Adaptation of cutting-edge photonic tools to understand food spoilage biology

植物角质层和下面的表皮形成保护植物免受干燥和非生物和生物胁迫的最外层。角质层主要由聚酯角质和表皮蜡组成，有助于防止水分流失和维持细胞膨胀。在水果中，表面性质的变化在成熟过程中通过“开花”和颜色变化的发展增加消费者吸引力方面发挥着重要作用。重要的是，角质层和表皮形成机械屏障，作为抵御植物病原体侵入的第一道防线。英国樱桃和李子中的一种关键水果病原体是真菌病原体，Monilinia拉克萨，引起褐腐。水果在成熟时对病原体越来越敏感;健康水果的收获前感染不会导致视觉腐烂，但会建立潜伏感染，这可能发展为收获后的腐烂。这种与年龄相关的易感性可能与成熟时的皮肤形态特征有关。了解这种关系不仅提供了基本的生物学知识，而且有助于制定有效的疾病管理策略。博士生将联合收割机的光学相干断层扫描和数字全息原理相结合，开发基于干涉的新型非侵入性高分辨率显微镜技术，以帮助提高我们对水果表面特性变化的理解，这些变化增加了在发育和成熟过程中对病原体攻击的敏感性。这些技术将允许非破坏性的纵向研究，并将提供结构和功能信息的组合。这个令人兴奋的学生将看到学生从事生物研究和工程，特别适合在跨学科环境中工作的学生。

Plant cuticle and underlying epidermis form the outermost layer protecting plants from desiccation and from abiotic and biotic stresses. The cuticle is comprised mainly of polyester cutin and epicuticular waxes that help to prevent moisture loss and maintenance of cell turgor. In fruits, changes in surface properties play an important role in increasing consumer appeal during maturation through development of 'blooms' and colour changes. Importantly, the cuticle and epidermis form a mechanical barrier acting as the first-line of defence against the ingress from plant pathogens. A key fruit pathogen in UK cherry and plum is a fungal pathogen, Monilinia laxa, causing brown rot. Fruit are increasingly susceptible to the pathogen as they mature; pre-harvest infection of healthy fruit does not lead to visual rotting but establishes latent infection, which can develop into rotting post-harvest. This age-related susceptibility is likely to be associated with skin morphological characteristics as they mature. Understanding such a relationship not only provides fundamental biological knowledge but also assists in the development of effective disease management strategies. The PhD studentship will combine principles of optical coherence tomography and digital holography to develop novel non-invasive high resolution microscopy technologies based on interference to help improve our understanding of the changes in fruit surface properties that increase susceptibility to pathogen attack during development and ripening. These techniques will allow non-destructive longitudinal studies, and will provide a mix of structural and functional information. This exciting studentship will see the student engage with both biological research and engineering, and would particularly suit a student who is comfortable working in an interdisciplinary environment.