Institute of Agri-Food & Land Use

Overview

Work concerns the use of metabolomics in two areas: 

1. To breed crops with particular characteristics, e.g. disease resistance
2. To probe biochemistry and physiology of disease in humans, especially related to diet. Subsequent research will involve therapeutic or dietary intervention to correct observed differences in patient samples.

The Problem

Quality, nutritional and health functional characteristics of agricultural produce and processed food are implicitly linked with their complex biochemical composition. However the nature of these complex relationships are often poorly understood.

The Research

By using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and LC-Mass Spectroscopy based metabolomics we can fingerprint food biochemistry and relate this to functional characteristics.

The Anticipated Outcomes

More efficient plant breeding for nutritional quality and reduced pesticide usage. Improved health benefits from food  production methods.