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- Plant diseases contribute greatly to annual crop losses and pose a real threat to food security world-wide. Over a million people died during the Great Irish Famine in the 19th century as the result of a potato blight epidemic. Currently, the world's most popular fruit, the Cavendish banana, is under threat of extinction due to infection by highly virulent fungal pathogens [1]. Indeed, many other food- and cash-crops such as wheat, rice, maize, soybean, barley, potato, cotton, canola, and others are susceptible to many different types of diseases. There are >80 million Ash trees growing in UK forests and along neighbourhood roads currently under threat of Ash dieback disease, caused by a relentless fungal pathogen [2]. Recent estimates project that 75% of Ash trees in the south and east of England will be infected by this disease by 2018 [2]. Battling diseases that affect our crops and trees is a global challenge requiring the work of scientists in both academia and industry, as well as the work of policy-makers and government. Pathogens are capable of infecting plants and causing disease largely because they can suppress plant immune systems. Thus, only when we clearly understand plant immunity will we be able to offer sustainable solutions to diseases that affect our crops. The plant immune system is multi-faceted and composed of many different proteins with broad functions. The aim of this work is to find out exactly how key immune proteins work at the molecular level, how they are activated and repressed, and how they influence normal growth and development. Because pathogen responses necessarily re-direct plant energy away from growth, a major challenge is how to boost plant immune systems without affecting development. To address these important questions, I will study host proteins involved in the interaction between the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana and some of its natural pathogens. Working with a model plant offers many advantages over directly studying crop plants, the most important being the wealth of genetic and technological tools available (fully sequenced and annotated genome, thousands of indexed mutants, world-wide data repositories) and the general ease of experimentation (small stature, fast growing time, convenient breeding techniques). The project will be undertaken at The Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich [3], a world-leading research institute dedicated to work on plant-microbe interactions, and will involve collaborative work with laboratories in Germany. Knowledge gained from this project will advance our understanding of how plants defend against pathogen infection and may inform agricultural practices to improve crop yield. REFERENCES [1] 'Yes, we have no bananas' The Economist (1 March 2014); [2] 'Ash dieback 'could affect 75% of trees worst hit areas'' The Guardian (30 April 2014); [3] www.tsl.ac.uk.