Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology

The Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology (MPIMP), founded in 1994, is one of the largest plant research institutes in Europe. The institute holds world leading research facilities and scientists in the fields of primary metabolism and systems oriented approaches and is one of the premier global sites for research in plant metabolism. Currently, there are over 350 people working at the institute, divided into three main departments and several independent institutes.

Dr Alisdair Fernie is research group leader of the Central Metabolism group and will lead the MPIMP scientific team. With more than 15 years research experience, he is an expert in metabolic regulation and has conducted pioneering research on metabolism in Solanaceous species. He has recently led the wild tomato species Solanum pennellii sequencing project and the group has participated in the EUSOL project (FP7) which worked on the genomic characterization of Solanaceae plants and other horticultural crops.

Within TRADITOM, the group’s resources and expertise will be used in the identification of primary and secondary metabolites associated to quality in traditional tomatoes and traditional cultivation methods.