Natural Science at St. Catharine’s College

University of Cambridge, St. Catharine's College

Dr. Jenny Bromley

Plant and Microbial Sciences at St. Catharine’s

Dr. Jenny Bromley

St. Catharine's alumna in Plant Sciences

Research in the field of plant science has never been more relevant. More people suffer from malnutrition due to insufficient quantity or quality of food crop production than from AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. Deforestation is not only affecting the carbon balance, with potential implications for climate change, but also the natural variation that has produced the incredible abundance of species, both plants and animals, that we see on the planet today. With the decline in fossil fuel reserves, biomass from both plants and algae offers a potential source of liquid fuels in the form of bioethanol to allow us to continue to travel the globe and sustain our current way of life.

In the first-year in Cambridge, you will meet plants, fungi and bacteria within the courses Physiology of Organisms and Biology of Cells. In these courses you will learn about plants, fungi, bacteria and animals side-by-side, illustrating the commonalities in their function and where they differ. You will also discuss endosymbiotic theory within the course Evolution & Behaviour, leading to an understanding of how the plants that we see today originated from the early unicellular organisms. In the second year you can take a full course on Plant & Microbial Sciences, which covers a diverse range of topics from the molecular machinery of photosynthesis to how trees respond to introduced herbivory. With current political debate on GM technology at the forefront of media coverage, the course also offers arguments about the pros and cons of genetic modification of plants in research and our daily lives. This leads to part 2 Plant Sciences, the final-year course which allows you to specialize in any of these areas, or others.

Following my undergraduate degree in Natural Sciences, based in St. Catharine's, I went on to do a PhD with Dr. David Hanke looking at plant hormones, particularly cytokinins, and how they contribute to the maintenance of dormancy. I then moved to Prof. Paul Dupree's research group where I worked on understanding plant cell wall structure for implementation in next-generation lignocellulosic biofuel processing. I've now left Cambridge to pursue my research in Denmark and the USA, but I hope to return soon! Throughout my academic career I have had close links with St. Catharine’s, first as a student and then as a Post-Doctoral Associate. The academic support is second to none and the support that I have received from the College has really helped to mould my career: I wouldn’t have wanted to study anywhere else!

Arabidopsis thaliana, the thale cress, is widely used as a "model plant" in experiements exploring the link between genetics, physiology and environment. Here, irregular xylem (irx) mutants are very dwarfed relative to the wild type, top right. These plants have collapsed xylem vessels, due to the reduction in secondary thickening of the cell wall. The result is a reduced capacity to conduct water, and so smaller plants.

Cactus

Cacti show some fascinating physiological adaptations to allow them to survive in arid habitats - explored in NST 1A Physiology of Organisms.

Pitcher picture

A pitcher plant - a species which, unusually, traps and digests animals such as small insects, in order to provide it with nitrogen, which is lacking in its boggy habitat.

Course Structure

Natural Sciences at Cambridge covers all sciences, including biology, chemistry and physics. It aims to give all students a broad base of several core scientific disciplines, from which the students increasingly specialize over the three to four years of their degree course. If you wish to specialize in plant/microbial sciences, any "biological" options can be taken in the first year; the plant-specific teaching begins in the second year and continues into the third.

First year: NST 1A Biology of Cells, Physiology of Organisms and NST 1A Evolution & Behaviour all contain plant sciences-related material.

Second year: NST 1B Plant & Microbial Sciences and NST 1B Ecology

Third year: NST part 2 Plant Sciences

The second year course in Plant & Microbial Sciences must be combined with two other science courses: many students would choose Ecology, Biochemistry or Cell & Developmental Biology, depending on their interests. The third year course stands alone, but within it you can choose from a number of modules: please follow this link to the Department of Plant Sciences teaching pages for more details of these courses.

Plant Sciences teaching at St. Catharine's

In Cambridge, each Natural Science student gets an hour’s supervision per subject per week in the first and second years, arranged by their College (third year supervisions are always organised by the Departments). The personal attention offered in these supervisions, which are typically in groups of one supervisor and three students, represents one of the most important benefits of Cambridge teaching which is available at few other institutions. Supervisions are also the primary way in which the Colleges differ in terms of the teaching offered to their students, since lectures, practicals and exams are organised on a Departmental basis for all Colleges but supervisions are organised separately. Cambridge applicants trying to choose a College should therefore find out who is likely to supervise them in their preferred subjects.

Our College has great strengths in Natural Sciences: it has excellent library facilities, some dedicated Fellows in biological subjects, and the student-run John Ray Society, our Natural Science society named after our famous 17^th century alumnus, which runs lectures and other events within St. Catharine's. Supervisions at St. Catharine's are usually organised in groups of 2-3 students. Our students are encouraged to extend their knowledge beyond the confines of the course, drawing upon what they have learnt from their other subjects.

As Plant Sciences is intertwined into many of the Natural Sciences courses in Cambridge, you may meet many different supervisors depending upon your interests and the courses that you choose. In particular, Dr. Matt Mason supervises the Plant Sciences element of Part 1A Physiology of Organisms, teaching comparative plant and animal physiology. It is more usual for there to be separate animal and plant supervisors, but the year-long comparative perspective offered here allows a deeper exploration of the unifying principles. Matt gives a number of seminars on comparative physiology, and organises an annual trip to the University Botanical Gardens to look at some of the species considered in the course. Click here for a link to our Physiology at Cats page, for more information about this course. Our Biology of Cells students are normally supervised by Dr. Fátima Santos, who will introduce you, among other things, to the biochemistry of photosynthesis.

In the second and third years, our Plant & Microbial Sciences students are supervised by members of the Department of Plant Sciences (unlike many subjects, Plant Sciences arrange supervisions on a departmental basis even in 1B). Our overall biological Director of Studies is Dr. David Aldridge, an aquatic ecologist who co-ordinates the teaching in that subject. Dr. Aldridge takes overall responsibility for our Plant Scientists in the second and third years.

In recent years, our results in NST Part II Plant Sciences have been outstandingly good, our students in that subject graduating with firsts more often than not. Several of our students over the last few years have gained marks in the top two or three of the year!

For more information...

If you are interested in applying to read Natural Sciences at St. Catharine’s, please see our College admissions webpage. If you are specifically interested in Plant & Microbial Sciences, please feel free to e-mail Dr. Matt Mason, mjm68@cam.ac.uk , with any questions that you might have. Good luck!