Dr CATHY THOMAS

BIOGRAPHY

Cathy is interested in plant-soil interactions, particularly relating to mineral nutrition and how the crop phenotype is influenced by the soil conditions and fertiliser addition. She is enthusiastic for a more sustainable approach to crop production through soil management and precision agriculture. Cathy has experience in high-throughput root and shoot phenotyping to understand how root architecture relates to nutrient uptake. She also has experience of in-silico genetic mapping and analysis of the molecular pathways regulating plant nutrient transport. Cathy is the geophenomics scientist at the Africa Soil Information Service (AfSIS), which has its headquarters at Rothamsted Research. The project uses innovative dry spectral techniques for analysis of soils and crop tissues to understand how fertilisers can be tailored to the specific conditions of the local soils.