Lichman Lab

Directing Biosynthesis VIII - submit your oral abstract by 2 February 2026

Oral abstract submission is now open for Directing Biosynthesis VIII, an event that has been connecting #Biosynthesis researchers for over a decade.

Network and discuss the latest research, get all the details and submit: rsc.li/dbviii

#DBVIII #ChemSky

Plant discovery could lead to new ways of producing medicines Scientists have shown how plants produce powerful natural chemicals that could help in the production of new medicines in more environmentally friendly ways.

Plant discovery could lead to new ways of producing #medicines

'Now that we know how to look for this chemical production, we have new avenues to explore for the production and discovery of safe drugs,' said co-author Benjamin Lichman.

www.york.ac.uk/news-and-eve...

@lichmanlab.bsky.social

So pleased to share this work on alkaloid biosynthesis.
Great collaboration with @unsworthchem.bsky.social. Well done to all authors. We have found key alkaloid producing enzymes that look like those normally found in bacteria.

www.york.ac.uk/news-and-eve...

New paper out today on alkaloid (bio)synthesis with @unsworthchem.bsky.social . Dr Lachlan Waddell made ten bioactive securinine alkaloids using "biomimetic" total synthesis - a strategy that we think is analogous to the plant makes the alkaloids by biosynthesis. pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...

Brilliant contributions from @geufloreslab.bsky.social

This discovery will lead to new ways to make useful pyridine molecules, and it may also allow us to relieve tobacco’s nicotine addition (i.e. removing the pathway) for future biotechnological applications.

We have resolved the steps of nicotine biosynthesis; discovering glucose processing enzymes mediating a cryptic glucosylation. This enabled one-pot biocatalytic cascades forming nicotine alkaloids, as well as pathway reconstruction in plants. Plus: new X-ray structures with substrate/products!

Nicotine biosynthesis completed by cryptic activating glucosylation Nicotine is a neuroactive alkaloid produced by tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) as a defense against herbivory, and an addictive stimulant that has been used by humans for millennia. Despite its significan...

The centuries old mystery of how tobacco plants make nicotine has a sweet solution: an additional glucose group is vital for the key pathway steps. Read more in our pre-print: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6.... Incredible work from @benschwabe.bsky.social and collaborators in York and Copenhagen.

Post-Docs We are currently recruiting for two post-doc positions in the Lichman lab that require similar skills and experience. We aim to do a joint recruitment process with a single interview. If you apply...

Hello! We are currently hiring for two post-doc positions on projects related to plant natural products, enzymes, and developing new systems to make useful small molecules. More details on our website: lichmanlab.weebly.com/post-docs.html

Senior Research Associate Centre for Novel Agricultural Products Department of Biology University of York Benjamin Lichman Senior Research Fellow Centre for Novel Agricultural Products Department of Biology University of York Ian Graham Professor & Weston Chair of Biochemical Genetics Centre for Novel Agricultural Products Department of Biology University of York Tomasz Czechowski New Publication! Congratulations to C-SPIRIT Members Tomasz Czechowski, Benjamin Lichman, Ian Graham, and their colleagues on the publication of their article Evolution of linear triterpenoid biosynthesis within the Euphorbia genus in Nature Communications! Read the full article!

🎉 Congrats to C-SPIRIT members Tomasz Czechowski, Benjamin Lichman, & Ian Graham (UYork) on their new paper "Evolution of linear triterpenoid biosynthesis within the Euphorbia genus"! 🧬

📖 Read: doi.org/10.1038/s414...

#plantscience

News Brilliant new paper out in Nature Communications led by Dr Tomasz Czechowski and Prof Ian Graham. Sandesh and Benjy made some modest but valuable contributions to this nice story on unusual linear...

Busy and rewarding June in the Lichman Lab! lichmanlab.weebly.com/news.html.
Highlights from the team include Danielle's RSci qualification, Ben's poster award at GRC, Green impact platinum award, visit from BBSRC, and new paper with contributions from Sandesh. Well done everyone! 🥳

Expansion of the Stereochemical Space of Triterpenes by Mining Noncanonical Oxidosqualene Cyclases Across the Diversity of Green Plants Triterpenoids and steroids are structurally complex polycyclic natural products with potent biological functions, for example, as hormones. In all eukaryotes, the carbon skeletons of these compounds a...

