Council Members
President
Keith Lindsey is Director of Research and Professor of Plant Molecular Biology at Durham University's School of Biological and Biomedical Sciences. He is also co-founder and a Scientific Director of Creative Gene Technology Ltd., a University spin-out company focused on developing new products for the AgBiotech arena. His basic research interests are in understanding molecular mechanisms of plant development.
His early research was aimed at understanding the control of plant secondary metabolism, with the ultimate goal of developing biotechnological approaches to exploiting plant cells as synthetic factories. More recently his work has been characterized by an integrative approach, using genetics, genomics, proteomics and physiology to understand gene function during embryogenesis and in meristems, which represent the source of stem cell-like cells in plants. Most of his work currently is with the powerful genetic model Arabidopsis. He is a member of the UK Government Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE) and, until recently, the Multinational Arabidopsis Steering Committee and the BBSRC Steering Committee for Arabidopsis Functional Genomics (GARNet). He has worked on a number of other BBSRC and Scottish Office Committees and Working Groups.
Keith can be contacted on keith.lindsey@durham.ac.uk
Vice President
Tony Farrell is a Professor at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, where he holds a Canada Research Chair (Tier I) with a joint appointment in the Department of Zoology and the Faculty of Land and Food Systems. He is passionate about his comparative physiology research. He is particularly interested in how cardiorespiratory systems respond and adapt to environmental change, studying cellular mechanisms through to the migration physiology of wild salmon. Two major areas of emphasis have been understanding how cardiac function is modulated by temperature and how, for certain animals, the heart can continue functioning in the absence of molecular oxygen to support oxidative phosphorylation. Tony also enjoys applying his basic research to solve problems in fish culture and conservation, which has resulted in awards for Aquatic Conservation and Fisheries Management. His fascination with fish physiology began during his undergraduate years at Bath University, after which he moved to Canada.
Tony is equally passionate when it comes to communication of science. He has helped edit the publication of over 20 volumes of the longstanding book series Fish Physiology, and is editor-in-chief for the 2,000-page Encyclopedia of Fish Physiology: From Genome to Environment. He has received the Fry Medal from the Canadian Society of Zoologists, the Beverton Medal from the Fisheries Society of the British Isles and Awards of Excellence from the American Fisheries Society, as well as an honorary doctoral degree from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Tony can be reached at farrellt@mail.ubc.ca
Treasurer
Dr Martin Watson is a researcher at Durham University and works on natural killer cells (Ooooh-er! ed) looking to target virally infected or cancerous cells.
He has been an ardent supporter of the SEB for many years and is now in control of the Society purse strings. Martin.watson@durham.ac.uk
Publications Officer
Prof Mike Burrell trained as a biochemical plant pathologist which led his research into Ain plants. He has worked in both academia and in industry.
m.burrell@sheffield.ac.uk
Animal Section Chair
Craig Franklin is the Animal Section Chair. Craig has been a member of the SEB for 15 years, initially joining while as research fellow in Professor Ian Johnston's group at The University of St. Andrews. He continued his close association with the SEB when he moved to The University of Queensland in 1995 where he is currently a Professor in Zoology and an Australian Professorial Research Fellow. In 1998 Craig was awarded the Presidents Medal.
Craig has a strong interest in experimental biology/physiology, and his research incorporates both lab and field based studies and uses a range of molecular, physiological and ecological techniques and tools. Craig believes the scope and variety of his research program, which covers many of the animal focus groups in the SEB allows him to have a very broad appreciation of the interests of members.
Craig will provide a fresh perspective to the SEB as to date his involvement in the administration and direction of the SEB has been minimal. You can contact Craig on c.franklin@uq.edu.au
Cell Section Chair
Professor Patrick Hussey is the Plant Section Chair.
Patrick has been working on the structure, function and regulation of the plant cytoskeleton and its potential role in biotechnology for over 25 years. During this time he has, off and on, been a member of the SEB giving my first talk as a PhD student with now Prof Iain Hagan to a crowd of 4 people including 3 supervisors and Brad Amos back in 1985 when the meeting was held at Southampton University.
Patrick is currently the Professor of Plant Molecular Cell Biology at the University of Durham. He received his PhD in Biology from the University of Kent at Canterbury in association with the John Innes Centre in Norwich. After postdoctoral work at the University of Minnesota and the John Innes Centre, he took up a lectureship in Royal Holloway University of London where he was awarded a Personal Chair in 1999. He moved to the University of Durham in 2000.
