My Dissertation Experience – Hannah Rudd

Supervisor and project title:

  • Professor Ian Dodd – Do root hairs affect the physiological response of barley (Hordeum vulgare ) in drying soil?

Why I chose this topic…

To be quite honest, I didn’t. Unfortunately, for my research project, we were required to rank four topics in order of what we’d most like to do. I’m quite lucky in the sense that I was given my second choice – Plant Biology – as I’m aware some people were given their fourth choice, for example; however, researching whether root hairs are integral to water uptake is very different from the marine-orientated study I would’ve liked to have dedicated to the past six months of my life.

I think it’s imperative that you bear in mind for BIOL387 that you may have a topic you’re not fanatical about, but it’s the skills that you gain during the process that are important.

How much time was spent in the lab…

I was in the glasshouse every three days for the ten-day period whilst the plants were growing for basic husbandry, like watering them and providing stakes for mechanical help. During the experimentation period, I was in the glasshouse for sometimes four or five hours day, including weekends, gathering all of the physiological measurements.

What I investigated…

Essentially, I utilised a barley mutant (without root hairs) and its wild-type to investigate the effects of soil drying on the plant’s physiological response. Tonnes of research has gone into the molecular and genetic basis of root hairs, but limited study has taken place into their importance to water uptake. Studies such as this can potentially inform decisions with regards to plant genetic modification, particularly as the incidence of drought rises due to climate change and we have an increasing threat to global food security because of an ever-growing population.

A typical day involved…

Usually, I would arrive at the glasshouse and make all the physiological measurements at the same time each day – weighing would occur at 10 am for example. Measurements like stomatal conductance and leaf length took place daily, whereas ABA (the most exciting part because using liquid nitrogen made me feel like a scientist for two minutes a week), would be measured weekly.

What I discovered…

No significant differences it seems – how joyous my write up shall be. My results indicate that root hairs do not play a major role in water uptake, but they are important for other things like phosphorus uptake, so they’re still necessary.

Feedback from supervisor…

Truthfully, Ian has been incredibly helpful throughout the entire process. Although he knows my interests lie within other fields, he has been great at providing me with enough motivation to last throughout the whole process. Consistently providing feedback and help wherever possible has been a godsend, and he has always been available whenever I have had any queries. My PhD supervisors – Sarah and Ivan – have also been like gold dust. For someone completely out of their depth in this field, it was comforting to have their experience to guide me through the whole process.

If I could do it again I would change…

Personally, if I had freedom of choice, I wouldn’t do plant biology again. That’s not because it isn’t interesting, or because it’s any more difficult than other projects, or that I’ve had issues with the staff, that simply wouldn’t be true. For me, it’s not as inspiring or beneficial to my future career plans. From a research point of view, this experience has furthered my desire to work within academia, just within a field I care about next time.

Any hints or advice?

This is the first piece of work where I’ve consistently planned and worked on it piece by piece. Truthfully, I feel as though this is the way forward. My stress levels have been alleviated (as much as they can be for third year) and I have time to sit and think about what I’m writing. Thankfully, I listened to advice and worked on my data analysis over the summer – I sometimes had data induced headaches. The prospect of writing this eight thousand word document, that you may or may not really care for, can be incredibly overwhelming, but take it piece by piece and acknowledge it can truly make a big difference to your final degree. Sometimes you’ve just got to stick with something, no matter how much of a pain it can be, and this is one of those things I’m afraid.