Stephen A Rolfe

Senior Lecturer
Animal and Plant Sciences
University of Sheffield
United Kingdom

Academician Plant Sciences
Biography

BSc (1984) Imperial College of Science and Technology, London PhD (1988) University of Cambridge European Molecular Biology Fellow, University of California Los Angeles (1988-1991) Lecturer, Dept. Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield (1991-2003) Senior Lecturer, Dept. Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield (2004-present) Director of Teaching, Dept. Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield (2008-2015 )

Research Intrest

My research focuses on plant responses to biotic and abiotic stresses using biological imaging techniques. I lead the P3 Wolfson Centre for Plant Disease Phenomics where we use high-throughput imaging to explore quantitative resistance to plant diseases. We use chlorophyll fluorescence and multi-spectral imaging to quantify disease development and the impact on host plants. Current projects are focussed on diseases of Brassicas including clubroot and light leaf spot. My group also looks at microbial communities in natural environments using metagenomic approaches. This includes plant pathogen populations but also the root microbiome and degradation of xenobiotics in contaminated environments. Work in my group is funded by the BBSRC, the Wolfson Foundation, Bayer Crop Sciences, Shell Aviation and Airbus.

List of Publications
Thornton SF, Baker KM, Bottrell SH, Rolfe SA, McNamee P, Forrest F, Duffield P, Wilson RD, Fairburn AW, Cieslak LA. Enhancement of in situ biodegradation of organic compounds in groundwater by targeted pump and treat intervention. Applied geochemistry. 2014 Sep 30;48:28-40.
Healy MG, Barrett M, Lanigan GJ, Serrenho AJ, Ibrahim TG, Thornton SF, Rolfe SA, Huang WE, Fenton O. Optimizing nitrate removal and evaluating pollution swapping trade-offs from laboratory denitrification bioreactors. Ecological Engineering. 2015 Jan 31;74:290-301.
Malinowski R, Novák O, Borhan MH, Spíchal L, Strnad M, Rolfe SA. The role of cytokinins in clubroot disease. European Journal of Plant Pathology. 2016 Jul 1;145(3):543-57.
van Campen J, Yaapar MN, Narawatthana S, Lehmeier C, Wanchana S, Thakur V, Chater C, Kelly S, Rolfe SA, Quick WP, Fleming AJ. Combined chlorophyll fluorescence and transcriptomic analysis identifies the P3/P4 transition as a key stage in rice leaf photosynthetic development. Plant physiology. 2016 Jan 26:pp-01624.