Cathie Martin

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Cathie Martin

MBE FRS
Professor Cathie Martin.jpg
Cathie Martin in 2021
Born
Catherine Rosemary Martin

April 1955 (age 67–68)
Alma mater University of Cambridge (BA, PhD)
Known for Blue tomato
Awards
Scientific career
Fields Plant Biology [2]
Institutions University of East Anglia
John Innes Centre
Thesis Plant cell differentiation during seed germination  (1981)
Notable students Beverley Glover [3]
Website www.jic.ac.uk/people/cathie-martin OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

Catherine Rosemary Martin MBE FRS (born April 1955) [4] is a Professor of Plant Sciences at the University of East Anglia (UEA) and project leader at the John Innes Centre, Norwich, co-ordinating research into the relationship between diet and health and how crops can be fortified to improve diets and address escalating chronic disease globally. [5] [6] [7] [8] [2] [9]

Contents

Education

Martin received a first class honours degree in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge. She then went on to obtain her PhD in Biochemistry in 1981, also from Cambridge. [10]

Research and career

Her research has included work on blood oranges, and purple, high anthocyanin tomatoes. [11] [12]

After a period as a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Cambridge [13] [14] she moved to the John Innes Centre's department of genetics in 1983. She was the first to identify genes which regulated cell shape in plants. [13]

Since 2000, Cathie's research has focused on diet and health, researching how crops can be fortified to combat chronic disease across the world. This research has focused on plants which contain natural chemical compounds, which can be seen as 'natural medicines'. Examples include work researching blood oranges, [15] and high-anthocyanin purple tomatoes. [16] In 2022 Martin's laboratory produced genetically manipulated tomatoes containing high levels of a precursor to vitamin D. These were scheduled for field trials, and intended to improve dietary intake of vitamin D. [17] [18]

With Liam Dolan, Alison Mary Smith, George Coupland, Nicholas Harberd, Jonathan Jones, Robert Sablowski and Abigail Amey she is a co-author of the textbook Plant Biology. [19]

She was the editor-in-chief of The Plant Cell , and was the first woman and first non-American to hold this post. [13] She holds seven patents and co-founded the University spin-off company Norfolk Plant Sciences with Jonathan Jones, to bring the benefits of plant biotechnology to Europe and the United States. [4] [13] Her former doctoral students include Beverley Glover. [3]

Awards and honours

Martin was appointed a Member of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2013 Birthday Honours for "services to plant biotechnology" [20] [21] and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) most promising innovator 2014. [22] Cathie's research into Purple Tomatoes gained her and Eugenio Butelli BBSRC's most promising innovator award in 2014. She has also been recognised by:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge</span>

The Department of Plant Sciences is a department of the University of Cambridge that conducts research and teaching in plant sciences. It was established in 1904, although the university has had a professor of botany since 1724.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Innes Centre</span> Independent centre for research in plant and microbial science

The John Innes Centre (JIC), located in Norwich, Norfolk, England, is an independent centre for research and training in plant and microbial science founded in 1910. It is a registered charity grant-aided by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), the European Research Council (ERC) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and is a member of the Norwich Research Park.

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation, is a non-departmental public body (NDPB), and is the largest UK public funder of non-medical bioscience. It predominantly funds scientific research institutes and university research departments in the UK.

Jonathan Dallas George Jones is a senior scientist at the Sainsbury Laboratory and a professor at the University of East Anglia using molecular and genetic approaches to study disease resistance in plants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sainsbury Laboratory</span> Plant research laboratory in Norwich, Norfolk, England

The Sainsbury Laboratory (TSL) is a research institute located at the Norwich Research Park in Norwich, Norfolk, England, that carries out fundamental biological research and technology development on aspects of plant disease, plant disease resistance and microbial symbiosis in plants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caroline Dean</span> British botanist

Dame Caroline Dean is a British plant scientist working at the John Innes Centre. She is focused on understanding the molecular controls used by plants to seasonally judge when to flower. She is specifically interested in vernalisation — the acceleration of flowering in plants by exposure to periods of prolonged cold. She has also been on the Life Sciences jury for the Infosys Prize from 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthocyanin</span> Class of chemical compounds

