The main objective of our current research is to integrate the fundamental and applied aspects of Molecular Farming - the production of high value molecules such as recombinant proteins and secondary metabolites in plant based systems.

We are particularly interested in plant cell suspension cultures as platforms for the production of valuable molecules with applications in the pharmaceutical and food industries. We are mainly using two model species, Medicago truncatula (A17) and Nicotiana tabaccum (BY-2), but also the non-model species Cynara cardunculus commonly known as Thistle.

Cellular agriculture and alternative plant-based proteins are at the forefront of Molecular Farming. We aim to improve our production systems by studying the role of plant proteases in different cellular processes, using both model and non-model plant systems. Furthermore, we are producing specific proteases in alternative plant-based platforms, for application in the food sector as milk clotting agents for cheese manufacturing.

Other lines of research in the laboratory focus on metabolic engineering of cell suspension cultures and optimization of microalgae cultures for the production of valuable carotenoids and other metabolites.

We are using these platforms to study cellular mechanisms while producing high-value molecules, which adds an applied dimension to this research and enhances the importance of fundamental cell biology questions.