Nicola Patron has been nominated as the new member of the External Advisory Board of the CBGP

CBGP warmly welcomes Nicola Patron as a new member of the External Advisory Board (EAB) of the CBGP.

Nicola Patron is Synthetic Biology Group Leader at Earlham Institute, Norwich (UK). She is a molecular and synthetic biologist interested in the natural and engineered transfer of genetic material between genomes of different species.    Her laboratory is focused on engineering photosynthetic organisms for industrial biotechnology and crops that are healthier to consume and less environmentally damaging to cultivate.

Nicola obtained her PhD in plant molecular biology studying recombination between viruses and viral transgenes inserted into plant genomes. In post-doctoral research at The John Innes Centre, U.K. and The University of British Columbia, Canada she studied the impact that genes transferred from endosymbionts have on cellular metabolism and function, and evolution of endosymbiont genomes. From 2009-2013 Nicola was based in Melbourne, Australia leading a plant molecular biology group working with industry. In 2013, Nicola returned to the UK to head a new Synthetic Biology venture at The Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich before moving to EI.

The CBGP´s External Advisory Board is composed of 6 renowned researchers

1. George Coupland, Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research. Colonia. Germany
2. Crisanto Gutiérrez, Centro de Biología Molecular "Severo Ochoa” UAM-CSIC. Madrid. Spain
3. Maria J. Harrison, The Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research and Cornell University, USA
4. Cyril Zipfel, University of Zurich, Switzerland and The Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich. United Kingdom
5. Nick Talbot, The Sainsbury Lab, UK Norwich. United Kingdom
6. Nicola Patron, Earlham Institute, Norwich. United Kingdom