Professor Richard J Morris
Group Leader Building Robustness in Crops (BRiC), Advancing Plant Health (APH)
Elucidating the physical mechanisms governing processes in plants.
We develop mathematical and computational approaches based on physical processes to provide mechanistic insights in complex phenomena in plants.
We use whichever approaches are the most appropriate for the problem we’re investigating and work in close collaboration with experimental groups to test our predictions.
Current projects include:
1) Bayesian approaches: time-series analysis and model inference
2) Biomechanics: guard cell opening and closing
3) Protein and RNA structure: liquid-liquid phase separation and RNA transport
4) Gene regulatory networks: inference, simulation and design
Selected Publications
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Veevers R, Ostendorp S, Ostendorp A, Kehr J, Morris RJ (2025)Controlled liquid-liquid phase separation via the simulation-guided, targeted engineering of the RNA-binding protein PARCL.iSciencePublisher's version: 2589-0042
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Paajanen P, Tomkins M, Hoerbst F, Veevers R, Heeney M, Thomas HR, Apelt F, Saplaoura E, Gupta S, Frank M, Walther D, Faulkner C, Kehr J, Kragler F, Morris RJ (2025)Re-analysis of mobile mRNA datasets raises questions about the extent of long-distance mRNA communication.Nature plantsPublisher's version: 2055-0278
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Wilson MJ, McGregor S, Durney CH, Tomkins M, Armand J, Smith RS, Gray JE, Morris RJ, Fleming AJ (2025)Symplastic guard cell connections buffer pressure fluctuations to promote stomatal function in grasses.The New phytologistPublisher's version: 0028-646X