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Hire Dr. Gareth T.

United Kingdom

USD 55 /hr

Expert Biological Researcher | 10+ Papers, 60+ Peer Reviews & Technical Policy Documents

Profile Summary

I am a Senior Researcher and Consultant with over 10 years of experience across the Life Sciences, specialising in chemical ecology, agriculture, and entomology. I bridge the gap between high-level laboratory research and practical, actionable policy and technical documentation. Research & Academic Impact My work is characterised by a high-impact publication record, including 10+ peer-reviewed papers in journals such as Current Biology, Pest Management Science, and Agricultural and Forest Entomology. This academic rigor is complemented by my extensive experience on Editorial Boards, where I have overseen the scientific process and conducted peer reviews for over 60 manuscripts. Policy & Editorial Expertise Beyond the lab, I am an expert in translating complex biological data for broader audiences. My portfolio includes published policy documents and technical reports designed for regulatory and governmental stakeholders. Core Competencies: • Subject Matter Expertise: Chemical Ecology, Sustainable Agriculture, & Forest Entomology. • Scientific Writing: Manuscript preparation for high-impact journals, white papers, and grant proposals. • Editorial Services: 60+ Peer reviews, editorial board management, and technical proofreading. I am available for consultations ranging from technical manuscript optimisation to large-scale agricultural policy development.

Subject Matter Expertise

• ☆ Plant Pathology
• ☆ Microbiology
• ☆ Agricultural Microbiology
• ☆ Integrated Pest Management
• ☆ Food Microbiology

Services

• Writing
• Research

Writing Technical Writing, General Proofreading & Editing

Research Fact Checking, Scientific and Technical Research, Systematic Literature Review

Work Experience

Senior Scientific Officer

Department for environment, food and rural Affairs

March 2025 - Present

Post-doctoral Research Scientist (Chemical Ecology)

Rothamsted Research

February 2021 - Present

Cardiff University

November 2019 - February 2021

Education

Visiting Ph.D. - Biological Sciences

University of Exeter

September 2015 - September 2019

Biology (with a year in industry)

University of York

October 2011 - July 2015

Certifications

• Certification details not provided.

Publications

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Gareth Thomas, Anusha Mohan‐Kumar, David M. Withall, John C. Caulfield, József Vuts (2025). Pheromone stereochemical specificity in the biology of the bean beetle Acanthoscelides obtectus . Agricultural and Forest Entomology.

Gareth Thomas, Daegan Inward, Jozsef Vuts, Kerry Barnard, John C. Caulfield, Stephen J. Powers, Ana Uglow, Katy Reed (2025). Investigating the threat to Sitka spruce from Ips typographus: discrimination and colonization of Britain's principal commercial conifer by a damaging forest pest . Pest Management Science.

Gareth A. Thomas, József Vuts, David M. Withall, John C. Caulfield, John Sidda, Murray R. Grant, Christopher R. Thornton, Michael A. Birkett (2025). Inducible Volatile Chemical Signalling Drives Antifungal Activity of Trichoderma hamatum GD12 During Confrontation With the Pathogen Sclerotinia sclerotiorum . Environmental Microbiology Reports.

Inward, D., Vuts, J., Thomas, G., Barnard, K., Caulfield, J. C., Powers, S. J., Uglow, A., Reed, K. (2025). Investigating the threat to Sitka spruce from Ips typographus: discrimination and colonization of Britain's principal commercial conifer by a damaging forest pest . Pest Management Science.

Gareth Thomas, Liesbet Wilberts, József Vuts, John C. Caulfield, David M. Withall, Felix Wäckers, Michael A. Birkett, Hans Jacquemyn, Bart Lievens (2024). Effects of root inoculation of entomopathogenic fungi on olfactory‐mediated behavior and life‐history traits of the parasitoid Aphidius ervi (Haliday) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) . Pest Management Science.

Thomas, G., Caulfield, J. C., Nikolaeva-Reynolds, L.R., Birkett, M. A., Vuts, J. (2024). Solvent extraction of PDMS tubing as a new method for the capture of volatile organic compounds from headspace . Journal of Chemical Ecology.

Thomas, Gareth, Cambon, Marine C., Caulfield, John, Crampton, Michael, Reed, Katy, Doonan, James M., Hussain, Usman, Denman, Sandra, Vuts, Jozsef, Mcdonald, James E. (2024). Chemical cues from beetle larvae trigger proliferation and putative virulence gene expression of a plant pathogen . BioRxiv.

Gareth Thomas, Anusha Mohan-Kumar, Alexander N. Borg, John Caulfield, Michael A. Birkett (2024). Solvent Extraction of Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) Tubing to capture Volatile Organic Compounds from the Headspace and the Rhizosphere v1 .

Barbora Novakova, John Caulfield, David Withall, Mike Birkett, József Vuts (2024). Using dynamic headspace collections for bacterial volatile sampling v1 .

Cambon, M., Thomas, G., Caulfield, J. C., Crampton, M., Doonan, J. M., Hussain, U., Denman, S., Vuts, J., McDonald, J. E. (2023). Chemical cues from beetle larvae trigger proliferation and virulence of a plant pathogen . bioRxiv.

Thomas, G., Gil, T. P., Muller, C. T., Rogers, H. J., Berger, C. N. (2023). From field to plate - How do bacterial enteric pathogens interact with ready-to-eat fruit and vegetables, causing disease outbreaks? . Food Microbiology.

Wilberts, L., Vuts, J., Caulfield, J. C., Thomas, G., Withall, D., Wackers, F., Birkett, M. A., Jacquemyn, H., Lievens, B. (2023). Effects of root inoculation of entomopathogenic fungi on olfactory-mediated behavior and life-history traits of the parasitoid Aphidius ervi (Haliday) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) . Pest Management Science.

