Robert B. Mellor

Robert Brooke Mellor (born Yorkshire, UK) is a British scientist, known for his "unified vacuole theory" which states that in endosymbioses generally, the micro-symbiont and the macro-symbiont share their lytic vacuolar compartments. This stems from his earlier symbiosome (or "symbiosome is a lysosome" theory) which states that the organelle that microsymbionts inhabit partially takes over the lysosomal functions in these cells, analogous to the role of protein bodies in seeds (Mellor, 1989) in particular that the rhizobial symbiosome is an organ-specific form of lysosome in legume root nodules.

Early career (plant biology)

Mellor was also very interested in how plants distinguish between symbiotic and pathogenic infections and in 1984 set about measuring defence responses in nodules infected with different rhizobial mutants and it gradually appeared that in Rhizobia the nod genes are responsible for producing different nod factors (lipo-chitin molecules) and that amongst their many effects was that they can provoke plant defence responses, so that it was essential that these genes were switched off (by molecules called "nodoffs") after infection, or that symbiosis could not take place. This convincing model won general acclaim and indeed the paper with Professor David B Collinge was later reprinted (Mellor and Collinge, 1995) as that year’s number one most important publication in the area .

In other works R. B. Mellor has claimed that in legumes the root nodule cytoplasm may be under water stress and the plant may combat this by using trehalose. Indeed, this may explain why nodulated plants have a higher drought-tolerance than non-nodulated plants , which is becoming an important issue in climate change.

Mid career (environmental nanotech)

However Mellor was also interested in applied science and after leaving the University of Basel became Director of R&D at a German chemical company where he invented and a patented system to power immobilized oxido-reductase enzymes and artificial co-factors using electrical power out of a domestic socket. The impact of this breakthrough was absolutely enormous: For example, twenty-five years later the authors Eltarahony et al (Biotechnology Reports 18(C):e00257NAP) in their round-up review paper entitled "NAP enzyme recruitment in simultaneous bio-remediation and nanoparticles synthesis" state that "... Mellor et al. [1992] pioneered the concept of current promotion, electrode bioreactor and denitrification control, this concept, [is now] widely used to treat different types of wastewater, such as toxic and refractory organic wastewater as well as wastewater containing heavy metal ions. ... "

Present work (computing and maths)

In early 2000 Mellor joined and helped start-up the IT University of Copenhagen [3], and in 2005 he became Director of Enterprise at Kingston University [4], London, in Computing, Information Systems and Mathematics. Mellor teaches innovation and the mathematical modelling of business processes at MSc level at Kingston University. Robert B Mellor is author of over 120 scientific publications in reputable journals as well as eleven books, several of which have been translated into other languages. His impact factor (h-Index) is 25. He is an active consultant with over twelve years industrial experience and lectures at postgraduate level on subjects like ‘strategic information systems’, ‘knowledge management’, ‘strategic innovation’ and ‘tech entrepreneurship’. In 2011 his computer modelling of the "Knowledge-Based View of the Firm" (Knowledge Management and Information Systems: Strategies for Growing Organizations', 2011) resulted in a complete explanation of the developmental life-cycle of SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises ... see also Big Data Modelling the Knowledge Economy ). He runs a select research group modelling Science Parks in the context of regional development.

Most recently, working together with his friend Dr Matthias G. Will, a computer model was developed which explains why, in modern business environments, flat organizations can only exist if employees are able to competently evaluate innovations and their judgement is accepted by their managers, a situation typified by the successful tech firms. If this is not the case, then poorly-performing hierarchies are inevitable .

Works

Articles

• Mellor, R.B., J. Ronnenberg, W.H. Campbell and S. Diekmann (1992): Reduction of nitrate and nitrite in water by immobilized enzymes. Nature, 355, 717-719.
• Mellor, R.B.: The nodulation of legumes. (1996). DSR Forlag, Copenhagen. ISBN 87-7432-466-7
• Mellor, R.B.: Bacteroids in the Rhizobium-legume symbiosis inhabit a plant internal lytic compartment: Implications for other microbial endosymbioses. J Exp. Bot., 40, 831-839 (1989)
• Mellor, R.B. (1992): Is trehalose a symbiotic determinant in symbioses between higher plants and micro-organisms? Symbiosis, 12, 113-129
• Farias-Rodrigues, R., R.B. Mellor, C. Arias and J.J. Pena-Cabriales (1998): Trehalose accumulation in several cultivars of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L) and its correlation to drought stress. Physiol. Plant., 102, 353-359.
• Werner, D., R.B. Mellor, M.G. Hahn and H. Grisebach (1985): Soybean root response to symbiotic infection: Glyceollin accumulation in an ineffective type of nodule with an early loss of the peribacteroid membrane. Z. Naturforsch., 40, 171-181.
• Mellor, R.B. and D.B. Collinge (1995): A simple model based on known plant defence reactions is sufficient to explain most aspects of nodulation. J. Exp. Bot., 46, 1-18.
• Mellor, R. B. (2018) Big data modelling the knowledge economy. International Journal of Knowledge-Based Development, 9 (3), 206-220.
• Will, M. G., Al-Kfairy, M. and Mellor, R. B. (2019) How organizational structure transforms risky innovations into performance: a computer simulation. Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory, 94, 264-285.

Books

• ASP: Learning by Example by R. B. Mellor. Franklin Beedle, 2001. ISBN 1-887902-68-6.
• DHTML: Learning by Example by R. B, Mellor. Franklin Beedle, 2002. ISBN 1-887902-83-X.
• XML: Learning by Example, by R. B. Mellor. Franklin Beedle, 2003. ISBN 1-887902-80-5.
• Entrepreneurship for Everyone by R. B, Mellor. Sage, 2008. ISBN 978-1-4129-4776-3.
• Knowledge Management and Information Systems by R. B, Mellor. 2011 Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 978-0-230-28043-4.
• Management for Scientists by R. B. Mellor. 2019 Emerald Publishing Limited, ISBN 978-1-787-69204-6

External links

• Official website
• Official website