Dr Sarah Christofides
Bioinformatics Support Tutor
- christofidess@cardiff.ac.uk
- +44 (0)29 2087 6201
- W/1.15, Sir Martin Evans Building, Museum Avenue, Cardiff, CF10 3AX
Overview
I am a bioinformatician and biostatistician associated with the Genome Research Hub. I provide tutoring on the School's undergraduate and postgradute bioinformatics courses, and offer data analysis support to researchers. My specialist area is the analysis of microbial communities through metabarcoding.
My research interests focus on (microbial) community ecology, and particularly the application of multivariate statistics to large datasets. I have a diverse research background, spanning fungal interactions, plant stress responses and freshwater ecology. I want to improve dialogue and knowledge-sharing between classical ecological statistics and microbial ecology bioinformatics, combining and extending the approaches to handle the ever-larger datasets available for analysis. Many statisticians work on ecological problems, and many ecologists rely heavily on statistics, but often in isolation from each other. I aim to bridge the gap between these disciplines.
I also have a keen interest in science communication and outreach, and have been involved in delivering diverse scientific engagement events. These include Microbiology for Arboriculture days (professional training events, 2015-2018); UK Fungus Day events (national events, 2014-2018), BBC Summer of Wildlife (national event 2013); Cardiff University European Heritage Open Doors event (2011); and Offwell Woodland and Wildlife Trust Biodiversity Day (2010). I was a regional finalist in the Famelab science communication competition (2012).
Biography
2021-present: Bioinformatics tutor at the Genome Research Hub, Cardiff University
2019-2021: Research associate, Cardiff University. BBSRC Future Forages project led by Prof. Hilary Rogers and Dr. Carsten Muller
2018: Part-time lecturer in statistics, Swansea University
2013-2017: NERC PhD, Cardiff University. Fungus-bacteria interactions in decomposing wood: unravelling community effects. Supervised by Prof. Andy Weightman and Prof. Lynne Boddy
2009-2012: BSc(Hons) Ecology, 1st class. Cardiff University
Honours and awards
- Best Article Award 2019 from FEMS Microbiology Ecology: ‘Highly competitive fungi manipulate bacterial communities in decomposing beech wood (Fagus sylvativa)’
- New Phytologist Trust grant to attend ‘People, Plants and Planet Symposium’ at Kew (2019)
- FEMS travel grant to attend ESM conference in Prague (2015)
- NERC PhD studentship (2013)
- Undergraduate Fellowship with the British Ecological Society (2012-2013)
Professional memberships
- British Ecological Society
- British Mycological Society
- Society for Experimental Biology
- Christians in Science
Speaking engagements
- Invited departmental research seminar, LaTrobe University (2020)
- Invited departmental research seminar, University of Essex (2020)
Committees and reviewing
Grant reviewer for the Human Frontiers Science Programme 2021
Publications
2022
- Hart, E. H. et al. 2022. Forage grass growth under future climate change scenarios affects fermentation and ruminant efficiency. Scientific Reports 12, article number: 4454. (10.1038/s41598-022-08309-7)
2021
- Ludlow, R. A. et al. 2021. Storage time and temperature affects volatile organic compound profile, alliinase activity and postharvest quality of garlic. Postharvest Biology and Technology 177, article number: 111533. (10.1016/j.postharvbio.2021.111533)
2020
- Stegenta-Dąbrowska, S., Randerson, P. F., Christofides, S. R. and Bialowiec, A. 2020. Carbon monoxide formation during aerobic biostabilization of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste: the influence of technical parameters in a full-scale treatment system. Energies 13(21), article number: 5624. (10.3390/en13215624)
- Christofides, S. R., Bettridge, A., Farewell, D., Weightman, A. J. and Boddy, L. 2020. The influence of migratory Paraburkholderia on growth and competition of wood-decay fungi. Fungal Ecology 45, article number: 100937. (10.1016/j.funeco.2020.100937)
2019
- Christofides, S. R., Hiscox, J., Savoury, M., Boddy, L. and Weightman, A. J. 2019. Fungal control of early-stage bacterial community development in decomposing wood. Fungal Ecology 42, article number: 100868. (10.1016/j.funeco.2019.100868)
- Johnston, S., Hiscox, J., Savoury, M., Boddy, L. and Weightman, A. 2019. Highly competitive fungi manipulate bacterial communities in decomposing beech wood (Fagus sylvativa). FEMS Microbiology Ecology 95(2) (10.1093/femsec/fiy225)
2017
- Antwis, R. E. et al. 2017. Fifty important research questions in microbial ecology. FEMS Microbiology Ecology 93(5), article number: fix044. (10.1093/femsec/fix044)
- Johnston, S. R. 2017. Fungus-bacteria interactions in decomposing wood: unravelling community effects. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University.