Gareth Thomas, Liesbet Wilberts, J&#243;zsef Vuts, John C. Caulfield, David M. Withall, Felix W&#228;ckers, Michael A. Birkett, Hans Jacquemyn, Bart Lievens(2023). Effects of root inoculation of entomopathogenic fungi on olfactory‐mediated behavior and life history traits of the parasitoid <i>Aphidius ervi</i> (Haliday) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) . Pest Management Science. Wiley

Gareth A. Thomas, Teresa Paradell Gil, Carsten T. M&#252;ller, Hilary J. Rogers, Cedric N. Berger(2023). From field to plate: How do bacterial enteric pathogens interact with ready-to-eat fruit and vegetables, causing disease outbreaks? . Food Microbiology. p. 104389. Elsevier {BV}

Gareth Thomas, Quint Rusman, William R. Morrison, III, Diego M. Magalh&#227;es, Jordan A. Dowell, Esther Ngumbi, Jonathan Osei-Owusu, Jessica Kansman, Alexander Gaffke, Kamala Jayanthi Pagadala Damodaram, et al. (2023). Deciphering Plant-Insect-Microorganism Signals for Sustainable Crop Production . Biomolecules.

Thomas, G., Rusman, Q., Magalhaes, D., Dowell, J. A., Ngumbi, E., Osei-Owusu, J., Kansman, J., Gaffke, A., Damodaram, K. J. P., Kim, S. J., et al. (2023). Deciphering Plant-Insect-Microorganism Signals for Sustainable Crop Production . Biomolecules.

Gareth Thomas, Quint Rusman, William R. Morrison, Diego M. Magalh&#227;es, Jordan A. Dowell, Esther Ngumbi, Jonathan Osei-Owusu, Jessica Kansman, Alexander Gaffke, Kamala Jayanthi Pagadala Damodaram, et al. (2023). Deciphering Plant-Insect-Microorganism Signals for Sustainable Crop Production . Biomolecules.

Gareth Thomas(2022). Impact of endophytic colonization by entomopathogenic fungi on the behavior and life history of the tobacco peach aphid Myzus persicae var. nicotianae . PLOS ONE. 17. (9). p. e0273791. Public Library of Science ({PLoS})

Vuts, J., Wilberts, L., Caulfield, J. C., Thomas, G., Birkett, M. A., Herrera-Malaver, B., Verstrepen, K. J., Sobhy, I. S., Jacquemyn, H., Lievens, B. (2022). Impact of endophytic colonization by entomopathogenic fungi on the behavior and life history of the tobacco peach aphid Myzus persicae var. nicotianae . PLOS ONE.

Impact of endophytic colonization by entomopathogenic fungi on the behavior and life history of the tobacco peach aphid Myzus persicae var. nicotianae <head> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Refresh" CONTENT="0;URL=/servlet/useragent"> </head> . PLOS ONE.

Thomas, Gareth, Wilberts, Liesbet, Vuts, Jozsef, Caulfield, John C., Birkett, Michael A., Herrera-Malaver, Beatriz, Verstrepen, Kevin J., Sobhy, Islam S., Jacquemyn, Hans, Lievens, Bart (2022). Impact of endophytic colonization by entomopathogenic fungi on the behavior and life history of the tobacco peach aphid <i>Myzus persicae</i> var. <i>nicotianae</i> . Plos One.

Harnessing microbial volatiles to replace pesticides and fertilizers <head> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Refresh" CONTENT="0;URL=/servlet/useragent"> </head> . Microbial Biotechnology.

Gareth Thomas(2020). Harnessing microbial volatiles to replace pesticides and fertilizers . Microbial Biotechnology. 13. (5). p. 1366--1376. Wiley

Birkett, M. A., Withall, D., Thomas, G. (2020). Harnessing microbial volatiles to replace pesticides and fertilizers . Microbial Biotechnology.

Breeze, V. G., Thomas, G., Butler, R. Use of a model and toxicity data to predict the risks to some wild plant species from drift of four herbicides . Annals of Applied Biology - AAB.

PREPRINT

Gareth A. Thomas, J&#243;zsef Vuts, David M. Withall, John C. Caulfield, John Sidda, Murray R. Grant, Christopher R. Thornton, Michael A. Birkett (2025). Inducible volatile chemical signalling drives antifungal activity of Trichoderma hamatum GD12 during confrontation with the pathogen Sclerotinia sclerotiorum .

Gareth Thomas, Barbora Novakova, John Caulfield, David Withall, Mike Birkett, J&#243;zsef Vuts (2024). Using dynamic headspace collections for bacterial volatile sampling v1 .

Gareth Thomas, Marine C. Cambon, John Caulfield, Michael Crampton, Katy Reed, James M. Doonan, Usman Hussain, Sandra Denman, Jozsef Vuts, James E. McDonald (2023). Chemical cues from beetle larvae trigger proliferation and putative virulence gene expression of a plant pathogen .

REPORT

Novakova, B., Caulfield, J. C., Withall, D., Birkett, M. A., Vuts, J., Thomas, G. (2024). Using dynamic headspace collections for bacterial volatile sampling .

Thomas, G., Mohan-Kumar, A., Borg, A., Caulfield, J. C., Birkett, M. A., Vuts, J. (2024). Solvent Extraction of Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) Tubing to Capture Volatile Organic Compounds from the Headspace and the Rhizosphere .

RESEARCH TOOL

Gareth Thomas, Anusha Mohan-Kumar, Alexander N. Borg, John Caulfield, Michael A. Birkett, Jozsef Vuts (2024). Solvent Extraction of Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) Tubing to capture Volatile Organic Compounds from the Headspace and the Rhizosphere v1 .