Liam Dolan facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Liam Dolan
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Liam Dolan at the Royal Society admissions day in London, 2014
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| Alma mater |
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| Awards | EMBO Member (2009) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Cellular development Plant evolution |
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| Thesis | A genetic analysis of leaf development in cotton (Gossypium barbadense L.) (1991) |
| Doctoral advisor | R. Scott Poethig |
Liam Dolan is a leading plant scientist. He studies how plants grow and how they have changed over millions of years. He works at the Gregor Mendel Institute in Austria and is also a professor at the University of Oxford in the UK. He is a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford.
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Studying Plants
Liam Dolan went to University College Dublin for his first degree. Later, he earned his PhD in 1991 from the University of Pennsylvania. His special project for his PhD was looking closely at how the leaves of the cotton plant Gossypium barbadense grow.
Career and Discoveries
After finishing his PhD, Liam Dolan continued his research for three years at the John Innes Centre in Norwich, UK. He then led his own research team there for 13 years. In 2009, he moved to Oxford to become the Sherardian Professor of Botany.
How Plants Grow and Evolve
Liam Dolan's research focuses on understanding the tiny genetic rules that control how plants develop. He also wants to know how these rules have changed since plants first started growing on land about 500 million years ago. His work has been supported by important science organizations.
Understanding Plant Roots
Dolan has made big discoveries about how plant roots grow and have changed over time. He was the first to map out the exact cell structure of the Arabidopsis plant root. He also found the specific genetic process that makes root hair cells form.
He showed that this root-making process is very, very old. He even discovered the way the earliest land plant roots developed. These ancient roots caused huge changes to Earth's climate over 400 million years ago. His amazing discoveries help us understand how plants grow, how they evolved, and how they affect our planet.
Liam Dolan also helped write a textbook called Plant Biology.
Awards and Recognition
Liam Dolan has received several important awards for his work.
- In 2001, he was given the President's Medal by the Society for Experimental Biology.
- In 2009, he became a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO).
- In 2014, he was chosen as a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS). This is a very high honor for scientists in the UK.
- In 2024, he was elected a member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.
