Phil Poole did his first degree and Ph.D. in Australia at Murdoch University before coming to do post-doctoral studies in the Department of Biochemistry at Oxford. He moved to the University of Reading as a lecturer, eventually becoming Professor of Microbial Physiology. Phil moved to the John Innes Centre in Norwich in 2007 to work in the Molecular Microbiology Department. In 2013, he took up a personal chair as Professor of Plant Microbiology at the University of Oxford, originally in the Department of Plant Sciences (now Biology).
Poole's group studies the physiology of bacterial colonisation of plant roots and how they establish symbiotic interactions with plants. A particular focus is the physiology and biochemistry of nitrogen fixation in legume nodules. Nitrogen-fixing rhizobia are bacteria that transition from a free-living state in the soil, to differentiated nitrogen-fixing bacteroids inside plant cells. The involves changing from free-living carbon heterotrophs to symbiotic auxotrophs, behaving like organelles that release ammonium to the plant rather than assimilate it for bacterial growth.
Professional position
- Professor of Plant Microbiology, Molecular Plant Sciences Section, Department of Biology, University of Oxford
