W2023 - PLBI 401 - Plant Biotechnology | ||||||||||
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2022 – 33rd Annual Alberta Science and Technology (ASTech) Awards Finalist (health innovation)
2021 – Faculty of Science Innovation Excellence Award, Established Career (innovation and entrepreneurship)
2019 – Parex Resources Innovation Fellowship (innovation and entrepreneurship)
2019 – Innovate Calgary Achievement Award (innovation and entrepreneurship)
2004 – C.D. Nelson Award, Canadian Society of Plant Biologists (research exellence)
2002 – Canada Research Chair (research excellence)
1995 – Arthur Neish Young Investigator Award, Phytochemical Society of North America (research excellence)
1995 – Molson Breweries Young Investigator Award (research excellence)
1992 – NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship (academic excellence)
1989 – NSERC Postdoctoral Scholarship (academic excellence)
Research is aimed at understanding the genetics, biochemistry, cellular biology, and molecular physiology of plant specialized metabolism with a focus on benzylisoquinoline alkaloids (e.g. morphine) in opium poppy, cannabinoids (e.g. cannabidiol) in cannabis, and phenylalkylamines (e.g. pseudoephedrine) in ephedra. Major foci include biosynthetic and ancilliary gene isolation, pathway elucidation, and mechanisms of metabolic regulation, although interests encompass a wide range of competencies from plant genome analysis to protein structural biology. The availability of an extensive toolbox of genes and an increasingly accurate set of assembly instructions has created unprecedented metabolic engineering opportunities in plants and microorganisms. Yeast strains producing a variety of natural and synthetic high-value plant metabolites are engineered and used for both basic research and commercial applications.