Staff Profile

BSc in Biochemistry  (Bath University), PhD in Environmental Toxicology (St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School, University of London), his interests are focussed on innovation in weed control developed through working in both the private and public sector in the UK and USA.  Author of over 300 papers, patents and book articles, he is currently an emeritus Professor, following his retirement in December 2022 as the Head of the School of Natural and Environmental Sciences at Newcastle University.  As an emeritus Professor,  he continues his research interests in crop protection, with a specific focus on the control of wild grasses in cereal crops, for which he was awarded the RASE research and innovation medal in 2023. Outreach and industrial roles in the farming sector formerly included Chair of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society’s Farmer Scientist Network and the Director of the Institute for Agrifood Research and Innovation formed in 2014 between Newcastle University and Fera Science Ltd.  

Research interests are at the interface between biology and chemistry and are centred on the biotransformation and metabolic fate of bioactive secondary products and synthetic compounds in plants, relating to crop protection.   Programmes use a combination of classical analytical biochemistry, proteomics, the development of novel chemical probes of protein function and molecular and structural  biology supported by the latest methods in functional genomics.

Recent projects include:

• the molecular basis of herbicide safener action in cereals 
• defining the molecular basis of non target site based herbicide resistance in grass weeds and developing associated diagnostic probes 
• the functional genomics of crop and weed enzymes involved in determining herbicide selectivity 
• active formulations for herbicide delivery 
• Development of the world’s first pocket diagnostic for herbicide resistance in wild grasses (BReD)