Item AUD/2/4 - Interview with Roger Hull

Extent: 2 audio files and paperwork

Interview with Roger Hull conducted by Sarah Wilmot. Audio file (080625-Roger Hull MASTER.wav), 1 hour 58.56 minutes. Discusses his early life and education, work at the VRU/JII/JIC (1964-1997), including Roy Markham as Director, the move, new building and set up of facilities at the JIC in Norwich, work on viruses (multi component genomes, protoplasts, purification techniques etc.), sabbatical at University College California with Bob Shepherd on Cauliflower mosaic DNA, work on setting up European regulations, work of his research student John Hammond on new viruses and co evolution with hosts, Harold Woolhouse as Director, set up of Health and Safety Department, Science Policy Advisory group (SPAG), visiting workers and research students, funding and grant opportunities (Hull was International Liaison Officer), travel and work in China and Nigeria, Dick Flavell as Director, post retirement consultancy work and publications, including most recently advising on Sugar Beet yellow virus.

Admin History: Roger Hull (11 April 1937- ) Science Tripos graduating in Botany, Cambridge (1960), PhD, University of London (Wye Agricultural College) studying the epidemiology of viruses of sweet peas, with a research post in Uganda (1963) working on Groundnut rosette virus. He joined the Virus Research Unit at Cambridge in 1964 working with Roy Markham and moved with the unit to Norwich in 1968 working at the JIC until his retirement in 1997 when he was granted the first Emeritus Research Fellowship. Dr. Hull has worked on virus taxonomy and application of molecular approaches to conferring resistance to plant viruses. Several of his projects involved tropical crops and including rice tungro disease in Southeast Asia, rice hoja blanca in Central and South America, Banana streak virus in Nigeria, viruses of yam and taro worldwide, and, in collaboration with colleagues in China, making vectors noncompetent for transmission of Rice stripe virus. Using information gained from model systems, Hull has coupled investigations of new approaches to making plants resistant to viruses with assessment of possible risks accruing from field release of plants transformed with viral nucleic acid species.