Academic staff in the School of Biosciences 

Professor Rob Jackson is an expert in bacteria-plant interactions, making major contributions to the understanding of how pathogens cause disease and how pathogens evolve to evade host immunity. He also has interests in applied biology questions relating to biocontrol approaches to treat plant diseases.

Dr. Juliano Sarmento Cabral is one of the world’s experts in mechanistic modelling of eco-evolutionary biodiversity dynamics. He and his team have developed several mechanistic and process-based models for plant and animal populations, communities, and species ranges to demonstrate, for example, how ecological and genetic traits are both under selection under environmental change and how ...

Teresa Carlomagno is an internationally recognized expert in the development and application of integrative structural biology (ISB) to biomolecular complexes. She has dedicated her scientific life to studying how molecular partners communicate with each other; in this mission her research has been pushing the limits of structural biology techniques in solution to address questions of constantly ...

Dr Catoni integrates computational biology with a range of experimental molecular biology approaches to study the epigenetic mechanisms controlling genome plasticity in plants.

The group investigates the relations between epigenetic and evolution, and develops epigenetic-based approaches to improve plant production, to support a more sustainable agriculture.

View Marco Catoni's Lab Website

Dr Chappell is an expert in the field of animal cognition and is involved in interdisciplinary research and teaching. Her research focus is on understanding the ways that animals use their intelligence to adapt to complex, dynamic environments. She is Deputy Head of School in the School of Biosciences.

Professor Yin Chen is a microbiologist and heads a group focusing on the ecophysiology of how microbes adapt to nutrient stress and climate change.

Dr Coates's research interests include development, evolution, plant science and cell biology - in particular understanding how plants made the transition to land and how they survived once they got there. Dr Coates has a very strong interest in supporting inclusion and diversity in research, teaching and academic processes.

John Colbourne’s investigations encompass the fields of evolutionary ecology, high-throughput biology, environmental and functional genomics. From this blend of disciplines emerges a research program that centers on connecting gene expression and genome structure with individual fitness and population-level responses to environmental challenges.

Professor Helen J. Cooper is an expert in the gas-phase ion chemistry of peptides and proteins. She is a world-leader in the field of electron capture dissociation mass spectrometry and is responsible for establishing the University of Birmingham as a centre of excellence in mass spectrometry research. Professor Cooper has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals and serves on a number of ...

Dr Eleanor Cull is an experienced parasitologist and has worked on gene regulation and metabolism in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum and host cell invasion in Toxoplasma gondii. 

Her main academic interests are in molecular biology and its application in investigating human health and disease.

One of her other interests is innovative teaching techniques. With a unique ...

Debbie is Deputy Director of Education for the College of Life and Environmental Sciences and a teaching-focused lecturer and Senior Tutor in the School of Biosciences. Within these roles she has interests in influencing and supporting strategies which enhance academic standards and student experience.

Debbie has research expertise in the use of biochemical techniques to characterise regulatory ...