Anthocyanins, also called anthocyans, are water-soluble vacuolar pigments that, depending on their pH, may appear red, purple, blue, or black. In 1835, the German pharmacist Ludwig Clamor Marquart gave the name Anthokyan to a chemical compound that gives flowers a blue color for the first time in his treatise "Die Farben der Blüthen". Food plants rich in anthocyanins include the blueberry, raspberry, black rice, and black soybean, among many others that are red, blue, purple, or black. Some of the colors of autumn leaves are derived from anthocyanins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Genetically modified tomato</span>

A genetically modified tomato, or transgenic tomato, is a tomato that has had its genes modified, using genetic engineering. The first trial genetically modified food was a tomato engineered to have a longer shelf life, which was on the market briefly beginning on May 21, 1994. The first direct consumption tomato was approved in Japan in 2021. Primary work is focused on developing tomatoes with new traits like increased resistance to pests or environmental stresses. Other projects aim to enrich tomatoes with substances that may offer health benefits or be more nutritious. As well as aiming to produce novel crops, scientists produce genetically modified tomatoes to understand the function of genes naturally present in tomatoes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blue tomato</span> Various tomato cultivars

Blue tomatoes, sometimes referred to as purple tomato, are tomatoes that have been bred to produce high levels of anthocyanins, a class of pigments responsible for the blue and purple colours of many fruits, including blueberries, blackberries and chokeberries. Anthocyanins may provide protection for the plant against insects, diseases, and ultraviolet radiation. Some of these tomatoes have been commercialized under the names "Indigo Rose" and "SunBlack".

Nicholas Paul Harberd is Sibthorpian Professor of Plant Science and former head of the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Oxford, and Fellow of St John's College, Oxford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norwich Research Park</span> Research orientated business community in Norwich, England

Norwich Research Park is a business community located to the southwest of Norwich, Norfolk, in East Anglia, England close to the A11 and the A47 roads.

Michael Webster Bevan is a professor at the John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liam Dolan</span>

Liam Dolan is a Senior Group Leader at the Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology (GMI) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, the Sherardian Professor of Botany in the Department of Biology at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Rutherford</span>

Alfred William Rutherford FRS is Professor and Chair in Biochemistry of Solar energy in the Department of Life sciences at Imperial College London.

Paul Martin Sharp is Professor of Genetics at the University of Edinburgh, where he holds the Alan Robertson chair of genetics in the Institute of Evolutionary Biology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alison Mary Smith</span> British biologist (born 1954)

Alison Mary Smith is a British biologist. She is Strategic Programme Leader at the John Innes Centre in Norwich and an Honorary Professor at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in the UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rose Scott-Moncrieff</span> Founder of biochemical genetics

Rose Scott-Moncrieff (1903-1991), was an English biochemist, credited with founding the science of biochemical genetics.

Alison Gail Smith, Lady Hopper is Professor of Plant Biochemistry in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Cambridge, UK. Her research investigates the metabolism of plants, algae and bacteria, in particular vitamin and cofactor biosynthesis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne Ridley</span> Professor of Cell Biology

Anne Jacqueline Ridley is professor of Cell Biology and Head of School for Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of Bristol. She was previously a professor at King's College London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne Osbourn</span> Professor of biology

Anne Elisabeth Osbourn is a professor of biology and group leader at the John Innes Centre, where she investigates plant natural product biosynthesis. She discovered that in the plant genome, the genes involved with biosynthesis organise in clusters. She is also a popular science communicator, poet and is the founder of the Science, Art and Writing (SAW) Initiative. She was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2022.

