PhD Students
Deborah Babalola
Research interests
Deborah has a BTech and MSc in Biochemistry. Her research interest is in the applications of genetics and genomic tools to crop improvement for economic sustainability, enhanced nutrition, and health.
She is currently enrolled in the CTP-FCR PhD studentship in Crop Sciences at the University of Reading and based at NIAB East Malling. Her PhD research is focused on understanding the mechanism and genetic control of primocane and floricane fruiting habits in raspberries and blackberries.
Noémie David-Rogeat
Noémie's research project is looking at changes of the African eggplant growth under drought, high temperature, and salinity, alone or in combination, and how to limit their negative impacts. She is also interested in the nutritional quality of the plant.
Prior coming to NIAB East Malling, she completed her BSc in Life Sciences and Engineering at EPFL (Switzerland) and a MSc in Biotechnology at Imperial College London.
David Fisher
David is a second year PhD student, under the SoCoBio DTP programme, whose current research focuses on understanding and improving the nutritional quality of fruit and vegetable, within the wider context of improving food system sustainability and micronutrient security.
He is particularly interested in the application of stress conditioning as a means of increasing nutrient accumulation in strawberry, as well as subsequent associations between nutritional quality and crop tolerance of pre- and post-harvest stresses.
Camila Gonzalez Campo
Camila has a BSc in Biology and a MSc in Plant Breeding. Her research interest include molecular genetics and genome editing for precision crop breeding and she is currently carrying out a full-time BBSRC PhD studentship in Crop Sciences at the University of Reading, based at NIAB East Malling.
Research project
Camila's PhD project is focused on understanding the genetic control of the everbearing trait in the cultivated strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa) by using gene editing, and to further develop reliable markers for the selection of optimised everbearing habit.
Ece Imam Moustafa
Ece works in NIAB's Crop Science and Production Systems department in East Malling, specialising in plant physiology.
Research projects
Title: Improving cane crop resilience by overcoming the legacy effects on photosynthesis from short-term stresses
Partners: NIAB , University of Essex, AHDB & Berry Gardens
Funders: BBSRC, CTP-FCR
Magdalena Cobo Medina
Research interests
Magdalena is a PhD student working on apple rootstocks, an essential component of successful tree fruit production. The main aim of her project is to understand the effect of dwarfing on root system architecture in apple allowing assessment of dwarfing-associated root development on nitrogen uptake.
Research projects
Combining root architecture, root function and soil management to improve production efficiency and quality of apples; Duration: Oct 2017-Sept 2021; Partners: CTP and University of Nottingham; Funding: CTP
