Dr Micha Bayer

Bioinformatics Specialist
Information and Computational Sciences
  • Specialises in analysis of Next Generation Sequencing data from crop plants
  • Main focs: genomics and variomics, RenSeq and related technologies, barley and potato

I am a bioinformatics specialist with a focus on second and third generation sequence analysis. My post was created at the start of the next generation sequencing era and I am one of the early pioneers of applying these technologies to crop plants. I was part of the consortia for the barley genome projects in 2012 and 2017 and a co-author on several high-impact publications revolving around the analysis of genetic variation in barley. I was also the lead bioinformatician for the last two barley genotyping platforms, the Illumina iSelect 9k and 50k genotyping chips. I have been involved in two barley reference transcriptome projects, leading to high-quality barley reference transcript datasets (BART1 and BART2). Other projects I have been involved in include the identification of Rhynchosporium resistance genes, candidate genes for diastatic power and diagnostic markers for epiheterodendrin (EPH). More recently, I have been involved in the barley pan-genome, pan-transcriptome and pan-Hordeum projects, as well as the creation of the EORNA database (https://ics.hutton.ac.uk/eorna/index.html). I also have an active interest in RenSeq (https://doi.org/10.1111/tpj.12307) and related technologies, in both potato and barley.

 

  • BBSRC European Partnership Award “The exploitation and sharing of barley resources” 2021-2025 (Co-I)
  • BBSRC Responsive mode “The Generation Gap – Mechanisms of maternal control on grain” 2021-2024 (Co-PI)
  • BBSRC Responsive mode “R-EVOLVE” 2021-2025 (subcontract)
  • BBSRC Responsive mode “Developing nutrient-enriched cereal grains with large embryos” 2019-2022 (named researcher)
  • BBSRC BBR “A Reference Transcript Dataset for improved analysis of RNA-seq data from barley” 2018-2020 (subcontract)
  • ERA-CAPS network “BARley yield associated Network (BARN)” 2018-2021 (subcontract)
  • BBSRC Responsive mode “Mechanisms underlying variation in barley hull adhesion” 2018-2021 (subcontract)
  • Innovate UK “EPH Elimination from Malting Barley for Scotch Whisky Production” 2017-2018 (Co-I)
  • TSB/BBSRC AgriTech Catalyst “Breeding Targets for Durable Resistance to Rhynchosporium  (DRRUM)” 2016-2019 (Co-I)
  • HGCA/AHDB “A genome wide analysis of key genes controlling diastatic power activity in UK barley” 2015-2017 (Co-I)
  • BBSRC Crop Improvement Research Club (CIRC) “Fungal effectors as activators of novel resistances in cereals.” 2012-2016 (Researcher Co-I)
  • BBSRC Responsive mode “The diversity and evolution of the gene component of barley peri-centromeric heterochromatin” 2011-2014 (named researcher)

Past research

  • May2008 – present: Bioinformatics Specialist, The James Hutton Institute (prev. SCRI)
  • March 2006 – May2008: Software Developer, Scottish Bioinformatics Research Network (SBRN), SCRI
  • September 2003 – February 2006: Grid Developer, National e-Science Centre (Glasgow Hub), University of Glasgow
  • September 2002 – September 2003: MSc Information Technology, Glasgow University
  • July 1998 – August 2002: Postdoctoral Researcher, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
  • February 1998 – June 1998: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Gatty Marine Laboratory, St Andrews University
  • June 1994 – January 1998: PhD Marine Biology, St Andrews University

Journals

Books / chapters

  • Bayer, M.; Morris, J.; Booth, C.; Booth, A.; Uzrek, N.; Russell, J.R.; Waugh, R.; Hedley, P.E. (2019) Exome capture for variant discovery and analysis in barley, In: Harwood, W.A. (ed.) Barley: Methods and Protocols. Methods in Molecular Biology, Humana Press, New York, Volume 1900, 283-310
  • Simpson, C.G.; Barrero, R.A.; Bayer, M.; Flavell, A.; Rapazote-Flores, P.; Bellgard, M.I.; Hedley, P.E.; Zhang, R.; Waugh, R. (2018) The expressed portion of the barley genome, In: Stein, N. & Muehlbauer, G. (eds.) The Barley Genome, Compendium of Plant Genomes. Springer, Cham, Switzerland, 789-107
  • Twardziok, S.; Gundlach, H.; Hedley, P.E.; Bayer, M.; Platzer, M.; Groth, M.; Waugh, R.; Spannagl, M. (2018) Gene prediction in the barley genome, In: Stein, N. & Muehlbauer, G. (eds.) The Barley Genome, Compendium of Plant Genomes. Switzerland: Springer, Cham, 73-88
  • Milne, I.; Bayer, M.; Stephen, G.; Cardle, L.; Marshall, D. (2016) Tablet: visualizing next-generation sequence assemblies and mappings., In: Edwards, D. (ed.). Plant Bioinformatics: Methods and Protocols, Methods in Molecular Biology. Springer Science+Business Media, New York, 14, pp253-268.

