Recent Churchill College graduate Rachel Hammond has achieved something rare at the very start of a scientific career: her undergraduate essay work has been elevated into a co-first author publication in the H. H. Flor Distinguished Review, an invitation-only accolade reserved for scientists who have significantly changed collective understanding in their field.
Rachel’s work appears in ‘The Five Senses: How Do Plant Pathogens Know They Found Their Host?’. The paper grew directly from her Part II undergraduate essay, written in the third year of her Natural Sciences degree at Churchill. Part II essays are designed to be focused pieces of independent work, not publications. The fact that Rachel’s ideas were strong enough to form the intellectual core of a major invited review demonstrates the originality and maturity of her thinking.
Alongside the academic challenge, Rachel credits Churchill College with providing the right conditions to develop her ideas. “The College provided a great environment to connect with people who share similar academic interests,” she says. “Being taught in small groups allowed me to explore these interests in depth, and the individual support and guidance I received throughout my degree was extremely beneficial.”
Rachel arrived at Churchill without fixed expectations, having been unable to visit many colleges due to COVID restrictions, but she quickly found the College suited her well. Its slightly out‑of‑town location created a calmer atmosphere, helping her separate academic work from everyday life, and she valued having the facilities all located together on a single, walkable site.
Rachel didn’t begin university intending to specialise in plant sciences. She had very little exposure to the subject at school, and it was not initially on her radar. As she explains, one of the reasons she chose the Natural Sciences course was precisely because it allows students to explore different areas before specialising later on. That flexibility allowed her to discover a field she quickly became engaged with, culminating in ideas that would later attract the interest of senior researchers.
Those ideas underpin “The Five Senses”, which asks a deceptively simple question: how do plant pathogens know when they have arrived at their host? Using the five human senses as a framework, the authors explore how pathogens respond to signals such as touch, through sensing plant surface texture; sight, by detecting light wavelengths that signal proximity to a host; smell, through plant chemicals and volatile compounds; hearing, by detecting the density of neighbouring pathogens; and taste, by recognising characteristic plant molecules.
They conclude that no single cue is sufficient on its own. Instead, pathogens integrate multiple signals, with stronger responses triggered by more specific and reliable combinations. Crucially, understanding how pathogens sense their hosts could open new approaches to disease control, by disrupting these signalling pathways before infection occurs.
Rachel remains closely connected to the College and still lives on site with her partner. What she enjoys most now is the abundance of open space and gardens. “I enjoy wandering around and seeing all the different plants and wildlife,” she says. “You’ll often come across ducks, foxes, badgers, rabbits, and even the occasional muntjac deer.”
Looking ahead, Rachel is keeping her options open. “Hopefully just enjoying life and feeling happy in what I’m doing,” she says. “I’d like to keep learning and growing, and I’m definitely open to doing some further study if the right opportunity comes along.”
Her achievement reflects the opportunities available to students at Churchill to pursue their academic interests in depth, supported by close teaching and strong supervision. Publishing at this level so early in her career is a remarkable achievement, and the College warmly congratulates Rachel on this well‑deserved success.
