Dr Stephen A Rolfe
Tel: +44 (0)114 222 0039
Fax: +44 (0)114 222 0002
email : s.rolfe@sheffield.ac.uk
Career
BSc (1984) Imperial College of Science and Technology, London
PhD (1988) University of Cambridge
European Molecular Biology Fellow, University of California Los Angeles (1988-1991)
Lecturer, Dept. Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield (1991-2003)
Senior Lecturer, Dept. Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield (2004 - present)
Director of Teaching, Dept. Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield (2008 - )
Key Research Interests
Research focuses on plant responses to environmental and developmental signals using molecular techniques and particularly biological imaging techniques. Current projects are examining plant-pathogen interactions with imaging techniques using GFP expression as a probe of fungal metabolism and chlorophyll fluorescence as a measure of plant metabolism. Allied projects are using gene profiling procedures to determine alterations in host gene expression which occur upon infection. Other projects are examining the exchange of nutrients between plant and fungal partners in mycorrhizal symbioses with particular emphasis on hexose, sucrose and phosphate transporters and the effect of alterations in the activities of sucrose synthetic and sucrolytic enzymes on photosynthesis and carbohydrate metabolism.
Recently my interests in biological imaging have expanded into the study of microbial biofilms involved in the natural attenuation of pollutants in groundwater. This forms part of an interdisciplinary project 'The Cell Mineral Interface' funded by EPSRC (see http://www.shef.ac.uk/cmi/)
Teaching
Dr Stephen Rolfe is APS Director of Teaching and won the Departmental Teacher of Year award in 2007.
At level 1 I am module coordinator for APS132 Skills for Biologists 1 with responsibility for the IT aspects of the course. I use computers in a lot of my research, particularly image analysis, and was recently awarded a Faculty grant to introduce some of these techniques into undergraduate practical classes.
At level 2 I teach APS206 Plant, Cell & Environment and APS216 Biotechnology and Food. These modules reflect my long –standing interest in plant molecular biology, physiology and biochemistry and cover everything from the perception of light by plants through to the adoption of GM crops in modern agriculture. This theme continues in level 3 where I teach APS308 Environmental Regulation in Plants.
In recent years my research has expanded to consider environmental microbiology, particularly contaminated environments. I teach the module APS325 Life in Extreme Environments where I cover everything from life in hot springs, deep sea vents, other planets (maybe…) to contaminated aquifers in Wolverhampton! I am also very interested in the ethics of biology and how this affects wider society. The module APS326 Biology and Ethics covers a wide range of ethical areas from the impact of advances in genomic sequencing on individuals rights through to patents and Intellectual Property Rights and how they affect developments in agriculture. The aim of this course is to introduce students to key ethical issues but then let them explore topics that are of particular interest or relevance to them.
I have supervised a number of level 4 MBiolSci students – for example last year Joanna Scales examined how clubroot, a disease of Brassicas, alters developmental pathways in its host.
Professional Activities (1995 onwards)
Academic referee for the review of MAFF Horticulture and Potatoes scientific programme (1998)
USDA/DOE grant review panel 2004 (Washington)
Postdoctoral Staff
Dr Joh Andrews
Dr Robert Malinowski
Current Research Students
Thanos Rizoulis
Kieran Baker
Ammar Abdul Razak
Yun Wang
Serena Ahktar
Recent Publications (2001 to date)
Rolfe SA and Scholes JD (2010) Chlorophyll fluorescence imaging of plant–pathogen interactions. Protoplasma 247(3) 163-175
Andrews JS, Rolfe SA, Huang WE, Scholes JD and Banwart SA (2010) Biofilm formation in environmental bacteria is influenced by different macromolecules depending on genus and species. Environmental Microbiology 12(9) 2496-2507
Elliott DR, Scholes JD, Thornton SF, Rizoulis A, Banwart SA, Rolfe SA. (2010) Dynamic changes in microbial community structure and function in phenol-degrading microcosms inoculated with cells from a contaminated aquifer. FEMS Microbial Ecology 71,247–259
Scholes JD and Rolfe SA (2009) Chlorophyll fluorescence imaging as tool for understanding the impact of fungal diseases on plant performance; a phenomics perspective. Functional Plant Biology 36(11) 880–892
Kocábeka,T Svobodab,Z Al-Zwi AM, Rolfe SA and Fellner M (2009) Boron-regulated hypocotyl elongation is affected in Arabidopsis mutants with defects in light signalling pathways.Environmental and Experimental Botany 67, 101-111
Ludwig-Muller J, Prinsen E, Rolfe SA, Scholes JD (2009) Metabolism and Plant Hormone Action During Clubroot Disease. Journal of Plant Growth Regulation J Plant Growth Regul 28:229–244
Janacek SH, Trenkamp S, Palmer B, Brown NJ, Parsley K, Stanley S, Astley HJ, Rolfe SA, Quick WP, Fernie AR and Hibberd JM (2009). Photosynthesis in cells around veins of the C3 plant Arabidopsis thaliana is important for both the shikimate pathway and leaf senescence as well as contributing to plant fitness. The Plant Journal 59, 329–343
Mark Geoghegan, Johanna S. Andrews, Catherine A. Biggs, Kevin E. Eboigbodin, David R. Elliott, STEPHEN ROLFE, Julie Scholes, Jesús J. Ojeda, Maria E. Romero-González, David J. Brown, Robert G. J. Edyvean, Linda Swanson, Ramune Rutkaite, Rasika Fernando, Yu Pen, Zhenyu Zhang and Steven A. Banwart (2008) The polymer physics and chemistry of microbial cell attachment and adhesion. Faraday Discussions, 139, ISSN 1359-6640.
Quilliam. R.S., Swarbrick, J., Scholes, J.D. and Rolfe S.A. Imaging photosynthesis in wounded leaves of Arabidopsis thaliana (2006) Journal of Experimental Botany 57, 55-59
Wright D.P., Scholes J.D., Read D.J. and ROLFE S.A.. Molecular responses of European and African maize cultivars to soil phosphorus and mycorrhizal infection. New Phytologist (2005) 167: 881–896
Walters R.G., Shephard, F., Rogers, J.J.M., Rolfe, S.A. and Horton, P.H. Identification of mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana defective in acclimation of photosynthesis to the light environment. Plant Physiology (2003) 131, 472–481
Baxter, C.J., Foyer, C.H., ROLFE, S.A. and Quick, W.P. Elevated sucrose-phosphate synthase activity in transgenic tobacco sustains photosynthesis in older leaves and alters development. Journal of Experimental Botany (2003) 54, 1813-1820
Bahrami A.R., Bastow, R., ROLFE S.A., Price C. and Gray J.E. A role for nuclear localised proteasomes in mediating auxin action. The Plant Journal (2002) 30, 691-698
ROLFE S.A. and Scholes J.D. Extended depth-of-focus imaging of chlorophyll fluorescence from intact leaves. Photosynthesis Research (2002) 72, 107-115
C.J. Baxter, C. H. Foyer, S. A. ROLFE and W. P. Quick. A comparison of the carbohydrate composition and kinetic properties of sucrose phosphate synthase (SPS) in transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) leaves expressing maize SPS protein and untransformed controls. Annals of Applied Biology (2001) 38, 47-55
Book
The Physiology af Flowering Plants Opik and Rolfe. Cambridge Universtiy Press.