CURRENT LAB MEMBERS

Nicola Patron
Head of Group | Associate Professor
After my PhD in plant molecular biotechnology, I completed post-doctoral research at the John Innes Centre and the University of British Columbia on the evolution of plastids and primary metabolism. I started my lab at the Earlham Institute in May 2016, relocating to the University of Cambridge in February 2024.  I am a co-founder of Black in Plant Science. I also enjoy mountain sports, kayaking and scuba diving.

Ana-Catarina Almeida
Technician
Details to follow

Daria Golubova
PhD Student
Project: Investigating the genetic basis of the anti-inflammatory bioactivity of Calendula officinalis (pot marigold) floral extracts
Before starting my PhD, I finished my BSc at Russian Technological University and my MSc at the University of Edinburgh. My work was focused on a clinical application of gas-chromatography mass-spectrometry for the quantitative determination of chemical substances in complex matrices, and on the development of synthetic receptors for the detection of mammalian cell interactions, respectively. Now, as a PhD student, I am investigating the biosynthetic pathways of plant metabolites with therapeutic properties. Besides science, I enjoy sports (table tennis / tennis / badminton / kayaking / orienteering) and art.

Zhengao Di
Postdoctoral Scientist
Project: Regulatory networks across cell-types
I did my PhD and a short postdoc in Prof. Julian Hibberd’s lab at the University of Cambridge during 2017-2023, focusing on the engineering of C4 photosynthetic pathway in C3 Arabidopsis. I joined the lab as a postdoc in 2023. I am studying the transcriptional network in the roots of Arabidopsis and tomato in response to changing nitrogen (N) conditions using scRNA-seq. We are interested in how the N-responsive transcription factor networks are distributed and coordinated across multiple cell types of the root. Knowledge from scRNA-seq will be used to inform cell-type-specific engineering of the N-responsive network to improve plant growth under N-limiting conditions.

Melissa Salmon
Postdoctoral Scientist
Project: Exploring the metabolic diversity of UK Plants
During my PhD at UEA, I characterised a triterpene synthase enzyme involved in the first committed step in the biosynthesis of avenacin, an oat root saponin involved in plant defence. In post-doctoral work, I studied the emergence of cyclisation in the sesquiterpenes of Artemisia annua and then returned to UEA to apply my skills in protein engineering and high-throughput protein purification and characterisation to optimise and improve the catalytic flexibility of phytase enzymes used in the animal feed industry. I joined the Patron lab in 2019 to work on the Darwin Tree of Life project and explore the metabolic diversity of UK plants. Using a combination of genomics, molecular biology and protein biochemistry, I am identifying the genes responsible for the biosynthesis of therapeutic metabolites. I also study the evolution of these molecules and aim to use a synthetic biology approach to enable bio-based production.

Honghao Su
PhD Student
Project: The evolution and function of triterpenoids in Asteraceae
Before joining the group, I completed a BA degree in Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge. I worked on the evolution of the catecholamine biosynthesis pathway across Caryophyllales during my Part II project. In my post-graduate studies, I am looking at the evolution and biological function of terpenoids in the Asteraceae. I’m using a combination of phylogenetic analysis, structural modelling, and biochemical and biological assays to explore the evolution and function of triterpene synthases in the Asteraceae.

Connor Tansley
Postdoctoral Scientist
I carried out my PhD at the University of East Anglia working on the decoding of calcium signals in Marchantia polymorpha. The focus of my PhD work was on subsets of decoders involved in decoding salt-induced calcium signalling to characterise if the evolution of the calcium decoding toolkit was key in the emergence of plants onto land and to see if these decoders could be used to increase crop productivity in saline areas. My current project focuses on using molecular biology to explore natural products in Asteraceae and develop synthetic biology tools to increase the production of these compounds in heterologous systems. 

Juanjuan Wang
Postdoctoral Scientist
I received my M.S. degree from the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IBCAS) in 2019 and pursued my Ph.D. and short-term postdoc at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research (MPIPZ) from 2019-2024. I studied flower morphogenesis and the establishment of a transient transformation system of protoplasts in my master’s degree, and in my PhD, I studied the regulation of flowering  time in the globally important oilseed crop Brassica napus. I joined the lab in August 2024 as a postdoc. My current project focuses on the effects of gene regulatory networks changes on plant disease resistance pathways. We hope to improve lettuce resistance to fungal pathogens by refining and engineering gene regulatory networks without altering other traits.

 

ALUMNI

Sarah Guiziou  2023-2024
Career Development Fellow
Sarah joined the lab in April 2023 with the goal of obtaining an independent fellowship to develop a research program focusing on using integrases to engineer plants, microbes, and their interactions.  In 2024, she realised her goal and is now a group leader at the Earlham Institute 🙂

Mahima 2023-2024
Postdoctoral Scientist
Mahima worked on engineering nucleosome positioning as a tool to alter gene expression in plants.

Sam Witham 2018-2023
PhD Student
Thesis title: Understanding and engineering cis-regulatory functions in Arabidopsis thaliana.
Sam’s PhD research investigated the function of cis-regulatory elements in plants, focusing on promoters in a nitrate-responsive gene regulatory circuit. He contributed to new techniques for assessing protein-DNA interactions and elucidating plant gene circuits [bioRxiv preprint].  Sam completed a professional internship placement (PIPS) with the Open Bioeconomy Lab and is now a bioinformatician at Macomics, Cambridge, UK.

