Dr Gerry Saddler

Senior Management Team Head of Diagnostics & Analytical Services Branches Telephone Number +44(0)131 244 8925 Email Address gerry.saddler@sasa.gsi.gov.uk

Research interests/Areas of expertise

• Epidemiology, characterisation and detection of plant pathogenic bacteria, particularly those affecting potato.
• Epidemiology and control of potato mop top virus.
• Bacterial systematics.

Biography

• I joined SASA in 2001 to head the Diagnostics and Molecular Biology Section (DMB), taking over responsibility for Diagnostics and Analytical Services (DAS) in 2008. DAS encompasses 4 scientific sections; DMB, Official Seed Testing Station for Scotland (OSTS), Pesticides & Wildlife, and Virology & Zoology, and also includes SASA’s Scientific Services Support Unit, Library, and Horticulture Unit.
• I have worked on plant pathogenic bacteria for more than 20 years, previously with CABI, where I worked extensively on the potato brown rot pathogen, Ralstonia solanacearum. Since joining SASA I have lead projects on the potato ring rot pathogen (Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. sepedonicus) and, more recently, the newly emerging blackleg pathogen of potato, Dickeya solani (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wTlD-IzfRM & http://www.potato.org.uk/media_files/pests_and_diseases/pres1-sasa-threats.pdf).
• I serve as a technical adviser to policy colleagues within the Scottish Government, on bacterial diseases and their control and am a member of the International Society for Plant Pathology's Committee on the Taxonomy of Plant Pathogenic Bacteria (http://www.isppweb.org/about_tppb.asp).