神马福利影片

Assistant Professor

Email:

Phone: 024 765 52952

Office: B142

Sally Adams @sallybest.bsky.social

Research Groups

Research Clusters

Cells & Development

Plant & Agricultural Biosciences

Warwick Centres

Warwick Crop Centre

Research Focus

My research combines fundamental biology with applied innovation to develop sustainable alternatives to chemical insecticides. My aim is uncover the fascinating ways beneficial nematodes communicate, adapt and respond to their environment and then translate these lab discoveries into improved biocontrol systems.

The Challenge

The widespread use of chemical insecticides has had far-reaching consequences, impacting ecosystems, harming non-target species, and posing risks to human health. In response, the UK and EU have banned many compounds, including several neonicotinoids that were once essential for controlling major crop pests.

At the same time, insecticide resistance has emerged in over 600 insect species, threatening the effectiveness of existing control strategies. Developing sustainable and resilient alternatives is therefore essential for future food security.

Engineering Biocontrol Nematodes for Sustainable Agriculture

My research focuses on entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) and their symbiotic bacteria, which together form highly effective natural enemies of insect pests. These organisms are already used commercially as environmentally friendly alternatives to chemical insecticides, but their performance and production need improving to improve uptake in their use.

I use molecular genetics, developmental biology and transcriptomics to uncover how EPNs perceive and respond to their environment. My work investigates the mechanisms that regulate growth, development and behaviour, identifying how environmental and genetic signals are integrated to control key life-history transitions.

Understanding Climate Resilience in Interacting Biological Control Systems

Climate change is reshaping the biological interactions that underpin crop protection. Rising temperatures and increasing environmental variability threaten the effectiveness of many biological control agents, creating an urgent need to understand the mechanisms that promote resilience.

My research investigates how adaptation emerges across interacting species rather than within individual organisms alone. Using the EPN-bacterial symbiosis as a model system, I combine experimental evolution, transcriptomics and functional biology to determine whether adaptation to environmental stress occurs independently within each partner or through coordinated responses across the symbiosis.

This work addresses fundamental questions about the evolution of cooperation and adaptation while providing insights that can be used to develop climate-resilient biological control systems. More broadly, it advances our understanding of how interacting organisms respond to environmental change.

From Fundamental Discovery to Real-World Impact

Alongside my applied research, I investigate fundamental questions in developmental and evolutionary biology using the free-living nematode genus Auanema.

Working with Andre Pires da Silva and colleagues, I have helped establish Auanema as an emerging model system for studying development, reproduction and chromosome biology. My contributions have included genome assembly and annotation, development of molecular tools, and the characterisation of novel biological processes. These studies have revealed remarkable aspects of Auanema biology, including specialised adaptations associated with different sexual morphs and unconventional chromosome segregation mechanisms that maintain low male frequencies within populations.

Importantly, Auanema shares key developmental and reproductive features with the biocontrol genus Heterorhabditis. Discoveries arising from this curiosity-driven research have directly informed my applied work on biological control nematodes.

Broader interests and activities

I believe it is essential to support early career researchers in both their career development and overall well-being. To contribute to this, I actively participate in both the LAMS Postdoc Society and the People and Organisational Culture Committee (POCC).