Dr Holly Kay

Holly is currently working within the Dodd group.

Circadian rhythms are self-sustaining biological cycles with a period of approximately 24 hours. Circadian clocks have evolved across all kingdoms of life to align biological processes with daily rhythms in their external environment, such as those in light and temperature. The clock can also organise inter- and intra-species interactions between organisms.

Holly is unpicking the role of the clock in the mutualistic relationships between plants and bacteria. As part of the ERC MicroClock project focused on the Bacillus subtilis circadian clock, she is working in collaboration with LMU Munich and Leiden University to better understand how these reciprocal interactions are coordinated, and the benefits that they bring.

Holly completed her PhD at the University of Edinburgh, where she investigated post-transcriptional regulation of the circadian clock in the marine alga Ostreococcus tauri.