Ben Field

In 2004 I completed a PhD on the molecular genetics of glucosinolates in Arabidopsis thaliana at the John Innes Centre. 

After my PhD I came to the Osbourn lab as a postdoc, where I am investigating how new natural product pathways arise in plants and assessing the contribution of these pathways to plant fitness, using Arabidopsis thaliana as a model.  

I am also collaborating with David Studholme (Sainsbury Laboratory) on the development of new generic methods for metabolic pathway discovery in plants and other organisms.

Funding

Grant in aid to the John Innes Centre from the BBSRC.

Publications

Field, B., Jordan, F. and Osbourn, A. ‘First encounters – deployment of defence-related natural products by plants’ Tansley review. New Phytologist 2006 October; 172:193-204

Field, B., Furniss, C., Wilkinson, A. and Mithen, R. ‘Expression of a Brassica isopropylmalate synthase gene in Arabidopsis perturbs both glucosinolate and amino acid metabolism’ Plant Molecular Biology 2006 March; 60:717-727

Field, B., Cardon, G., Traka, M., Botterman, J., Vancanneyt, G.  and Mithen, R. ‘The MAM gene family in Arabidopsis functions in both glucosinolate and leucine synthesis’ Plant Physiology 2004 June;135: 828-39