Dr Ronelle Roth

Ronelle Roth is Fellow & Tutor in Biology at Worcester College. The focus of Ronelle’s group is to obtain a mechanistic understanding of the cross-talk that exist between plants and beneficial arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. Her research is important for sustainable food security as AM symbiosis enhances crop productivity while minimising the reliance on chemical inputs.

During her post-doctoral research at University of Cambridge, Ronelle discovered membrane bound nanoparticles, called extracellular vesicles, accumulate at intracellular plant and fungal symbiotic interfaces. In animals, extracellular vesicles mediate cell-cell communication, yet in plants, their function remains less well understood. Ronelle’s group uses molecular and cell biology approaches to identify cargoes of extracellular vesicles, to understand their biogenesis and spatio-temporal dynamics and to determine the role of extracellular vesicles in modulating the AM symbiosis.