A graphic of corn.

Programmable Plants: Opportunity seeds

Opportunity seeds support ambitious research aligned to our opportunity spaces. We’re looking to challenge assumptions, open up new research paths, and provide steps towards new capabilities.

Can we programme plants to remove more CO2, improve food security, and deliver medicines to those in need?

From landmine-clearing plants to leveraging stochasticity in synthetic biology, we’re funding an array of projects across start ups, universities and individuals with up to £500k each to maximise the chance of breakthroughs.

Meet the Creators

Fast-Track Crop Improvement: Breaking Free from Tissue Culture

Sofia Kourmpetli, Cranfield University

Green PROTACs – Enabling Small Molecule (Re)programming and Manipulation of Plant Biology

Piers Hemsley, University of Dundee

A Universal Endosymbiont-Mediated Transient Gene Expression Platform for Plants

Ari Sadanandom, Durham University + Adriana Botes, Azotic Technologies

PlantPlug: Bioengineering Parasitic Plants into Programmable Modules

Pallavi Singh, University of Essex

CRY for Crop Development and Remote Control

Daniel Kattnig, University of Exeter

Idioblast Switch

Nicholas Holton, Hypocotyl Ltd

Programmable Plant Immunity by Design

Tolga Bozkurt, Imperial College London

Cross-Kingdom Immunity: Upgrading and Rewiring Plant Defenses

Philip Carella, John Innes Centre

FERN (Flora Electrophysiological Recording Network)

Samuel Jellard, Mycovolt Technologies

Rooting Out Danger

Richard Webster, Liverpool John Moores University

Smart Engineered Bacterial Conduits for Enhanced Crop Performance

Ciarán Kelly, Northumbria University + Emma Riley, Northumbria University

An Artificial Hybridisation System Enabled by Direct Transformation of Plant Mitochondria

Junwei Ji, Plant Organelle Technologies Ltd

Robust Plant Engineering Through Stochastic Synthetic Biology

James Locke + Chris Micklem, University of Cambridge

Direct Seed Transformation for Rapid Crop Improvement Through Rational Engineering of Agrobacterium

George Bassel, University of Warwick

Meet the programme team

Our Programme Directors are supported by a Programme Specialist (P-Spec) and Technical Specialist (T-Spec); this is the nucleus of each programme team. P-Specs co-ordinate and oversee the project management of their respective programmes, whilst T-Specs provide highly specialised and targeted technical expertise to support programmatic rigour.

A picture of Angie Burnett smiling against a blue curtain background.

Angie Burnett

Programme Director

Angie Burnett is a plant biologist and has spent the last decade focusing on understanding the power of plants to solve some of our most pressing challenges such as food insecurity, climate change and environmental degradation. Previously, Angie was a Research Associate at the University of Cambridge.

A black-and-white photo of Nivashinee Krishnakumar smiling in front of a white wall.

Nivashinee Krishnakumar

Programme Specialist

Nivashinee has more than five years’ experience in programme management and project delivery. She led high profile projects at a leading global technology consultancy and has worked within delivery management in a variety of industries, ranging from edtech and life sciences to the aviation aftermarket. Nivashinee supports ARIA as an Operating Partner from Pace.

A photo of Fabrizio smiling and standing in front of a white background.

Fabrizio Ticchiarelli-Marjot

Technical Specialist

As a plant scientist with a PhD from Cambridge, Fabrizio has spent ten years advancing plant biology knowledge and its translation to products. Before ARIA, he spent five years working in early-stage tech startups, consulting on lab automation at Synthace for Pharma and Crop Protection companies, then at Gardin where he led the plant science team and headed delivery of the R&D product offering.

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Programmable Plants

Back to the opportunity space.

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Synthetic Plants

Dive into the programme.

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Applicant guidance

Key resources and information about applying for funding.

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The Creator experience

Learn more about what you can expect as an ARIA R&D Creator.

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