Professor Ian Graham, FRS, Centre for Novel Agricultural Products, Department of Biology, University of York
Tuesday 5th December, 1.00 p.m., Stacey Lecture Theatre 1
Medicinal plants such as opium poppy and Artemisia annua are extremely valuable for the pharmaceutical industry and global health. Our lab has discovered how genome rearrangement has allowed the evolution of pathways and enzymes responsible for synthesis of drugs, such as noscapine and codeine in opium poppy. In A. annua, which produces the artemisinin drug used to cure people suffering from malaria, we have developed new understanding of what controls drug production in the plant. These discoveries provided the tools for molecular breeding to create new commercial varieties that are now grown across the world and helping to stabilise the supply of these vital drugs.