Name Julian Hibberd Alma mater Bangor University | Fields Botany, Molecular biology | |
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Institutions Emmanuel College, CambridgeUniversity of CambridgeUniversity of Sheffield Doctoral advisor John FarrarBob Whitbread | ||
Julian hibberd insights into the evolution of the c4 pathway
Julian Michael Hibberd (born December 1969) is a Professor of Photosynthesis at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge.
Contents
- Julian hibberd insights into the evolution of the c4 pathway
- Education
- Research and career
- Awards and honours
- References
Education
Hibberd was educated at University of Wales, Bangor where he was awarded his first degree in 1991 followed by a PhD in 1994. His PhD thesis investigated the effects of elevated carbon dioxide (CO₂) on powdery mildew in barley and was supervised by John Farrar and Bob Whitbread.
Research and career
Following his PhD, Hibberd completed three years of postdoctoral research at the University of Sheffield with Paul Quick, Malcolm Press and Julie Scholes, investigating interactions between parasitic plants and their hosts. He moved to Cambridge to work with John C. Gray.
As of 2016 research in the Hibberd laboratory investigates the efficiency of the C₄ photosynthetic pathway, with the aim of contributing to improving crop productivity. Hibberd's research has been funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the FP7 program of the European Union.
Hibberd is an Associate Editor of the scientific journal Plant Physiology.
Awards and honours
In 2008 Hibberd was named by the journal Nature as one of "Five crop researchers who could change the world" for his research that is attempting to replace C₃ carbon fixation in rice with C₄ carbon fixation. This would greatly increase the efficiency of photosynthesis and create a rice cultivar which could "have 50% more yield" which "would impact billions of people".
In 2000 Julian was awarded a BBSRC David Phillips Fellowship to investigate the role of photosynthesis in C3 plants