We are pleased that TMAF-supported PhD student Ian Tsang has successfully completed and reported his research.
Ian Tsang was one of five PhD students chosen to be supported by TMAF starting in 2022. As his researched progressed, he reported on what drew him to be interested in the root hairs of wheat.
As reported in the Journal of Experimental Botany, Root hairs: an underexplored target for sustainable cereal crop production, Ian’s research signposts that genomic techniques may overcome some of the problems in root hair architecture. Another of his papers, A novel root hair mutant, srh1, affects root hair elongation and reactive oxygen species levels in wheat, suggests the same.
TMAF trustee Dr Steve Rawsthorne, one of Ian’s supervisory team, says “TMAF is delighted that Ian Tsang successfully defended his PhD thesis ‘Advancing high-throughput phenotyping and genetic understanding of root hairs in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) via computational and bioinformatic approaches’ based on research carried out under the BBSRC-funded CTP for Sustainable Agricultural Innovation (CTP-SAI) with selection of his research area driven by us. Ian was supervised by the excellent team of Fiona Leigh, James Cockram (Niab), Jonathan Atkinson (University of Nottingham), with me providing additional expertise.
Ian did exceptionally well in his studies winning, independently, £36k of additional funding. Ian has also published three first author articles from his research. I am privileged to have worked with Ian, who has shown great innovation and application throughout his studies.
Through his studies Ian came to love bioinformatics and coding and he has started a career with European Bioinformatics Institute | EMBL-EBI.
Ian is the first PhD student to graduate from a cohort funded strategically by TMAF under the CTP-SAI and the Morley PhD Studentship. This funding started in 2022.”
As TMAF, we wish Ian all the very best with the next stage in his scientific career.