Profile of Andy Griffiths

Name
Andy Griffiths
Position
PhD student, Biological Sciences                     
Email
a.griffiths@bangor.ac.uk
Phone
Location
Memorial F7     

About

I am currently undertaking a PhD studentship in the School of Natural Sciences. My research interests are in forest pathology and microbial ecology.

Prior to starting my PhD project, I completed a BSc (Hons) in Biology at the University of Worcester followed by an MSc in Microbiology and Infection at the University of Birmingham. My research project during the MSc focused on epigenetic regulation of bacterial gene expression. Upon completing the MSc, I gained two years of research experience at Forest Research in the Acute Oak Decline (AOD) group, researching the roles of bacteria and fungi in the complex poly-microbial AOD syndrome.

CV

Quick CV

Education:

  • BSc (Hons) Biology, University of Worcester
  • MSc Microbiology and Infection, University of Birmingham

Research projects:
2015: Using flow cytometry to study epigenetic gene regulation in bacteria.

2015-2017: 2 Year research assistant experience working in the Acute Oak Decline (AOD) group at Forest Research using molecular and culture based approaches to study the biotic components of AOD.

Research

PhD Project

Advancements are being made with research on AOD and oak root pathogens, however there is a research gap concerning canker diseases on oak. My PhD project is focusing on finding the causes of a highly serious and destructive canker disease on a young oak plantation in the UK using multi-omic and culture based approaches. I will then be conducting inoculation tests to determine pathogenicity of the isolates, and to assess the risk of the disease to other tree species.

 

Publications

Denman, S., Doonan, J., Ransom-Jones, E., Broberg, M., Plummer, S., Kirk, S., Scarlett, K., Griffiths, A. R., Kaczmarek, M., Forster, J., Peace, A., Golyshin, P. N., Hassard, F., Brown, N., Kenny, J. G. and McDonald, J. E. (2017) ‘Microbiome and infectivity studies reveal complex polyspecies tree disease in Acute Oak Decline’, The ISME Journal. Nature Publishing Group, pp. 1–14. doi: 10.1038/ismej.2017.170.