2016
- Johnston, S., Boddy, L. and Weightman, A. 2016. Bacteria in decomposing wood and their interactions with wood-decay fungi. FEMS Microbiology Ecology 92(11), article number: fiw179. (10.1093/femsec/fiw179)
- Hiscox, J., Savoury, M., Johnston, S. R., Parfitt, D., Muller, C. T., Rogers, H. J. and Boddy, L. 2016. Location, location, location: priority effects in wood decay communities may vary between sites. Environmental Microbiology 18(6), pp. 1954-1969. (10.1111/1462-2920.13141)
2015
- Johnston, S. R., Vaughan, I. P. and Ormerod, S. J. 2015. Acid-base status mediates the selection of organic habitats by upland stream invertebrates. Hydrobiologia 745(1), pp. 97-109. (10.1007/s10750-014-2097-9)
Teaching
My current teaching centres around delivering bioinformatics workshops to students on the MRes and integrated masters programmes. Previous teaching experience includes: lecturing on first and second year statistics and plant ecology, leading a journal-club style discussion group for masters students, running data analysis workshops for second year undergraduates, and demonstrating on a wide range of laboratory practicals/field trips.
I am a microbial community ecologist with research interests in mycology, freshwater microbiology, and quantitative ecology. My overarching research aim is to tackle one of the great problems in ecology: how to link (community) structure to (ecosystem) function. I am convinced that this will not be solved by a magic bullet, but by a judicious combination of hypothesis development, experimental design, statistical tools and experimental methods linking multiple scales.
Fungal-Bacterial Interactions
Microbial communities drive many of the processes in the natural world, but their interactions are often poorly understood - particularly across kingdoms. My PhD research investigated the interactions between fungi and bacteria during wood decomposition, and this remains a particular area of interest to me. My PhD work was the first to show a causal link in the field between the identity of the dominant fungus in a resource and the composition of the bacterial community. It also revealed for the first time that fungi can significantly delay bacterial colonisation of a woody resource. I am also interested in bacterial effects on fungi, particularly the Paraburkholderia which migrate along fungal hyphae.
Microbiology of Headwater Streams
Upland freshwaters provide a host of ecosystem services and act as sensitive indicators of ecosystem health. My research career started in freshwater ecology, researching the effects of acidification on habitat choice by macroinvertebrates. Since then I have been involved with Prof. Isabelle Durance's NERC DURESS project, looking at the links between microbial communities and dissolved organic carbon. I have an active interest in freshwater mycology and soil-water linkages, which I hope to pursue further in future.
Post-Harvest Stress
Plants' responses to the stresses associated with harvest have major implications for food security, waste reduction and agricultural efficiency. I have worked with Prof. Hilary Rogers and Dr. Carsten Müller on post-harvest stress reponses in various plant systems. During the BBSRC Future Forages project we collaborated with Prof. Alison Kingston-Smith and Dr. Elizabeth Hart at Aberystwyth University to investigate how climate stress imposed when grass is growing affects its subsequent autolysis within the rumen. In the Fondazione con il Sud's FRUITY project, we combined biochemical analysis with consumer panel data to assess markers of peach quality and how they are affected by storage, in collaboration with Dr. Natasha Spadafora at the University of Calabria and Dr. Ruth Fairchild and Dr. Anita Setarehnejad at Cardiff Metropolitan University.
