Understanding and Improving the Foliar Uptake of Amino Acids

The purpose of the project is to understand the mechanisms and routes of foliar uptake of amino acids in to plants and to design potential improvements to the process. The project involves work at the forefront of Chemical Biology and Analytical Chemistry and includes the synthesis of labelled amino acids, analysis of amino acid distribution in leaf tissue, identification and characterisation of amino acid metabolites, synthesis of novel amino acid derivatives and an investigation of amino acid formulations to aid leaf uptake.