Lucinda Robinson
Lucinda graduated in 1998 from Wye College University of London with a BSc (Hons) in Plant Sciences, and has subsequently accumulated over twelve years of laboratory experience. She spent seven of these years at a commercial cereal breeding company, where she worked initially on pathology field trials and then molecular marker assisted selection of wheat varieties.
Lucinda joined the Institute in 2007 as a research assistant in the Molecular Microbiology lab. Since then she has mainly worked on microbiological community profiling, utilising various methods such as multiplex terminal restriction fragment polymorphism analysis (m-TRFLP), phospholipid fatty acid extract analysis (PLFA) MicroResp(TM) (substrate-induced respiration) and real-time quantitative PCR. Lucinda has also carried out soil sampling in the field to collect cores for gas-flux studies.
In addition to Lucinda's other responsibilities, she co-manages the running of the Institute's ABI3130xl Sequencing platform (together with Duncan White), and assists with sales of the MicroResp™ kit & components.
Current research interests
Current and forthcoming studies will build on past reseach, and will include the quantitative analysis of gene expression (RT- QPCR) of denitrifying, methane oxidising and methanogen microorganisms in soils. Lucinda will also be part of new projects assessing Scotland’s soil biodiversity. These will involve new second generation sequencing techniques and Lucinda will be responsible for DNA preparations and quality screening for deep-sequencing and metagenomic projects.
Past research
Lucinda has worked on a range of different projects, the largest of these being the National Soils Inventory of Scotland (NSIS). This large-scale study aims to provide a snapshot of the condition of Scotland's soils and includes data from many different assays. Lucinda's contribution was to conduct m-TRFLP on over 1000 Scottish soils, and to bring all the data together for subsequent analysis. Other recent projects involved looking at soil quality indicators, examining the contribution of soil gas fluxes to the atmosphere, and collaboration with several external partners.
Recent publications
- Macdonald, C.A.; Thomas RTRDSN; L; 2009 Physiological, biochemical and molecular responses of soil microbial community after afforestation of pastures with Pinus radiata. Soil Biology and Biochemistry. 41
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