Welcome

Mike Roberts mug shotWelcome to my web pages. In them, you can find out about me, my lab, and the research that we perform in Lancaster.

The Group

sampleI am involved in the supervision of several research projects which include technical staff and postgraduate students.

Follow the 'People' menu for more information.

Our Research

sampleOur research is centred around understanding plant responses to stress. I have a strong interest in understanding the fundamental processes underlying plant resistance against environmental stress, but also in applying this knowledge to crop protection solutions.

Mike Roberts' Plant Stress Biology Group

leafWelcome to my personal web pages, which provide detail on the research activities going on in my lab. These pages reflect the current focus of my researtch, which is long-term priming of plant defence. Some of my much older web pages, covering my now moth-balled work on 14-3-3 proteins are still here in their original state.

LEC logoThe Roberts group contributes to the Plant and Crop Science research area within our home Department, the Lancaster Environment Centre (LEC).

News

June 2023: We have won funding from the Forestry Commission for a project to look at a new seed priming technique that we hope may improve germination and/or abiotic stress tolerance in UK native tree species.

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Aug 2022: A collaborative project between Manolis Papaioannou in Engineering, and myself and Ian Dodd in LEC, has won funding from EPSRC. We will be examining root exudates in pea hydroponic culture of peas.

April 2022: Mike was co-organiser of the successful IOBC-WPRS PR-IR2022 conference Priming the Future of Healthy Plants in Sheffield, UK from 4th–7th April 2022.
At the meeting, he presented our newly published paper on methylation responses to BABA priming in tomato.

July 2022: Congratulations to Jon Rodriguez for successfully defending his PhD thesis on biostimulants.

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Feb 2023 & Nov 2022: Andrew Prestt and Damian Lascelles, two previous Masters students on the Waitrose Food Challenges for the Future distance learning programme have their work published.