Giles Oldroyd to be new professor of Crop Science at 3CS

“The Cambridge Centre for Crop Science will provide a collaborative research space to harness the breadth and depth of expertise in Cambridge for applications in crop science. The Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) is delighted with the appointment of Prof Oldroyd to lead its development,” says SLCU Director, Professor Ottoline Leyser.
The Cambridge Centre for Crop Science (3CS),  is a partnership between the University of Cambridge and Niab and it has elected Giles Oldroyd to the Russel R Geiger Professorship of Crop Science. He will be based in the Crop Science Building at Niab’s new headquarters on Lawrence Weaver Road, Cambridge, which will open in 2020.
Professor Oldroyd leads an international programme focused on engineering nitrogen-fixing cereals funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation called the Engineering Nitrogen Symbiosis for Africa (ENSA) project.
His team aims to understand the signalling and developmental processes in plants that allows interactions with mycorrhizal fungi and nitrogen-fixing bacteria, which is essential information needed for developing nitrogen-fixing cereals.
Their work has potential to deliver more sustainable and secure food production systems, with particular potential to deliver significant yield improvements to the poorest farmers in the world.