Patrick's email address is p.j.hussey@durham.ac.uk
Plant Section Chair
Christine Raines (University of Essex) is the Plant Section Secretary.
Christine is currently Professor of Plant Molecular Physiology in the Department of Biological Sciences, University of Essex. She studied for her PhD in the Department of Botany, University of Glasgow investigating photosynthetic electron transport function. This was followed by 3 years at what was the Plant Breeding Institute in Cambrdige where Christine started to explore the use of molecular techniques to manipulate photosynthesis. Since that time her main area of research is the photosynthetic carbon reduction cycle which is the primary pathway of carbon fixation in plants. This important pathway continues to be a priority area for study with the aim, of identifying targets for manipulation, to improve crop yields. During the past 15 years Christine has worked on a number of aspects of this cycle and is particularly interest in the integration of this primary carbon fixation pathway and wider plant metabolism.
You can contact Christine via email at rainc@essex.ac.uk
Education Section Chair
Jeremy Pritchard s the chair of the Education and Public Affairs (EPA) section within the Society of Experimental Biology (SEB) committee and is also an admissions tutor for Biology.
When SEB isn't utilising his time and knowldge, Jerry is a lecturer/researcher in the School of Biosciences at the University of Birmingham. By training he is a plant physiologist, but like most biologists, because the recent rise of genetic technologies has revolutionised research, he now also works in the more molecular areas. Jerry’s research is aimed at understanding how plants regulate the transports of water, sugars and salts, focusing at the cell level to understand whole plant and ecological responses to environmental change including salt, drought and Herbivory. His teaching however, is more diverse than his research – whilst Jerry does teach courses about his specific research area he also runs courses on Evolution, Ecology and field biology.
You can contact Jeremy at j.pritchard@bham.ac.uk
Elected Member
Gudrun de Boeck (Univeristy of Antwerp)
After studying Biology at the Hasselt University and the Catholic University of Leuven, Gudrun started her professional career at the Ecophysiology, Biochemistry and Toxicology research group at the University of Antwerp as a PhD student in December 1991. She finished her PhD entitled ‘Physiological effects of sublethal Copper exposure on the energy metabolism of the common carp, Cyprinus carpio’ in June 1996. Gudrun then rejoined the lab as a postoctoral fellow after an intensive but fun postdoc at the lab of Professor Chris Wood, Department of Biology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada with whom she still collaborates frequently in nice places like the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre, BC, Canada. At present, Gudrun's career has led her to the position of senior lecturer at the Ecophysiology, Biochemistry and Toxicology research group.
Gudrun's research focuses on effects of environmental factors (hypoxia, temperature, salinity, heavy metals, stress hormones…) on the energy metabolism and iono- and osmoregulation of fish. She believes comparative physiology is important, and is fascinated to see how different fish species respond to environmental changes in different ways. The aim of the research is to unravel the physiological mechanisms that bring about these differences. Species studied up to now are common carp, crucian carp, trout, zebrafish, gudgeon, oscars, seabass, spiny dogfish, spotted dogfish… Techniques used include measurements of critical swimming speeds and respiration rates, blood electrolytes, transporter enzymes, blood gases and acid-base balance, fuel utilisation and energy stores including metabolomics in collaboration with the team for Applied Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, induction of protective proteins including proteomics in collaboration with Centre for Proteome Analysis & Mass Spectrometry, and NMR-spectroscopy and imaging in collaboration with the Bio Imaging Lab at the university. For more information on her courses, publications or research projects click here or for more information on their research group click here.
Even with her busy schedule Gudrun always has time to play with her daughter Sam (°2001) and son Robbe (°2003), travel with her Ducati ST4s, or play basketball with the babes from BBC Haacht.
You can contract Gudrun on gudrun.deboeck@ua.ac.be
Independent Members
Alun Anderson
Alun helps manage a start-up business called Xconomy.com which is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Seattle and brings together scientists and investors. He is Senior Consultant at New Scientist magazine and a member of the Council of the Royal Institution. Between 1992 and 2005 he was variously Editor, Editor-in-Chief and Publishing Director of New Scientist magazine. In 2009, Alun's book ‘The Future of the Arctic’ was published by HarperCollins.
Before that he worked at the journals Nature (as News & Views Editor, Japan bureau chief and US Editor) and at Science (as International Editor) and lived in London, Tokyo and Washington DC. He received his doctorate from the University of Edinburgh and worked as a post-doc in the Animal Behaviour Research Group in Oxford.
Geraldine Schofield
Geoff Randall