DrPeter Graystock

Overview
The Graystock lab studies the interactions of microorganisms with their environment, each other, and plant and animal species. This includes the study of parasites and symbionts and the interaction of microbes with anthropogenic effects such as agrochemical exposure and climate change. Much of this research is focused on the parasites and wider microbial community (microbiome) that live in the guts of bees.

>>>>> Visit our website: www.graystock.info for more details of our activities <<<<<

Ongoing research

We investigate how beneficial and parasitic microbes establish and spread within host populations. These early transmission events are critical to host health and ecosystem stability. Our work has informed pollinator import screening, land management strategies, and agricultural policy.

We explore how microbial communities can be reshaped to improve host resilience. Current projects include engineering soil microbiomes to protect crops from fungal pathogens and developing probiotic interventions to help pollinators tolerate pesticide exposure.

We are developing novel tools to study how the microbiome influences neural and behavioural responses in bees. This includes germ-free rearing, microbiome manipulation, and machine learning-based behavioural tracking.

-------
Additionally, PhD students;
>>Monika Yordanova - Transmission and trigger of honey bee brood disease
>>Miles Nesbit - Spillover of pollinator parasites
>>Kieran Storer - Bee responses to pesticides and heat
>>Charlotte Fryday - Functional gains and decay in microbial consortia
>>Vida Svahnstrom - Extinction risk and threatened evolutionary history in epiphytic flowering plants