David Cooke

Biography

The James Hutton Institute specialises in the phytophthora species. A first-class honours graduate in agricultural botany, David returned to University of Wales Aberystwyth to do a PhD in plant pathology. Since 1994 he has been at the James Hutton Institute carrying out research into some of the 120 species of phytophthora, in particular phytophthora infestans, the cause of potato blight. Much of David's work is on phytophthora population genetics with research into genetics allowing a fuller understanding of the disease. David is a highly cited expert in his field, he has written more than 50 publications and described many new species of phytophthora.

Research Interest

A cell and molecular scientist, David is keen to stress the applied elements of his work, having worked for years on farms and studied agricultural botany the aim in his phytophthora research is to contribute to practical science and agronomy. Research interests include: evolution and population genetics of the genus phytophthora; detection and control of soft-fruit phytophthora species; and detection and diagnosis of phytophthora species in crops, forests and natural ecosystems.