I was an undergraduate at Edinburgh, wherre I developed a fascination with plants and how they grow. After this I completed my PhD in plant development with Jill Harrison at the Plant Science department in Cambridge and undertook my postdoctoral research at the John Innes Centre in Norwich, trying to understand how carnivorous plants have evolved such complex leaves. I started my own lab in 2021 as a Career Development Fellow at the SLCU here in Cambridge. My research focuses on how plants pattern themselves in three dimentions. We are particularly interested in identifying the genetic and cellular mechanisms that form the different cell types and intercellular air spaces inside leaves.
Selected Publications:
Kelly-Bellow, R, Lee, KJ, Kennaway R, Barclay, E, Whibley, A, Bushell, C, Whitewoods, CD and Coen, ES. Genetic control of cell layer interactions in plants via tissue mechanics. bioRxiv. 2023. https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.02.14.527838
Whitewoods, CD, Gonçalves, B, Cheng J. et al. Evolution of carnivorous traps from planar leaves through simple shifts in gene expression. Science. 2020. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aay5433
Lee, KJ, Bushell, C, Fozard, J, Piao, C, Newman, J, Whitewoods, CD. et al. Shaping of a three-dimensional carnivorous trap through modulation of a planar growth mechanism.
PLoS Biology. 2019. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000427
Whitewoods CD, Cammarata J, et al. CLAVATA was a genetic novelty for the morphological innovation of 3D growth in land plants. 2018
Current Biology 30 (13), 2645-2648
Reviews:
Whitewoods, CD. Riddled with holes: Understanding air space formation in plant leaves. PLoS Biology. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3001475
Whitewoods CD and Coen ES. Growth and development of three-dimensional plant form.
Current Biology. 2018. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.05.079