Started as a very successful master thesis, now published in JACS. Screening sequence similarity networks turned out to be a great way to discover oxidosqualene cyclases with unusual activity from more than thousand plant transcriptome sequence datasets.

pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Please share! A 4-year position to work on genome duplication and evolution in Bath, part of our BBSRC sLOLA project determining the extent and effects of rediploidisation across eukaryotes! www.bath.ac.uk/jobs/Vacancy...

This is part of our collaboration with Prof Chanchan Liu's group in the Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine. We sequenced the genome of Agastache rugosa (Huo Xiang), a medicinal plant in the mint family. We found a gene cluster for monoterpenoids and tried to unpick how it might have evolved.

Haplotype-resolved genome of Agastache rugosa (Huo Xiang) provides insight into monoterpenoid biosynthesis and gene cluster evolution Abstract. Monoterpenoids are small volatile molecules produced by many plants that have applications in consumer products and healthcare. Plants from the m

A Mint Monoterpenoid Manuscript for Monday! academic.oup.com/hr/advance-a...
Congratulation to Dr Cobus Smit and visiting PhD student Jingjie Dang for their contributions.

Fellowships, grants and career support – Postdoctoral Fellowships – EMBO Supporting internationally mobile postdoctoral researchers in Europe and around the world

Looking for a #LifeSciences #postdoc opportunity? Check out EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowships for internationally mobile scientists in Europe and around the world. Apply before 14 February (next cut-off date):
embo.org/funding/fell...
#ResearchFunding 🧪

Really happy to have the chance to contribute to this paper by @dashagolubova.bsky.social, Melissa salmon and @honghaosu.bsky.social. We couldn’t have got it done without @nicolabiologist.bsky.social and Maria O’Connell guiding us. It’s been a super fun collaboration!

Chemical structure of TUTIN, drawn with a Moonman T1 fountain pen and using Iroshizuku Momiji ink (both are beautiful shades of red).

It's a gloomy day, and nothing brightens it quite like poisons and their toxic tales. So today, I bring to you TUTIN, the poison with a funny name linked to Captain Cook, circus elephants, and bees. And just like my in-person talks, I never quite know what I'm going to say, so buckle up!

Logo for the Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, consisting of text and a green gingko leaf. The words ‘work with us’ are underneath.

We’re looking for 3 postdocs to join our lab and work on engineering plant gene expression, metabolism and growth. If you have enthusiasm & skills in synthetic biology or metabolic engineering, apply by Jan 31.
www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/49767/
www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/49773/
www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/49769/

Nicola Patron, head of the Plant Molecular Engineering group and co-founder of Black in Plant Science. Photo by Liam Morgan.

The quest for fungal-resistant crops, identifying novel plant-based medicines & sustainable ways to produce them, and being Black in Plant Sciences.

Nicola Patron, head of the Plant Molecular Engineering group & co-founder of Black in Plant Science, talks about her work:

tinyurl.com/2jerbru9

Congratulations to @omarkamileen.bsky.social , an off-site PhD student based at the @oconnorlab.bsky.social in ICE-MPI Jena, came to York to complete his viva. He passed with flying colours, examined by Profs Neil Bruce and Rob Field. Well done Omar! Now to Germany for more celebrations!

Plants produce tremendous chemistry to outcompete neighbors for space and resources. We identify the mechanism of action of the plant-produced proline mimic azetidine 2-carboxylic acid, which gets misincorporated during protein synthesis and leads to death of surrounding organisms.

Second post - major congratulations to Barbara Radzikowska for passing her viva.👩‍🎓 Thank you to examiners Dr Lianne Willems and Prof Chris Willis. Cosupervised by @unsworthchem.bsky.social . Seriously impressive project on complex alkaloid biosynthesis in Daphniphyllum. 🥳

Home Discovery, understanding and engineering of ​plant natural product biosynthesis.

Hello! First post - an introduction - we are a lab working on the discovery, understanding and engineering of plant natural product biosynthesis. We like alkaloids AND terpenoids. Our website is lichmanlab.weebly.com. Looking forward to many more interactions on this site