Dr Connor Tansley

I am a Research associate in the Patron Lab at the University of Cambridge Plant Sciences department working on engineering Nicotiana benthamiana as a sustainable chassis for production of metabolites. Previously I worked in the Patron Lab at the Earlham Institute in Norwich on the same topic. Prior to that I was at the University of East Anglia in the Lab of Ben Miller and I worked on Marchantia polymorpha looking at calcium signalling networks in an early diverging land plant.

I am interested in utilising synthetic biology tools to engineer plant chassis as sustainable production platforms for high value secondary metabolites. The aim is to grow plants and have a source of these compounds for human health and agricultural purposes. Previously at Earlham Institute, we worked on an anti-inflammatory triterpene fatty acid ester from Pot Marigold, and my work focussed on production in Nicotiana benthamiana. At Cambridge I will work on investigating some natural antiherbivore compounds, with an aim of using synthetic biology approaches to make N. benthamiana the perfect chassis for production and testing.