Global Council for Innovation in Rapeseed and Canola
Members' Directory
Last name :
WELLS
First name :
Rachel
Entrance year :
2025
Occupation :
Senior scientist
Birthdate :
2025/01/29
Address :
Department of Crop Genetics,
Norwich Research Park,
Colney Lane,
NR4 7UH Norwich / United Kingdom
Main fields of interest :
- Seeds, genetics
- Crop protection
Professional experience : Rachel research focuses on plant molecular biology, Brassica genetics and genomics, with specific interest in the application of techniques and provision of materials to the plant breeding industry. She became a Senior Scientist at JIC in 2013 and Project Manager for the £4.3M BBSRC sLoLa BRAVO in 2017. As a Principal Investigator at JIC (2021), her science comprises two key areas of interest, Brassica-Pest Interactions and Understanding Growth and Developmental Transitions.
The Wells group uses captive colonies of cabbage stem flea beetle, to study insect development and genetics. Controlled and field screens in Brassica and related species such as Sinapis alba are used to look at plant-pest interactions and determine mechanisms associated with pest resistance. She collaborates with the University of Hertfordshire on disease resistance.
Using environmental perturbation and gene network models for floral timing and morphology, the group also works to understand how genetic variation and environment impact crop phenotype.
Rachel was UK Brassica Research Community elected representative (2018-2021) and sat as a board member of the Oilseed Rape Genetic Improvement Network (OREGIN) (2014-2024). She has served as an Associate Editor for Plant Cell Reports and Oil Crop Science from 2016. She became a Trustee, Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology in 2023.
Rachel was awarded an Honorary Associate Professor at the University of East Anglia in 2024.
Education : Rachel completed a degree at the University of East Anglia in Molecular Biology and Genetics (1997-2000) before continuing to study for an MSc in Plant Breeding and Biotechnology (2001-2002). She completed an Industrial CASE PhD studentship at the John Innes Centre with Monsanto on oilseed rape canopy architecture (2003-2006). In 2022 she qualified as a PRINCE2- foundation practioner in project management.
Selected publications : * Warner S., O’Neill CM., Doherty R., Wells R., Penfield S. (2024) Adaptation to reductions in chilling availability using variation in PLANT HOMOLOGOUS TO PARAFIBROMIN in Brassica napus. Frontiers 15, 1481282.
* Jones, D. M., Hepworth, J., Wells, R., Pullen, N., Trick, M., & Morris, R. J. (2024). A transcriptomic time-series reveals differing trajectories during pre-floral development in the apex and leaf in winter and spring varieties of Brassica napus. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 3538.
Jacott CN., Schoonbeek H-j., Singh Sidhu G., Steuernagel B., Kirby R., Zheng X., von Tiedermann * A., Macioszek V.K., Kononowicz A.K., Fell H., Fitt BDL., Mitrousia GK., Stotz HU., Ridout CJ., Wells R. (2024) Pathogen lifestyle determines host genetic signature of quantitative disease resistance loci in oilseed rape (Brassica napus). Theoretical and Applied Genetics 137(3): 65.
* Yalcin, HA, Jacott CN, Ramirez‐Gonzalez RH., Steuernagel B., Singh Sidhu G, Kirby R., Verbeek E., Schoonbeek H-j., Ridout CJ., Wells R. (2024) A complex receptor locus confers responsiveness to necrosis and ethylene‐inducing like peptides in Brassica napus. The Plant Journal.
* Woodhouse S., He Z., Woolfenden H., Steuernagel B., Haerty W., Bancroft I., Irwin JA., Morris RJ. and Wells R. (2021) Validation of a novel associative transcriptomics pipeline in Brassica oleracea: Identifying candidates for vernalisation response BMC Plant Genomics 22:539
* Calderwood A., Hepworth J., Woodhouse S., Bilham L., Jones M., Tudor E., Ali M., Dean C., Irwin JA., Wells R. and Morris RJ. (2021) Comparative transcriptomics reveals desynchronisation of gene expression during the floral transition between Arabidopsis and Brassica rapa cultivars Quantitative Plant Biology, 2, E4. doi:10.1017/qpb.2021.6
* Tudor EH, Jones DM, He Z, Bancroft I, Trick M, Wells R., Irwin JA, Dean C (2020) QTL-seq identifies BnaFT. A02 and BnaFLC. A02 as candidates for variation in vernalization requirement and response in winter oilseed rape (Brassica napus). Plant Biotechnol. J., 1-16
* Jordan A, Broad GR, Stigenberg J, Hughes J, Stone J, Bedford I, Penfield S, Wells R. (2020) The potential of the solitary parasitoid Microctonus brassicae for the biological control of the adult cabbage stem flea beetle, Psylliodes chrysocephala. Entomol Exp Appl, 168: 360-370.
* Ghosh S, et al. (2018) Speed breeding in growth chambers and glasshouses for crop breeding and model plant research. Nature Protocols 13: 2944-2963
