Plant natural products and seed biology
My lab works on the biosynthesis of natural products and the control of Arabidopsis seed germination. Our work in opium poppy has provided new knowledge and tools for production of pharmaceutical drugs such as noscapine, codeine and morphine in planta and our work on Artemisia annua has led to development of new hybrids for developing world based production of the vital antimalarial drug artemisinin.
Keywords
Biochemical genetics / opium poppy / morphine biosynthesis / gene clusters / artemisinin / anti-malarial drug / seed biology