Yaomin Cai 2018-2023
Postdoctoral Scientist
Yaomin led the computational design of minimal synthetic regulatory elements for plants. He also developed techniques for assessing protein-DNA interactions and contributed to a manuscript on regulatory architecture in nitrate-responsive plant gene circuits. Yaomin returned to China in 2023 to take up a position as the Head of Research and Development at Ningbo J&S Botanics.

Rachel Shen 2022
Intern
Rachel was an intern who joined the lab via the MISTI program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She completed her BSc in Biology with a microfluidic engineering certificate and joined the lab to learn more about plant synthetic biology. She worked on characterising a plant CYP and also contributed to a manuscript on regulatory architecture in nitrate-responsive plant gene circuits.

Tufan Oz 2019-2022
Postdoctoral Scientist
Tufan was a major contributor to an upcoming manuscript on engineering nitrate responses in plants. He also organised many essential working practices within our lab, including seeds and chemicals. Tufan is now a member of the Demirer Lab at Caltech.

Kalyani Kallam, 2018 – 2021
Postdoctoral Scientist
Kalyani worked on engineering the production of insect sex pheromones for pest control in agriculture. She also contributed to the development of synthetic promoters and cell-free biosynthesis of plant proteins. Kalyani went on to work at Moa Technology, Oxford, UK.

Quentin Dudley, 2017-2021
Postdoctoral Scientist
Quentin worked on a collaborative project with the O’Connor lab (MPI Jena) to produce mono-terpene indole alkaloids in Nicotiana benthamiana. To support this work, Quentin developed new tools for cell-free protein biosynthesis and optimised methods for genotyping with ddPCR. Finally, he collaborated with the Geu-Flores lab (Copenhagen) to apply gene editing approaches to improve Nicotiana benthamiana as a production chassis and understand nicotine biosynthesis. Quentin is now an Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.

Jason (Jeonghwan) Ahn, 2020
MSc. Student (UEA Plant Genetics and Crop Improvement)
Jason worked with Tufan to investigate nitrogen-responsive genes in Arabidopsis. Jason’s project started the same week as the first Covid lockdown!

Giovanni Gendarini 2019-20
Undergraduate Student (University of York)
Gio joined us for a year in 2019-20 to work on incorporating unnatural amino acids into proteins expressed in plants. He also contributed to our work on synthetic regulatory elements.  Gio taught us a lot about Muay Thai and mixed martial arts and made amazing chocolate cakes. He returned to the University of York to complete his undergraduate degree in genetics and then pursued an MSc at DTU Technical University of Denmark.

Hubert Debreyne, 2019
ERASMUS Intern (MSc Biotechnology, University of Lille, France)
Hubert worked with Quentin, contributing to the cell-free expression of plant enzymes and engineering plants as improved bioproduction systems. He is now a researcher at Novaptech, Bordeaux, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France.

Jenny (Seohyun) Jo, 2019
Rotation Student
Jenny worked with Quentin, contributing to engineering monoterpene-indole alkaloids. She went on to pursue a PhD at the John Innes Centre, UK and is now a post-doc.

Henry Tidd, 2018
MSc. Student (UEA Plant Genetics and Crop Improvement)
Henry worked with Yaomin to develop and test synthetic programmable transcription factors and cognate promoters. Henry went on to study plant protection as a PhD student at Rothamsted Research, UK and is now a post-doc at the John Innes Centre, UK.

Oleg Raitskin, 2016-2019
Open Plant Postdoctoral Scientist
Project: Genome Engineering in Plants
Oleg worked on quantifying and optimising tools for CRISPR-based genome engineering in plants. Oleg is now a Principle Scientist at Pencil Biosciences, Alderley Park, UK.

Amanda Salzman, 2017
MSc. Student (UEA Plant Genetics and Crop Improvement)
Amanda worked with Yaomin, contracting to the development of methods for quantitative assessment of synthetic regulatory elements for controlling relative gene expression.

Anthony West, 2017
Automation Specialist
Project: Automated, nanoscale DNA Assembly
Tony automated several protocols from our lab in the Earlham Biofoundry. He also contributed to the development of the LOOP system and Marchantia toolkit in collaboration with the Haseloff lab at the University of Cambridge. Tony is now an Automation Specialist at Colorifix.

VISITORS

Maruša Pompe Novak, 2019
Visiting Scientist (ERASMUS+ fellow), National Institute of Biology, Slovenia
Project: New technologies for investigating plant transcriptional regulatory networks
Maruša spent the summer in our lab learning about cell-free protein expression before returning to Slovenia where she used this to investigate potato transcription factors.

Ting Yang, 2017  
Visiting Scientist, Geu-Flores Lab, University of Copenhagen
Project: Improving the plant production chassis
Ting spent a month with us collaborating with Quentin to engineer alkaloid biosynthesis in Nicotiana benthamiana. 

Nathalia Volpi e Silva, 2016-2017
FAPESP Fellow, Mazzafera Lab, University of Campinas, Sao Paolo, Brazil
Project: Genome engineering to elucidate carbon flux in the lignin biosynthetic pathway
Nathalia spent six months in our lab learning all about CRISPR gene editing and contributing her knowledge to a review. She returned to the University of Campinas to complete her PhD, graduating in 2019.