Plant Biochemistry & Physiology

BIOGRAPHY

ACADEMIC POSITION:
Professor, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield

EDUCATION:
• BA (1974), Corpus Christi College, University of Cambridge
• MA, PhD (1978), Corpus Christi College, University of Cambridge
• Post-doctoral research, Department of Botany, University of Sheffield (1977-1983)

EDITORSHIPS, MEMBERSHIPS:
•Editor: Plant Biology
•Editorial Board: Journal of Experimental Botany, Plant, Cell and Environment, Planta, Bio Formosa
•Member of Evaluation Panel for EU Marie Curie Research Training Networks (2004-7)
•Member of the Society for Experimental Biology, the American Society of Plant Biologists and Japanese Society of Plant Physiologists
•Member of C4 rice consortium, organised by the International Rice Research Institute

RESEARCH INTERESTS:
My research is largely concerned with the regulation and control of photosynthetic carbon and nitrogen metabolism in plants and diatoms. We are particularly interested in an enzyme of primary metabolism, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) and in the regulation of this area of metabolism (including phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase). Research focussing on PEPCK includes studies of its regulation by phosphorylation, and of its multifarious functions in stomata, in developing seeds, in trichomes, and in the CO2-concentrating mechanisms of C4 plants and diatoms.