Technical / contract reports

  • Milne, I.; Shaw, P.; Milne, L.; Bayer, M.; Stephen, G.; Marshall, D.F. (2010) Visualising genetic diversity., Annual Report of the Scottish Crop Research Institute for 2009, pp21-22.

Conference papers

  • Sharma, S.K.; Bayer, M.; MacKenzie, K.; McLean, K.; Dale, F.; Taylor, M.; Bryan, G.J. (2018) Sequence-based genotyping and trait analysis in potato., 15th Solanaceae Conference (SOL2018), Chiang Mai, Thailand, 30 September – 4 October 2018.
  • Sharma, S.K.; Bayer, M.; McLean, K.; MacKenzie, K.; Daniels, S.; Dale, F.; Bryan, G. (2015) Application of genotyping-by-sequencing and genome-wide association analysis in tetraploid potato, 3rd Plant Genomics Congress, 11-12 May 2015, London, UK.
  • Sharma, S.K.; Bayer, M.; McLean, K.; MacKenzie, K.; Daniels, S.; Dale, F.; Bryan, G. (2015) Genome-wide association studies using high-throughput SNP analysis in tetraploid potato, 12th Solanaceae Conference (SOL 2015), 25-29 October 2015, Bordeaux, France.
  • Sharma, S.K.; Bayer, M.; McLean, K.; MacKenzie, K.; Daniels, S.; Dale, F.; Bryan, G. (2014) Application of genotyping-by-sequencing for identifying SNP variation and performing genome-wide association studies in a tetraploid potato association panel, 19th Triennial Conference of the European Association for Potato Research (EAPR), 6-11 July 2014, Brussels, Belgium.
  • Sharma, S.K.; Bayer, M.; McLean, K.; MacKenzie, K.; Daniels, S.; Dale, F.; Bryan, G. (2014) Genotyping-by-sequencing and genome-wide association analysis in tetraploid potato, 11th Solanaceae Conference (SOL 2014), 2-6 November 2014, Porto Seguro-BA, Brazil.
  • Chen, X.; Bayer, M.; Harrower, B.; Stevens, L.; Chapman, S.; Gilroy, E.; van Weymers, P.; Jupe, F.; Witek, K.; Jones, J.; Birch, P.; Bryan, G.; Hein, I. (2014) Using the potato genome to map and clone durable resistance genes more rapidly., Crop Protection in Northern Britain, Environmental Management and Crop Protection, West Park Conference Centre, Dundee, 25-26 February 2014.
  • Avrova, A.; Gamble, L.; Griffe, L.; Ruiz, O.; Munsterkotter, M.; Bayer, M.; Looseley, M.E.; Knogge, W.; Newton, A.C.; Birch, P.R.; Hammond-Kosack K.E.; Kanyuka, K. (2014) From Rhynchosporium commune genome sequence to barley resistance., Crop Protection in Northern Britain, Environmental Management and Crop Protection, West Park Conference Centre, Dundee, 25-26 February 2014.
  • Gamble, L.; Munsterkotter, M.; Bayer, M.; Knogge, W.; Newton, A.C.; Birch, P.R.J.; Avrova, A. (2014) On the path of discovery: Rhynchosporium commune effectors activating scald resistance in barley., Crop Protection in Northern Britain, Environmental Management and Crop Protection, West Park Conference Centre, Dundee, 25-26 February 2014.
  • Shaw, P.; Milne, I.; Cardle, L.; Waugh, R.; Thomas, W.T.B.; Ramsay, L.; Comadran, J.; Stephen G.; Bayer, M.; Graham, M.; Kennedy J.; Oakey, H.; Marshall, D.F. (2012) Visualizing genetic transmission patterns in plant pedigrees., Plant and Animal Genome XX, San Diego, California, 14-18 January 2012.
  • Bayer, M.; Liu, H.; Marshall, D.F.; Russell, J.; Hedley, P.E.; Milne, I.; Stephen G.; Waugh, R.; (2011) A GBS data processing pipeline for barley., StatSeq Meeting on Genotyping by Sequencing. Wageningen, Netherlands, 3-4 November 2011 (Talk).
  • Bayer, M.M.; Russell, J.R.; Milne, L.; Hedley, P.E.; Marshall, D.F. (2010) SNP discovery in barley Illumina data using Mosaik, GigaBayes and Tablet., 2nd Workshop of COST StatSeq Action (TD0801), Ghent, Belgium, 20-21 May 2010.
  • Shaw, P.; Cardle, L.; Milne, I.; Waugh, R.; Flavell, A.; Thomas, W.T.B.; Grzebyta, J.; Bayer, M.; Marshall, D.F. (2009) Germinate 2: A platform for Illumina SNP genotyping experiments and high volume phenotypic data., Plant & Animal Genome XVII, San Diego, California, 10-14 January 2009.

