Giles Oldroyd facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Giles Oldroyd
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|---|---|
| Born |
Giles Edward Dixon Oldroyd
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| Nationality | British |
| Education | University of East Anglia University of California, Berkeley |
| Awards | Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Plant symbioses |
| Institutions | University of Cambridge Stanford University Donald Danforth Plant Science Center |
| Thesis | Identification and characterization of Prf a resistance gene in tomato (1998) |
| Notable students | Yiliang Ding |
Giles Edward Dixon Oldroyd is a British professor at the University of Cambridge. He studies how plants and tiny living things, like bacteria, can work together. This teamwork is called a symbiosis. He focuses on how plants called legumes, like peas and beans, can get important nutrients from the soil with the help of these tiny helpers.
Professor Oldroyd is known for his important discoveries in plant science. He has won several awards for his work. Since 2014, he has been recognized as one of the top plant scientists in the world.
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Becoming a Scientist
Giles Oldroyd went to Huntington School in York. He then studied plant biology at the University of East Anglia from 1990 to 1994. After that, he earned his PhD in 1998 from the University of California, Berkeley. For his PhD, he studied how plants fight off diseases, especially in tomatoes.
Helping Plants Grow Stronger
After finishing his PhD, Professor Oldroyd moved to Stanford University. There, he worked as a postdoctoral scientist. He studied how legumes and special bacteria called rhizobia work together. These bacteria help legumes get nitrogen from the air, which is a vital nutrient for plants.
In 2002, Oldroyd started his own research group at the John Innes Centre. Later, in 2017, he moved his group to the Sainsbury Laboratory at the University of Cambridge. In 2020, he became a professor of Crop Science at the University of Cambridge. He also became the Director of the new Crop Science Centre. This center works to improve crops.
Understanding Plant Teamwork
Professor Oldroyd's main goal is to understand how plants and helpful tiny organisms communicate. He wants to use this knowledge to help other crops, like maize (corn), get nitrogen naturally. This would mean farmers wouldn't need to use as much chemical fertilisers.
His research aims to help farmers around the world. He is especially interested in helping small farmers in Africa.
Big Grants for Big Ideas
In 2012, Professor Oldroyd received a large research grant of $10 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He worked with other scientists on this project. Their goal was to make cereal crops, like maize, able to form special root nodules. These nodules are where the helpful bacteria live and provide nitrogen.
This project, called Enabling Nutrient Symbioses in Agriculture (ENSA), received even more funding. In 2023, it got another $35 million grant from Bill & Melinda Gates Agricultural Innovations. This shows how important his work is for feeding the world.
Awards and Recognition
Professor Oldroyd has received many awards for his important scientific work:
- BBSRC David Phillips Fellow (2002-2007)
- Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award (2002-2005)
- European Molecular Biology Organization Young Investigator Award (2005-2008)
- Presidents Medal from the Society for Experimental Biology (SEB) (2006)
- European Research Council young investigator (2009–Present)
- Thomson Reuters Top 1% Highly cited researcher (2014)
- Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) (2020)