References

  1. 1 2 Anon (2011). "Cathie R. Martin, John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK, EMBO". people.embo.org. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  2. 1 2 Cathie Martin publications indexed by Google Scholar OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  3. 1 2 Glover, Beverley Jane (1996). Cellular differentiation in plants (PhD thesis). University of East Anglia. OCLC   53660442. EThOS   uk.bl.ethos.497578.
  4. 1 2 Anon (2016). "Catherine Rosemary MARTIN". London: Companies House. Archived from the original on 10 June 2016.
  5. ↑ "Cathie Martin: Metabolic biology". Norwich: John Innes Centre. Archived from the original on 22 March 2016.
  6. ↑ Christian Dubos; Ralf Stracke; Erich Grotewold; Bernd Weisshaar; Cathie Martin; Loïc Lepiniec (30 July 2010). "MYB transcription factors in Arabidopsis". Trends in Plant Science . 15 (10): 573–581. doi:10.1016/J.TPLANTS.2010.06.005. ISSN   1360-1385. PMID   20674465. Wikidata   Q37776860.
  7. ↑ Yang Zhang; Eugenio Butelli; Saleh Alseekh; et al. (26 October 2015). "Multi-level engineering facilitates the production of phenylpropanoid compounds in tomato". Nature Communications . 6: 8635. Bibcode:2015NatCo...6.8635Z. doi:10.1038/NCOMMS9635. ISSN   2041-1723. PMC   4639801 . PMID   26497596. Wikidata   Q36265985.
  8. ↑ Cathie Martin publications from Europe PubMed Central
  9. ↑ Sponge, Creative. "Prof Cathie Martin - John Innes Centre". Jic.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 22 March 2016. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  10. ↑ Martin, Catherine Rosemary (1981). Plant cell differentiation during seed germination. cam.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of Cambridge. OCLC   557040208. EThOS   uk.bl.ethos.277433.
  11. ↑ Eugenio Butelli; Lucilla Titta; Marco Giorgio; et al. (26 October 2008). "Enrichment of tomato fruit with health-promoting anthocyanins by expression of select transcription factors". Nature Biotechnology . 26 (11): 1301–1308. doi:10.1038/NBT.1506. ISSN   1087-0156. PMID   18953354. Wikidata   Q34866413.
  12. ↑ H Jin; E Cominelli; P Bailey; et al. (1 November 2000). "Transcriptional repression by AtMYB4 controls production of UV-protecting sunscreens in Arabidopsis". The EMBO Journal . 19 (22): 6150–6161. doi:10.1093/EMBOJ/19.22.6150. ISSN   0261-4189. PMC   305818 . PMID   11080161. Wikidata   Q33925419.
  13. 1 2 3 4 "Cathie Martin Profile" (PDF). Brussels: European Parliament. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 January 2015.
  14. ↑ Cathie Martin publications indexed by the Scopus bibliographic database. (subscription required)
  15. ↑ "Scientists create new orange superjuice to help beat heart disease". independent.co.uk. The Independent. 13 March 2012. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  16. ↑ "Genetically-modified purple tomatoes heading for shops". bbc.co.uk. BBC News. 24 January 2014. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  17. ↑ Ledford, Heidi (2022). "Gene-edited tomatoes could provide new source of vitamin D". Nature. doi:10.1038/d41586-022-01443-2. PMID   35606436. S2CID   249015294 . Retrieved 25 May 2022.
  18. ↑ Geddes, Linda (23 May 2022). "Scientists create tomatoes genetically edited to bolster vitamin D levels". theguardian.com. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
  19. ↑ Smith, Alison Mary; Coupand, George; Dolan, Liam; Harberd, Nicholas; Jones, Jonathan; Martin, Cathie; Sablowski, Robert; Amey, Abigail (2009). Plant Biology . Garland Science. ISBN   978-0815340256.
  20. 1 2 "No. 60534". The London Gazette (Supplement). 15 June 2013. p. 20.
  21. ↑ "Life Sciences Index » Nutrition Integrates 2014 Speaker – Cathie Martin". Archived from the original on 19 January 2015. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  22. 1 2 Anon (2014). "Innovators 2014 part three – Cathie Martin and Eugenio Butelli's purple tomatoes". bbsrc.ac.uk. BBSRC. Archived from the original on 2 February 2015. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  23. ↑ "Society for Experimental Biology President's Medallists" (PDF). sebiology.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  24. ↑ "Fellows – AAAS MemberCentral". aaas.org. Archived from the original on 19 January 2015. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  25. ↑ "Prof Cathie Martin made an MBE – John Innes Centre". jic.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 4 August 2016. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  26. ↑ Anon (2018). "Catherine Martin". royalsociety.org. London: Royal Society . Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  27. ↑ "Rank Prize for Nutrition awarded to Professor Cathie Martin". John Innes Centre. 28 September 2021. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
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