Roger Anderson

Biography

Although I am no longer active in research, I published more than twenty papers on the developmental genetics of the slime mould Physarum polycephalum. This organism shows a remarkable alternation in its life cycle between microscopic, uninucleate amoebae and giant, multinucleate cells called plasmodia. We showed that its mating type system is extraordinarily complex, involving three multiallelic, genetically unlinked incompatibility loci that independently regulate different aspects of mating between amoebae. We also identified and studied a number of other genes involved in the development of amoebae into plasmodia. The genome of Physarum has features making it remarkably difficult to sequence, but in 2015 I was one of the authors of the paper that finally reported the achievement of this milestone. From 2002 to 2015 I had overall responsibility for teaching in MBB, and I continue to play a wider role in the University through membership of various Faculty and University committees. As Director of Studies in MBB, my aim was to help staff to maintain the Department's reputation for excellent, research-led teaching and support for students. We consistently scored well in the National Student Survey, and received highly positive external reviews in 2008 and 2013. In 2012, our MBiolSci Biochemistry degree was one of the first degrees to receive accreditation from the Royal Society of Biology, and accreditation of our eleven other MBiolSci degrees followed in 2014. In my own teaching, I try to challenge students to understand genetics as a set of intellectual and experimental tools as well as a body of knowledge. I am coordinator of the following modules: MBB162 Genetics; MBB262 Genetics 2; MBB339 Evolutionary Genetics; and MBB363 Genetics Data Handling.

Research Interest

I published more than twenty papers on the developmental genetics of the slime mould Physarum polycephalum. This organism shows a remarkable alternation in its life cycle between microscopic, uninucleate amoebae and giant, multinucleate cells called plasmodia. We showed that its mating type system is extraordinarily complex, involving three multiallelic, genetically unlinked incompatibility loci that independently regulate different aspects of mating between amoebae. We also identified and studied a number of other genes involved in the development of amoebae into plasmodia. The genome of Physarum has features making it remarkably difficult to sequence, but in 2015 I was one of the authors of the paper that finally reported the achievement of this milestone.