Conference posters / abstracts

  • Shaw, P.; Raubach, S.; Macaulay, M.; Schreiber, M.; Milne, I.; Bayer, M.; Kilian, B. (2023) Going for BOLD Supporting the Biodiversity for Opportunities, Livelihoods and Development Project with Germinate and GridScore, Plant and Animal Genome 30, 13-18 January 2023. San Diego, USA & Online.
  • Rapazote-Flores, P.; Mayer, C-D.; Hedley, P.E.; Morris, J.; Fuller, J.; Milne, L.; Stephen, G.; Raeside, A.; Bayer, M.; Brown, J.W.S.; Calixto, C.P.G.; de la Vega, J.; Ayling, S.; Sampath, D.; Caccamo, M.; Waugh, R. (2016) Organ specific expression and alternative splicing in Barley (Hordeum vulgare)., Poster, September 2016.
  • Looseley, M.E.; Bayer, M.; Hedley, P.E.; Bull, H.; Booth, A.; Thomas, W.T.B.; Ramsay, L.; Morris, J.; Waugh, R.; Russell, J.R. (2016) A genome wide analysis of key genes controlling diastatic power activity in winter and spring barley., International Barley Genetics Symposium, 12th, Minneapolis, USA, 26-30 June 2016. Poster
  • Baker, K.; Cook, N.; Bayer, M.; Colas, I.; Ramsay, L.; Russell, J.; Flavell, A.J. (2014) Epigenome of barley: Development and optimisation of a ChiP-Seq protocol to investigate histone modification in barley., Plant and Animal Genome XXII, San Diego, California, USA, 12-16 January 2014.
  • Baker, K.; Bayer, M.; Cook, N.; Dreissig, S.; Dhillon, T.; Russell, J.; Hedley, P.; Morris, J.; Colas, I.; Waugh, R.; Steffenson, B.; Milne, I.; Stephen, G.; Marshall, D.; Flavell, A.J. (2014) The peri-centromeric heterochromatin of barley is a permissive environment for gene diversity, expression and evolution., Plant and Animal Genome XXII, San Diego, California, USA, 12-16 January 2014.
  • Stephen, G.; Milne, I.; Bayer, M.; Shaw, P.D.; Raubach, S.; Hearne, S.; Singh, S.; Wenzl, P.; Marshall, D. (2014) Graphical applications for visualizing and analysing genotype data sets., VizBi 2014, 2nd EMBO Conference on Visualizing Biological Data, EML-Heidelberg, Germany, 5-7 March 2014.
  • Milne, I.; Stephen, G.; Bayer, M.; Shaw, P.D.; Raubach, S.; Hearne, S.; Singh, S.; Wenzl, P.; Marshall, D. (2014) Graphical applications for visualizing and analysing genotype data sets., International Plant and Animal Genome XXII, San Diego, CA, USA, 11-15 January 2014.
  • Pritchard, L.; Bayer, M.; Cock, P.; Flores, P.; Jones, S.; Milne, I.; Shaw, P.; Marshall, D. (2014) James Hutton Institute Bioinformatics Grouping., Data Science Research Day, University of Edinburgh, 12 September 2014.
  • Milne, I.; Stephen, G.; Bayer, M.; Cardle, L.; Shaw, P.; Marshall, D. (2013) Optimisation of SNP and alternative splicing discovery using the Tablet NGS viewer., Plant and Animal Genome XXI, San Diego, CA, USA, 12-16 January 2013, P0971.
