Profile

• Time Zone

  (GMT +/- 0) Greenwich Mean Time

  
  
• Organization

  University of Edinburgh

  
  
• Role

  Scientist Mentor: I will mentor teams of students online

  
  
• Research Interests (300 words)

  We are interested in determining the genetics underlying differences between species. We would like to know how many genetic changes and what type of changes determine differences in plant growth and form. A combination of classical genetics and new sequencing technologies is being used to link the variation in form to variation in the sequence and expression of genes. We are particularly interested applying these techniques to tropical species, as the tropics contain most of the world’s diversity but have been genetically understudied.

  
  
• Profile Question 1

  What is best about being a scientist?

  
  
• Answer the question you selected for profile question 1 here (300 words):

  Learning new things everyday. My job is never dull. I work together with a group of very bright interesting people finding out how the world works.

  
  
• Profile Question 2

  What is tough about being a scientist?

  
  
• Answer the question you selected for profile question 2 here (300 words):

  It's not relaxing. There is always more you could do, more you could read, a new technique to learn. It's hard to find the time, the expertise and the money to get everything done.

  
  
• Profile Question 3

  When and why did you decide to go into a science career?

  
  
• Answer the question you selected for profile question 3 here (300 words):

  I thought I would study biology until I got bored and then find a job. I never got bored and have had the chance to make studying my job.

  
  
• Help represent the outreach efforts of your societies. Please click all those organizations you are a member of:

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• How did you hear about PlantingScience?

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• Availability

  I am NOT available, please temporarily remove me from the available mentor list

  
  
• In addition to English, I am comfortable communicating with students in the following languages:

  (not set)

  
  
• Capacity: How many teams at a time are you comfortable working with?

  2

  
  

Recent Posts

aclubczynskispring2019 project 9 Catherine Kidner Apr 23, 2019

Hi Leah,

It's good to meet you.  I hope you enjoy working with plants this spring. There's lots I enjoy about working with plants.  They are beautiful, easy to find, easy to keep and are great for studying…

more

Hi Leah,

It's good to meet you.  I hope you enjoy working with plants this spring. There's lots I enjoy about working with plants.  They are beautiful, easy to find, easy to keep and are great for studying basic biology.  I'm happy to grind up plants to extract DNA, but would not like to grind up animals!  

Cheers,

Catherine

aclubczynskispring2019 project 9 Catherine Kidner Apr 23, 2019

Hi Sydney,

It's good to meet you.  It sounds as if you've already made a good start with the basics of plant biology.   it's a great time of year to start studying plants.  The wild flowers here have…

more

Hi Sydney,

It's good to meet you.  It sounds as if you've already made a good start with the basics of plant biology.   it's a great time of year to start studying plants.  The wild flowers here have just burst into life and the hedgerows and verges look usher everyday, so you can almost see the plants growing.  I hope your experiments thrive too.

Cheers,

Catherine

aclubczynskispring2019 project 3 Catherine Kidner Apr 15, 2019

Hi Katherine,

You can water the seed in a petri dish and pour off the water once cooled.  You should measure rate of germination (proportion of the sown seed which germinate and the speed of growth once germinated (by root or shoot…

more

Hi Katherine,

You can water the seed in a petri dish and pour off the water once cooled.  You should measure rate of germination (proportion of the sown seed which germinate and the speed of growth once germinated (by root or shoot length).  Maybe trial a few different species to find one which is easy to score.

Cheers,

Catherine