CNAP - Centre for Novel Agricultural Products Biology to benefit society
Research underpinning the development of plants and microbes as green factories is focused in the Centre for Novel Agricultural Products (CNAP), based in the Department of Biology at the University of York. Founded in 1999 with the help of a benefaction from the Garfield Weston Foundation, CNAP is an award winning, internationally recognised centre delivering research excellence with impact. Research is undertaken by around 80 staff and students in a highly distinctive academic environment, led by four professors: Ian Graham (Director), Neil Bruce, Robert Edwards and Simon McQueen-Mason.
Biorenewables is major research focus of CNAP, with well-established programmes in industrial biotechnology and bioenergy encompassing areas such as plant oils and high value chemicals for a range of industrial applications, along with projects aimed at biomass development for use as biofuels. We routinely use molecular breeding technologies for the rapid improvement of both domesticated and wild species for food and other high value chemical based applications. For example, over the past six years the CNAP Artemisia Research Project has successfully developed new varieties of the medicinal plant Artemisia annua; the primary source of the leading anti-malarial drug artemisinin (www.york.ac.uk/org/cnap/artemisiaproject).
Building on the successful CNAP model, the University of York has recently established the Biorenewables Development Centre as a not-for profit company that provides industry with new processes to convert plants and biowastes into high value products (www.biorenewables.org).
CNAP receives support for specific research programmes from a range of sources including the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, EU framework programmes, government departments and industry.
Professor Ian Graham, CNAP Director
Recent news:
- Vice-Chancellor's awards for outstanding achievement
Congratulations to the CNAP poppy team led by Ian Graham for their Excellence award and to Simon McQueen-Mason for his Internationalisation award in the prestigious, university-wide scheme, the Vice-Chancellor's Awards for Outstanding Achievement 2013.
- New academic appointments in Plant Biology at York
We are delighted to announce that the Department of Biology at the University of York will be welcoming three new Plant Biology colleagues in the coming months, including Professor Ian Bancroft, currently at the John Innes Centre in Norwich, who will join CNAP in August 2013. Ian's research is focussed on understanding genome structure, function and evolution in the Brassicaceae, plus the genetic regulation of seed storage lipid accumulation and other traits relevant to sustainability of the UK oilseed rape crop. The other Plant Biology colleagues joining the Department will be Professor Seth Davis and Dr Michael Haydon.
Ian Graham was a finalist in the Social Innovator of the Year category, and was nominated for his work applying molecular breeding approaches to create improved varieties of pharmaceutical crops.
Tiny bugs could supply the enzymes needed for modern bioenergy - Simon McQueen-Mason and Will Eborall of CNAP describe their ongoing research.
Researchers from the UK, USA and India led by CNAP begin a major project to develop new strains of rice to to meet challenging weather conditions.
CNAP's Neil Bruce leads a new EU funded interdisciplinary training network including academics and industry, aiming to develop enzymatic methods for green oxidation chemistry.
An international team including CNAP researchers begin a new G8 Research Councils Initiative funded project investigating the potential for recovery of precious metals from mine refuse using plants.
Latest News
To germinate or not: new insights
Interview on BBC Radio 4 Material World programme
CNAP scientists led by Ian Graham have found that a regulator gene called SPATULA can control the expression of five other genes known to affect when a seed germinates. A report on the work has just been published in the PNAS journal early online edition.
Channel 4 news report on the CNAP gribble project
Wood eating gribble could help turn waste into biofuel
Researchers in CNAP together with colleagues at the University of Portsmouth and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in the USA have determined the structure and function of a key enzyme used by gribble to digest wood. An article by the team has just been published in the journal PNAS.
Master gene makes weeds invincible
New Scientist journal article features work by Rob Edwards and his team to address the problems posed by the presence of herbicide resistant weeds such as black-grass and annual ryegrass in cereal crops. An in-depth report by the team has just been published in the journal PNAS.
Contacts
CNAP Director,
Professor Ian Graham
CNAP Manager, Dr Caroline Calvert
CNAP, Department of Biology, University of York, Wentworth Way, York YO10 5DD, UK