D. student at the John Innes Centre since 2004. Since mid-2005, she has worked on the quantitative genetics of septoria resistance in wheat and its interaction with other plant traits. Gloria is finishing her Ph.D. studies back home in Mexico.
	Stéphanie Thépot is an M.Sc. student from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure Agronomique in Toulouse, France. She is working with us in the second half of 2008, on the genetics of septoria resistance in UK wheat varieties.
	Luzie Wingen is a post-doc from Germany who has been working in our group since 2005. She has been developing theory of how long-distance dispersal affects the structure and evolution of biological populations, especially those of plant pathogenic fungi (below). She is about to move to the Crop Genetics Department where she will, we hope, continue to investigate the rheological properties of wheat flour in a protein-fat-sugar emulsion (i.e. make terrific cakes).

Last updated by James Brown, 27th July 2008

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