  • Tondelli, A.; Xu, X.; Schnaithmann, F.; Sharma, R.; Ingvardsen C.; Comadran, J.; Thomas, W.T.B.; Russell, J.; Bayer, M.; Hedley, P.E.; Waugh, R.; Schulman, A.H.; Pillen K.; Kilian B.; Rasmussen, S.K.; Cattivelli, L.; Flavell, A.J. (2012) Structural and temporal variation in the genetic diversity of a European collection of barley cultivars and utility for association mapping of quantitative traits., Plant and Animal Genome XX, San Diego, USA, 11-15 January 2012 (Abstract).
  • Tondelli, A.; Xu, X.; Schnaithmann, F.; Sharma, R.; Ingvardsen C.; Comadran, J.; Thomas, W.T.B.; Russell, J.; Bayer, M.; Hedley, P.E.; Waugh, R.; Schulman, A.H.; Pillen K.; Kilian B.; Rasmussen, S.K.; Cattivelli, L.; Flavell, A.J. (2012) Structural and temporal variation in the genetic diversity of a European collection of barley cultivars and utility for association mapping of quantitative traits., 11th International Barley Genetics Symposium, Hangzhou, China, 15-20 April 2012, No. 89 (Abstract).
  • Shaw, P.; Milne, I.; Cardle, L.; Waugh, R.; Flavell, A.J.; Stephen, G.; Bayer, M.; Graham, M.; Kennedy, J.; Marshall, D.F. (2011) Germinate 2 – Storage, visualization and analysis of high volume genotypic, phenotypic and pedigree data., Plant and Animal Genome XIX, San Diego, California, USA, 15-19 January 2011. (Poster)
  • Flavell, A.J.; Syed, N.H.; Ho, T.; Cardle, L.; Xu, X.; Bayer, M.M.; Marshall, D.F. (2011) Genome-Tagged Amplification (GTA) – A PCR-based method to prepare sample-tagged amplicons from hundreds of individuals for next generation sequencing., Plant and Animal Genome XIX, San Diego, California, USA, 15-19 January 2011. (Poster)
  • Woodhead, M.; Williamson, S.; Weir, A.; Smith, K.; Jennings, N.; McCallum, S.; Hackett, C.A.; Hedley, P.E.; Bayer, M.M.; Graham, J. (2011) Identification of cane splitting QTLs in raspberry., Scottish Society for Crop Research, The James Hutton Institute, Dundee, 9 March 2011. (Poster)
  • Marshall, D.F.; Milne, I.; Bayer, M.; Shaw, P.; Cardle, L.; Stephen, G.; Ramsay, L.; Comadran, J.; Thomas, W.T.B.; Russell, J.R.; Flavell, A.J.; Waugh, R. (2010) What you see is what you get: SCRI visualization tools for SNP discovery, genotype analysis and comparative mapping., Plant & Animal Genome XVIII, San Diego, California, USA, 9-13 January 2010 (Abstract).
  • Marshall, D.F.; Milne, I.; Bayer, M.; Shaw, P.; Cardle, L.; Stephen, G.; Ramsay, L.; Comadran, J.; Thomas, W.T.B.; Russell, J.R.; Flavell, A.J.; Waugh, R. (2010) Tablet, flapjack and strudel; SCRI visualization tools to support SNP discovery, genotype analysis and comparative mapping., Plant & Animal Genome XVIII, San Diego, California, USA, 9-13 January 2010 (Poster).
  • Shaw, P.; Cardle, L.; Milne, I.; Waugh, R.; Flavell, A.J.; Stephen, G.; Bayer, M.M.; Graham, M.; Kennedy, J.; Marshall, D.F. (2010) Germinate 2 – storage, visualization and analysis of high volume genotypic, phenotypic and pedigree data., Plant & Animal Genome XVIII, San Diego, California, USA, 9-13 January 2010 (Abstract).